Patreon as a tip Jar until a certain milestone or easy rewards?

[MGComics]

If you have Patreon feel free to promote it in this thread

So, probably as many of you, you (and I) choose to create a comic because we love it, not really the money.
I have created stories since I was 6 but only published until recently >_<

So here is the thing, I want to launch more than 1 comic, but the time and effort I want to put into it can't really stand right now. What I mean is, I'm an student, have a part time job, do YouTube and Instagram (barely, when I'm not too exhausted) on top of my comic Winter Secrets: https://tapas.io/episode/901271

I need the job because that way I support my father with my education, honestly I wouldn't want to not help him because he's working hard and deserves everything. Maybe you need it because of food and more urgent stuff.

I was wondering of launching a Patreon but to be honest, I would not be able to do too much on respect rewards until a certain milestone (basically what I usually earn per month), in which I would quit my job to focus on creating more content, the new comic and more videos.

I could just quit working and do it anyway, but feel that's a bit unfair to my father.

So I was wondering If you've used Patreon as only some sort of tip jar (be free to promote yourself in this thread) or rewards that don't require that much time but that show real valuable appretiation to those wonderful people. Would hate to feel that I don't deserve their support.

Though of course I would go out of my way to underpromise overdeliver, (I like doing that and I don't need that much sleep lol)

I wanted to wait until I had more audience, It makes me a bit embarrased to want to launch it so soon.... I may not even do it. The main reasons is the time Patreon would give me to produce more comics, that's the main goal. Because of things in life, I'm trying to take advantage of the "freedom" I have right now as a student....That "freedom" is gonna end soon.

What do you think?

Sorry If this was a ramble, have been freaking out for a while and just bursted everything out

[punkarsenic]

i have a patreon, and i do not do on-request rewards. admittedly, my patreon isnt great, but i dont think its necessary to do on-request rewards, particularly for any tier below $20.

the most important piece of advice ive heard about patreon for artists is make rewards out of what youre already doing. you have a script, you have sketches, thumbnails, drafts. do you have a buffer? you already have plenty of things to put on a patreon. for a leeeeeeeettle more work, you can post speeddraws (just record yourself drawing a page, and speed it up) or you could do sketchbook videos (dont put these on any tier lower than $15 unless youre lit just flipping through with your phone camera, theyre effort so theyre money)

if you look around and have a brainstorm, youll likely find a great many things you can already post to patreon, and a great many more that wouldnt be hard. monthly evaluations? sharing your tapas statistics each month is one ive seen around the place. you could look into offering private livestreams - if not technically private, just dont tell anyone else theyre happening - which is just a lil company while you work. vlogs and status updates are actually really valuable - many people come to patreon for behind the scenes information, to get to know the creator a little.

also, if you have a buffer, you can do early release on patreon. people loooove early release. dont base your entire thing on it, but definitely feature it, on the $1-3 tier (i know some ppl that give you earlier and earlier release the more you pay, but then things get complicated)

this all said, patreon will always be a eensy little bit of a tip jar, especially for webcomic artists. the people who pledge arent just doing it because they like what youre selling, but because they have a love for your work and want to nurture it. so yeah, your $1 tier can be little more than a tip jar. although personally, id set up a ko-fi for that.

dont quit your job, of course, but do start a patreon. it can fail for the first six months, who cares - ask your mates to pledge maybe, so it looks good. patreon encourages you to do that, actually - when i first started, i had several mates and my dad pledging to me. you can also pledge to yourself, but youll be about 40 cents out of pocket each month for VAT and transfer costs. youll find though that patreon really wants you to succeed, so they provide lots of tips that are genuinely helpful, you can take your own time following them. God knows im yet to do most of them.

[onyefrankie]

No need to apologize as I understand where you're coming from in a sense. I'm pretty much a nobody in a lot of respects XD. I'm not a comic artist, sorry if that means I shouldn't be commenting here, but a writer of mostly queer fiction of the slice-of-life variety.

I personally started patreon and ko-fi to hopefully gain something to help me towards college, moving out and keeping myself and my dog afloat while dealing with my crippling mental health (social anxiety, to the point I can't leave my house to even get myself a job). I also would want to make writing a full-time gig so there's also saving up for self-publishing if the traditional route gives me nothing. So yeah, tough times for us not in the whole capitalist system XD. I mean making those things was a stretch cause like nobody really knows me but when I got my first patron, I think I literally cried XD

You could always do rewards like giveaways, special art like wallpapers, deleted scenes from your comics, or even special events for a particular pledge tier like contests and special requests? Things like that. I hope this helped you in some way and I wish you all the best!

