I started a Patreon last year, coinciding with starting work on the A Day of Faces audiobook, The Mechanical Crown and the How To Write Serialised Fiction guide. Given the success I’d had with A Day of Faces on Wattpad, I’d hoped it would have a steady start.
As of right now, I have one patron. He’s the best kind of patron: always has interesting feedback, frequently sends over suggestions for improvement, and is generally supportive. But he’s my lone Patreon supporter, which makes for a slightly awkward situation.
Wattpad is a free reading platform, so it doesn’t follow that people who enjoy my work there will necessarily want to support me monetarily. I also don’t expect people to pay to access my work, which is why it’s all still put out for free. I have no illusions about the arena in which my writing exists. But it is curious to discover just how hard it can be to turn content success into financial success, even in a small way. I’ll keep plugging away, because I enjoy the whole process, and it’ll be interesting to see if the Patreon finds any traction over the next 6 months. I’ve just started posting notes about the writing of The Mechanical Crown, so that might be of interest to some of those readers.
Meanwhile, I’m looking into platforms like Teachable as something to explore. Since leaving FXHOME I’ve not had the opportunity to teach and it’d be good to get stuck back in on my own terms – whether that be in the realm of VFX or writing.
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