Mini-Musing 03/27/23 – Patreon? Kickstarter? I don’t know.

Did I spell those right?

I’m currently following the recent…controversy? No, it’s not a controversy, just an author doing what they feel is right. But what I noticed is a lot of comments — among others — stating that the reason some authors have Kickstarter and Patreon accounts is to raise money to self-publish the books they want. Some are authors that have already published in mainstream and are making a profit but are having trouble with the time it takes to get paid.

I plan on self-publishing Gunslinger Witch someday. I can’t now because I simply don’t have the funds. I’ve applied for some grants, but they take time with no guarantee. So why not do a Kickstarter or Patreon? To be honest, I’m uncomfortable with the idea. I’ve seen authors do one or both to self-publish books and have been subjected to everything from verbal abuse to death threats. I don’t need that drama in my life. I have enough of my own.

Plus, I don’t know what to offer as rewards. What would people want? Or how much should I request for each reward? I did some quick research on both sites to see if anyone besides Brandon Sanderson was successful. He comes up in practically all the Kickstarter searches.

Well this is interesting…

For Kickstarter, I found many other authors on both that are doing extremely well, making, if not exceeding their goals. The similarity to all are, the more you pledge the more swag you get, of course. So I wonder do they use the funds they made through the project to pay for creating the swag? That would be the easiest way I suppose, but is it ethical? I’ll have to look up the rules.

Now Patreon is a little different. You pay monthly fees and apparently get rewards for that but I can’t tell if you get the different versions of the same SWAG every month or not. N.K. Jemisin — Tinderbox is being compared to her work, insert obvious hint here — is one of the most famous Patreon subscribers, although she is no longer taking patrons. I have the same issues with this. How much to charge and what to give as SWAG. I can’t tell if Patreon has their own prices — or Kickstarter for that matter — unless you create an account — which I think I may already have!

So, if I could have a least one Patreon or Kickstarter published author to tell me how it was, I would appreciate it. Tell me how you started, how it went and how you choose your SWAG and the amounts. I’d especially like to know how N.K. Jemisin did her $50 every patron gets a free book. I can only assume she placed a limit of the $50 paying patrons. Any guesses or better yet actual facts, peeps?

Peace ~

Wendy