Patreon/Ko-fi Tips & Advice?

[ToxicRamen]

I’ve decided to setup a Patreon & Ko-fi account to make some extra cash for my art/comics but I need some helpful advice on how to run these kinds of accounts since I’m a newbie at doing stuff like this.

I don't have that many followers on Twitter or Instagram (And those who do follow me, barely like and/or comment on my posts), I've mostly been posting just random sketches and not completed work, and I'm still working on my comics & portfolio so I haven't post anything up yet.

[kenmai]

my best bet of advice is this keyword and this keyword alone:-
Marketing!

Marketing can be your best friend when youre small and upcoming

try to build up your portfolio soon as you said that youre doing, and though you may be small on twit and insta thats ok! make sure that youre using hastags to get your work out there, share what art you have now in groups, start talking to more artists and making friends, reply to the posts you see going around that say things like 'share your work here/ tell me about your ocs/ what art pieces are your favorite' and other posts like that

the more you interact with people the more you gain attention
and once you have more attention THEN be sure to advertise that you have a kofi and patreon
people want to be sure that they can support you, that theyre getting something rewarding out of it

thus its really important for you to have that artwork and interaction first, otherwise people wont be interested

now ko-fi's are simple enough ofc
people can just donate if they feel like, or you can offer things to people like ex:-
making a post that says 'Drawing chibis for __ amount of ko-fi's' etc
make sure to follow the official ko-fi account on twitter!
they give away ko-fi's sometimes, or post things to help promote certain accounts

thats all i really have to offer as i havent done anything for my patreon
but you can start out with a $1 tier maybe? offering sketches and wips maybe

whatever your like!

[moop]

I don’t have either but from my own research I would look through other people’s patreons and kofi pages (preferably people who do work similar to you or what you want to do) to see what you like and dislike about how they’re set up. You may not have much traction at first if you don’t have much material or followers but there’s no harm in setting it up and having it (especially since I heard patreon is going through some changes and it might be beneficial to make an account sooner than later). Think about your ultimate goals for both - would they both function as tip jars, are you planning to make a long running series that you can post extras for on patreon, will you take requests from kofi donations, etc. and tailor your pages to your goals.

[DiegoPalacios]

I cast......resurrection!!!!!!!

(thread revived)

started wondering the same things as OP, and found this topic, so i thought it would be easier to continue this in case there are more users with more wisdom to share......

So.....Any Ko-fi and Patreon tips and advice?

[VibrantFox]

I use ko-fi and I'm going to reiterate some of the same advice that I've gotten

the main one being use as many features as your able, ko-fi likes that it seems. Set a goal, have an intro, use posts, have work in your gallery and in the same vein utilize gallery folders, add links the works. It also benefits to have aces to a reward for your supporters; I'm personally working on trying to get a thank you wallpaper/drawing that folks can download (possibly via imgur or something)

There's also the option to have commissions and a shop for all users (no need to pay for ko-fi gold). The commissions are pretty straight forward as is the shop but for folks looking for suggestions of what to sell there's things like wallpapers, prints, comic pdfs or design adopts if thats your fancy. i'd imagine there are products writers could offer as well but that's not something i'd have any experience or knowledge of tho if anyone does i hope they share.

i will say for people looking for a model similar to patreon on ko-fi there is ko-fi gold but as mentioned there is a subscription fee (i don't remember the price but if any one wants to chime in with that they can). if i'm not mistaken it allows for the monthly model like patreon has and you can set up specific rewards for supporters. ko-fi's also added some stuff recently so i think the most recent was discord integrations so you can allow supporters access to specific roles within your servers based on how much they've given.

i think the biggest benefit to ko-fi for those looking to make comparisons is that ko-fi takes no fees from the majority of your donations received and where there are fees they're very small (like around 5% and no more than 10% that i've seen). There's obviously not a lot of promo on the platform itself unless you've got a ko-fi gold membership or like you've done something to grab their attention so it's up to you to keep the link up and visible on all your platforms plus there's the option to add a button (with code already made for you) so you can stick it on your website, blog or even your twitch i think.

probably the only "downside" would be the "no nsfw" but if that's not a part of your content then it's literally no big deal