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Patreon is awesome, but it's not enough to pay the bills full-time for most people. That said...anyone who owns an open-source project, is the primary contribut

Patreon is awesome, but it's not enough to pay the bills full-time for most people. That said...anyone who owns an open-source project, is the primary contributor of said project and sacrifices a significant amount of possible revenue at their job to contribute to the project should have a Patreon page where anyone who feels like they want to contribute can do so. It may not be your primary source of income, but getting any income from your open-source work is a good motivator to keep working hard at making stellar software.

astrodust 10y ago
It's a component of your income stream, not a complete solution. If you're doing open-source software as a living it's essential you have: 1. Books: You should at the very least write the canonical book on using a package, tool or application you've written. Amazon residuals might not be high, but they're non-zero. The effort involved in writing a book is considerable but they can pay dividends for a long time. It's also something you can chip away at over time. 2. Patreon: You need some way of measuring community enthusiasm for your project and what better way than to see how much they're willing to pay for it. Reward tiers can also help by allowing more generous patrons to help with advice, like feature requests, early code review and so on. This builds engagement. 3. Support Contracts: These might be super obnoxious, customers can be very difficult, but if you're in it to win it you absolutely need to cover this off. At the very least offer incident-level consulting to get people out of a jam. Figure out what the hassle's worth and price accordingly. $200/hr? $500/hr? 4. Corporate Sponsorship: I like it when companies step up and help fund open-source software directly, like how Redis has been supported by various companies along its lifepan (https://redis.io/topics/sponsors https://redis.io/topics/sponsors). If you find a good partner it's not "selling out", it's validation that your project is meaningful. They'll respect your decisions and not interfere. 5. Talks: Get out there and talk about your project. At the very least make videos, or get people to make them for you, that introduce how your tools work, how they can be used, and where you're going with the project. Being a speaker at an event might be daunting for some, but it's a great way to make connections and find opportunities. Too many developers want to focus on nothing but the code. That's not how the world works.
- nstj 10y ago
  Nice pragmatic summary. Bravo.
- ggame 10y ago
  Not getting paid for open source is how the world works. If you do any of the above you invite yourself to so much criticism that it's not worth it. I have first hand experience of this. I hope to retire next year to do open source full time with money made from closed source. My audience will not be developers though; I'm soured on them. I'll be targeting a niche group who are actually grateful for free tools and don't feel like it's their life duty to criticize every small thing.
  - dyarosla 10y ago
    There's a ton of cynicism here with very little substance. Perhaps over generalizing developers; many of whom do appreciate open source?
    - toomuchtodo 10y ago
      You can't buy groceries or pay your mortgage with appreciation.
      - astrodust 10y ago
        Appreciation comes in many forms, like how many people have developed a new-found "appreciation" for the New York Times or the ACLU of late.
        toomuchtodo 10y ago
        I think you're discounting donations to the ACLU that have only happened as of late because of an orange catalyst.
        gkop 10y ago
username223 10y ago
> Patreon is awesome,... Is it? AFAICT, they take a 5% cut in exchange for setting up recurring billing. (I'll ignore any ethical questions about automatic recurring billing; I likely get free satellite radio because someone else forgot to cancel it.) Are there any stats about how readership/viewership translates into payment that are more informative than the PR department's "Average Pledge" of $5?
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- cx1000 10y ago
  If that concerns you, gratipay might be up your alley. > The most obvious difference between Gratipay and Patreon is that we don’t skim 5% off the top. Instead, we’re funded on our own platform using a pay-what-you-want model, exactly the same as any other user of our service. Gratipay is funded on Gratipay. https://gratipay.news/how-is-gratipay-different-from-patreon-1f828d977935#.el2bzpsr3 https://gratipay.news/how-is-gratipay-different-from-patreon...
- mikekchar 10y ago
  Wow. I had assumed (without looking) that Patreon took more than 5%. 5% is indeed awesome in my books. How much would it cost me to set that up myself (and deal with charge backs, etc, etc)? Specifically the cost of lost opportunity to do the work (and maintenance) necessary. 5% is "shut up and take my money" level for me. Having said that, you have a point about the automatic recurring billing thing...
  - kbenson 10y ago
    Well, it's 5% + processor fees. The 5% is purely Patreon's cut, but personally I think it's well worth it for a lot of people. I know there's at least few hundred dollars of my money in various people's accounts over the last couple years that wouldn't be there without Patreon.
    - pbhjpbhj 10y ago

