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Income within Creation CIU111.3 #2

  • Writer: Celeste Evans
    Celeste Evans
  • Aug 11, 2018
  • 4 min read

Updated: Aug 13, 2018

As a creator, having fans means that you have someone who supports currently or has supported your work in the past. It can be someone who thought even just one of the pieces you have created is cool, or think that just you alone, as a creator, are cool yourself. Fans can help build upon our careers as creators and they can support us in more ways than just liking a new post or listening to a new track.


Something I find very interesting about crowdfunding is the ease it grants fans to financially support their favorite creators. Crowdfunding allows for fans, friends and family to financially support an artist or creator in return for content. In some cases, it even allows for a fan to become directly involved with that creator and their content. There are hundreds of crowdfunding platforms that creators are currently using, some of the biggest or most well-known being:

  • KickStarter

  • Indiegogo

  • Patreon

  • GoFundMe

The specific platform I would like to talk about in relation to crowdfunding and fan collaboration in this blog is Patreon. This is because I have the most personal experience with Patreon and it works in a way that is a little different from the rest of the crowdfunding platforms that I could find.

https://www.patreon.com/

Patreon is a crowdfunding platform that revolves around tiered monthly subscriptions. It allows for a creator's fans to become a "Patron" (Subscriber) of their work. Patrons choose a tier when they first subscribe to a creators work that allows them to have a certain level of access to the content that the creator puts out. The creator chooses both the access to their content that each tier will grant and how much each Patron will pay for that tier per month.


A creator that uses Patreon as their primary crowdfunding platform is SaberCreative (https://www.patreon.com/sabercreative). Saber (Cat) is an Australian cosplayer and photographer who creates high quality modelling and cosplay sets. She uses Patreon along with working full time in order to save towards paying off her loans and to pay for her university degree while still being able to create cosplays and content for her fans.

Go check her out :)
https://www.instagram.com/sabercreative/

Saber has 7 tiers of content access for her fans to subscribe to. These tiers range from a $2 Bronze tier all the way up to a $500 Master tier. Her different tiers allow for access to:


Bronze Tier ($2 or more per month):

  • Access to patron-only content

  • HD Wallpapers

  • Credit your name as a sponsor in any videos posted

  • Early access to all content

Silver Tier ($5 or more per month):

  • Blog Posts

  • Behind the scenes shots

  • Exclusive selfies

  • Cosplans

  • Before and After shots

  • 10% off her print store

Gold Tier ($10 or more per month):

  • Exclusive shots from sets posted on her social media (2 per shoot)

  • More lewd than usual selfies

  • 2 x 4x6" print of her choice

  • SNAPCHAT ACCESS

Platinum Tier ($25 or more per month):

  • ALL PREVIOUS REWARDS

  • Cheekier exclusive shots and BTS

  • 3 x 4x6" prints of her choice

Diamond Tier ($50 or more per month):

  • Full set of semi-lewds (1-2 per month) (NSFW)

  • Battlenet Tag

  • Snapchat access (NSFW)

  • 10 x 6x4" Prints from set of the month

  • Chance to win 1 8x12" signed print

Challenger Tier – Lord of the Lewds ($200 or more per month):

  • NSFW Snapchat access

  • Fully personalized shoot of your choice

  • 4 x 8x12" signed prints

  • All sets in print form for the month (20-30 prints)

  • 10 NSFW polaroids (can be implied nude)

  • Personalized note from Saber

Master Tier ($500 or more per month):

  • One on one 1 hour chat with Saber on chosen platform (discord, skype)

  • Her choice of outfit sent to you which she has worn for a Patreon set (Can be lingerie, body suit, etc.)

  • NSFW Snapchat Accesss

  • Fully personalized shoot of your choice

  • 4 x 8x12" signed prints

  • All sets in print form for the month (20-30 prints)

  • 10 NSFW polaroids (can be implied nude)

  • Personalised note from saber


I got to have a chat with Saber and I asked her a few questions about her experience with Patreon and how it benefits her and allows her to interact with her fans. Here are a few of her responses:


Q: What benefits do you feel Patreon has over other crowdfunding platforms, for example; Kickstarter or GoFundMe


A: "Patreon I feel is a more immediate response. People are paying for content delivery immediately which is great for the consumer. You can also completely tailor the rewards you give as a creator which is great. You can go as fast or as slow as you like."


Q: How do you use Patreon to involve your fans in creating content with you?


A: "I can create polls and give them options to choose which content will be created, otherwise I just choose myself."


Q: What benefits do you feel Patreon has given you as a creator?


A: "It’s allowed me to capitalise and monetise the platform I was already using."


Q: What are some of the negative that come with using Patreon?


A: "Starting out on Patreon is hard. The work greatly outweighs the monetary gain. But that depends on how well you can ramp and convert followers to patrons. It's also really hard to

grow your Patreon without the use of social media."


Overall, Patreon has a lot of strong benefits for creators that allow them to collaborate with their fans and followers while still supporting themselves and making money. The options for tiers makes it easy to let anyone support a creator with any amount of money, with more rewards going to the Patrons that do pay more each month. There even is opportunity for a creator to completely support themselves off the donations and subscriptions that they make from Patreon, which isn't a very viable option when using one of the other crowdfunding platforms. This helps normalise people who have normally unconventional careers, giving them a monthly income and giving security to jobs that have never really been conventional or secure before. (https://sites.tufts.edu/alquestaeng1fall2017/files/2017/08/How-the-Internet-Is-Saving-Culture-Not-Killing-It-by-Farhad-Manjoo.pdf)


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Created by Celeste Evans.

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