Wondering about a few things, would really appreciate some feedback!

Pyriax!! Hi and Thank you! Your opinion is very valuable and I appreciate you sharing it!! It's good to know you wouldn't mind DMs, but timeline posts are also good. And that you do like polls and having more than one wouldn't be a problem! And for fandom, ATLA! Alrighty! I think I will make a poll for the fandoms after all! To make things easier and organized! [And also to try out using the comments section for suggestions!]

I figured I could drop in an opinion too, though my opinions are fairly mild and I'm happy for you to do what you find comfortable. I think the reward at the start of the month seems like a good time if you're looking to bundle your rewards together. Also timeline posts feel sufficient to me, though you can certainly use DM's too. Personally I enjoy polls, so I think doing a handful of polls is fine, and I'd like to see them. You could also use the comments for the Poll posts as spaces for suggestions too if you're trying to keep posts to a minimum, though maybe you can also consider external suggestion spaces, like google forms? I'd imagine some folk may hesitate to suggest anything if it has to be done publicly. As for the fandom, I'd choose ATLA.

Pyriax

EPYON BLESS YOU! Thanks for such an in-depth reply!!! ;__; <3 Yeah! I think you’re right, beginning or end of the month, it's such a small amount of time and for ongoing patrons it’s not gonna make much of a difference. “does their vote effect stuff for that month or the next” Yess, you nailed it! that is precisely the aspect I was trying to decide on! I was overthinking and wondering if it would be awkward, but if the answer is simply being clear about communicating how it works, I feel more confident about the subject! Nice! Yeah that makes sense, downloadable content/links in DMs [and keep them minimal]. Other content on dashboard! ;v; yass, you know I'd love that, It's been so long!! Commissions are still something for more in the future but I've been enjoying drawing and sketching lately so I hope it won't be too far off! - Ohh! Taking notes on the extra versions of $1 Tier, and about the archive! The note on the archive really stands out to me! My reasoning for it being pretty cheap was that most of the content is publicly available anyway [especially previous years], so I wasn't sure anything higher would be justified? But I guess once I start scanning sketchbooks it would justify it way more because it would count as exclusive content! [since the process is tedious and time consuming, I end up not sharing most of what I draw in sketchbooks.] Do you personally think the super deep archive for a higher tier would still be ok right now while the archive is small and it has very little exclusive content? Do you find the current gumroad links ok or annoying? Ahh thank you! you've already given me a lot to think about! I really really appreciate your perspective on this! - Oh that tournament style poll sounds really fun! So then it is alright if there's a few polls. I'm really curious though, how many days do they usually last? I imagine they would be pretty quick, right? I was worrying multiple polls would make things confusing, but I guess it shouldn't be a problem if I'm keeping it predictable [Like always starting on the first days of the month] and being clear about how many polls total and when the next one will drop. I do like the idea of alternating or mix and match! And I definitely think participation would make things extremely fun! I just worry a lot that I'm not sure how to offer a nice comfortable way to encourage it! On one hand I think comments would be really fun, because you might see suggestions you hadn't thought of but LOVE! And it could lead to some interaction! But I would also like to make it easy for those who are a bit more shy... I guess I could make posts for suggestions in the comments, but also offer a google docs form that can be kept anon and I make a comment myself adding that suggestion. Epyon again!! Thank you so much for your insight and for giving suggestions even with examples! This helps me so so much! It's clear you have quite a bit of experience here on patreon and I appreciate you sharing it!

Ok, let's see if I can answer your questions in order... For reward timing, I feel like it mostly only matters to Patreons that are just starting out. Like. If you already have patrons, then they get the reward, and anyone new also gets it, but you processed their pledge, so it's cool. If you were just starting out, and you had no content, it'd mean those first patrons were having to pay and then wait a month before getting anything, so it'd be a leap of faith. Said another way... If you send me art on the 31st of a month, and say it's the 'end' of the month, or the 4th and say it's the 'beginning', it's only a couple of days difference. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that it mostly doesn't matter, just depends on how you want to communicate things, and how you want to apply votes and such (eg. if someone joins in a month, does their vote effect stuff for that month, or the next). Communications-wise, I personally prefer polls, previews, etc. to be on the dashboard only. Then rewards it's nice to get a DM just in case (since that email is formatted differently), as I don't like to miss rewards. As long as you're not doing like, 20 posts a day, I don't think I mind either way though. >:] As far as tiers go, those look fine? 2-5-10 would also be fair, so whatever works best for you, I think. I'm going to be gunning for commission tiers myself, if you let me. XD Honestly...if you keep the $1 tier, I might nix the extra versions from it. That's basically tip jar, so giving early access to things you're going to post publicly is fine, but I feel like if you want bonus material, you (the patron) ought to kick in a little more. Might also restrict the art archive to just a couple of months, or the most recent year, or something, so you can still sell things via Gumroad or Itch or such if you wanted. If it's a full archive of all time, people would be paying too little. Maybe save a super deep archive for a higher tier. >;] Regarding polls, I think anything less than 5 is fine. Many Patreons I'm in have 1-3 polls. Or they do like, uh...tournament style? So like, you could do... Poll #1a as a huge list of characters (potentially suggested via a Google Form or another post or some such), and it's the checkbox-style poll, so people choose whomever they like, then the top 5 move on. Poll #1b is the same thing, but kinks/themes (if needed). Poll #2a is the top 5 from the previous poll, Poll #2b (if needed) is the theme/kink/etc. So when you finish the second set, you've got a character/pairing that a majority of people like, with a theme/kink (if necessary) that people like. OR you could alternate (do a month where you pick all the things, then a month where others do) or mix and match, or...whatever you want really, it's your Patreon, ha. I mean that like, letting us help out is fine and good if it makes it more fun or exciting, but if it makes it harder or unfun, that's just going to cause burnout, which is no good. Regarding suggestions, I like Google Forms myself? But that's just me. A lot of Patreons I'm in also do posts asking for people to suggest in the comments and then "like" comments if they want to vote for that one, which is also fine, though more work for you to sort out. For the fandoms...that's tough...they're all so good. You said Steve Universe, happy to lean into that one for the first since you said it'd be easier. >:]

epyon_avenger