astrodust 10y ago

It's a component of your income stream, not a complete solution. If you're doing open-source software as a living it's essential you have: 1. Books: You should at the very least write the canonical book on using a package, tool or application you've written. Amazon residuals might not be high, but they're non-zero. The effort involved in writing a book is considerable but they can pay dividends for a long time. It's also something you can chip away at over time. 2. Patreon: You need some way of measuring community enthusiasm for your project and what better way than to see how much they're willing to pay for it. Reward tiers can also help by allowing more generous patrons to help with advice, like feature requests, early code review and so on. This builds engagement. 3. Support Contracts: These might be super obnoxious, customers can be very difficult, but if you're in it to win it you absolutely need to cover this off. At the very least offer incident-level consulting to get people out of a jam. Figure out what the hassle's worth and price accordingly. $200/hr? $500/hr? 4. Corporate Sponsorship: I like it when companies step up and help fund open-source software directly, like how Redis has been supported by various companies along its lifepan (https://redis.io/topics/sponsors https://redis.io/topics/sponsors). If you find a good partner it's not "selling out", it's validation that your project is meaningful. They'll respect your decisions and not interfere. 5. Talks: Get out there and talk about your project. At the very least make videos, or get people to make them for you, that introduce how your tools work, how they can be used, and where you're going with the project. Being a speaker at an event might be daunting for some, but it's a great way to make connections and find opportunities. Too many developers want to focus on nothing but the code. That's not how the world works.

nstj 10y ago
Nice pragmatic summary. Bravo.
ggame 10y ago
Not getting paid for open source is how the world works. If you do any of the above you invite yourself to so much criticism that it's not worth it. I have first hand experience of this. I hope to retire next year to do open source full time with money made from closed source. My audience will not be developers though; I'm soured on them. I'll be targeting a niche group who are actually grateful for free tools and don't feel like it's their life duty to criticize every small thing.
- dyarosla 10y ago
  There's a ton of cynicism here with very little substance. Perhaps over generalizing developers; many of whom do appreciate open source?
  - toomuchtodo 10y ago
    You can't buy groceries or pay your mortgage with appreciation.
    - astrodust 10y ago
      Appreciation comes in many forms, like how many people have developed a new-found "appreciation" for the New York Times or the ACLU of late.
      - toomuchtodo 10y ago
        I think you're discounting donations to the ACLU that have only happened as of late because of an orange catalyst.
        gkop 10y ago

username223 10y ago

> Patreon is awesome,... Is it? AFAICT, they take a 5% cut in exchange for setting up recurring billing. (I'll ignore any ethical questions about automatic recurring billing; I likely get free satellite radio because someone else forgot to cancel it.) Are there any stats about how readership/viewership translates into payment that are more informative than the PR department's "Average Pledge" of $5?

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
cx1000 10y ago
If that concerns you, gratipay might be up your alley. > The most obvious difference between Gratipay and Patreon is that we don’t skim 5% off the top. Instead, we’re funded on our own platform using a pay-what-you-want model, exactly the same as any other user of our service. Gratipay is funded on Gratipay. https://gratipay.news/how-is-gratipay-different-from-patreon-1f828d977935#.el2bzpsr3 https://gratipay.news/how-is-gratipay-different-from-patreon...
mikekchar 10y ago
Wow. I had assumed (without looking) that Patreon took more than 5%. 5% is indeed awesome in my books. How much would it cost me to set that up myself (and deal with charge backs, etc, etc)? Specifically the cost of lost opportunity to do the work (and maintenance) necessary. 5% is "shut up and take my money" level for me. Having said that, you have a point about the automatic recurring billing thing...
- kbenson 10y ago
  Well, it's 5% + processor fees. The 5% is purely Patreon's cut, but personally I think it's well worth it for a lot of people. I know there's at least few hundred dollars of my money in various people's accounts over the last couple years that wouldn't be there without Patreon.
  - pbhjpbhj 10y ago