Hello my readers, old and new.
I’m currently experimenting with using Patreon as a means to make a little bit of cash while I work on my writing…. not to mention while I work on anything else to earn an income, like the traditional and long-term employment that I need.
I can be found at Side Quest Publications (where else? 😉 ).
What is Patreon, you might ask? Well, simply put, it’s a crowd-funding site–I offer a project I’m working on, I try to entice the general public into helping me fund that project, and I offer up different rewards based on how much people have offered or for helping me reach certain financial goals.
But unlike other sites like Kickstarter or GoFundMe, or even most commissioned work, Patreon is all about ongoing projects without any deadline.
It isn’t about that one game that you want to release at the end of the year, it’s about continuing to hone your game design skills; it isn’t about that one drawing that you plan to finish by next week, it’s about creating an entire webcomic series. Or in my case, it isn’t about that one chapter that I’m editing today, it’s about funding all of my writing, and continuing to write even after that one novel is published.
Now the experiment.
To put it bluntly, I still have to work on my networking skills.
Not just the technical stuff like keywords and SEO, which was all part of my college education. No, I’m trying to get better at the “social” side of social networking.
My experiment is to see if I can improve those networking skills and use Patreon as a valid money-making opportunity while I continue to work on more traditional ventures, but there are a few problems with that.
The first problem, obviously, is I need paid content.
The plan is to upload the prologue to my novel-in-progress (also found on my other site Pioneers of the Shattered Waters, and my deviantArt account Side Quest Publication) as a freebie–a sample, of sorts, for potential patrons to see what they’d be investing in–and then upload the rest of the novel on a chapter-by-chapter basis as paid content only; paid patrons get early access to the work as I go, and then I would publish it for the rest of the world some time after my patrons have had a chance to read it.
Once I see how well that goes, I might use Patreon to feature other works of fiction, more novels and short stories and whatever else I happen to be working on. But right now I’m trying it out with just this one story.
But at this time of writing, all that’s up there is the first couple of parts to that free prologue. I need to keep at it.
The other problem, the “social” networking part, is that I also need patrons.
Now obviously patrons aren’t going to be too keen on paying me if all I have is free content. That’s why my account is set up to charge on a per-piece basis, instead of the optional per-month basis. My patrons simply won’t get charged until I upload that paid content.
But I do need patrons, or they won’t be able to see that paid content once it’s available.
The thing is, I could have paid patrons who are ready and waiting to start funding my project, and they still won’t have to pay dime one until I start uploading paid content…. but they’ll still be my patrons, even when all that’s available is free content. My account will still show that I have someone willing to help out.
And finally the progress report:
I have had a Creator Account on Patreon since August 2014, but I have not actively used that account until May of 2015. So I’ve technically only been using it for three months.
I have two videos uploaded, both free and shared straight from YouTube–there will be more once I get past this glitch syncing the two accounts.
I have finished editing and uploaded two free chapters in the prologue to my novel-in-progress.
And I have…. no patrons.
So would my readers, anyone who can spare a bit of cash, mind looking at my work and consider becoming patrons?
Or if you can’t spare the cash, could you please provide the information to your friends and family? See if you know anyone else who would be willing and able to help out?
Again, my Patreon page is Side Quest Publications. Thank you.
Pioneers of the Shattered Waters 