LadyEmilyPresents
patreon
Potential Patreon Updates (Please Read!)
🕑 Added 2022-05-26 05:17:13 +0000 UTCHello! Emily here! It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these extensive text based Patreon updates. About a year? Wow, time flies, huh! Before we get in the thick of it, I want to have a moment of celebration: it’s been over a year of the channel! Neat! AND as you may know, we hit our first patreon reward goal, a full length video on all the Kingdom Hearts games. A gargantuan task that I’m sure will be a smooth and easy production process.
All joking aside, I am very excited about the project and have started work on it. It’ll take a bit, considering it means playing through and capturing footage of uhhh 10 games. But I’m going to do my best to make sure it’s worth the wait.
Anyways, there’s a reason why I’m writing this today. Since the start of 2022, I’ve been contemplating changes with the Patreon, stuff I’ve thought about implementing but needed time to work through in my head. After thinking it over, I do think there are some things I have to change or do going forward. However, before I make these changes, I want to pitch them to you all. I’m so grateful for every one of y’alls support. The Patreon, and the channel as a whole, has been a success outside of my wildest dreams and I have you all to thank for it. I don’t want to do any big or significant changes without running it by you all to see how you feel about it. With that in mind, let’s get right in.
PATREON CREDITS
I love the Patreon credits. I like getting to showcase y’all and I like seeing who all supports me and having it serve as a good end point for the video. One thing that has been causing issues for me recently, though, is reading the names in the $5 tier. And I don’t mean pronunciation, though God knows I struggle with that (sorry). I mean that there’s so many people in this tier that doing the credits has become way more difficult.
When I started this Patreon, I didn’t really expect anyone to donate to the $5 tier. But now, looking at the numbers, there’s almost 200 of y’all. And I’m incredibly grateful! But the credits have gotten to be a huge huge hassle, taking several hours on their own just to compile, record, and edit, in addition to becoming incredibly incredibly long. For the Spider-Man vid I had to do my best to cut down 15 minutes of already edited audio of me just reading names into 4 minutes, which is still an incredibly long amount of time for youtube video credits. It’s just getting increasingly unfeasible.
I still want everyone’s name in the credits, but what I’m considering is creating a brand new upper tier for it to be under in order to hopefully make it a more manageable process. Either that or dropping the spoken names completely, which is not my preferred option. People on the $5 tier would still have access to the bonus material like notes and bloopers and scripts as they currently have. Everyone on every tier will still have their name in a video. It would just be changing up the names that get spoken aloud and introducing a higher tier for it.
PAYMENT PLAN
This is perhaps the hardest change and the one I’ve been contemplating and trying to figure out for almost half a year now. But something that I think I need to do is switch the Patreon from charging per video to charging per month.
The main reason for this is quite simple: I want extra stability as I start progressing in my life. When I started working on my channel a year ago, I was in a much different place. The world was still mostly shut down, I was just a few months out of graduating college, still in that post grad phase of “what now?” and trying to figure out exactly what this whole online thing would end up being. But now here we are, the world is turning again (for better or for worse) and as the channel grows more and more, and I need to spend more time on it, it’s becoming more and more clear that this is my job that requires full time effort and attention. And if this is my job, then I need to make sure that I have enough coming in monthly for things like bills, medical fees, or anything else life throws my way.
Additionally, I’ve talked before both on social media and in videos about the ways in which the Patreon payment option can be stressful. Because it only collects at the beginning of the month for whatever stuff was put up by the end of last month, it can often mean increasingly stressful deadlines. If something happens like a sponsor being late for approval or a video taking slightly longer to edit than planned or youtube copyright problems and it keeps me from being able to have that video up before the final day, I just… don’t get any money that month. Furthermore, having a more stable income coming in from patreon would mean it gets a little easier to spend more time working on bigger projects like the Berserk or AVGN videos, as it would help me keep doing more large ambitious projects like those without the pressure to constantly have something out every month to survive.
I can understand if this idea might upset some of you. And I hope you aren’t upset at me for pitching it. If I do enact this and you don’t want to or can’t support the patreon anymore, I totally understand. It’s just something I think I need to do, both for my livelihood as well as my mental health.
I do realize the optics of this and rest assured, I don’t want to be charging more to give you all less. I want to give you all rewards to make sure that you feel that donating to me is worth it. So, if you don’t mind, I’d like to propose an idea…
NEW PATREON REWARD: EXCLUSIVE MONTHLY VIDEO
So this is something I’ve been working out the logistics of in my head for a few months after seeing some other essayists do it. And after thinking it over, something that I think would be fun to do would be a monthly, unscripted and lightly edited video/podcast exclusively for Patreon. The way I’m thinking this will work is that every month, I’ll ask for suggestions from higher tier patrons for whatever that month’s topic is. I’ll choose from these suggestions and pick a selection of them (either based on patron enthusiasm for the subject or my own familiarity with it or the feasibility of it) and then I’ll post a poll with these suggestions and maybe one or two of my own and let patrons vote on them. Once that’s done, I’ll record it and post it up both as an video (with minimal editing, meant primarily for listening) as well as an audio file, for those who would prefer to download something like this to listen to later. All patrons will have access to these exclusive videos, regardless of tier.
