erotibot

Considering my options...

Added 2017-11-05 22:48:25 +0000 UTC

Thanks to everyone who left me comments and feedback on my recent thoughts (and if you missed those you can find them here https://www.patreon.com/posts/future-of-art-15220491) Here's some more thinking out loud on how my Patreon page could work in the future. If I’m going to shift focus and start working on comics full time then I’ll need to make some changes to facilitate my new goals. In order to make sure I have good momentum in the future I think I’d like to release single pages as they are completed. Working under a monthly subscription model would likely be a better option so people aren’t paying for each individual page. I could also keep things the way they are and just release two pages per update, but posts would be less frequent. The way I see it there are three possible options.

1) Keep this Patreon page as is, but just start focusing on comic updates. In this scenario I’d put out two pages per update as before (with maybe 3 to 4 updates max per month). I’d prefer to put out single pages as they are completed but without making any changes that would mean supporters would get charged a lot more and that doesn’t seem fair. Doing things this way would probably allow me to retain most of my support, but pages would be released slower.

2) Keep this Patreon page but switch it to a monthly subscription. In this scenario I’d still keep most of my support, but I would immediately lose a substantial chunk of revenue (since I usually update 2 or 3 times a month a $5 pledge, for example, becomes $10 or $15 for me by the end of the month). If I switch this page to a monthly subscription model and leave the pledge amounts as they are it would be equivalent to me updating once a month, and with my current expenses that's not enough to live on.

I could up the pledge amount, so that people who pledge $5 per update now pledge $10 or $15 per month (assuming this is something I can even do?), but I feel like messing with people's pledge amounts might be a bad idea. Some supporters have caps on their pledges and changing the amounts might make some upset or cause them to leave. Obviously I’d be upfront about these changes well before I implemented them, but I’m still not sure if this is good business or not.

3) Start a new Patreon page from scratch. I’d open up an entirely new page dedicated to comics. I would set it up with the appropriate rewards and tier levels for a monthly subscription. Because the new page would be starting from scratch it probably wouldn't earn me enough money to live off right away. In this scenario there would likely be a transition time where I’d have to work on both my existing Patreon page, and the new one, so I can still earn enough to keep up with expenses. When and if the new page becomes financially stable I’d focus on it exclusively and shut down the old one. It would take more time to get the new page up to the level of my current one, but the benefits of starting over could outweigh the benefits of modifying my existing page.

For one, everyone signing up would know exactly what they are getting, and how much they are paying for. I could set up simple rewards and just focus on getting content out as it is completed. The downsides are that there is no guarantee the new page will reach the level of support I have now, since that took me years to build. I could wind up in transition hell working on two Patreon pages forever defeating the purpose of setting it up in the first place. All of the Patreon links I have out there in the wild would still direct traffic to my old Patreon, and I’d have redirect new supporters to the monthly one. Some supporters might not be bothered to make a new pledge. Despite these problems this option seems like the most ideal situation, but it also looks like it would be the most difficult to pull off.

I’m still undecided which route to take, if there is anything I’ve overlooked, or if there any other possibilities. Options 2 and 3 seem like the best choices but they still have drawbacks. Under each option comic pages would still be released early for patrons so there’s more incentive to sign up, but other rewards would have to change. I probably won’t be holding character polls once I get started on the comic for example. The rewards for the highest tier might change as well. I’ll need to do a little more thinking to work this out, but if you guys have any preferences, or any ideas I’d love to hear them.

Either way, the end goal is this – to produce kick ass comics that are fun, sexy, and keep you hooked till the very end. Your support no matter what tier or amount enables me to do just that, and the end result of your pledge is the continued creation of content you love to see. You guys are just as much a part of this as I am, and I wouldn’t be able to do any of it without you, so your thoughts and feedback here are very valuable to me.