Why I Would NEVER Go The Patreon Route...,

There was a rather heated discussion on one of my Yahoo groups that I almost missed. A was saying to B that I should try Patreon funding.  In case you didn't know...

https://www.patreon.com/

So "fans" fund you at anything from $1 upward.  The idea is that "all" your fans donate enough so you can carry on with your comic work while affording to pay bills and eat. Paying bills and eating regularly are things that artists rarely do.

Someone else mentioned this today so perhaps its time to explain why I do not like Patreon (for myself. Other creators use it fair enough).

I worked out that, living a very frugal lifestyle and paying bills that need paying, I would need approx £600 (as the £ just dropped to record lows I can't even convert that into $ but around $728 or Euro 685.  That is each month.  Now, you get people who are well off and want to support the arts fair enough.

Every month. No one can guarantee that they can keep supporting you for two months let alone six or even a year.  Things happen.

But I do not like Patreon for a reason. To me its like begging. What does the person shelling out this money get? A sense of well being until they realise that they really could use that money themselves?

And who are these "fans" who are going to donate?

Let's put this in perspective. I have been publishing since 1984. People keep pointing at me and saying I pioneered the self publishing of comics to any degree.  Fair enough.  I have published more comic albums/graphic novels, etc., than any other Independent publisher in Europe let alone the UK.
Over 9 pages at the online store with 90 books. Top quality printing.

Since 2011 over 15 million people have viewed the current version of CBO (the Word Press CBO had 10 million views).  That means they all get to see the Black Tower Comics posts on CBO and the stats show how many people do view those.

February alone saw some 63,558 views (direct to CBO only views). Books sold in 2016...three. Three sold to one person (I don't include the one US sale because though that involved two books US taxes meant I got 50p so counting that as a sale...no).

Where is the "fan" base that will support me on Patreon to the tune of £600/$728 each month?

I do NOT take money for nothing.  I count support as people buying books.  Money that goes into my bank account and means I can eat and pay bills. And it means someone who supported me has something for that money -a book or books.   I will not take money for nothing.

Those are the realities of Patren.