As consumers, what sort of rewards or services would you like to see being offered on an author’s Patreon page? You can check out this thread and see that there are a handful of patreon pages listed with their own tier based reward system.
Some of these services include things like:
Access to updates
Access to exclusive polls
Exclusive Q&A sessions
Exclusive discord benefits
Private channels or exclusive roles within the server
Access to alpha or beta version of the demo before it’s released to the public
Access to side stories/bonus stories
Is there anything not listed up above that you’d like to see author offer their patreon supporters? Write your suggestions down below!
Well I don’t buy Patreon usually, I usually give my charity to more pressing issues, but I don’t look down on those who do. An idea for my story (not exclusively mine, but I speak for the group in this case.) However was to have a sort of authors commentary. So it’s the same story, but the authors,editors,illustrators and whoever else wants to commenate will then write in the story, explaining what went through their head while writing, or why they did certain things, maybe there was an idea for a scene that didn’t quite work, you could just say, “I was thinking about so and so happening.” Tell the epic story about the fire that gave Toldo Inc. It’s name. Talk about the themes, and why you believe in them, or what else you wanted to say, but couldn’t fit in the combines of the story. Maybe you could talk about the annoying class mate that inspired the antagonists minion.
I love to see artwork and world building writings in patreons. Often times stories create these amazing worlds but then only focus on one character or group. I want to see the rest of the world, from the homeless to the wealthy elite, I want to understand this universe you’ve created!
Well, unfortunately I haven’t been able to support any other writers yet, but here are some things that I like and have thought of including on my patreon page:
I really like the idea of seeing scenes from another character’s perspective. Like a very important scene that we get from the MC point of view, but as a reward you offer the possibility of getting it from someone else’s.
I like knowing more about the world too. Maybe an exclusive wiki?
TESTS! I really like tests.
You already mentioned bonus stories, but I wanted to reinforce the point. Bonus stories of any kind are cool.
Stickers.
Looks into the process of how the author prepares for writing. As in, how they outline, what format they use for coming up with characters…
Maybe a “you are now my apprentice” tier? Where you guide someone through the process of making a game/writing a story. Contrary to the previous one you are in direct contact with the person.
Art. Maps. No matter how rustic they are, I want to see them.
Kind of like slice of life pieces of random people. Like, if you did a two page story on some random merchant, or any other in-world character. Or it could be something pulled out of an in-world history book. Or a wanted poster. Or… literally anything just something separate from the main cast of characters in your story that still contributes to the world
I have some caveats to the last one, though: specifically, I prefer side stories that are closely related to the actual story. Although there are some “worlds” that I get into enough to enjoy random stories set at different times/places with the NPCs, it’s not common. So, when I see those kinds of side stories, I might skim them but that’s about it because I have no interest in them. I especially don’t want to read a story about a RO hooking up with someone other than the MC (I saw this on a patreon for a game on itch.io… and wasn’t pleased). Or with an MC that is too specific because it kinda ruins things.
The discord thing… well, I literally couldn’t care less about discord benefits. I work too much to take advantage of it anymore and am so sporadic about being available that those “benefits” are worthless to me. Trying to comb through a thousand messages in several different servers gives me a damned headache and feels like more of a job than my job.
Stuff that I value greatly on Patreon:
The alpha/beta thing pretty much makes it worth it to me for IFs that I really love (I’m looking at you @rinari).
Specific types of artwork: Mainly, I want to see the author’s vision of the NPCs, the settings we see often (like Sera gave an image of Wayhaven on her Patreon and I kept that), weapons used in the IF (again, Lena does that and it’s freaking awesome), and stuff along those lines.
Like @Lidell I like seeing scenes from another character’s perspective (i.e., not the MC’s POV).
Spoilers. I know some will cringe at this and put a hex on me for suggesting it, but I’m a spoiler whore. Additionally, when some of these games are taking a year or more to finish, I sometimes lose interest or start viewing it in a negative light because I’ve got nothing to work with. The longer it’s going to take for me to see the “good” part of the story (for example, the godawful “slow burn” BS in the romaces), the more spoilers help me to stay positive about the story and stay interested, overall. The more spoilers I get, the happier I stay. Well, unless the spoilers show that the story will suck, of course.
Frequent updates, with some hints of what’s to come (for the spoiler averse). I visit two tumblr sites–despite hating tumblr with the heat of a thousand suns–and have no desire to visit more than that, so getting info on Patreon is a huge plus to me.
