x50413
patreon
Sales Tax & Benefits
🕑 Added 2020-06-22 23:37:11 +0000 UTCIt's been a while since I've posted here; it's something I intend to work on in the future but at the same time the impression I get from most of you wonderful, generous people is that you'd prefer I spend my time writing content instead of these (hopefully interesting) rambles!
Anyway, I wanted to do two things: Firstly, make sure that everyone following me knows that Patreon will be legally required to charge sales tax on pledges starting July 1st, so you should all consider that in regards to your pledges. I don't provide much in the way of benefits, so I'm not certain how much of your pledges to me are actually taxable, but there's a chance you'll see the amount increase. If it pushes the cost over the edge for any of you, I'll completely understand.
Secondly, I wanted to field an idea regarding benefits: I'm considering allowing some of the higher pledge levels the option to prompt me once a month and get a small (~1,000 words minimum) omake on a subject of their choice. The outcome would be similar to (but not necessarily as complex as) the Pyrrha-as-Arbiter omake or the Blake-in-Mass-Effect sequel, both of which were similarly prompt-based. I'd accept prompts that weren't based on my main stories so long as I was familiar with the setting and/or concept.
My main question is: is this something that any of my audience would actually find valuable? Would it be worth a ~$15/$20 pledge? (I don't want to overload myself with prompts and drown out my actual stories, for obvious reasons).
Comments
y
Hey x50413, I'm just gonna drop my 2c. I hope this makes it to you. I think it's important you grow your audience, ie. the number of patrons. I know you have a lot of readers on various forums, and your writing quality is very good. However for whatever reason they are not converting over to Patreon. For example "Just as Planned" has ~500 likes per story post, but you have ~40 patrons. I feel like these numbers do not match up, in my experience. I'm writing this in hopes it might help you grow your Patreon audience, bringing you ever closer to your goals as a writer. TBH I feel a bit sleazy wording all this in such a business-like, transactional manner, since I'm the exact opposite of an MBA type, but I feel like you need to hear this (maybe again, I'm sure you already know or someone has told you). I'm going to go through my thoughts point-by-point since they're kinda disconnected and I'm too lazy to organize them. Advertising. I think you're doing a good job because I got here through one of your Patreon plugs. This is a good habit. Schedule. I think it's more important to begin posting more regularly on Patreon. Doesn't have to be a crazy schedule. Weekly updates, bi-weekly, etc. Basically a release schedule that's consistent and sustainable for yourself. I'm sure the spectre of burn-out looms over all writers. Content. I think it's a very good idea to put exclusive content up. Some authors choose to release new chapters first to Patrons. Some choose to release un-betaed chapters. The thing in common is that readers are incentivized to subscribe to your Patreon. Currently there is zero exclusive content so there is no material incentive to subscribe. The whats and hows of your content strategy is your prerogative. Personally I chose to subscribe because I discovered your stories today and I feel bad reading 200k+ word really well-written stories for free. Tier benefits. I feel like this is putting the cart before the horse. You don't have a large enough audience to really benefit from subdividing them like that. Yrsillar has 378 patrons as of this writing, I feel like only recently has being in a higher tier started to make sense to me. Commissions. Your time, your call. Personally I feel like you will naturally begin drowning in commission requests as your audience grows. Then $20 commissions might not seem worth it at that point, lol. You have some really popular stories and quests up with lots of readers. I think this is a good start, but there's still work to be done. I wish you well on your path to becoming a full-time professional writer.
