Patreon
The time is almost here again where I have to cringe, bite my bullet, and start thinking about the financial part of this equation. Last year’s Kickstarter was a revelation, an affirmation of the fact that people will support this comic. They gave with kindness, and with heart, and for it the comic is in a much better place, and I am not in huge credit debt for it.
That’s RAD.
I’m trying to figure out a way to make it sustainable without always having to have my hand out, and that’s difficult. Comics cost money. And when they’re not costing money, they cost time, which is also money. That’s not to say I don’t love every minute of it, because I do, and that’s not to say I am not well aware that many people would kill for such a burden, so do not think I make those statements lightly. Nonetheless, if I would like it to continue, I have to make sure I stay out of credit debt.
To that end, I’ve got two main ideas at this point, and I wanted to run them up the flagpole for you guys and ask for comments.
First, there’s the Kickstarter. That was successful last year for all involved, and honestly, it’s what I’m most inclined to do again in April or May or when we’re ready to do so with files. The one thing I’ll change this time is that everything will be print ready and submitted before I even start the process. Pros: It’s Kickstarter, so it has a lot of eyes on it, and last year’s success may propel us to another. Cons: Few.
Second, there’s something new I’ve discovered, called Patreon. If you go here, you can examine a Patreon drive for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, a comic I’ve found and greatly enjoyed for the last few years. The basic principle is quite novel. You give X amount per month so long as Zach keeps making his comic, and after you contribute a certain amount, you get perks.
We needed 5,000 last year to get our print run with Kickstarter. Divide that by twelve months, you get 416.67 a month. If I could reach that amount in pledges per month, we could do trades for everyone who contributes $2.50 or more a month once we hit that 466 ($2.50 X 12 is $30 for the trade). That doesn’t offset the cost of art or give Dex a raise (which I desperately want to), but it’s a place to start. Pro: Were we to do that, and find success, we could stop doing Kickstarters every year. Cons: Many. People can withdraw their pledges at will, and everyone’s finances go up and down month to month and year to year, so that 416 could become 375, and I’d have to foot the credit debt for the books (assuming it doesn’t hit, I don’t know, 600 a month, in which case we’d have money to put aside for coloring or a raise for Dex, etc).
There’s also the HUGE con in that we can’t print books until I have the cash to do so, so it would take a year at 416 for Year Three, which disqualifies Patreon almost immediately. I’m putting this out here because you people are smart, and often have ideas I don’t, so maybe you have your own ideas. Another potential is that we could do a Kickstarter, and then after the Kickstarter is over, start a Patreon with the hopes of funding next year’s book (Year Four), but I don’t like that, because it feels like double dipping when I’m not fond of single dipping in the first place, and counting chickens before they hatch.
What do you think? I trust you all to be honest about this, and smarter than me.
Kickstarter seems more logistically sound and easier to understand (people are familiar with it, we’ve had success with it before, etc.).
But you’re right, there’s the issue of long-term sustainability to think about.
Whatever you decide, though, I’m in.
Direct contributions for some kind of product seem to the much more efficient way of going at it. The return “gift” doesn’t need to be as tangible as a trade, but just a way of showing that your contribution has been recognized. I’m continually amazed about seeing kickstarter tiers with special content, which is obviously just a clever way of showing more about the subject/saying thanks, being incredibly popular.
The main lesson seem to be that we as human beings, are much more influenced by affections, interest etc. than any kind of purely logical and rational “purchase equation”
Agreed. That’s the most difficult part about Patreon for me. While a dollar a month is easy to stomach, unless 500 people kick in that dollar, immediate rewards are almost impossible.
With Kickstarter, it’s easy… there’s money on the barrel for stuff we can then send, and it’s a fund drive at the same time.
I think the more I think about it, the more that all we’re looking for is a sense of stability, because Kickstarter or Patreon, the end result is that when it’s necessary you have to do a dead fall into the arms of the people who read what you do.
So far, that’s worked out fantastically, but being the neurotic artist type, you always swoon and sway and wonder if the hands will be there next time, but I have faith in you guys.
Leaning Kickstarter so far, what with this and Kate’s dead-on comment.
Here are my initial thoughts: I think you can do both. Use Patreon for long-term sustainability (ie. food, kid’s education, booze fund, bribe money), giving Dex a raise (and maybe the occasional bonus), and replace the ads with thank you banner. Use Kickstarter to fund trade back production or any other capital intensive projects. During the kickstarter, Patreons could have access to special and exclusive reward tiers (ie Donate X and get a Charlene/Whatever Suits your Fancy Pin-Up). That way you provide incentives for your devoted fan base to do both at same time and you can spend more time (if that’s even possible) on the comic or improve it somehow.
Update: After looking at the last kickstarter and facebook group (I’ve taken into account that the two overlap), you might want to stick with kickstarter as the primary vehicle for trade backs. You could probably include other projects such as a bonus for Dex and a hardware upgrade for one of you as stretch goals. The problem with Patreon was pretty much nailed early on. Without a large readership that’s willing to donate, any project (even long-term vaibility) is a problem. I think that if you want long-term viability, you might have to find ways to expanding your readership somehow (besides the two of you being really good at what you’re doing). Patreon seems to me to be more along the lines of crowd-sourced employment of the webcomic. We pay you money to work more on the comic at the exclusion of everything else (Personally, I think my money would be better off going to you than the NYTimes.).
My final recommendation would be to fund the trade backs using kickstarter but still set up a Patreon account just to see how it works out. I stand by my initial recommendations of solely using Kickstarter to fund large projects but I think that the Patreon might be good for something. I just haven’t figured out what it could be used for.
I think you might be onto something… I think that the first step is making the next Kickstarter a reality, and then Dex and I have a few tricks (and maybe another comic) up our sleeves. We’re talking feasibility now.
I think time isn’t the issue so much as readership. I’m more than willing to give of my time, and pay for Dex’s, provided we can get something rolling.
The readership is a tough nut to crack. The bulk of our incoming links comes from the I09 article, and articles bringing incoming links aren’t anything that can happen outside of just doing a good job and having people noticing, barring expensive advertising blitzes and/or some kind of publicist, which I’m not too keen on even if I could afford it.
I don’t know. It’s a strange problem.
Doing another Kickstarter seems the best for the short term at least, and perhaps setting up something in the future for the Patreon, possibly asking a little more on the Kickstarter to get the perks in place for the Patreon?
The main incentive Patreon seems offer fans is to finance quicker updates, which is a short term goal, instead of long term financing of capital intensive projects. “Normally, I give you this many comics, but, if I have this much money per month, I can focus more time and…” That’s pretty cool, but maybe it allows too much freeriding? I know I’d probably free ride (sorry!) I think something I really liked was Redtail Dream’s short minicomic for a $1. Only contributors got the bonus but it was cheap and available. Also the minicomic was of a lower art quality but still fun. I wonder if anyone would bite here.
I think it can be used either way successfully, so long as you communicate with folks where the cash is going, etc. Speaking from my experience, however, I can assure you that outside of a very select few, there’s little free riding in any form of art.
In my case, the very few times in my life where I’ve made any kind of cash (and it’s never been too much) it all goes straight back into the work, and I see similar response from the other few folks I know who have been fortunate enough to ever profit. It’s always just a covering costs measure when funding is sought.
Example, say I got the cash I needed to fund Cura on a monthly basis, I’d still be some 10-15 thousand dollars in the hole, ergo even if I made a massive splash and made, say, two grand somehow, it’d all have to be in perspective. And say that 10-15 magically dropped on my lap, I’d probably invest it in another comic, because the goal here is never a free ride, more the journey together.