I think this is a fun idea because I love rambling about stuff, if you couldn’t already tell by my Twitter and also everything about me, and there’s certain subjects that I’d love to talk about that I don’t think I’ll ever actually make a video for. Things like video games I’m playing, comics I’m reading, shows I like, current events, maybe even expanding upon things and subjects from past videos, if people wanted. Anything goes, really! I think it’ll be fun and I’m excited at the prospect of doing this and having more stuff out.
PATREON SUGGESTIONS?
These are the ideas I had so far, but before I go, I just want to say that if you have any suggestions for rewards or tiers that you’d like to see, let me know! I’m always looking for new things to have up here and I’m open to any ideas! There are limits, like they do have to be something reasonable that wouldn’t take a substantial amount of energy and focus away from actual full videos and work, and also there are some things like a patreon Discord server that I could be open too but I’m also cautious against just because of past experiences with that sort of thing. But feel free to suggest whatever ideas you have! I know I’ve been thinking over things, like maybe doing a monthly Q&A here because I like doing those or maybe exclusive streams if I’m able to move into a place that actually has good internet. The sky is the limit, really!
Anyway, this ended up a lot longer than planned. Like I said, these are ideas I had. I’d love to hear feedback. Approval, disapproval, suggestions, whatever. And I hope you all are having lovely nights and lovely days!
TL;DR
- Considering moving "name spoken in credits" to a new higher tier
- Considering changing the Patreon to charging per video to per month
- Considering monthly unscripted videos on user suggested and voted subjects
- Send feedback and suggestions if you have any!
Comments
Elliot Berry
Please charge me monthly! I also don't care a whole lot about the credits.
Al’s in the Middle
I do want to echo something I’ve seen in other comments, though which is that burn out is real so if making more content on a monthly basis is really stressful or you’re feeling uninspired you don’t have to feel obligated because of the monthly payments on Patreon. I just want to support you and you’re beautiful and creative mind :) take care of yourself first!
Al’s in the Middle
I am in full support of whatever will make your life easier :)
Austin P. Smith
We like this and like you and want you to do whatever is best for you :)
Saffron C
I think it’s okay to either speak no names or create a higher paid tier. But then I feel eventually you’ll get enough patrons in that higher tier that you’ll run into this issue again. Maybe speak aloud names of new patrons at the $5 or above tier for the next video only? If it’s easy to collect information on “I got these patrons from X date to Y date.” Honestly, whichever is less labor intensive for you! Like others said, I’m here because your content impacted me so that I want to support you, regardless of incentives. I’m going to bump down my contrib in a few months anyway because I’m going back to school. 🥲 So it won’t be in reaction to this change. I agree that you should switch to per month instead of per creation. I think your ideas for monthly videos and Q&As are fun! It’s very sweet and thoughtful of you to offer this opportunity for feedback from your patrons. I’m thankful you decided to make videos and look forward to the next ones! PS you say my name correctly! :)
(pretty new patron) Totally fine with the change to monthly recurring payments, honestly. Whatever makes it easier for you to produce the content you want to make :) Im also fine either way with the patreon credits thing, a part of me loves it (and would be fine if it was raised in tier), but another part of me understands that it is a lot of time and its just something that may come back in the future anyways. In the end I say do whatever makes you feel the most comfortable here. I love the idea of simple unscripted patreon videos, but thats mainly because i just love the idea of more content. Maybe try it out and see if it feels good before committing to it for certain? Thank you for your content, i love it to death <3
Jerod Highfield
Also I never even listened to the list before and my name is pronounced like Jared. Everyone does it which might be why I’m so comfortable with people not saying it.
Oxnard Mantalvo
I started supporting several video essayists early in their careers or whatever each of them would call it, and as their audience grows and they transition from hobby/part-time effort to something they really invest a lot more of themselves and their time into, it's inevitable that changes like this have to happen. Expanding tiers to cut down on reading names is pretty standard, and if you decide to up the tiers, I'll continue at my current contribution level and won't have a problem with not having my name read. The regular payment vs per video payment is a harder decision for all the reasons you already mentioned. I feel like the stress of producing content would be relatively less if you have a steady income stream, but not knowing you personally, that's all generalization from the self. Either way, I'll probably keep my current tier. I don't know what it says about me that I'm still on Lindsay Ellis' Patreon, but I know she got railroaded for the most absurd nonsense. I've supported other content creators through dry spells, too, (or until they pulled the plug on their Patreons themselves). The only times I've lowered my tiers is when I'm trying to support more creators or my discretionary Patreon budget changes, and then the changes are usually across the board.
