Patreon Repurposing

Like many of my creative endeavors and social media exploration, my presence on Patreon is very much a work in progress.

With that in mind, I would like to provide some insight into what I intend to do on the site.

When I first started out on Patreon, my account was experimental in nature. I had a vague grasp of what I wanted to do, but little more than that.
As a content creator, I had thought I might use it to offer up my novel-in-progress, “The Graft,” as early access to paid patrons on a chapter-by-chapter (or thereabouts) basis while I continued to work on and, eventually, finish said novel so it could then be published as a complete work.
I had no idea what to set for rewards besides the early access… and hardly more idea of what to suggest as goals.

Well, it is still an experiment in social media, and I still intend to release the novel as early access.
But I plan to do more.

Point the First: the novel’s free sample

The old version had me “printing” each chapter to a PDF and attaching that to my text posts, with the post itself having a sparse description so that patrons would know in advance what they’re about to download.

Now that I have a little better idea about how the site–and in particular, the text posting–works (or now that they’ve revamped that feature themselves, however the case may be), I will revise and most likely repost the prologue so it appears on the site as a proper text post. I might still attach PDFs of each chapter, at least of the freebies, for the benefit of those readers who might want to download a copy for offline reading.

Downloadable versions of paid content either will not happen at all or will happen at a higher than “early access” price point; we shall see. Need to get the free content revised before I worry too much about the rest.

Point the Second: fanfiction

I intend to post certain of my fanfics–most notably, my Flash/Legends of Tomorrow fanfics.
Some Doctor Who fics will make their way there as well, but these will be fewer and farther between; I’m trying the Faction Paradox approach to revising many of these fics so I can officially publish them as “original” works.
I might begin posting fics from other fandoms–Sonic the Hedgehog, My Little Pony, Tree Fu Tom, Secret Saturdays, and whatever else grabs my attention long enough to plot out a story for it… And I might not.
Fanfics will, of course, be posted as freebies. And whichever ones are posted on Patreon will also be posted here…. except one particular Doctor Who fic which, by nature of the “mistaken identity” theme, belongs over on my Crossover Cameo site, which is sadly in need of fanfics for me to review.
I have way too many of these posted to various fanfic sites as it is, so this will not be an “early access” thing. And anyway, they will be posted for free….

Point the Third: other writing

The prologue and any other samples of longer works, as well as the fanfics, serve among other things as a sample of my writing in general. Those are all posted for free.
Other writing–the full novel, short stories that won’t have shorter samples, and the like–will be posted as paid posts.
I’m aiming for a minimum of 1,000 words per post. This obviously depends on what sort of word length, formatting, and even what software is doing the counting, but I think I could reasonably estimate at least two-and-a-half letter-size pages.

A note: these are still works in progress.
I will most definitely try my hardest to make sure patrons get a clean copy but I do not guarantee that they will be identical to the version that I would actually sell once everything is completed.

Point the Fourth: other planned content

Other (free) content includes:
Early access to YouTube videos in which I record myself coloring in pages of a coloring book. No need to guess why this fell under “free” I hope?
Anyway, the idea here is that I have a graphics pad capable of taking real paper and ink and streaming the process to my computer; the videos in question will record what’s happening on the computerand will end with a side-by-side comparison of the paper image and the computer’s end result. And as a challenge to my viewers–try to guess the image before I’m done coloring it in!
I expect these will show up on YouTube about…. mmm… I’d say a month after I post them to Patreon. From my understanding, this requires that I actually post them to YouTube as an “unlisted” video and simply share the link to Patreon.

Other (paid) content made for Patreon includes:
Early access to how-to-videos. Admittedly I can only think of one such video at this point in time, but I might come up with others as I go.
Drawing challenges. A patron suggests something for me to draw, and I give it a go! I caution you, though, that I am very much an amateur; this is no “commission” so I will simply have to ask that patrons try to keep the suggestions simple to begin with. I can easily update my profile (and my prices) as I gain more confidence.
Like the coloring books, these will show up elsewhere for public consumption (YouTube for the videos, deviant Art for the drawings) a month after I post them to Patreon.

Point the Fifth: revamping the profile

A.k.a. “everything else.”

I need, plain and simple, to create an “intro” and “thank you” video for Patreon. This step is long overdue.
Keep on eye out on my Patreon, of course, to see when I post those…. or subscribe to my primary YouTube channel to receive an alert on that or any other subject I might post on. Or even here; I intend to embed at least the intro video on my website.

And I probably ought to think about revising the content of my profile, as well as the goals and rewards and so on.
Still no idea what to provide as rewards for paid patrons beyond “early access,” though I vaguely recall a mention on my site and/or YouTube being one of the options (maybe a monthly thing, with a list posted of all patrons at a certain level and links to sites of their choosing, and a higher patronage granting a review of a page of their choosing). And I suppose offering drawings in exchange for patrons could fall under “commission” status.
Although the site really needs a system in place for once-off pledges; certain potential rewards, like a signed copy of one of my books (if and when I have physical copies to sign) just won’t work as repeats.

Patrons will be, at present, charged on a per-piece basis; I work full-time (or near to it) and my online habits are sporadic at the best of times.
I cannot in good conscience charge patrons on a per-month basis without knowing that I will have content available to post for the month. Once I get used to posting more regularly, this will most likely change, but for now….