Shannon
patreon
Charging monthly? (Poll)
🕑 Added 2023-08-14 22:22:45 +0000 UTCHey everyone! I'm really enjoying working on the new video but juggling it with my other obligations has been very difficult.
I was thinking about it and I would honestly have an easier time committing to working on video essays regularly if Patreon money was a consistent percentage of my income. So I am considering monthly charging.
I avoided it in the past because I needed the motivation of a deadline and because I frankly felt guilty charging monthly. But on top of being more disciplined now as an editor it is also hard to rationalize the amount of work a good video essay takes for the one-time charge at the end of it.
A lot of videos I made were 5-minute-long film reviews and while I stand by my work on those they obviously both take exponentially less effort than a solid video essay and also draw much less views/attention. So both from the standpoint of a self-respecting creator and from the standpoint of someone hoping to grow my audience, I don't want to do that kind of work anymore. I only ever did it because I couldn't pay my bills on essays that take four months to make.
I've said in the past I intended to not charge for my initial return videos due to having unfinished roughs I charged for in the vault so to speak and I know this is a big reversal on that as well. That's also part of why I wanted to poll patrons before making any changes.
Of course I appreciate every dollar y'all give me and am so grateful for people who have stuck with me after two years of inactivity! That is commitment! I'm just trying to think through a realistic and sustainable way of moving forward.
I also am in a much better place financially than when I was making video essays regularly, so please don't worry about me or my situation when answering the poll or if you need to cancel (whether or not I switch over). For me it's a business decision on sustainability and splitting my working hours and wanting to commit in a way where I can do the best work I'm capable of while still being compensated for my labor. With this change I'd be much more able to work on video essays a little bit every week rather than in bursts of free time/energy once every several months.
I'm a player on the Oddity Roadshow actual play podcast and the monthly Patreon support that show gets is heartening to me as far as whether it's realistic or acceptable or whatever for me to reconsider how I view my own Patreon. Looking at that got me thinking about my own situation.
If you have a moment please answer the poll and answer honestly. Feel free to share any additional thoughts below. And again I'll be fine either way, I want to avoid any kind of parasocial guilting or exploitation to squeeze more money out of longtime fans so I'm not gonna pretend I'd starve or something without it :). I'd just be able to work essays back into my schedule and be much more consistent. I genuinely appreciate the support either way!
Thanks!!
Comments
David Rodríguez Madriñán
It already felt wild having per video charging when you made feature film length deep dives into the darkest recesses of our souls with months of work so get the bread please!
Little Onion Sprout
I would love to back you monthly if it means more essays! Your essays are some of my favorites when I'm in the mood to re-watch and I would love to see you make them again. I agree with James that a monthly progress update is a good idea. As far as suggestions for patreon extras, I would suggest patterning it off of what hbomb does with giving his patrons the cut for time essay tangents or doing a retrospective on old videos of yours. I would also suggest keeping your minimum monthly tier low (like $2). Personally, that's the level that I'm able to easily support, especially for creators who are less active/ have less exclusive patreon content. That's my two cents anyway, hope you're having a nice day :)
Tinker
I was in this to support you, not as a transactional tit-for-tat. Whatever works best for you personally.
James Manion
Please charge what you need to charge to make this make sense. I am fine going to a monthly payment, but agree with Timothy that that will lead to different expectations. But for me, not so different than today. As long as you communicate roughly monthly on the progress / what you're working toward, I'd be very happy with that.
Shannon Strucci
True! I'd definitely be happy to commit to a lot more behind the scenes/patron exclusive stuff at the very least. I balk at more parasocial extras like a fan discord server but it would be fun to do Q&As or short exclusive videos or something. If you have any suggestions for that kind of stuff I'd be open (a 5 minute review would not feel weird or bad to do as a patron extra, for example). This may be callous to complain about because like I say I genuinely appreciate the support, but I'd probably make less than minimum wage on per video charging because some of this stuff takes hundreds of hours to make. Tough to balance it equitably especially when I can make a Kickstarter video for a client in three days and make more money. But the Kickstarter videos aren't exactly the pinnacle of my intellectual and creative abilities (though I still enjoy making them!). And at the end of the day it's y'all's money so I want to be careful and thoughtful on my approach.
Timothy G
Yeah, I understand it's not as simple as simply having a video ready to go every month. Not at the depth and quality level you hold yourself to at least. Nevertheless, there can definitely be bridging and progress content to come alongside a monthly charge, as you say.
Shannon Strucci
I like this proposition! The issue would be the type of video essays I'm making are unrealistic to make monthly and would be even if I didn't have a job. I would love to do something more in the scope of what Dan Olson and Hbomb do and aim for 2-5 essays a year or something, film segments, travel for videos, whatever. I appreciate your input though and I'm not in a rush to change anything or alienate longtime supporters!
Eóin Dooley
Glad to see this. I was hoping for your return to video essays for a while now, and I thought about increasing my pledge at one point but figured if time / other pressures were what held you back, then upping the money per video wouldn't really matter (plus, if you started doing them regularly, it'd quickly get too expensive for me). Very happy to go monthly.
Timothy G
(other) Either model can work, and I've stayed subbed to you this long in spite of few projects /because/ it's not charged monthly. So I think additional expectation will come from people with a switch. Only you will know if you will respond well to that or not. If you do do it, my suggestion is that before transitioning, charge monthly under the current scheme as a transitional period, and thus you will both come to understand how you yourself are productively responding to the change in financial model, and so will we. So for e.g. you will release something on the first week of every month starting September, or whatever equivalent suits you, then from November move to a monthly model if it is proving to work.
Gavin Hayes
I chose no strong preference, and by that I mean do whatever works best for you!
