When are you "ready" to start a Patreon?

60Six 2015-12-26 21:09:28 UTC #1

Okay, okay, I know the simple answer is "whenever" and I know that's true... But at one point does it really make it, well, worth it?
My comic, City of Blank, has gotten a decent following (In comparison to all the other sites I've posted it on) and I couldn't be more grateful to all of my subscribers! But I have no idea how many of them would actually be interested in pledging and basically, to be frank, I have a terrible fear of failure (That I really need to work on lol) and don't wanna make all these big plans for a Patreon just to have like 3 people pledge.
This fear of having nobody interested in pledging has been stopping me from making a Patreon for a while now (Granted, I've only been thinking about it since I started posting a couple months ago), with me always giving myself the excuse of "I'll start one when I reach x number of subscribers!" But then that number comes and I chicken out and bump the number up higher.
Ack, sorry I'm sorta rambling and maybe getting a little too personal? I guess basically, when do you think is a good number to start a Patreon if I actually want to stand a chance at making some money. I'm not expecting to make hundreds or anything like that, don't get me wrong (I'd be thrilled if I were making even $20), but I really don't wanna start this thing up just to get like $4 a month.

keii4ii 2015-12-26 21:13:00 UTC #2

$3 per month beats $0 per month. I've heard the argument that the sooner you set up your Patreon, the better, because it's one of those revenues where it's really hard to convert a competitor's patron into yours. ("Competitor" sounds so cutthroat, but you know what I mean.) It's not too hard to convince a reader to give you $1 a month... but it's much harder to convince them to STOP giving $1 to this other creator (that they're already supporting), and give it to you instead.

For some reason, the idea of not doing so hot on Patreon doesn't scare me too much, unlike a potential kickstarter fail.

60Six 2015-12-26 21:18:43 UTC #3

I really need to get that mindset! I know it's a big personal dilemma of mine. Maybe this would be a good first step in conquering it ahah (That a small amount on Patreon =/= failure on my part).
You do raise a good point though, about getting in before "competitors" do (Though I really don't want to look at it that way either).

quietsnooze 2015-12-26 21:21:41 UTC #4

Definitely agree with @keii4ii here! I started my Patreon and only had two patrons for a long time. And that's okay! It's definitely fine! Everyone starts somewhere!

You can make your patreon plans and go right ahead with them as soon as you feel ready to. Remember, new patrons subscribing will get to see the things you've already posted - it might even be a perk for new patrons to see that you've diligently updated your patreon in spite of a small audience. That'll give people faith in your dedication.

As mentioned, there's not a risk to it like a Kickstarter. You'll get paid for posting your work. There's no set amount you have to hit in order to get your money. Why not launch and see what happens? It's definitely not a failure if you don't hit a certain dollar/patron amount within an arbitrary amount of time! Have faith in yourself! : D

colinwmd 2015-12-26 21:34:44 UTC #5

I agree with the other responses here. I don't have many followers but I am optimistic that when I start my longer story next year that will be more successful, so I intend to set up a patreon from the start. But I don't have any expectations of it. Anybody that chooses to become a patreon will be a bonus in my eyes.

shinavar 2015-12-26 21:51:08 UTC #6

I agree with the others here. For the longest time I only had $5 for my backers a month but honestly it was a driving point for me because it still showed someone was willing to put money, even if small, to support me. It's not a lot financially but the mentality behind it was more than enough to keep me going which eventually led to more supporters.

And you most certainly cannot fail as it costs nothing but time to you (unless your incentives are out of pocket expenses), but it's time that adds value into your experience! So in the end it's a win/win however you look at it; or at least it's how I always looked at it.

voshxdaemon 2015-12-27 06:13:13 UTC #7

I figure once I get my comic to 100 subscribers, I'll start up patreon for $1 support, and begin a milestone arrangement. I figure that if I put in a milestone or two, maybe supporters will cultivate more publicity for it, and I'll have more people following.

