Patreon pitch, final-ish draft.

[naamah_darling]

I'm aiming for a January 1st launch of my Patreon campaign.  This is the final-ish draft of my pitch.  It doesn't have to be perfect, but it does need to do the job, so if you can think of a way to make it better, please let me know.  The goal is to get people to pledge a small (or large, won't say no) monthly donation in exchange for access to

Comments

[ashbet]

I think it's excellent :)

<3!

[naamah_darling]

I'm . . . pleased enough with it to put it out there, and considering the near-literal fits this has given me I'm probably gonna get a final round of input, one more pass, and call that good enough and give myself a big thumbs up.

I'm excited about this. Genuinely excited. And not in an "OOOOH SHINY!" way that feels superficial, but in a quiet way that I hope means I'll be sticking with it faithfully. I want to build something here. I really do. I have a lot of ideas for things to share that aren't huge and stressful, and The Actual Bear's presence as an apprentice is a good reminder of just how much I really love doing this.

[dragondances]

Oh, this is wonderful! I really like your combination of honesty and confidence (because you and your art really are that awesome). Add in your links and pictures and I totally think that'll do what you want it to! Maybe you can even ask for signal boosting through pony mod tumblrs and stuff?

The only suggestion I can think of is emphasizing and maybe showing examples of the range of ponies you make - from Madame Swallowtail to the Blacklock Twins to more traditional ones like Amor Volat? And the fact that you do accessories. Pony-cessories. :)

[naamah_darling]

Good point on the range thing!

I think the accessories are going to be a thing I try to do more of; they're cute, they add value, and they really do sell the "story" of each pony.

Not every time, that would get tiring and be a lot of work, but more than I HAD been doing.

one last thought

[blue_peitho]

I think you've done a great job distilling down your first draft into an actual art product for people to patronize. That's great, and it really gives focus to your solicitation of sponsorship. I can already tell where the internal links go, and I think it will turn out wonderfully well.

But I have one last suggestion on the text: I know that you are painfully honest, and that you are working to be entirely up front with your patrons and subscribers. And yet... I think your pitch would benefit from removal of the last paragraph. Ending on "awesome work" is a positive and hopeful note, and gives that little push to the emotional buttons of "I wanna be awesome by association!"

In the end, though, this is representational of you, and I expect that you want it to be honestly representing you. So if you think this is it, then go with it. I think you will do well.

Re: one last thought

[naamah_darling]

Yeah, I'm thinking about dropping it. I actually got a round of awesome edits from another reader, and that whole last section is going to get sliced up and moved around. I'm not sure, once that's done, that the last paragraph will even need to be there.

Yeah, like you said, it's a huge concern for me that people know I'm . . . not unreliable, that's an unfair way of putting it, but it's called "disabled" for a reason. I'm sometimes not able to do much of anything. I honestly think I can handle one pony a month, though. I really do. And that's barely work, you know? This is just monetizing what I would *already be doing*, so that makes me feel more confident.

Would you, as someone coming across that page absolutely cold, grok that updates might be sporadic from time to time?

RE: Re: one last thought

[blue_peitho]

I think that the observant reader should understand that your work isn't constant. You put a large and obvious statement to that fact in saying I'm not gonna lie. I can't always work. There may be some months where I do very little, or nothing. Some people won't grok that, but they should at least notice that there is a statement to that fact.

And sure, this is monetizing work you already do - which is great, in my mind. You are already doing it, why not get paid? People will pay you for fun email full of happy photos and interesting artwork that you want to do anyway. Yay.

[hayet]

I thought of Ferret's excellent on fundraising when I read this. I think your draft already focuses on the positive, which is really important, so I'm not saying you should change anything. Except to post as many cute and gorgeous and exciting and silly pictures of ponies as you can! :)
Be the Potato Salad!

[cissa]

I think this sounds great, and we will subscribe.

Would you be able to answer the occasional question about the process as a part of this? Not a deal-breaker- godz know I have sufficient avocations currently!- but I love learning the details of how to do stuff- it makes me appreciate it more.

[naamah_darling]

Yes! Absolutely! Actually, if there's specific things you wanna know, let me know about it //now// and I'll make sure to get to it!