It doesn’t take a lot to be engaged on Patreon. Here are some little things creators did this week to make me feel special as a patron:
Week 6: Tami Veldura (www.patreon.com/tamiveldura)
Tami is one of my absolute favorite writers. Her short stories and novels are written elegantly and descriptively, and capture the imagination from the first line. She also draws and makes beautiful art (I’m focusing on her writing here because it’s my favorite part). I adore supporting her on Patreon – she’s active across all her social media, and engaged with her patrons.
About her work
Her writing is focused around science fiction, fantasy, steampunk, and queer fiction, including short stories, anthologies and novels. She shares some short stories exclusively on Patreon, and I’m telling you, if you’re not a patron you’re really missing out. Her writing style is really something else; chock-full of description, but not in an annoying way. Every moment is important and captivating. Even in short stories, she creates entire worlds and characters that I fall in love with and desperately want more of!
Her anthology, Fanged, is an erotic paranormal M/M romance that is impeccable and unique. Tami’s debut novel, Perihelion, is being released on April 15 (just a couple of weeks away!). It’s a wild adventure set in the space between worlds, featuring a diverse cast of characters ranging in race, gender, and sexuality, in which sentient space ships, rogue AI, and feuding political families all want a piece of the galaxy.
My four favorites of her short stories are available exclusively on Patreon, and I highly recommend them. 🙂
Why she’s a Spotlight Creator
I support her because of her phenomenal talent, but also because she’s active and hard working. She’s not one to sit back and let things run on their own; she talks on social media, asks questions, shares ideas, gets feedback, and constantly, constantly writes. I truly feel that her patrons are important to her (I can’t tell you how disappointing it is when creators drop off from updating their Patreon pages).
Other reasons to support Tami:
Check out Tami’s work: Patreon | Website | Twitter | Facebook
Getting people to head over to your Patreon and support you is awkward – right?! You don’t want to constantly spam their feeds with “Support me on Patreon!!” but you also don’t want them to forget that you’re doing awesome stuff over there.
I’ve always been a fan of simple, subtle marketing. Of course it’s important to advertise your Patreon on your website, video outros, descriptions, etc. But check out Alex G’s simple way of reminding people on Twitter about her page:
just poured my heart out on patreon nbd…. https://t.co/Vnwvd2bXil
— Alex G (@AlexGMusic7) March 20, 2016
That’s all it takes! Curiosity peaked.
Week 5: Julia Westlin (www.patreon.com/JuliaWestlin)
Listening and watching Julia sing is quite the experience. As I get lost in the music, it becomes more than singing; it feels like Julia becomes the music, that her body and voice are just instruments for our souls to be able to see her soul’s expression. And as a person, she shines with such a beautiful light, I can honestly say it’s an honor and joy to be her patron.
About her work
Julia is originally from Sweden, and has been making music videos on YouTube for a few years now. She creates both covers and original music, sometimes in a cappella, and sometimes with instrumentation. She recently released her newest original, Fire and Gold.
One thing I love about Julia is her style – not just the music (although her soulful, gentle melodies and lasting notes of raw emotion are certainly impeccable), but her fashion and visual choices. Most of her full-featured originals are shot out in nature, where she feels most at home, in gorgeous settings. The at-home covers, while shot on a simple background, are spiced up with her eclectic clothes and jewelry. She’s a fan of thrift stores and loves putting together her own outfits.
I’ve always loved split-screen a cappella videos where you can see the artist singing all the parts, but Julia one-ups Peter Hollens in the fashion department; each “Julia” on screen has a different hairstyle or outfit, which adds some fun visually. (Ok, maybe it’s a girl thing…)
One of my favorites is Julia’s cover of “I See You” from the movie Avatar, which she said was a dream come true to make. She went all out on costume and filming, and says videos like this are only possible because of her patrons.
Why she’s a Spotlight Creator
The real reason I am absolutely thrilled to support her on Patreon is her beautiful honesty, knowing her music is touching the lives of others and bringing something pure to the world. She has a humble, giving soul and lives a life of simplicity and honesty. By supporting her work, I know I am helping bring more beauty into the world.
Other reasons to support Julia:
Check out Julia’s work: Patreon | YouTube | Twitter | Facebook
A big shout out this week to Jonathan Young for posting a super honest, straightforward update to his patrons about falling behind and learning to manage his workload better, and some changes to his reward tiers to make it more feasible to maintain, and to give more patrons access to rewards.
Patreon is a process, never be afraid to make changes and talk to your patrons about how you’re handling everything! I’ll let you in on a little secret… they’re there because they like you and want to see you succeed.
Now a shameless plug for one of his recent videos. Rock on! \m/
Week 4: Amanda Palmer (www.patreon.com/amandapalmer)
Amanda is a no-holds-barred, ruthlessly honest yet compassionate and empathetic individual. Her art is raw and relatable; making everything from music to writing to statue appearances, her Patreon page charges per ‘thing’ and she pretty much does what she wants (and people love it!). She has an amazingly close-knit community of fans who actively engage and support one another online, as well as get together in person and attend Amanda’s events. It’s probably the most enthusiastically honest and supportive fan group I’ve seen.
