Patreon! (Or more importantly - Astreiant!)
Hmmn - another of lj's features that I've never actually used - the share button! So let's give it a whirl, because I'm quite excited about this... *g*
Originally posted by mescott at Patreon!
My Patreon is live!
After a bunch more talking and tweaking, I’ve decided to concentrate on Astreiant for now. I’m doing a simple monthly appeal: if enough people sign up to bring in $100 a month, I’ll post a sketch from Astreiant. It can be anything - a bit of drama, a character’s background, daily life, one of Old Steen’s sea-stories as Rathe remembers is - but it will be at least 500 words. These are bits and pieces that are unlikely to make it a novel, or will do so only in a severely edited form. They’re like the seven studies of folded hands that you see in an artist’s sketchbook: one of them may end up in the completed portrait, but it won’t be the same as the sketch. If the page reaches $250 a month, I’ll post a second sketch, also of at least 500 words. If the page reaches $500 a month, I’ll add an almanac entry - at least 250 words from my notes, almanacs, and imaginary reference books. I might include horoscopes and maps here, too.
I’ve set the minimum pledge at $1 a month, and for that, you get access to all the Patron posts. At $2 a month, I’ll send you an Astreiant-themed thank-you card - nothing fancy, but drawn from the dozens of stamps and images I’ve collected that remind me of this world. At $5 a month, you’ll get all of the above plus the chance to offer a prompt for a sketch. If you want to pledge $10 a month, I’ll throw in a signed copy of any of the Points books that you might be missing, and if you want to pledge $100 a month (this would be extraordinarily generous, to say the least!) I’ll make sure you get a complete set of the books currently out, and I’ll send you each new novel as it comes out for as long as you stay subscribed. Since you’ll be subscribing by the month rather than by the story, you’ll never risk paying more per month than you intended.
Why do this? For the simplest of reasons: money buys writing time. Income that can be calculated in advance, like the royalties from those newer publishers who pay by the month rather than every six months, buys slightly more writing time precisely because it can be relied on. The more I can raise here, the more time I’ll have to spend on my writing, and the sooner Point of Sighs can go to Lethe.
And back to me... *g* I must admit I'm eyeing this Patreon thing from a philosophically-interested pov as well as from a squee-more-Astreiant-Nico/Philip! pov. I'm a bit in two minds about it, although I think mostly in one mind, in that it should in theory be a good creative thing... Obviously there's been other Kickstarter-type things around for a while now, so mulling over the idea isn't new either, but it's the first time I've been tempted by it.
On the one hand, there's all the usual questions - how do you know someone will keep their promise to create - which is hard! - and there's no guarantee that you'll like what's created, cos you can't read the blurb first and then put it down. Mind you, that's different with the Astreiant Patreon, because of course I already love Scott's series and want more. Although, does it mean she'll stop posting scraps to lj, and only post them to the people paying for them? How much better than no one having them at all is that, if it happens?
Also, how do you pick "deserving" creators to support if you don't already know them at least by reputation/lj? I mean - I seem to remember that Neil Gaiman's wife had a Kickstarter (or the like) for some project, and while I'm sure it's fab and it'll be fab, I'd rather support creators who aren't already in a position to create and need the funding to actually get started, rather than established artists who I presume have other income/support.
But then - see first paragraph. A creator needs to be known to some extent to be seen as trustworthy, which means they can't be starting from scratch... For instance, if I nipped onto Patreon to ask for pledges to write a book, anyone looking would presumably think huh? who?, and unless they were exceedingly philanthropic, pass right on by... and probably quite rightly so! So - are these things really for people who already have connections, and possibly even publishers etc...? Presumably so... But wouldn't it be wonderful if they gave people who couldn't afford to write a whole day off each week where they could make that start? Or even more! But then it's back to no-guarantees, and when you're paying for something you need some degree of faith in what you're paying for...
I dunno, that's where my other bit of mind comes in... *g* I think that I think something like Patreon is an excellent idea - but mostly for, effectively, the middle-creative-classes, who are already at least part way there. Or could they work for beginner-creators? Actually, I think they did work for the author of that sci-fi book I read earlier this year... The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet... or does that partly prove my point?!
