I'm a patron at heart. I've been supporting creators on Patreon since shortly after its inception, and patreonize over 60 creators today. The patronage movement is taking us back to how art was created and funded hundreds of years ago, and I'm excited to share my thoughts on successful modern day patronage.
Today I want to give a shout out to Zach Weinersmith, who follows one of my best practices very well with his Patreon page for his comic, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.
For his $5+ patrons, he does a monthly livedraw session where he takes patron requests and draws them. What I love is how he posts the results to his feed afterward for ALL patrons to view – those who couldn’t make it, and those at lower tiers. I always encourage this because it reminds patrons of what you have going on, and maybe entices them a bit to increase their pledge. 😉
This week, I want to touch on something I feel is important for creators to do from time to time – collaborate with other creators! It’s a great way to expand your reach to new fans, learn from other creators, and generally be more involved in your creator community.
An awesome way I’ve seen some YouTubers do this is to upload a slightly different (or completely different) video on each of their channels. For instance, Peter Hollens will post an a cappella version on his channel and his collaborator will post an instrumental version. So at the end of the video, you can say “Check out this other awesome video/version too!”
It’s always a good idea to do regular check-ins with your patrons, so they know you’re alive and thinking of them. (This is especially true if you don’t post creations very often.) These can be related to your work and upcoming projects, but they don’t necessarily need to be.
Patreon has been testing out a fun little feature with a few creators lately, where patrons receive an email letting them choose a question to pose to their creator to spark some interaction. It’s a nice little reminder to stay involved!
Some other great check-ins I’ve seen creators do on a regular basis include:
Weekly pictures of their pet
“Patrons, how is your day/week going?”
Lists: 10 things I’m thankful for this week, 5 reasons to remain positive, 10 random objects in my room, etc.
Weekly missions for your patrons (“Go out in the world and make someone smile!”)
Long/rambling posts (people on FB/Twitter might not care about your longer rants, but your patrons are often interested enough to read).
Think of something cool, try different things, see what engages your patrons the most. 🙂 And have fun!
I feel like I talk about Sakimichan too much, but if you’re looking for a successful creator to follow, she’s your gal! Something that really stood out to me this week is her responsiveness with her patrons – listening, responding, and creating content that they want to see. She posts tutorials regularly, and this week she focused on some very basic skills since many people were asking for it.
She also excels at responding to the loooooong list of comments she gets on every post, from the simple “I love this piece!” to “How do I collect my rewards?” and “Will you ever draw ___?” She reads and responds to everything she can. 🙂
This week I want to give a huge shout out to Malinda Kathleen Reese, who (like many creators before her) decided to restructure her Patreon setup and rewards. She did an amazing job with the announcement, and I highly recommend some key tips if you’re ever in the same boat:
Explain clearly the need for the switch – posting more/less often, switching to monthly and vice versa. Malinda took an uncomfortable situation of deciding to post more paid creations, and explained in a very simple and open way that she puts expenses into all of her videos, even the “smaller” ones, and feels that they deserve as much credit as the “bigger” ones.
Tell patrons about pledge caps AND don’t make them feel guilty about it! Malinda was so friendly and understanding in letting people know how to cap their pledge so they’re not paying more than before if they don’t want to, and that it’s 100% ok with her if you do that.
Explain new rewards and how/why they’re changing. Focus on the good! Be excited about the things you’re offering! If you’re removing rewards or moving them to a higher level, explain why the shift was necessary. Your patrons love you and don’t want you to overexert yourself.
Include both a video and written update, if possible, going over the changes. Some people respond better to different avenues and putting a face/voice to the update really helps!
Welcome their comments/questions. Let them know to comment below or send you a message if they have any questions, and that it’s important to you.
Be super grateful! Thank them for all their support so far, and maybe even give a hint of things to come up so they’ll be eager to stick around.
For this week’s win, I want to give a shout out not to a creator, but to Patreon themselves – they’ve been writing really awesome blog articles about topics extremely useful for creators! If you’re not already following their blog/social media, I highly recommend it.
This week’s shout out goes to a lovely artist with the humility to admit that she’s struggling with creativity and progressing her artwork; so she decided to take some classes and work on her basic technique. The best part though? She didn’t just slink away from her patrons with her head down; she tells us what she’s working on, shows us sketches, “before and after” of her technique – so we know she’s hard at work even if she’s not putting out masterpieces brimming with creative glory.
Sometimes getting back to the basics for a while is just what you need to refocus. 🙂
She did a really great job with her launch – not only with sharing it and having awesome rewards, but also a nice friendly description, a welcoming post to explain to new patrons where/how they’ll get stuff, AND a fun public post for people not yet signed up to see “Thanks for visiting my page! If you were a patron, this is where you’d see the rewards and the feed!”
It’s always a good idea to make sure non-patrons have some stuff to look at on your page, sneak peeks at what they’ll get as a patron, etc.
This week’s dose of awesome is about something I’ve seen a few creators doing – monthly wrap-ups/reports. It’s a nice way to list out what you accomplished, what you’re still working on, AND what things your patrons made happen! And it feels good for patrons – like me – who can point excitedly at the screen and go “Yaaaay I helped with that! Woohoo me!”
Nick is one of those awesome, upbeat creators that always manages to put a smile on my face. He rocks a unique niche of “upstairs/downstairs” music (yes, he sings in both male and female registers, and even does duets with himself). His songs and videos are fun, and his charming smile definitely adds a little extra oomph. He is wonderfully engaged with his patrons on Patreon, which is why I’m excited to feature him this week!
About his work
As I mentioned, he makes dual-register music, with an exceptional vocal range and charming sense of humor. He just released a lyric video TODAY for his original song, Like a Boy, and he describes himself pretty well in that so go watch it. 😉 –>
Many people don’t realize that on top of singing and making music videos, he’s actually an animator at Pixar by day! He worked on films like Inside Out, and even got to sing a little in the background of both Inside Out and Zootopia!
Why he’s a Spotlight Creator
Besides Nick being a positive, talented guy, he’s also a very engaging and grateful creator. His demeanor and optimism are infectious, and I always feel valued as a patron.
Other reasons to support Nick:
Cool rewards! He designs and signs digital postcards with each new music video to commemorate the release and thank his patrons. It adds a bit of a personal touch!
Insider info. He shares exclusive information and updates not just about upcoming music, but some of his outside projects (Pixar movies, events).
Video updates. He checks in from time to time with video updates, just to say hi, which gives all sorts of warm fuzzies. ^_^
My favorite of his videos is his collaboration with Peter Hollens in a super fun, silly Wicked Medley!:
My question to Nick: When are you going to make an animated music video for us?? 😉
