It’s true, I’m a little late to the party, but I finally sucked it up and joined Patreon. This, rather than an exercise in looking for cash, is more of an exercise in finding people to whom to be accountable.
To me, Patreon is a great way of building community. But when you have a community of supporters, you are then accountable to them. You have to do what you say you’re going to do. And while I love all of you guys, my regular readers, blog readers are necessarily faceless and tend not to comment or cheer you on.
But also, to some extent I have a sense that, dammit, I’ve earned the ability to ask for support for my art. Sure, I only have two books. Sure, the books are non-fiction. And sure, I actually write for a living.
But taking my art seriously? That’s a whole level of New to me, and it’s one that I’m exploring – not as a green traveller by any stretch – but as one who knows she has a whole lot of value to offer.
And so, this is my way of saying, hey if you support me during creation then I’m going to do my utmost to make your support meaningful. That’s not just in delivering product, but in actually connecting with you. In actually making you part of that journey. And in actually keeping myself honest to you in a real, transparent relationship.
To some extent, we’re all writers smashing words out alone in our little universes. And we all dream of that thing, you know, getting signed. But the truth is, I’m an indie writer, and always have been. And while I work to make things happen (because they don’t happen by accident), it’s not like I’m going to fail to acknowledge that I do have community too.
So please go and look at at Patreon and see what things I’ll exchange for yours.
