Rebooting my Patreon Page - New Benefits and New Options
A little over a year ago, I started an experiment to see if I could partially fund this website and my YouTube channel through Patreon. When I first started it, I’ll admit that I didn’t really know what I was doing, and so for the first few months I floundered. Now that I’ve been doing it for a while, it’s time to re-launch it, with more benefits, more tiers and a better experience.
Why Patreon?
Quitting my full time design job a few years ago to do photography, and specifically photo blogging and vlogging full time was a big leap (some would say reckless) and I won’t lie, it’s been a real struggle at times, but by keeping at it, slowly it’s becoming more and more of something that is viable long term. The blog is growing, and my YouTube channel is growing too.
At the moment all of this is funded through three different channels. I have a few affiliate links and projects on this blog. I also have sales of my books and presets, and I currently have a small Patreon following. This is primarily how I fund writing this website, including hosting costs, the cost of running my store, paying for things like music and so on for YouTube, as well as paying myself a wage for things like food and rent. Running a blog isn’t easy, and there are still times I need to do design work to pay for it.
Over the past few years, it has become more and more self sufficient, and it’s getting to the point of being a viable full time business. Part of that growth has been to diversify what I do and how I pay for it, and Patreon is one way that helps keep this going. With Patreon, I can offer an inexpensive subscription to readers and viewers, and they can support the blog and my YouTube Channel and help both continue to grow.
You’ve Already Helped!
Over the past year, with help from people who buy my books and presets, and from my Patreon supporters, I have managed to grow this blog and my YouTube channel significantly. My YouTube subscribers have doubled and I’m heading for the important 10,000 subscriber milestone (Currently at 6100). The amount of visitors to this blog has increased by nearly 50% over the past two years. All of this is thanks to the continued support of my readers, viewers and current Patreon Supporters.
Why the change
As I said, at first, my Patreon channel this was a bit of an experiment, and I made some mistakes. I didn’t really have a clear goal when setting it up, and some subscribers left, confused as to what it was for and what I was offering. I’m changing hat now, by making it really clear, and by being as transparent as possible. I want to grow it, not just as a way to pay for blog and youTube but also as a community in and of itself.
While Patreon is a way to show support, it’s also not for just that. In return you get extras for patronage (some people have said to me that they don’t want extras, but just to show support, and so I’ve added an option for that too).
So here are the new tiers, and all of the associated rewards:
Bronze Tier $1 per month
This is for those who just want to support the blog or YouTube. There are no extras, but you get my eternal thanks, and you get to help keep me keep producing content for the blog and youtube!
Silver Tier $2 per month
You get
- Access to the Patreon Only Feed.
- Behind the scenes content!
- Get to see early drafts and give feedback on projects.
Gold Tier $5 per month
You Get
- Access to the Patreon Only Feed.
- Behind the scenes content!
- Get to see early drafts and give feedback on projects.
- Early Access to YouTube Videos.
- Extras such as occasional Downloads.
Titanium Tier $10 per month
You Get:
- Access to the Patreon Only Feed.
- Behind the scenes content!
- Get to see early drafts and give feedback on projects.
- Early Access to YouTube Videos.
- Extras such as occasional Downloads.
- Extra Patreon only Vlog / Videos.
- Patreon Only Tutorials/Screen Casts.
Visit my Patreon page to learn more.
What you can expect
I try to post on Patreon a couple of times a week, but some weeks it will be less, and some more. I don’t want people to have the wrong expectations. It won’t be as often as every day and certainly not nearly as much as one the blog. I’m only human after all. Think of it as “Extras” like you get with a movie. I have been posting more and more to it, whenever possible. I support several creators on Patreon myself, and many only post a couple of times a month. The amount I post is probably slightly above average for most of the creators I follow.
It’s primarily behind the scenes content, about how I run the blog, what it’s like working in the industry, what it’s like running youTube and so on. I also post drafts of books as I write them, and early drafts of articles before I post them on the blog. Over the past year, I posted chapters form my Capture One Fuji Gide as I wrote it, and Patreon members had the opportunity to give feedback on that.
On the $5 tier, which includes downloads, over the past year, I’ve given away numerous Lightroom presets and Capture One Styles, many of which are from my own private collection, or work in progress. I’ve also given away downloads of my books in advance of their release, and free copies of my commercial presets.
I’ve just started the new $10 Titanium tier, and so it will take time to grow, but I’ve already started producing content. As part of this tier I’ve started doing a new series of “Live” editing sessions. This is basically a (mostly) unedited screencasts of my editing process. Essentially a live editing session, but pre-recorded instead of live. Below is the first episode to give you an idea.
I don’t like Patreon, Can’t you use something else?
Some people don’t like Patreon for various reasons, and that is fine. This is just another option for you to get extra content, and if you don’t want to for whatever reason, that’s perfectly ok with me. I have a diverse collection of ways to follow me and that includes, Twitter, my Facebook Group, and Facebook Page, my Medium Publications and Instagram. I’ve probably forgotten something too !
I use Patreon as its the best platform for doing this right now. There are other ways to offer paid membership options, but they are much more expensive and kind of defeat the purpose. But if you don’t want to support on Patreon that’s fine. I also understand that lots of people are suffering from subscription fatigue too.
If you do want to support the blog, or Youtube but not on Patreon then you can do so buy buying from my store now and then, or visiting one of my affiliate links, or just by leaving a kind comment now and then. You can also say thanks buy buying me a coffee through my Pay Pal tip jar.
And finally, a big thanks
Finally I want to say a big thanks to everyone who has already shown support, from all of my current and previous Patreon supporters, to everyone who reads this blog regularly. You have helped me get to where I am, and hopefully our journey will continue to grow over the next while. I honestly didn’t expect to be able to keep this up (almost) full time, but thanks to you I’ve been able to do so.
