Lazei
patreon
Thinking about Updating Reward Tiers
🕑 Added 2023-06-25 19:00:04 +0000 UTCHey guys. So yeah, another one of those self-reflection posts because I'm sort of on a break month and all that and if I'm gonna change things then I should probably do it on a sort of off month. So... I've been thinking about exclusive pictures and how they've been affecting my schedule both in drawing and colouring them. Like alot of the pics I've been doing they've sort of gotten a bit out of hand since I came back from break with some of the biggest pictures I've done that month being tied to them, which not only makes me less active in the early month but also gives me a headache at the end of the month as I have to figure out how to colour them. And in cases like this month, it sort of bleeds over to the next month anyways. I've actually thought about shortening them and making them smaller. In fact I've thought about doing that for several months but I sort of feel like that's to be expected of me nowadays too. At the same time I feel like people aren't really too interested in the exclusives anyways.
Plus there's also leaks which kind of defeat the purpose of doing them as well. I've occasionally found them posted on other sites, in some cases not long after they're posted on here. It's a part of being on the internet and if some anonymous person is dead set on leaking my stuff out then I can only do so much to stop it, but it is discouraging whenever I see it happen.
If I'm being honest with you, it's sort of the part of the month I dislike since I feel like I'm not being as active as I'd like, and I'd rather just go about pics on a request by request basis instead of breaking up my time between doing exclusives and requests. So I'm thinking about replacing the exclusive pic rewards with something else and making my schedule more consistent throughout the month. I mean, I was okay with doing exclusives before, but it seems like times have changed along with the way I work and I feel like I need to readjust. I apologize for those who were looking forward to those sorts of rewards but on the flip side I'll probably be working more on requests and colouring them and you guys no longer have to wait a week for me to post something at the beginning of the month like I've been doing recently. Also means I'll open up the suggestion box earlier too.
So what does this mean with regards to the current tier system? I'd thought about introducing new tiers at different price points and asking people to switch over before deleting the old ones but, after looking into it, I think it'd be a hassle to deal with, so I've decided to just adjust the current price tiers with different rewards instead.
One of the biggest changes that I'm considering is to introduce different suggestion boxes for different tiers. Since most of my pics nowadays tend to be classified into either shorter one-offs or longer 3+ page miniseries anyways, then I'll probably think about allocating the rewards based on that instead of the types of colouring. More specifically I'm thinking about a small suggestion box which will be more for smaller pic suggestions (like up to 5 panels) and ones where the suggestions can be more elaborate. I just think things would be more fair this way, especially since I found myself doing fairly large requests for patrons in the $1 tier who shouldn't even be able to see them at times. And yeah, I'm still trying to get a balance between bigger and smaller pictures as well, so this is another reason why I'm leaning in this direction.
Another idea I'm considering is introducing polls for some pictures. Since ditching the batch format late last year I have found myself conflicted between different suggestions and what to do next and given the limited amount of time I have I can't really do all of them. So in those cases I've been thinking of letting people decide. Along with the different tiers of suggestions there will of course be different sets of polls as well.
Finally there are commissions. I've been getting into the habit of doing commissions again since it seems like there are people interested. Since I'm not really picky about commission pricing and all that I've thought about adding discounts for patrons as well along with some guaranteed # of slots for people in upper tiers.
So here's where I'm currently leaning with regards to the new rewards:
$1: Just a tip jar.
$5: Access to early high resolution pics, access to the smaller suggestion box where the suggestions are 1-5 panels, the ability to vote on all sketches for colouring, ability to vote in polls for smaller suggestions.
$10: Previous rewards + access to the bigger suggestion box, more likelihood for commissions to be chosen (I will guarantee some # of slots to this tier), 10% off commission prices, ability to ask for minor edits to previous pictures, ability to vote in polls for bigger suggestions.
That's sort of the idea for now. Hopefully you guys think this is a fair system. If anybody has any critiques or suggestions of what else I can add then I'm open to hearing them. I'll probably make an announcement of the new tiers sometime later so people are aware of what's going on.
Comments
Fartholomew
Makes perfect sense. Iβm glad youβre adjusting things to ease the burden of your workload. Polls are a great idea and will take a lot of the mental strain away from having to choose between requests. Any amount of stress that you can reduce will always be welcome, and Iβll support your content no matter the tier! I imagine the flexibility and selection cohesion will go a long way for your creativity, and you always bring us A-game material! Do whatβs best for you, bro!
Cerestia
Great! I will follow your idea no matter what! I also hope you will be healthy! I wonder what the benefits would be if a new tier was added. I'll support top tier no matter what the price is! And the leak problem is terrible. I sometimes see your recent paintings on the Internet. When I see that, I think it's too much. I tried to prevent the leak, but it didn't seem to help much. I'm sorry, but I'll keep trying.
Requiem of Consoles
Of course man. And yeah that sounds pretty reasonable. Looking forward to seeing come I to fruition.
Lazei
Thanks for understanding. For polls I guess it depends on the number of ideas that are on my mind though I may just limit it to 2 to keep things simple.
Requiem of Consoles
Completely understandable. Kind of reminded me of that 20-30 dollar tier situation you once had a few years back which was a guaranteed commission for three people, but a lot more stressful from the sound of things. These changes feel a lot more flexible and less stress inducing. You're one of my favorite content creators so you being in good health is all that matters at the end of the day. If this helps you then I'm all for it. How many options would an average poll have if you had to estimate the amount of choices?
Oofing Oofer1212
All of this sounds like a total fair change and tbh I did think the exclusive were a bit odd as like you said they do tend to get leaked. Also the different box idea would be a great idea for people with bigger ideas to get their own suggestion box. Also it would relieve some stress as I've noticed you've been cutting it close for the exclusive colours quite a lot and that must had be stressful in itself so I would 100% go for just getting rid of exclusive, and instead maybe add the suggestive box reset for the month on the first. We or at least I want you to not stress yourself out or at least as little as possible!
chris
I think ending the month with an exclusive would be better also have people vote on which ones get colored if your not already doing that
O_Mejo
I'm in favorπ
Lazei
My mix between big and small pics will probably be like how it was before, or what I was trying to do before, though it will probably be more now that I don't have to be concerned about doing exclusives.
KVFirst&only
Makes sense. I really like the idea of doing polls for when your not sure which idea to use, a great way to figure which ones to do now and which to hold on to for later. One question, if your doing a bigger suggestion box for bigger ideas, how many of those ideas would you plan on doing a month?
Lazei
Oddly enough most of my patrons are in the $10 tier which I think is in part due to goodwill which I certainly appreciate! That's why I'm not too bummed out about leakers, though because of them I feel like I should adjust what I offer.
Albert
This all makes sense to me. In my opinion, this new way gives a lot more incentive to be a higher tier patron. I think giving more advantages to the higher tiers while not taking away much from lower ones makes perfect sense and is totally reasonable. Before, higher tiers pretty much only had the exclusives, and like you said, those would get leaked, and thatβs on top of the rng of getting your requests fulfilled in the first place. Having a higher tier suggestion box is a much greater incentive to pay more. Iβve been a $10 patron since 2019, and Iβm not planning on changing that anytime soon. Keep up the great work, man!
Riccardo Catalano
You have my support
Kevin Lamont Williamson
All for it.
Iruma Mob 100
This sounds completely understandable and like a great idea. Iβm totally okay with this ^^
Carter Skjerven
This is completely understandable
