Worldcon 2019: Patreon: The Evolution of Supporting The Arts

[spindizzy]

These are my notes on the Patreon: The Evolution of Supporting The Arts panel, moderated by jainefenn (audiobook patreon) and panelled by bookpunks (band patreon), garethlpowell (whose patreon I can't actually FIND), and legendgerry (patreon).

• Started with a quick overview of what the hell Patreon is: ongoing crowdfunding that isn't for a specific project, patrons give regular payments in exchange for rewards. The tiers start at $1, with individual rewards. It also allows you to set goals, where goals are a thing that you WILL DO no matter what if you reach it, and Patreon will take 5% of what you earn. Alternative could be Ko-fi; by default you get a one-off payment, but you CAN set it up for repeated payments. (I think that's Ko-fi Gold and it does cost money.) They're about as easy to set up as any other social media account, although it's recommended that you look at what other/similar patreons are doing. ... Also if you mark yours as adult content, you're going to get a LOT of porn spam.


• If you're paid to do a thing, you have to do it. Does it make you more productive? bookpunks found that it didn't, because her Patreon is on an irregular schedule because she has no time! Gareth Powell found that it motivates them to do things that they wouldn't normally do, like a monthly vlog. legendgerry doesn't know what's enough or too much when it comes to rewards; he asked his patreons what they wanted and they told him to TAKE A BREAK. He finds Patreon useful as giving him a deadline and a cut-off point, which makes it easier to work and stop.


• Things that Patreon has taught them: editing, cut-off points, technology. Things it's given them: a community invested in what they're doing, a little room full of cheerleaders, a community that helps them be less embarrassed about money/caught up in impostor syndrome, although it's hard to promote it outside of that little community. (Apparently the way to solve this problem is to have friends who go "Y'know what you haven't tweeted about in a month? Patreon.")


• Difficulties: bookpunks set her tiers and rewards, but set a hard reward for too low a price, and found it hard to change once everyone has signed up! It can be done though, if you speak to people and explain what's happening and why. Gareth Powell did the same by promising critiques; it's apparently easy to overcommit and easy to focus on providing rewards instead of the actual work the patreon is supposed to be funding. legendgerry doesn't have any horror stories though; he got TOLD BY HIS PATRONS to change the tiers. (Later, someone in the audience asked why people removed the tiers that weren't working instead of just changing price, and the responses seemed to be that they did change the prices or pare down the content/homework, but they had to talk to people about it!)


• The monthly/per thing decision was interesting; legendgerry does it monthly, because he does SO MANY THINGS, so it's good for the months where you do a bit more or less than usual. jainefenn does it by month because it's a regular, predictable income. Gareth Powell does it by month because it's a commitment, especially as only about 10% of patrons engage with the extra content. bookpunks does it per thing, because she finds the monthly stuff really stressful.


• Tricks and tips for getting/keeping patrons: bookpunks doesn't really have any, because it turns out that when your audience is anarchist punks, they're not really willing to engage with the platform. Gareth Powell suggests thinking of it as the VIP area of your twitter feed, and making it part of all of your social media. jainefenn gets patrons from her readings, because it's carrying over (her patreon is audiobooks of her stories). Patrons come and go, try not to worry about it, and always be polite! legendgerry suggests messaging patrons and following-up with them (which, as someone with anxiety: oh god no please do not message me and expect a response, I can't), and trying to make patrons feel included, like asking them to help you decide on a project. He also recommends trying to put something out every month. And as patrons themselves, they want people to do what they say they will! Or at least be transparent and communicative, so that people know why you're not doing the thing! jainefenn suggests becoming a patreon of other creators that you like because if you're the patron of someone who patrons you, no one is losing money. (I think it was tambourine who once summed Patreon up as "The same five dollars circling through a friendship group until it's all lost to admin fees.") You can follow people for free as well! Also apparently a lot of American patreons seem to send things out at the same time, so I guess use that information as best suits your posting preferences?


• The audience questions! One was about the latest fee structure kerfuffle (that was me being an awkward baggins, sorry), which everyone on the panel had missed because it was only going to affect new patreons, so not them. One was about how much Patreon can supplement the lack of state funding for the arts and whether we need to champion it, and hmm, all of my notes seem to say "TAX THE RICH" in big letters? Personal soapbox: government funding is important, we should absolutely be taxing corporations and rich people to fund this shit instead of putting that burden on creators and their fans. ANYWAY: panelists reckon that state funding funds ANYTHING, big or small, whereas Patreon goes by popularity, so it rewards people who are good at promoting themselves and would penalise small niches. If state funding dries up, those would suffer the most.


• (TAX! THE! RICH!)


• I don't think I took very good notes on the question about rights and copyrights on Patreon (source: I don't know what the question WAS, just that that's the topic). The terms and conditions are complicated, and do involve a certain degree of trust that Patreon isn't going to fuck up. (Because, y'know, Patreon have never tried to shaft their userbase, that would be ridiculous.) legendgerry always makes sure to post his content somewhere else first, and bookpunks reckons that it's more of an internet problem than a Patreon problem. (There was a copyright lawyer in the audience who asked about creative commons, and the consensus seemed to be "Well, it needs to go under creative commons by its nature," or "Not if I wanted to make money on that thing.")


• So yeah, that was the Patreon panel! Some of it was pretty useful, but I don't think I can apply it myself just yet because my patreon is still kind of a placeholder. There are getting to be more alternatives to Patreon out there, which the sex-worker side of twitter have been promoting because they're not going through Paypal and thus don't need to comply to any of Paypal's adult content rules... But I've forgotten the site names, because it was on twitter and has thus vanished into the ether. Whoops.