Patreon update :)

[mizkit]

So I logged into the war room after launching the MAGIC & MANNERS Patreon project and got hit with a bunch of suggestions on how to improve the page, which I’ll be doing, but one of them was “more explaining about how the funding works”, so I’ll do that in a blog post.

So. Funding with Patreon is Not Like Kickstarter. Patreon does not ask for one

Comments

[haikujaguar]

This is the kind of thing that makes me feel like Patreon's a harder sell than Kickstarter. It's very easy to say, "Kickstarter! Help someone get the capital to finish a project with a one-time donation that gets you a prize!" When you explain Patreon, though, it becomes this weird convoluted "and then, but also, and it's just that, and finally" explanation that usually leaves people as puzzled at the end as they were in the beginning.

I've seen a handful of people start using Patreon and I still don't know what it means or what I should expect for my money. o_O

[mizkit]

Well, you can eyeball me as a test case and we'll all see how it goes. I *genuinely* have no idea, so it's kind of interesting. Fortunately, if it's a flop, I think my ego can take it. :)

[haikujaguar]

If it flops, I think it will be more because Patreon's doing a bad job of explaining itself than it is about you...!

[bryant]

My simple Patreon explanation: "it's a subscription-based Kickstarter, but you only pay when the creator delivers an installment of the project."

[idancewithlife]

Thanks for the further explanation. I went ahead and pledged before you posted it, but was having doubts about spending $50 (in one dollar pledges) for a single ebook. I also don't read serials so if the project closes down after so many chapters I will "lose" any money I put into it. I read the first couple chapters you posted to be sure I wanted to support the project, but won't read anymore until if or when it's complete

[mizkit]

No, it runs the thing monthly, so the cap would be--if, for example, $12 is a reasonable amount to spend on an ebook--you'd cap your monthly pledge at $1 for an expected 12 months worth of chapters. I genuinely don't know if that means they take 25 cents a week or what.

It may be that it's not a great model for this kind of project, but I'll try not to leave anybody in the lurch regardless of how it eventually pans out. :)

[idancewithlife]

Well, the FAQ says:
If your pledges reach this cap you will not be charged for more patron-supported content from that creator for the rest of the month.

So I don't see a mechanism there to automatically stop my pledge after so many months. I can stop pledging before the first of each month, of course, but that means I have to watch it and decide when, or if, to stop pledging.

Also (still trying to figure this out), it says you are the one who initiates a charge. So you don't charge for each chapter until you have enough pledges for that chapter--is that right?

[mizkit]

Oh. Right, no, the only way I can see to stop the pledge after X months is to do it manually, yeah. Sorry. :/

Right. So if this month we hit the pledge amount every week, and then it falls down below $250 for a week, I don't hit the button again until it's been reached again. Ideally, of course, the fundraising goal is reached with enough room to spare that irregular chapter postings/donations won't be an issue--but I honestly have no idea if that'll happen.

[msagara]

I don’t know how responsive the Patreon people are, but I’m wondering if there’s a way to have a “per project” donation system, or a flat donation, rather than a per-chapter/per-item pledge.

I think when Lee and Miller used to do their crowdfund per chapter model, they had a cap for the whole thing, so you could shoe-in money at any stage, rather than on a per-chapter basis.

[haikujaguar]

I don't see how a "per project" donation system isn't better served by Kickstarter, though... for both creator and patrons.

[msagara]

My thinking - and I have run neither Kickstarter or Patreon so I’m looking at these very much from the outside

[haikujaguar]

*thinks

[bellinghwoman]

The problem that I face is that the subscription is in dollars, which means for every payment taken I would get hit with foreign currency transaction fees, which even if the money was only taken once a month, would add up to a substantial sum over 12 months :-(

[hzatz]

I don't think Kit is doing this is a test case for Patreon. I think she's just trying to have an excuse to see how many times she can use various forms of the verb "to discomfit" in a story.