knitmeapony:

vaspider:

seananmcguire:

WHY HELLO THANK YOU FOR PUTTING A QUARTER IN THE “WHY PATREON IS AWESOME MACHINE.”  Now sit back, relax, and let the kitchen proudly present for you…

…my Patreon.

Most people already know this part, but I’m going to include it for the five folks in the back who don’t: Patreon is essentially a micro-transaction platform geared specifically at allowing people to support artists and creators directly, rather than going through the usual middlemen.  It’s a tip jar writ large, and it’s a gamechanger.  Because see, one of the biggest trials of being a creative professional is being unable to estimate, month upon month, what your take-home pay is going to be.  Imagine having a part-time job which, you know, pays $24,000 a year.  No matter how many hours you put in, that’s what you get.

(This is a sort of unrealistic analogy already, because even that degree of confidence in your income is unlikely for most creative professionals.  Just work with me.)

Now, logic says “$24k a year, that’s $2k a month, I can budget with that.”  Sadly, logic is wrong.  Maybe you don’t get paid for six months, and then in month seven, you get $14k just handed to you.  And that feels like a lot of money–that is a lot of money–except you haven’t paid any bills in six months, so mostly it feels like a lot of screaming and buying toilet paper.

Patreon smooths out that disconnect between estimated numbers and actual numbers.  If you pledge $1 a month to someone, they will get $1 a month (minus minor handling fees, which we are happy to pay so you don’t have to), and can budget accordingly.  Even as pledges come in/people reduce or cancel their pledges, we can see our estimated totals.  It’s magic.

My Patreon is here: https://www.patreon.com/seananmcguire

I charge for short stories; I charge once a month; all patrons, regardless of level, get access to the short stories.  If you become a patron today, you’ll have access to all prior stories.  (You can find them by choosing “posts” and then “paid by patrons.”)  Higher levels get access to additional rewards, like the advice column ($3), the Poetry Project ($5), and the Positivity Email ($10).  They do not, at this time, get access to additional fiction.  Patrons are also the first to know when we find something unusual, like a box of out-of-print CDs or short run T-shirts.

Patreon has honestly changed my life, and not just mine: I know quite a few creators, both independent and traditionally published, who are using this wide, shallow well to keep themselves afloat.  And it’s magic.

My Patreon money pays for my cellphone bill, my medication, and my pups’ dog food.

Also for me to get a pedicure once a month because self care is a human thing.

Without my Patreon money I would have a lot more financial uncertainty. It also lets me try out things with fiction that I might otherwise not.

I’m kind of restating the above, but can I list ways that Patreon is awesome for me from the opposite perspective, as a reader and patron?

1) The obvious: I get new stuff from the author.  I get short stories or snippets or previews early or all the stuff that you think that you are paying for.  That’s the obvious thing.  Here are Cool Arts that would not exist with out the Patreon. Rad.  But also….

2) I get better stuff from the author.  When someone isn’t worrying about where they’re getting this month’s food or tp or heating bill from, when they’re relaxed and comfortable, they do more and better work.  This isn’t something that’s measurable, but I fully believe that even if all this stuff was created for free on the internet before, since my money makes someone’s life better, their creativity is free-er and they can spend more time on making better stuff.

3) I get unusual/interesting stuff.  Patreon lets artists experiment!  I’ve gotten poetry from prose authors.  I’ve gotten music from poets.  I’ve seen 2-D artists try sculpture, and digital artists try traditional methods.  I’ve seen artists who might not have found an audience for their specific collaboration get to collaborate and share with both of their patreons.  I get wild, weird, experimental stuff!  Even if it would have existed before Patreon, it probably would have been shoved in a box under a bed.  Now it’s published, and I get to enjoy it!

4) It comes to my in-box!  I don’t even have to think about going to a store or to Amazon, I don’t have to show up at specific locations or go to specific concerts or anything.  I have a Patreon filter in my gmail.  Most weeks, I get 8-10 emails there.  MOST of those emails are awesome, exciting things to read!

5) I get to conversate with some artists in a quieter space!  Most of the artists that I pledge to hold AMAs and answer comments and discuss processes and take suggestions and because it’s a quieter space without All Of The Internet shouting at them, they sometimes give longer, more thoughtful, more complicated responses!  Not always, of course, and you’ve still got to be a decent, polite person, but it’s a kind of social media they can curate and prioritize a little bit which leads to better brain space for the artists which leads to cooler interactions in general.

6) I get to feel helpful!  Artists and authors and the like do not get paid nearly enough, because capitalism.  Small individual one-off fundraisers help, but often folks end up stuck in the same emergency >> broke >> broken thing >> emergency cycle.  By banding together and getting $XX/month to someone, you totally get to watch your love join with other people’s love to make a clear difference in the life of someone you think is awesome.  The art you get on the regular is usually thanks enough, but the occasional ‘hey, I did x thing and it was great and thank you’ email makes you feel like a superhero, even if all you can afford is $1/month.  You’re part of something.  You did A Good.  That kind of hope and optimism and community building should never be undervalued.

Patreon is totally a net good in the universe, and the raw Dollars:GoodThings ratio just can not be beat.