Helping Creatives Financially
I've had a couple people ask, what is Patreon? At its core, Patreon is crowdsourcing for creatives. But I'll try to use some space here to give this condensed description a little more explanation.
Have you ever heard the term, patron of the arts? A patron of the arts is something that started hundreds of years ago, mostly in Europe and was associated with rulers, kings, or queens whom contracted (0r sponsored) artist, writers, sculptors, and other creatives to work almost exclusively for them or their cause.
While this type of patronage is rare nowadays, the concept is still here-it's just evolved to reflect a structure more akin to crowdsourcing. We've all met authors, artists, and other creative types that we'd love to support. However, there are reasons that keep us from downloading/reading that author's book (they write in a genre that's just not to our taste), purchasing that artists painting (our wall are already covered floor to ceiling), or buying a seamstresses quilt (we have a dozen quilts in our closet already).
Enter Patreon. Patreon allows you to become a patron of the arts without having to continually purchase items from creatives that might never be displayed in your home. Becoming an artist's patron allows you to support them financially, allowing them to continue creating and helping them financially.
Patrons in Action
Take an author. You like romance, but the author writes paranormal horror. You can purchase the book and put it on a shelf where it will go unread for years, or until it's sold at a garage sale or given away to charity. That initial purchase made the author feel great about selling a book, but that author doesn't really benefit unless the book is read and the purchaser leaves a rating and review to help spur more purchases and interest.
Now let's say that same author has a Patreon page where the purchaser of the book can instead offer financial support to the author by becoming a monthly patron. In most cases, the author's Patreon page offers multiple tiers. The first is usually for tips. It's where the patron can set up a monthly recurring donation of anywhere from $1 to $5 a month without expecting anything in return. They are just doing it to help support the author. If twenty patrons selected a $5 tier, that would be $100 in support for that author each and every month. That money would go a long way to help pay for future cover creations, editing, or printing costs.
In many cases though, the author will offer several other tiers for patrons to engage. In these, the author offers patrons something in return for their support (such as advance book downloads a month before publication). In my case, one of my tiers offers the patron not just advanced book downloads, but they also get some neat behind the scenes looks into the book. For example, right now, I'm writing a spin-off novella in my Roseland Chronicles series. Patrons will receive downloadable copies of first drafts, see all the "red-letter" edits and rewrites, then the final product. In essence, they are receiving everything that goes into the book from the initial idea to publication.
I hope I explained Patreon well enough to get the gist of how it works and how all types of creatives can benefit from your support. In conclusion, I'm going to leave you examples of the different tiers I'm offering on my own personal Patreon page. I hope you'll stop by and support me.
Here's an easy link to my personal Patreon page: Paw-Paw's Ink Well Patreon Page
Tip Tier
$1 / month
This tier is for those that would just like to support me without anything in return. Don't fret though, I'll pop in here from time to time and share some art, poetry, or flash-fiction...so you'll get something other than my endearing and everlasting thanks. Tier Benefits
Sporadic art/coloring pages (PDFs)
Poetry (PDFs)
Flash-Fiction (PDFs)
My heart-felt thanks!
Art Tier - Coloring Book Pages
$4 / month
With the $4 tier, you'll get pdf copies of coloring books pages that you can print on your home computer or download and color on your tablet. I'll be adding at least 4 new coloring pages every month. Download it as many times as you like and feel free to share with your household. When you finish one of my coloring pages, be sure to come back here and post a picture of it! I want to see your finished work! What's included
Digital Coloring Pages
Writing Tier - Complete Stories & Novels $6 / month⸱ That's right...along with the items provided in the Tip Tier, with this tier, you'll also receive all my completed longer works such as short stories, novellas, novelettes, and full-length novels. If you just want to read the finished products, this tier is for you. Tier Benefits:
Flash Fiction
Poetry
Short Stories
Novellas
Novelettes
Novels
Writing Tier - All The Goodies! $10 / month As the name says, this tier brings you all the goodies! As an avid reader, I'm often curious as to how other authors are inspired and develop their finished prose. Where did the idea come from? What was its development? How much did it change over time? On the author side, with these questions always in the back of my head, I thought, why not show everyone my processes? So here it is...every note, idea, and completed story will be here for your perusal. In many cases, I hand-write (either on paper or on my iPad) my initial story ideas and impressions. In this tier, you'll find those hand-written scans/downloads and get to follow along in the developing story from the first draft to the final product. I hope it'll be an interesting journey, not just for you, but for me as well. Tier Benefits:
Everything from the Tip Tier and the $6 Writing Tier
Hand-written story notes
Unedited first drafts
Edited first drafts w/notes & additions
Plot lines & beats (when available - sometimes I'm a true pantser)
Final draft
Writing Tier - Autographed Books! $20 / month For the die hard fans and collectors! With this tier, you'll get everything available in all the other writing tiers as well as autographed paperback copies of all my current publications in print. Tier Benefits:
Signed physical paperbacks mailed directly to you
A fancy-smancy bookmark to mark you place while you read
*Paperbacks will begin shipping in the second month after the first Patreon billing cycle is completed. I currently have 8 physical publication and they will ship as follows:
Month 2: The full-length novel, Average Joe (The Roseland Chronicles Book 1)
Month 3: The novella, Jumper (The Roseland Chronicles Book 1.5)
Month 4: The full-length novel, The Gravedigger (The Roseland Chronicles Book 2)
Month 5: The poetry collection, Inspirations
Month 6: The short-story collection, Beyond the Closet Door
Month 7: My personal memoir, I Am Nobody
Month 8: The micro-poetry collection, Nuggets
Month 9: The science fiction novella, The Game
Once again, thank you so much for following, sharing, and interacting with this blog. When you like, share, and comment on your personal social media pages, you help me gain more followers, fans, and readers.
Until next time...
CJT
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