When are you "ready" to start a Patreon?

[colinwmd]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

^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]

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.

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]

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.

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

[mg78]

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

recently saw a creator here who has thousands of subscribers yet makes less than $1 on patreon

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

Here's mine if you need ideas!

[dotpapercrowndot]

this topic is giving me hope U__U hhaha

[nickysoh]

Thanks for sharing the info!!!

[Mharz]

I have this thought at the back of my head that I might have started patreon too early because I only have a small audience and I'm not really sure if there's someone in those 100 subscribers of my webcomic who are willing to lay down even just $1 and It's hard for me to advertise these stuffs because I'm scared that people might think that I'm forcing them to pledge and I might lose audience.

I'm starting to lose hope if ever gaining something on patreon.

[neonmeres]

I think it best to give it a shot when you have a huge fan base who are genuinely interested in your comic . That cant take a lot of time but once you do, financial gain for what you love doing is in sight. So it better to keep doing what you are doing for a coupe of years at least. If things are working then go for it!

[SmithasaurusRex]

mine

I would start Patreon as soon as possible and put it up there with your posts. You have to Patreon much in the same way you have to build a comic and supporter base on Tapastic.com The sooner the better.