I'm curious - what does anyone else think of this sort of thing? (Quite apart from - yeay, Astreaint! *vbg*)
Erk, yes I should still be working... *sighs*
Originally posted by mescott at Patreon!
My Patreon is live!
After a bunch more talking and tweaking, I’ve decided to concentrate on Astreiant for now. I’m doing a simple monthly appeal: if enough people sign up to bring in $100 a month, I’ll post a sketch from Astreiant. It can be anything - a bit of drama, a character’s background, daily life, one of Old Steen’s sea-stories as Rathe remembers is - but it will be at least 500 words. These are bits and pieces that are unlikely to make it a novel, or will do so only in a severely edited form. They’re like the seven studies of folded hands that you see in an artist’s sketchbook: one of them may end up in the completed portrait, but it won’t be the same as the sketch. If the page reaches $250 a month, I’ll post a second sketch, also of at least 500 words. If the page reaches $500 a month, I’ll add an almanac entry - at least 250 words from my notes, almanacs, and imaginary reference books. I might include horoscopes and maps here, too.
I’ve set the minimum pledge at $1 a month, and for that, you get access to all the Patron posts. At $2 a month, I’ll send you an Astreiant-themed thank-you card - nothing fancy, but drawn from the dozens of stamps and images I’ve collected that remind me of this world. At $5 a month, you’ll get all of the above plus the chance to offer a prompt for a sketch. If you want to pledge $10 a month, I’ll throw in a signed copy of any of the Points books that you might be missing, and if you want to pledge $100 a month (this would be extraordinarily generous, to say the least!) I’ll make sure you get a complete set of the books currently out, and I’ll send you each new novel as it comes out for as long as you stay subscribed. Since you’ll be subscribing by the month rather than by the story, you’ll never risk paying more per month than you intended.
Why do this? For the simplest of reasons: money buys writing time. Income that can be calculated in advance, like the royalties from those newer publishers who pay by the month rather than every six months, buys slightly more writing time precisely because it can be relied on. The more I can raise here, the more time I’ll have to spend on my writing, and the sooner Point of Sighs can go to Lethe.
And back to me... *g* I must admit I'm eyeing this Patreon thing from a philosophically-interested pov as well as from a squee-more-Astreiant-Nico/Philip! pov. I'm a bit in two minds about it, although I think mostly in one mind, in that it should in theory be a good creative thing... Obviously there's been other Kickstarter-type things around for a while now, so mulling over the idea isn't new either, but it's the first time I've been tempted by it.
On the one hand, there's all the usual questions - how do you know someone will keep their promise to create - which is hard! - and there's no guarantee that you'll like what's created, cos you can't read the blurb first and then put it down. Mind you, that's different with the Astreiant Patreon, because of course I already love Scott's series and want more. Although, does it mean she'll stop posting scraps to lj, and only post them to the people paying for them? How much better than no one having them at all is that, if it happens?
Also, how do you pick "deserving" creators to support if you don't already know them at least by reputation/lj? I mean - I seem to remember that Neil Gaiman's wife had a Kickstarter (or the like) for some project, and while I'm sure it's fab and it'll be fab, I'd rather support creators who aren't already in a position to create and need the funding to actually get started, rather than established artists who I presume have other income/support.
But then - see first paragraph. A creator needs to be known to some extent to be seen as trustworthy, which means they can't be starting from scratch... For instance, if I nipped onto Patreon to ask for pledges to write a book, anyone looking would presumably think huh? who?, and unless they were exceedingly philanthropic, pass right on by... and probably quite rightly so! So - are these things really for people who already have connections, and possibly even publishers etc...? Presumably so... But wouldn't it be wonderful if they gave people who couldn't afford to write a whole day off each week where they could make that start? Or even more! But then it's back to no-guarantees, and when you're paying for something you need some degree of faith in what you're paying for...
I dunno, that's where my other bit of mind comes in... *g* I think that I think something like Patreon is an excellent idea - but mostly for, effectively, the middle-creative-classes, who are already at least part way there. Or could they work for beginner-creators? Actually, I think they did work for the author of that sci-fi book I read earlier this year... The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet... or does that partly prove my point?!
I'm curious - what does anyone else think of this sort of thing? (Quite apart from - yeay, Astreaint! *vbg*)
Erk, yes I should still be working... *sighs*