What is Patreon and how it helps you make money from your creativity

What is Patreon

Music labels, publishers and online platforms like YouTube are making billions from other people's content. At the same time, most authors get a pitiful penny, which does not even cover the cost of production. As a result, talented people give up their hobbies. And only a few manage to turn it into a profession, for which often you have to pay with creative freedom.

The American service Patreon is trying to solve this problem, which allows authors to accept regular donations from fans. One sponsor here brings in a lot more money than a regular subscriber on other platforms. Therefore, even a relatively small audience on Patreon can generate tangible and stable income.

Both sides benefit. The author gains independence from investors and advertisers and can focus on the interests of fans. And the audience receives high-quality content, which is not a pity to spend money on.

Patreon has been around since 2013. During this time, the authors received more than a billion dollars through the platform. Now the site is used by more than 100 thousand active creators and three million sponsors from all over the world. The service is available as

site and applications for Android and iOS.

Who can make money on Patreon

Patreon is great for podcasters, bloggers, writers, musicians, comedians, cosplayers, artists, game developers, and more. content.

But with no less success, the service can be used to monetize public activities or various services. Thus, the owners of Internet services and the creators of non-profit organizations also receive financial support on the platform.

Patreon can be authored by an individual or a company. For example, magazines make money on the platform.

According to the service Graphtreon, which tracks Patreon statistics, the following accounts are among the top five most popular.

1. American Political Humor Podcast Chapo trap house (sponsors - 36,819, income - 164,832 dollars per month).
2. Video blog about criminal psychology JCS (sponsors - 32,540, income is hidden).
3. Comedy podcast True crime obsessed (sponsors - 28 053, income is hidden).
4. Erotic play Summertime saga (sponsors - 20,754, income - 55,282 dollars per month).
5. Brandon Stanton Blog Humans of new york with interviews and photographs of New Yorkers (sponsors - 20,754, income hidden).

And here are some authors and projects from Russia and neighboring countries.

• Podcast of the eponymous publication Disgusting Men (sponsors - 764, income - $ 2,122 per month).
• Educational project with courses in programming JavaScript. Ninja (sponsors - 165, income from $ 1,650 per month).
• Cosplay model Irina meier (sponsors - 362, income from $ 362 per month).
• Blogger and podcaster Master Reader (sponsors - 162, income - $ 725 per month).
• Computer games analytics service Steam Spy (sponsors - 980, income - $ 14,237 per month).

How Patreon works

Authors and patrons

Any Patreon user can either create their own author page to earn money or fund other members. To become a sponsor - the service calls them patrons - just connect bank card and subscribe to selected authors. The system will periodically write off funds from the patron's card in their favor.

Subscription formats

Each Patreon author can offer fans one of two subscription formats: monthly payments or payment per unit of content. In the first case, the system will write off money from the patron every month, in the second - after the publication of the next video, article or other material.

Shooting ranges and bonuses

In addition to formats, an author may offer various subscription levels, or tiers. Patreon allows you to assign any cost for each tier and assign various bonuses to it for motivation. For example, for $ 3 a month, the author can promise personal gratitude in a video, for $ 5 - exclusive content, and for $ 10 - access to a private Telegram chat for joint communication.

The user selects the shooting galleries that suit him, and can change them or completely cancel the subscription if he changes his mind.

Community

Patrons can comment on the content of the authors they follow, put likes publications and communicate with each other.

In this regard, Patreon resembles a regular social network, only with subscription access.

Promotion

It is difficult to attract sponsors within the platform, the service almost does not help in this. Therefore, the author should go to Patreon only if he already has a loyal audience on other sites. It remains only to invite her to Patreon and explain why this is important for the development of the project.

Commission and withdrawal of funds

Patreon offers the author three pricing plans.

• For basic tools, the system deducts 5% of all funds accrued by patrons every month.
• The system reserves 8% for the opportunity to add shooting galleries, operational technical support and other additional functions.
• If to all of the above, the author wants to add the services of a personal Patreon manager and the ability to jointly manage an account for several people, the system will raise the commission to 12%.

Another 5% is lost with cash transactions with any tariff plan. Thus, the total commission is 10-17%, the author gets everything else.

You can withdraw money through PayPal and Payoneer.

Are there any alternatives to Patreon

The service's success sparked a wave of copycats. In the global marketplace, major social platforms like Twitch and YouTube compete with Patreon, which have also introduced paid subscription systems.

But their commissions for creators are significantly higher: 30% from YouTube and 50% from Twitch. In addition, in order to be able to earn money in any of these services, you first have to become its partner. And for this, the author's account must meet fairly high requirements. For example, a YouTuber needs 30,000 subscribers.

If we talk about Runet, last year a local analogue of Patreon appeared - a service Boostyowned by Mail.ru Group. The main differences are in the Russian-language interface and support for local payment systems, as well as a low commission - 7%. Output money through VK Pay you can without additional expenses.

Despite the benefits of Boosty, the service remains local and is not suitable for raising money from an English-speaking audience. In addition, many authors have already accumulated a subscriber base on Patreon, so they are in no hurry to move to Boosty. It is also worth adding that the system of paid subscriptions is being developed by “In contact with».