About her work
Amanda has been around the internet for a while. She is known as a pioneer in the crowdfunding and indie industries. From touring in a rock band, performing on the street as a living statue in a wedding dress, making albums and writing books – she describes herself as a “performer, writer, giver, taker, yeller, listener, love-lover, rule-hater”. And now she can add to that list “mother” – a completely new adventure she shares with fans via blog posts and social media. She even wrote a song about it.
Amanda wrote a book called “The Art of Asking”, where she talks about the terrifying challenge of asking for help when you need it, and the struggles of being an independent artist and what she’s learned along the way. She lives a very bold life – making waves and rebounding from mistakes to channel that energy into her art.
Why she’s a Spotlight Creator
My main reason for featuring Amanda is her unique community of patrons that channel her own enthusiasm and empathy – sharing artistic endeavors, celebrating and building one another up, and saying F*** off! to the Fraud Police.
Other reasons she’s killing it on Patreon:
Check out Amanda’s work: www.amandapalmer.net | Patreon | YouTube | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
“I spent the last three afternoons on this project. I wanted to get your opinion and suggestions before I post it.” -Tyler Ward
It’s simple – but it makes his patrons feel special, important, and involved!
Week 3: Sakimi Chan (www.patreon.com/sakimichan)
One of the most successful digital artists on Patreon, Sakimi Chan, makes phenomenal character art ranging from anime, cartoons, videogames, Disney, and other unique projects (Web browsers as characters? The 4 seasons?). Not to mention, she pumps out work so fast, you have to imagine she draws in her sleep! And not one lacking in quality.
You might look at her Patreon page and think, “$25,500 per term, 1-2 terms per month?! How could I ever be that successful on Patreon, I should just give up now, I’m not that good.”
Fret not, young creator. Her success isn’t just due to her innate talent; she employs a variety of techniques that make her Patreon page so lucrative. Read on!
About her work
Sakimi Chan is an individual artist (as much as I’d like to think she’s a team of elves working from a magic treehouse in the woods) who puts an incredible amount of hard work and engagement into her art. Taking suggestions from her patrons, she does both requested pieces and passion pieces, all with her own distinctive flair.
She’s been moving further into Yaoi/Yuri art (which has been a smashing success among her fans!) and continues to practice and get better at it.
Why she’s a Spotlight Creator
Her phenomenal success on Patreon is due to a variety of things, and if you’re working on building a successful Patreon empire (err, community), take note!
It sounds like a lot, but when you’re talking about a single artist earning upwards of $500,000 per year just with Patreon, you can bet there’s a lot of hard work and initiative put into it.
Check out Sakimi Chan’s work: DeviantArt | Patreon | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
This week’s win isn’t so much about a creator as her group of patrons – a community that mobilized to save someone’s life; to successfully prevent a suicide.
There are some creators I follow who have built amazingly close-knit communities of people across the world. These groups are more than just fans talking about the creator’s work; it’s a place to share, learn, love, and support one another.
The biggest of these on Facebook, Amanda Palmer’s patron community, is a highly active group brimming with activities, sharing, support – and in the spirit of Amanda herself, some F-words and raw honesty. It’s a place where people are unafraid to bare their souls, ask for help when needed, and give it freely when asked.
Just a few days ago, a couple of group members saw a suicidal post by a former member, and sent the group a plea for help. Within half an hour, hundreds of people worked together to get her phone number and address, and contacted the local authorities. Her life was saved by people across the world who dropped what they were doing to signal boost the message and get help to her.
This is the power of online communities – and Patreon groups are the most involved, loving of them all. They bring together people with a common interest and generous heart, who tend to embody the values of the creator they support.
If you’re a creator, remember, it’s not just you that makes a difference in the world; it’s the people you bring together and the environment you foster. If you foster a community of love, that love will support itself and spread.
After the incident settled down and help was secured, a member posted this note:
Here is a quick recapitulation of what happened within half an hour: two members of the group saw a suicidal post by a former member. They called for help. The group mobilized, put together her phone number and address and alerted the authorities. She was found and is alive. And this, if I remember it correctly, is at least third or fourth time we managed to help like this. To actually prevent someone from committing suicide.
So just know, no matter who you are, we are in this together, nobody is left behind.
This week’s shout out goes to a talented, humble, sweet artist whose drawings make us all feel a little better. 🙂 She started sharing blog posts with her patrons in which she is completely honest about the art process, her own doubts and successes, and what she’s thinking about. I won’t give you all the details (patron-only perk!) but she said something this week that really made me smile.
She was sharing some of her doubts about whether her art is good enough or if people like it, then she said:
You know what?… I made something! I did it. It’s real and I made it. It’s impossible for nobody to like it because *I* like it. And I’m excited to keep making things that I like.
That’s the attitude I like to see. As a patron, it’s refreshing for a creator to be honest about their doubts (ALL artists have those doubts), but to see them keep their chins up because THEY like their work.
Go get’em girl!
