Patreon is screwy...

[BiscuitHammer]

I'm setting up an account, to see how it works, but this shite is weird. Anyone else use it for their writing? I'm curious about your experience and any advice you might have...

 

[Blind_Justice]

I'll place a stray eyeball here too, because I've recently received my first fan letter, in which someone asked me why the hell I'm not on Patreon, because they want to give me money for my writing. Talk about ego boost.

My only exposure to Patreon so far is through my favourite YouTube personalities.

 

[Desiremakesmeweak]

All these kinds of things are 'upside down.' The people who have devised and designed pretty much all of the 'crowd-funding' or voluntary contribution platforms out there are all operating on the idea that centralizing a payments transfer facility for creators will GET THEM (the system owners, not the creators!) A SHARE OF THE THROUGH-PUT... ...But the only exposure element is the platform itself and not the content. (It's impossible to find any quality product because of the 'crowding out' effect.)

They simply don't care either about the creator or the consumer and are rushing in to the technology opportunities by the most simplistic, mindless and thoughtless route that is obvious to them.

Fundamentally, the entire spectrum of internet and digital services and facilities are STILL very clunky in terms of having an actual market reaching the optimum providers of content and the actual, real-life content generators.

But to some extent it's a waste of time having a conversation about this here because there are numerous 'experts' who all make MILLIONS of dollars via Patreon and what-all-else because they are such geniuses and are such amazingly good writers/creators/whatever. And for some reason they seem obliged to leap in and wail about their success. No doubt the IRS is reading everything they write here and are so impressed they have given them a discount on their taxes.

The topography of how artists and writers are actually going to be monetized hasn't been 'terra-formed' yet.

But if you want to waste time and (your) money believing the propaganda go right on ahead, I'm not going to stop you.

 

[RejectReality]

Unless you're putting out a lot of content on a regular basis, and still have time to devise special perks for the people donating, it's not going to be worth your time. A buck here and a buck there isn't going to validate the time you spend on it.

Most could get as much mileage out of an old fashioned Paypal donation button.

Patreon is for people who already have large fanbases and can keep delivering content consistently for years. Those are the folks who can make reasonable spare income, or in extreme cases, a sustainable wage.