The internethas provided a perfect platform for creatives to let loose theirinspiration. From artists and videographersto podcasts, games, and books.
Online creativebusinesses are flourishing and platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Facebookhave been a great outlet and route to finding a market while also generating aliving online.
That beingsaid, the revenues from ads on YouTube, for example, are hard to rely on, andso people start to look for other sources of supplementing their income, whilealso connecting with their audience.
This is where Patreon comes in.Many YouTubers in particular, but online creatives in general, have started adding Patreon as an additional source of income.
But what exactly is Patreon and how does it work? Let’s dive into a bit more detail, and our review.
What is Patreon?
Patreon is essentially a crowdfunding platform that allows anyone to generate crowd-sourced funding while offering additional perks for those funds.
Patreon is setup to allow fans of a creative’s work to support them, either on a monthlybasis or a project-by-project basis. Inreturn, they will get perks that can be anything from early access, exclusivecontent, ad-free content, to any other sort of benefit the creative couldoffer.
So a YouTuber, for example, may offer their videos a week early to their Patreon supporter as well as offer exclusive live chats.
In Patreon’s own words ‘you can let your fans become active participants in the work they love by offering them a monthly membership. You give them exclusive content, community, and insight into your creative process.
How does it work?
Simply put, Patreonis a platform that allows you to control and connect with your fans andsupporters, or ‘Patrons’. Patreon managethe subscriptions for you as well as act as a protection for both the creatorand the fans
In return,Patreon will take a percentage of your monthly subscriptions in return forbeing the host platform.
Features
Patreon has some great features that give creatives a wide scopefor customizing their interactions with their fans. Let’s break these down:
Membership tiers
Patreon givesyou the opportunity to set different membership tiers, and most creators havemultiple subscription tiers on offer to their fans.
Creators cancharge anything from $1 to $100 for each tier per month, and in general thelarger the contribution, or the higher a subscription tier, the more perks thefan or supporter unlock.
That’s not tosay that Patreon creators have to adhere to a membership tier. Many don’t have tiers at all and instead workon a pay-what-you-want basis giving their audience the freedom to pay as muchor as little as they want or can for the content.
Thisflexibility is great for both the creative and the fans.
The Feed
Patreon creatives communicate and interact with their supporterprimarily through a feed on their page.This is where all of their content will be posted, and where their fansand supporters can browse current and past content.
Creators can post text, images, videos, polls to their feed, andin many ways is similar to a social media feed.
Patreon creators have the ability to control what content on thefeed can be seen by which membership tier too.So if live streams are only available to subscribers that pay $10 orover, anyone subscribing below $10 won’t have access to these.
For podcasts, in particular, Patreon also provides a custom RSSfeed, so that they can give exclusive access to their Patrons.
Support Materials
Patreon has an awful lot of support materials, workshops, andblogs to help you get started and make the most of their platform.
Patreon U is their learning center and is full of video tutorials,articles, and resources that cover everything from simply setting up youraccount, to running a successful Patreon community, and much more.
They also run workshops and have live events to further supportand connect creators.
Their creator community is also a great resource for getting helpand advice from other creators already using Patreon.
If you are a premium member then you will also get a dedicatedpartner manager to help you manage your Patreon account.
All in all, Patreon has a lot of support and resources on offer tohelp make sure you have the best chance of succeeding.
Patreon Pricing
Patreon has three pricing plans for creators wanting to use theirplatform, the Lite, Pro, and Premium.Each plan comes with its own level of support and features.
The best part is that the cost for each plan is a percentage ofyour monthly income from Patreon. Sothere is no cost when you first start and you don’t have many supporters.
Let’s break down each plan:
Lite
Cost – 5% of the monthly income from Patreon
This is their base plan and comes with very basic featuresincluding your hosted creator page, communication tools, access to Patreonworkshops as well as payment processing.
Pro
Cost – 8% of the monthly income from Patreon
This is their recommended plan and comes with a lot more featuresthan the lite plan:
- Membership Tiers
- Analytics and insights
- Special Offers promo tool
- Creator-led workshops
- Unlimited app integrations
- Priority Customer Support
Premium
Cost – 12% of the monthly income from Patreon
This is their top tier plan and as well as getting everything fromthe other two plans you also get a dedicated partner manager, merch formembership, and the ability to create team accounts.
Payment Processing
Patreon will take the handling of money off your hands and processall the payments from your supporters.There is an additional charge for this, however, and as there is noother way of taking payments from your supporters you have very little choicein the matter.
Their rates are split into two categories, standard rate (for anypayment over $3) and micropayment rate (any payment less than $3).
- Standard rate – 3.2% plus 35 cents per payment
- Micropayment rate – 5% plus 10 cents per payment
These fees, according to Patreon, are to cover:
- Recurring billing
- Recovery of failed payments
- Fraud protection
Our thoughts
For creatives, the rise of Patreon has been hugelybeneficial. It has added an extra sourceof income, a new way to connect with their community and to give their fans asense of exclusive connection and access.
It is a way for creatives to be supported and funded directly bytheir fans on an ongoing basis and has given the chance for many creatives,smaller ones in particular the opportunity to focus on their online career andmake the move to working full time on these pursuits.
It is also great for fans as they get access to exclusive contentand perks, and a way to support and interact with their favorite creatorsdirectly.
While the costs are arguably on the steeper side, the benefit of having a platform that connects you with your fans without having to do any of the background work or worry about the payment process etc is great.
Alternatives
Patreon isn’t the only resource for crowdfunding from your fans,however. Here are some of our favoritealternatives.
Podia – is an all-in-onesolution for selling courses, webinars, downloads, or subscribermemberships. Podia lets you diversifyyour business further by offering more than just subscription memberships.
Kickstarter – is one ofthe best know crowdfunding sites and while it doesn’t do ongoing support likePatreon, it is great for one-off larger projects that you want to be funded.
Indiegogo – is another big player in the crowdfunding landscape and while they are best known for their one-time funded projects, like Kickstarter they do also offer extended projects and support more like Patreon.