The opportunity to get personalized stories in that world, but as an ‘extra’ rather than a tier. Having tiers that get that is a shit way of doing it, in my opinion, because they are typically limited and people squat on them so others never get to get it for themselves. By the same token, I don’t like the idea of using ko-fi to have that tier because it feels like the author is just trying to screw everyone out of more money by splitting the Patreon stuff with the specialized stories. I’ve seen one person do it well, and that’s Tierra (who did Dragon Rider), because she’ll open it up at the beginning of the month, you sign up and it’s first come first serve, and you pay through paypal or wherever and that’s that.
In lieu of discord benefits, offering the patrons the opportunity to message the author and actually get a response is something I prefer. To keep the author from being overwhelmed, they could limit it–like one message every few months for particularly busy patreons.
In lieu of tumblr, I’d like to see authors start a wiki, so people can search for answers (instead of asking the same questions over and over again) and maybe have a section that is only accessible by patrons (with spoilers and extra info that the others don’t get until the work is released).
Once the wiki is set up, add two community Q&A sections to it–one for your normal tumblr followers (and other non-patrons) and a second for patrons.
Addressing people who want to see artwork, in particular artwork of the NPCs, does it have to be artwork specifically created by the author? Or would this include things like face claims, pictures found via search engine, or commissioned artwork that the author is using thanks to the hard work of an artist they paid?
No, they don’t have to do it themselves (if I ever started one, I’d have to commission it because I can’t draw anything but Snoopy heads and stick figures!). But I’d personally prefer commissioned artwork instead of face claims. Pay it forward and all that, you know?
i’m finding this thread invaluable already. fortunately, I’m currently stable enough that I’m seriously considering quitting my full-time job to focus on writing my WIP (which is terrifying to acknowledge out loud), so my sister sat down with me the other day to help me come up with a few potential rewards for Ko-Fi (since that’s what I’ll be using instead, at least at first). I got some very basic ideas down but this thread (and the one OP linked to!) will really help. Interactive fiction is still such a niche thing and writing is so… idk, there’s a word for it, I’m sure. I feel like of all creative work, it’s the most difficult to ascribe a monetary value to (but I’m biased cause I hate money and have never been paid to write before). I was really struggling to figure out what extras I can realistically offer to people, bless this thread
i didn’t even know that was a thing!! i love personality tests (seriously been obsessed w/them since at least as far back as Quizilla launching ), I never imagined they could be a reward, though… p dang cool.
anyway, i’m now watching this thread like a hawk now
An interesting one would be to let Patreon supporters get to make suggestions on side characters regarding personality/looks since side characters usually don’t affect the plot too much.
@darthmaul I think the problem with this one is that patreon is a monthly thing so after a while you could run out of characters for them to create. At least that’s my fear if I were to include something like that.
@hotmess.exe Oh, the quizilla days, that brings back memories. Wwyff were one of the first interactive fiction things that I played, I think incorporating some of those elements too could be fun. Also, anything can be a reward, thinking outside the box could be the thing that draws the most people to your page
I’m just going to say that even that has its charm. I would love to read a comic made by the author with stick figures about a random scenario, that sounds really fun
I don’t like stuff like artbreeder as much if its something you are paying to see (like on patreon). I like seeing actual art from the author and/or commissioned artists that have some effort put into them (not that artbreeder doesn’t require effort, but you know what I mean)
@hotmess.exe Glad the thread is useful! And good luck launching your full time writing career if you choose to do that! (also I feel real old now since I remember spending hours on quizilla )
@DarthMaul Lidell already mentioned a potential problem with this suggestion but I can see an alternative being having a cameo of some sort? Depends on how well the author can smoothly insert said cameo into the narrative I think.
@Jackpot1776 Sites like art breeder or picrew is useful in a pinch, but I agree. I’d rather have quality work and support another creator while doing so! I can do traditional work myself, but it’s no where near the quality of some artists.
Not sure of the logistics but it’d be an interesting idea to consider if an author used their patreon earnings to pay for quality commissions.
Well, depending on how much they earn and if they do this for a living this might be possible. Art is pretty expensive (with reason, I respect their prices) so if you’re just starting out it would be a bit difficult, but it could be one of the goals you set. I, for one, have a goal that is “when we get to this amount per month I will start comissioning artwork”. If you have a day job that pays the bills then saving the money is easier.
I think coming up with reasonable goals is also really important when considering this venue.
I remember one author that used the money they got from Kofi to pay for art and that sort of thing, I think it’s the author of Shepherds of Haven? That could be a way to do it.
just something separate from the main cast of characters in your story that still contributes to the world
), I never imagined they could be a reward, though… p dang cool.
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