Lack of motivation on patreon
Added 2020-01-07 13:59:43 +0000 UTCHello all!
I am just writing this post to inform that I am, and have been, going through a phase of a lack of motivation on this platform. Initially the purpose of this patreon was to be a kind of a tip jar platform for people who enjoy my works to give a bit financial help, tips, if you may, and in return gain some small fun stuff, like works which I wouldn't normally show and personalized sketches.
It did not take much time for me to figure out that this patreon wasn't exactly working the way it was intended. Right now this patreon channel acts more as a way for people to commission sketches than act as a tip jar, which I am grateful for that people will pay hard earned dosh for such things. However, unlike commissions, from the payment of these sketches, patreon takes their own cut.
However, in recent months, the sketches, to me, have become more of a source of stress and frustration rather than just something fun I throw to generous people. I feel expectations have been rising for the quality of them, and the have become more elaborate. I think this was a mistake in communication on my end, which is why I am writing about it now.
This channel has been in the public for nine months now. I am yet undecided on whether I will be closing this patreon, but I felt it was necessary to write about my worries and thoughts about how this patreon has been working so far. I will have to be more upfront about the quality of the sketches in the future and I may have to change that tier, raise its price or be more upfront that the quality wont necessarily be amazing if the subject matter is something I am unfamiliar with. In essence what this means is that patreon has gone from a low maintenance thing into a high maintenance thing which requires me to take a couple days each month just to read, research and plan the sketches.
On a tangent, I also feel patreon is somewhat poisonous to my self esteem, as it encourages you to keep track of people coming in and going out, after all, each person coming in is more money into patreons own pocket, and people going out is more out of their pocket so patreon wants you to get patrons and keep them too. It very well may be that I launched my patreon too soon and I need to wait a bit longer till I can make this platform work, but for now, it very well may be more work than it is worth, but regardless, I will keep it around for the time being and see how it goes.
Thanks to all of you who have been my patrons so far, old and new, especially you guys who pledge in the low tier, I feel I give you so little in return of the five bucks you could be spending on a streaming service or something, so it means a lot. I also appreciate you folks in the higher tier sticking around, even if you give me a hard time sometimes, haha!
- Timi Honkanen "ThemeFinland"
Comments
Thanks a lot for your thoughtful input too, Noirat, it is much appreciated :) Now after a couple hours has passed I think my glucose levels may have been a bit low when I wrote this, which explains the a bit ranty structure of the text, haha. But I still do stand by some of the things I said, I need to sort of restructure and rethink what this patreon is for. Maybe it is all about just scheduling those three days for myself each month that will be reserved for doing all the sketches, as for awhile I just thought about patreon as like extra income, but I think I need to rethink that aspect, as a year ago I had 2 patrons and now I have 13, 6 of who I make sketches for! I also understand that people have to unsubscribe at some point, it is only natural! However, I think there could be some rethinking on patreons end on how to display the unsubscriptions, as right now it displays a big ol' notification with big ol' numbers of how much money you lost and how many people left, I think that is a bit unnecessary and cruel to show those statistics that way. Granted, for some people it may be useful to know that and have that data immediately visible each time you log in. But for now I will continue on doing this thing and figure things out as I go along :) Edit: And I totally agree about not putting art behind a paywall, after all, what is art if there is nobody to witness it?
2020-01-07 19:02:57 +0000 UTCSorry to hear the sketches are stressing you out. I can't say if you should or should not continue the sketches, as one of the guys using it I am biased there, but you should do what is good for you mentally. If you want to get some stress off, but still do it, maybe make the sketches not as detailed and have artistic freedom with them, opposing to planning out every picture carefully. If it's too much or patreon just cuts too deep into the money, you should stop and think of something else. Also the idea Helzim had, of a higher tier over 5$ giving some people maybe voting rights on the theme or topic of another piece of art or incentivice Commissions sounds good. Just a paywall for art would be a bad idea there. I really hope your self esteem rises again soon as well. There is no need for you to be sad about your artwork at all and patrons come and go. It makes no sense to doubt your quality, because some people leave, maybe because of money problems or maybe because they only intended to give some money for some months. When patreon doesn't pay out for you, personally, I think you are not known enough yet. I have, apart from one of your journals I think, not seen you advertising your patreon anywhere. This may sound stupid, but it might help a bit. In any case, whatever you decide, I hope you are fine and everything will work out good for you =)
A generic guy. Don't mind the name. Stop reading!
2020-01-07 15:19:14 +0000 UTCThanks for the insight, Helzim :) I should add that I am quite fortunate and lucky to be in a place where people think my work is good enough to pay money for, but I indeed do feel that I may have to change things around here a bit at some point. But if there will be any changes, I will be very up front about it, so no changes yet at least :)
2020-01-07 14:58:47 +0000 UTCI think if the sketches are proving stressful it might be a good idea to cut that reward tier off and leave it as a tip jar, especially if Patreon is taking a cut of that leaving you with less money than you'd get for a normal commission. A halfway point you may consider is a higher tier above the $5 that grants some incentivize for commissions but still leaves you ahead, as there's no point in issuing a Patreon tier/reward that makes you lose money/time, maybe getting access to forms early. Regardless, I hope you're able to work everything out in a way that's good for you.
Wifewolf_Goes_Awoo
2020-01-07 14:54:45 +0000 UTC