Jerod Highfield
1. I’m fine with either way you go on credits. Personally it doesn’t matter to me to hear or even see my name. I contributed because I wanted to support not for my own gratification. Also maybe just do random call outs? Like see how many you can do in like 30 secs to a minute? That’s how it always feels Movies with Mikey is doing it lol. 2. I’m okay with going monthly personally. It won’t change my support. I need more Berserk content. 3. I’m in support of more videos but if they aren’t fun for you or your hearts not in it and the only reason you do it is to feel you are validating the support us Patrons are giving you then don’t do it. Burn out is real and a killer and you often don’t know the killer is in the house until he’s right on top of you. I hope this helps.
Emily Bray
I'm going to be playing both of them, but I'll probably talk more about the PS2 remake just because it's the one more people are going to play if they try to get into the series and the one more people have access to!
GeckoQween
I thought it was already monthly... shows how much I pay attention, haha. I always wondered what creators did when their "patreon credit" list gets too long. I don't think any reasonable person should mind that you would rather have more content in your videos than patron name reads (that people likely click away from anyway). I think it's really cool that your audience has grown so much :)))
Zach Grooten
Do you plan to do Chain Of Memories GBA or the PS2 remake?
Tao
I don't mind not being in the credits -- it's never a thing I'm personally bothered about. I would like a video every month, even if it's just unscripted. In particular, please do try to post at least once a month, to at least tell us things are happening. I realise it's hard to post "sorry, I've nothing to say", but I do often unsubscribe from Patreons when they "go dark", as sometimes people just disappear forever.
Jessica Lain
all these changes sound great!!! :))) /gen
Tom Goldthwait
These all seem reasonable to me! The whole reason I like to support people on Patreon is to help them get financial stability and focus on making the content they want to make. If switching to monthly payments makes that easier for you then by all means, do it.
Tarev
I also thought this was monthly, so by all means go for it.
Steven Fann
I'd probably have to bump down my tier, as others have said, but I would absolutely stick around!
Azuresquirrel
These are all very reasonable changes! I'm happy to stay on the tier I'm at monthly.
Leander
I think everything you suggested is very reasonable (especially the monthly patron charge, a girl’s gotta make money) and I’m very excited about the prospect of getting to listen to more frequent rambly type discussions on things you’re interested in. Ultimately I think you should do whatever is best/most feasible for you to try and maintain for as long as you want to. I’m here to support you as best I can because I enjoy the things you’ve created!
thirdtotheleft
I'm happy with this changes (particularly monthly unscripted content), although if you change to monthly I'll likely have to change how much I pay because I can afford $5 every two or three months but $5 a month is too much for my tight budget at the moment. It's the same net amount of money of course but it's easier for me to budget around.
Jubei
I honestly thought it was monthly already, lol.
Tesseract King
I literally already thought it was monthly, so uh. Go right ahead with that one 🤣 I think these are all good ideas! I probably won't be able to upgrade to keep hearing my name in the credits, but it's not like the old videos with my name in them are going anywhere :P All that said, I'm a patron because I like the stuff you make and want you to feel secure to make more of it, so the rewards are more or less a non-issue.
Sarah Z
I think these changes are fantastic <3
Sean Lane
I think these are all good ideas but most especially I think making patreon payments monthly is the right move. I'm sure that having that added stability would be a big help and I'm more than happy to support on a more regular basis!
David Portnov
I genuinely forgot that this Patreon was on a per video payment option and thought it was monthly. I definitely don't mind contributing monthly, especially if that helps you out more. I'm just here because I enjoy your work and think it's worth paying for. Anything you decide to change about the Patreon works for me.
Jenny Geist
All of these plans sound really good! Charging per month is honestly my preferred Patron plan, oddly enough? I prefer the consistency of always knowing how much I'm paying each month instead of the variable payment option, plus I understand it's much easier on creators (hence why I do it for myself). Either way, looking forward to these changes!
Darinost
I agree with everyone else, I’ve got no problem switching to monthly.
Simon Welsh
I'm in favour of move to charging per month, for entirely selfish reasons: it makes it a lot easier for me to budget and I don't have to worry about multiple uploads in a month
Trejon Dunkley
I honestly prefer doing monthly vs per video because it’s easier to budget that way. I support YOU as an artist. I know personally that being financially safe is the beadiest way to create art. I’m happy to give to you monthly because I know your work is always worth it.
Cinemageddon Reviews
I’ve been a fan of your work for a while and I’m staying no matter what. I’d be happy to chip in and help out monthly instead of per video if it means helping you and your content grow.