[MGComics]

This advice was so useful, and really I'm so grateful for it You're so right!
There is so much that was already created and that can be shown and shared with readers!!

I can't make a paragraph as long as yours, but wow, what you wrote was so valuable!! Literally will reference to this

Also loved the vlogs and process ideas <3

Where do you usually link your Patreon in Tapas?

[punkarsenic]

people usually link their patreon in the ad banner of their comic, here:

this one (ugh, i really need to remake mine)

i also link mine in my artist bio, and every so often i drop a mention of it on my wall.

[MGComics]

I like writers a lot, to be honest. My favorite YouTube channels are from writers XD and I love them

Seems very serious But it's cool you're fighting towards your dream while having such a bad mental illness. I find it very inspiring and really wish you can conquer it when you need to <3
I know writers (such as artists but it's different) have ways of inspiration and writing that may seem odd, and I find that very inspiring.

I'm someone who writes and draws my own story so I love seeing both sides, writing and art.

I think I also would cry... The fact people trust you enough to donate to yout work

Loved the suggestions, dear, and I liked hearing part of your story. Wish you success on your journey!
Where do you post your writing?

[MGComics]

Sounds cool! I liked your art and subbed. I look forward to see your journey growing as a comic creator <3

Again, really thank you for all your advice. The information has proven super valuable for me and I won't forget it!

[punkarsenic]

no problem! i hope it all goes well for you. btw, heres an article that really helped me with rethinking how i do patreon (im revamping mine atm). might give you some more ideas.

https://kirileonard.com/tips-for-artists-how-to-reward-your-patreons/

[onyefrankie]

Thank you! It is tough, yeah but I'm trying to pull through. Hopefully I can move out by the end of the year XD Fingers crossed!

Oh a bit of everywhere. Mostly have first drafts on Wattpad under the name ivebeenbamboozled.

And I've got the edited draft of my first ever finished story on here called The Raven In My Apartment.

The Raven In My Apartment | Tapas

[Hodge]

Well I suppose I'm in a rather similar situation, and can't really say I have things figured out much more. I kinda just ranted haha (ayy we can ramble on together!) so feel free to just skip to the last paragraph. I've also been freaking out about my future and finances quite a bit haha. However maybe sharing my plan can help you think through your own situation. Especially since it's common for creators to go on hiatus, desperately try to promote their patreon, literally beg webtoon to become featured, become resentful of their readership's entitlement, or just give up since it's so much work with such little monetary gain. At the end of the day, there are other fun things you can do with your time. It's also the case in which many creators dream of some future prospect of doing comics full time while being able to support their family, it's just even the relatively successful ones will laugh/pity you if this is the outcome you're betting on. Neither the readership or the creators take the comic industry that seriously, but I believe we can change this and that this mentality is an obstacle to creating even better quality content that would actually lead to comics being taken seriously.

I do my best but the more responsibilities and financial hardships I take on, the more I realize that given the amount of time these projects take I will probably have to drop them if I can't start making serious money soon. My time of "freedom" is coming to an end pretty soon. I'll try to keep doing it out of passion, but if I want to start making real money from making comics I will need to be serious about treating comics like a business (also being really hardcore with developing my skills but won't go into that here). I did once think about it as just a hobby, it's fun and I can get a few dollars here and there from the rare dedicated fan, but for a while now my ambitions have sort of grown and like you my time is precious.

Basically, I've become a bit of a "sell-out" and my strategy was developed from looking at how other creators are doing and what is realistic. My series which are action/fantasy probably won't make enough money from patreon, even if my audience grows. My hope for those series is they eventually get featured by LINE. Which also means that their performance on LINE really matters, and if a series I'm working on doesn't reach x amount of subscribers in a month then I'll just drop/redo it. I've always been into yaoi and so I'm going to start doing NSFW exclusive content on patreon for a BL series. Though in all honesty posting BL on LINE rubs me the wrong way and so am seriously looking into Lezhin(IknowIknowtheyhaveabadreputationwithcreators) since they provide a steady income. I also need to be more consistent with marketing and am working on building a following on Tumblr/Instagram/Youtube/Twitch/etc through networking, fanart, and the like. It's with this kind of strategy involving a few ambitious projects that I'm looking to move past getting just some small money from patreon into being able to quit my job and make comics professionally. I also have a very limited time to achieve this goal but for now just want some steady growth as I continue to improve.

