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If a genie came up to you, demonstrated its powers to your satisfaction, and then gave you the choice: a. Give him 20 dollars, or b. He retroactively erases

If a genie came up to you, demonstrated its powers to your satisfaction, and then gave you the choice: a. Give him 20 dollars, or b. He retroactively erases your favourite book from history You'd probably pay him. It's basically patronship. You pay someone to make art for the sake of the art (or social standing, or whatever). It's not perfect (you can't predict reliably whether the artist will make anything good, and there are questions of incentives damaging the art) but it's better than nothing, and these days, with the internet, patronship can be crowd-funded. It has been successful: I've read several webnovels written as serials whose authors are being supported on patreon by fans, essentially being paid for the act of making directly rather than by selling. It's probably usually a paltry amount, but it's something: it shows some subset of people want to give money to authors when they don't have to (the serials are released for free).

chadash 7y ago
As you say, it's usually a paltry amount. I doubt that many make a a decent living off of this let alone enough to pay support staff such as editors and the like. The biggest issue is the free rider one... why should I pay you when others will pay and I'll get the same benefit. I'm not saying it's the right thing to do (I personally voluntarily contribute to several podcast creators who I like) but it's reality.
- 0815test 7y ago
  But it's clearly not a "paltry amount" if it's enough to fund the work and ensure that it gets made. Isn't that ultimately what matters?
  - chadash 7y ago
    I saw an article that about 2% of Patreon patronees make above federal minimum wage which is still way below a living wage. There are a tiny handful who make a lot, but for the most part this isn't a model that is working for people who want this to be their main source of income.

chadash 7y ago

As you say, it's usually a paltry amount. I doubt that many make a a decent living off of this let alone enough to pay support staff such as editors and the like. The biggest issue is the free rider one... why should I pay you when others will pay and I'll get the same benefit. I'm not saying it's the right thing to do (I personally voluntarily contribute to several podcast creators who I like) but it's reality.

0815test 7y ago
But it's clearly not a "paltry amount" if it's enough to fund the work and ensure that it gets made. Isn't that ultimately what matters?
- chadash 7y ago
  I saw an article that about 2% of Patreon patronees make above federal minimum wage which is still way below a living wage. There are a tiny handful who make a lot, but for the most part this isn't a model that is working for people who want this to be their main source of income.