Eventually, I want to work on other stuff, so I'll have to think about rewards for higher support.

ratique 2015-12-27 06:19:52 UTC #8

I JUST started my patreon, after I had my comic running for almost a year. My original idea was to start one at 500 subscribers, simply because that is how the internal Tapastic support program worked and it made sense to me. Unfortunately my time is incredibly limited and I failed to set one up until very recently.

Since it does not cost you anything to have a patreon page running, I see no problem in creating it early.

Aetherwing 2015-12-27 07:25:13 UTC #9

There's no real point in NOT having one, because it doesn't cost you anything. Plus the longer your Patreon is there the greater the chance at getting more patrons. My Patreon only has a couple of supporters and I'm not making that much money, but I'm happy that anyone wants to put money into it at all.

winglesscomic 2015-12-27 08:02:36 UTC #10

my position to never get a patreon is solidified by the fact that i recently saw a creator here who has thousands of subscribers yet makes less than $1 on patreon

mrw i saw the disproportionate amount of no one caring

jmhenry 2015-12-27 11:34:55 UTC #11

^Yeah, I know in my case it would be because I'm still a nobody in the webcomic scene, but I can't help but see a point there. Seems like most of the time, unless you're really big, people cringe at the thought of a creator announcing they have a patreon, and then the "I want it for free, get a job" crowd rolls in... For some reason most people think 'creator + need for money = sellout', but that's mostly just what I've noticed around the internet.

If I've gone off topic, sorry about that.

yvettegustafsson 2015-12-27 13:21:45 UTC #12

My God, that really grinds my gear! I can't think of anything else than that the people who say that kind of thing just doesn't have a basic knowledge about how money and life works.

ratique 2015-12-27 18:04:46 UTC #13

Aka those who never had to work before ; ) That's why I never take complaints like that seriously.

mg78 2015-12-27 18:40:04 UTC #14

i dont i ll never go in patreon mode, but who know lol

this remeber me when someone in twitter/facebook bought tons of followers just to be indicized. well, it worked in the beginning but later... be on the top with none real following that was quite usefull, a real owngoal lol

look like so...

efdvorsky 2015-12-27 18:42:05 UTC #15

There's this big annoying culture that artists have to be OVERLY humble in their works and they have to sell their work for minimum. Almost like you're just LUCKY you got hired rather instead of you actually working for it. There's a difference between keeping your feet in the ground and underselling yourself.

It's a nasty habit even I haven't broken yet and it's been pretty clear in some recent animator wage scandals and pretty much the artist commission demand online.

But ok that's out of the way, I read this and am considering a Patreon too. Even if it's just a dollar or so. So from people's experience, how does the tier system work best? Is it okay to publicly publish things you promised backers be it weeks or months after showing it to them?

nickysoh 2015-12-27 18:48:02 UTC #16

Hi, I saw your tapastic account and the subscriber is huge! Also found out that you have your own hosting but I can't find your patreon site or link anywhere. Wondering how it is doing?

ratique 2015-12-27 18:54:14 UTC #17

I wouldn't sayI have that many subscribers, compared to many others here I am quite the small fish. But I started my patreon officially about a week ago I think. I did not do any advertising yet, other than mentioning it two times. So I still need to get around doing that.

My own website is simply a backup plan, in case something happens with Tapastic. I haven't looked at the stats of the site too closely, but I doubt it is visited too often, since I am mostly active here.

Since you were looking for them, here are my links:
http://tapastic.com/series/Devils-Acres
https://www.patreon.com/ratique

60Six 2015-12-27 21:33:32 UTC #18

Hey guys, thank you all for the responses! A lot of this is really encouraging and inspiring and some really concerning ahaha.
I do think I am gonna get my butt into gear after this next chapter is finished and start up a Patreon and work on conquering this fear. But with that said, that sort of leads me to my next obstacle: The pledges. I have nooo idea what to offer, so if you guys have a Patreon, could you maybe post yours so I can get some ideas of what I can offer people? I saw @ratique 's and that gave me some fun ideas, but I'd love to see some more!

joannekwan 2015-12-27 21:42:26 UTC #19

Here's mine if you need ideas!

dotpapercrowndot 2015-12-28 00:13:20 UTC #20

this topic is giving me hope U__U hhaha