So specifically to your situation, if you just want to treat it as a sort of tip jar so that some of your fans can show support, just go for it, there is no need to worry about the rewards. However, you won't be getting much money, and probably not nearly enough to where patreon would give you the time to work on another series. As you said it probably would be better to gather a larger audience and then promote patreon rewards (both low effort and more time-consuming). If I were you and if I thought my skills were up to par, I'd be planning for some ambitious series and quit the part-time job when I wanted to focus on them and build a buffer. Then counting on them launching successfully, gathering a large audience, and then promoting my patreon.

[MGComics]

Perfect! Looking forward to support you. it will take me a while to catch up but looking forward to it <3

[MGComics]

Thank you so much! Yep! Been researching a lot, but nothing as useful as your insight. Thank you :')

[MGComics]

Don't worry, it's refreshing to hear honesty and other creator's struggle.

Here is the thing: I have many options. I already work as a comic artist part time so I'm not terrible now, at least.

Marketing is super vital, If you do it well, but it also takes a lot of work. Once you reach 100 suscribers in YouTube it does get easier, for example, but to get 100 It can be super hard If you don't know how to market.

The same with Instagram but it's more difficult. ( I think you need 1k before it gets a bit easier in terms of ROI)

So, I understand the sell out strategy, and I think it's very smart. People love porn scenes of certain characters and I think you can be very successful.

I would never do it but I get the appeal and I know people who gain lots of money thanks to that, from sakimichan to avialae (Idk how to write). And I respect them because they also worked very hard on top of that, so they deserve all the success they have.

Actually, the ambitious series is the one I want to work on, I'm pretty confident in it, but as it requires lots of work and effort (it's chinese/asian inspired, lots of detail and art as high as possible) it will take serious amount of hours.

At the end of the day, what you mean and we want is "to be so good nobody can ignore you."... But also marketing.

But yep, it's difficult. Wish you the best with comics! I think yaoi is super successful and handled well you can be very popular tbh

[sushy00]

I have a Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/sushy
II have various rewards and milestones, so it is not just a tip jar.
The cheapest rewards are previews and stuff, the most expensive option is receiving a drawing every month.
Sometimes I also have exclusive discounts in my web shop for patrons.

[Littlemissno]

Hello!

I'm also a writer with social anxiety (can't handle a job it's so bad), not to mention a full-time student. I was just wondering how you got patrons if you don't mind? I started a Patreon a while ago to hopefully earn a little something something from my art, music, and writing, but I still haven't gotten my first patron. My dream is to earn money from my creations, so I would like to make this a full-time gig also. My art isn't where I'd like it to be yet, so I haven't started any comics. I'd like to in the future.

Any tips would be extremely helpful! If you don't mind... I don't really know what else to do to get fans and hopefully patrons (I've been posting on here and Wattpad so far).

Thanks! It means a lot!

[Littlemissno]

I already posted on your other comment, but your username for Wattpad looks familiar! I think I might already follow you, or I've at least seen you in one of the contests or something

[onyefrankie]

My first patron was actually a friend and it surprised me mostly because I never like asked them to do it. And for ko-fi, I put it out there on Wattpad to see if users would be up for putting donations.

I'm sorry that you are going through that. It's really difficult and it honestly drives me crazy sometimes XD.

[Littlemissno]

Thanks! I never heard of ko-fi before, but I just looked it up. It looks like a good option, but I don't have any fans who would donate money for my work. I told my Wattpad followers about my Patreon page, but none have donated so far. Although, I took a hiatus for a while, so I lost a few followers (which is understandable). I'm down to less than 15 now...

As for friends, I've lost most of them after high school, and only like 2 of the few I have actually enjoy reading. My one friend started reading my book, but I don't think it was her cup of tea. I think she likes mystery books. Besides, she has her own financial troubles, so I'd feel bad telling her about it, in case she did want to donate. I know she needs the money.

Anyways, I'm going to work harder and try to get more subs on my story. If my readers enjoy my story that much, then I'd be extremely grateful if they donated. But, I guess I understand if they don't want to...

I hope both our lives get a little easier XD and yeah, it drives me crazy, too. Lately, I've been thinking maybe I'll just apply to the local small Starbucks and deal with the anxiety. I hope it won't be too bad since it's inside another store, and I don't want to screw up haha

[fuyudust]

I had an impression that patreon only work when you already have a fanbase somewhere else first, a huge and loyal one, because patrons don't come from patreon itself, so I don't bother making any patreon content yet, but focus on improving my art/comic, work on social network and try to build a name for myself first. I think most of the patrons patronize because they want to support the creator in the first place, I don't think rewards mean much to them until our creation's quality reach a certain level.