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Jan 2016

I've never pledged more than $1, to be honest, even though that usually gets me in the "you get a heartfelt thanks from me and nothing else!" tier. I'm that broke. XD

Hmm, well I did add more than that in my $1 tier. since I know many only give $1, and I want people to walk away with something(even though they do enjoy my pictures and streams for free already) I have the $1 tier give access to sketches, wips, unfinished pieces, me finding out how to paint something and just throwing that up there.
I know the feel so don't worry about it and I hope your situation improves for your sake! I do really like this community, so anyone from here is welcome to chill on my stream or just follow me on tumblr/etc or even just talk to me.
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Yes! The browsing system! Really, really bad... and they still can't get it to work well. You have to be really strategic about promoting your Patreon page on your website. However, I think that if you have a mailing list setup, it would be much easier to just email your whole readership, and point them to your Patreon page smile

Completely agree! I'm wondering if anyone here has read Gary Vaynerchuk's "Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook"? It teaches you perfectly how to really be social and relevant on social media, and how to get your fans and followers to actually respond and appreciate your posts.

The idea behind the jabs is that jabs=give, and right hooks=ask.

So the idea is to give, give, give, and only then do you ask for something in return. smile

I have to agree with you in this case. I believe it's good to consider the 80/20 rule.

The 80/20 rule basically says that...
80% of your followers give you 20% of your income, and...
20% of your followers give you 80% of your income.

That said, you want to focus 80% of your energy on the 20% that pledge on the higher tiers, because you're more certain that these guys absolutely love your work that they're sacrificing so much for it.

On the other hand, those of the lower tier are by no means less significant, but they aren't exactly very committed either. After all, I've heard stories wherein some supporters just make a pledge for a short time (until they get their reward), and then once they've gotten what they wanted, they stop supporting you. That's just insane! But it proves that there are those looking to take advantage.

So I think it'd really be better to leave the really good stuff at the higher tiers, and then limit them to a number of people (just to create a sense of scarcity), and give your general supporters something small and simple to look forward to and enjoy.

I'm totally with you on this observation . MSFW content basically rules the digital art campaigns side of Patreon. Can't complain though as it a person to person choice.

2 months later

Hey guys! I'm going to sound like a tirteen year old who doesn't know anything, but I have begun to set up a Patreon account, but I'm still unsure about the way it should be used.
If I understand correctly, I don't necessarily need to uploa my comics onto Patreon, I can just have it here on tapastic, but rewards and such can be given there? How does this work?
Would my supporters give me their email and I send them the content, or does it only show up for them if I upload it onto the site. Also, what is live streaming and how can I do it?

I'm sorry...I'm an 80 year old woman stuck in a 20 year old body, I don't even know how to hang up my phone once I dial someone...haha I appreciate any help!

2 months later

Thank you for this interesting thread!

I would like to ask if anybody knows if making a video for one's Patreon page can be considered a "commercial project"?
I would like to make a video and add some free music, but most free music is "not for commercial use", and I don't want to breach anyone's rights...

I can't remember how patreon videos work, but if it requires a youtube link maybe this would help?2 It's a channel for youtube content creators to have music on monotized channels. You can shoot them an ask and see what they think.

Thanks, but as far as I know you can link the video from anywhere, like Vimeo. The only problem I have is that if whatever video is put on one's Patreon page, if it's considered commercial use or not...


I have one more question about Patreon - does anybody know where one can get RSS for the creator posts? Or does it just not exist?

You mean like Patreon automatically posting updates along with your website's RSS? Doesn't exist to my knowledge. You have to manually post all pages to your patreon page and you can't schedule posts. One of my greatest pet peeves for Patreon.

Um... I'm not really sure how exactly RSS generally works... >.>;;;; I just wanted to use Patreon as a blog and on Amazon I was asked to provide link to RSS file, so I went to search for it on Patreon and didn't find it >_<;;
I would also love it if we could use tags or something to sort the posts for patrons...

Some good tips here!
I really like the one about giving out the PSD files!
Anyone have any tips where to host them? They can be quite big even when compressed.

I'm considering setting one up, and these sound like fantastic tips to get going.

I'm just curious, is there room for physical reward tiers on there? Ideally I'd like to shift some of these comics currently flooding my living room floor as I'm having issues selling them online.

@stephensharpe707 Absolutely. Just be clear what the limitations of your physical rewards are (one per month? one time only?) and make sure that you price out the reward tier appropriately so that you aren't losing money on giving out physical swag. Think about the cost of shipping and time spent managing orders, etc.

Great, thanks! Just wandered if there were limitations, because it would require home addresses and what not. Something to consider anyway.

@elixiadragmire I did go to my first major con with ThoughtBubble last year and a few small (like real small) events with a little success here and there.

Yep the creators are held responsible to carrier out their promises. So if you promise physical rewards for a certain tier it'd be up to you to email your patrons asking for mailing addresses, tackling shipping cost, printing and distributing the rewards. Unless you can find an online distributor like Create Space or something. That can be a lot of work, digital rewards are quick and easier to start with.

1 month later

I've made templates for header (banner) images both for Tapastic and Patreon pages with highlighted areas that will be always visible under most circumstances:

Both blank templates in png can be downloaded here, with some commentary and instructions:
https://goo.gl/kx7EUX10

Please share this so that other creators know about the templates and can ensure that the important parts of their header design are always visible!

9 days later

I was kind of lost on Patreon. After reading this I'm at least a little more clear. THANKS!