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Yeah, in an ideal world content creators could make an entire salary off of donations and offering simple perks and exclusive access. But actually this is a ter

Yeah, in an ideal world content creators could make an entire salary off of donations and offering simple perks and exclusive access. But actually this is a terrible career advice and relatively few people actually end up making anywhere close to $100k on Twitch or Patreon. For each example the author mentions there are 100s if not 1,000s more who are wasting their time. We just aren’t a society where most people donate thousands or even hundreds of dollars out of altruism or for “exclusive access” except in a few niche scenarios. I personally subscribe to a few content creators on Patreon. These people are very talented and have die-hard fans, because frankly their work is seriously exceptional and unique, and they make money. But not $1000 or even $100 per person, more like $1000 a month in total. The average subscriber donates ~$5 per month. That’s not to say you shouldn’t do Patreon, in fact I think Patreon is a great tool to give you a) motivation, b) feedback, and c) a decent supplement to your income which is at least part of what you deserve for your work. But don’t think you can quit your job and do Patreon full time, that won’t happen unless you’re especially lucky or successful, and it takes years of work. And don’t think doing Patreon full time is any easier than a full-time job either. Not to mention, the audience who donates is often very different than your main audience, who are very different than the creator himself/herself. Often what gets the most money isn’t what the most people want: case in point, mobile games, or at least mobile-style AAA games. And, often what gets the most views (and thus ad revenue) isn’t what the creator likes to create: case in point, clickbait videos and the “kid-ification” of popular YouTube channels. Work on your passion, but don’t expect to work full-time on it.

dubswithus 4y ago
Cum Town makes close to 100k per month on Patreon. Proof that you can make a lot of money by just fucking around.
- duxup 4y ago
  Well someone can ... "you" probably can't ;)
  - dubswithus 4y ago
    I don't know dude, I've got a pretty foul mouth and opinions.
- rchaud 4y ago
  Wasn't this a spinoff of an existing successful podcast made by the same people? They might already have had a built-in audience who'd be willing to pay.
duxup 4y ago
Your second to last paragraph rings true for me. I follow some folks on YouTube for a variety of topics, they're highly skilled, give great advice / technical information (everything from games to coding) and are very professional / great speakers and presenters. They get noticeably few donations compared to folks who emphasize acting out and a sort of wonky infotainment (where the information is sometimes dead wrong). It's a bit disheartening.
bryans 4y ago
> But actually this is a terrible career advice and relatively few people actually end up making anywhere close to $100k on Twitch or Patreon. [...] I think Patreon is a great tool to give you a decent supplement to your income There are relatively few content creators making $100k/yr from a single platform, but there are tons of people making that and more by utilizing all of the platforms. The first piece of advice I always give to musicians is to treat every social media and streaming platform as its own "venue" with their own unique set of users -- because they are. Always performing at the same venue in your hometown isn't going to be lucrative or sustainable, so you branch out to other venues and other cities, because that's the only way to find new markets. The same is true for all content creation. Focusing on in-person performances ignores the entire online market, which is >99% of potential revenue. Focusing on Twitch ignores the opportunities of TikTok and YouTube. But if you take the time to understand the quirks of each platform and its users, and then chop up your content into sizes and styles appropriate for each platform, it's actually extremely easy to go from zero online presence to $10k/mo within two years. Not everybody understands Patreon or wants to use it (and frankly, it's not a very usable site), so if your subscriptions are solely based around that platform, then you're ignoring 95% of the potential subscriber market and making everything more difficult than it needs to be. Content is content. It can go anywhere, and investing a few days into learning basic video editing makes content distribution a breeze.

dubswithus 4y ago

Cum Town makes close to 100k per month on Patreon. Proof that you can make a lot of money by just fucking around.

duxup 4y ago
Well someone can ... "you" probably can't ;)
- dubswithus 4y ago
  I don't know dude, I've got a pretty foul mouth and opinions.
rchaud 4y ago
Wasn't this a spinoff of an existing successful podcast made by the same people? They might already have had a built-in audience who'd be willing to pay.

duxup 4y ago

Your second to last paragraph rings true for me. I follow some folks on YouTube for a variety of topics, they're highly skilled, give great advice / technical information (everything from games to coding) and are very professional / great speakers and presenters. They get noticeably few donations compared to folks who emphasize acting out and a sort of wonky infotainment (where the information is sometimes dead wrong). It's a bit disheartening.

bryans 4y ago

> But actually this is a terrible career advice and relatively few people actually end up making anywhere close to $100k on Twitch or Patreon. [...] I think Patreon is a great tool to give you a decent supplement to your income There are relatively few content creators making $100k/yr from a single platform, but there are tons of people making that and more by utilizing all of the platforms. The first piece of advice I always give to musicians is to treat every social media and streaming platform as its own "venue" with their own unique set of users -- because they are. Always performing at the same venue in your hometown isn't going to be lucrative or sustainable, so you branch out to other venues and other cities, because that's the only way to find new markets. The same is true for all content creation. Focusing on in-person performances ignores the entire online market, which is >99% of potential revenue. Focusing on Twitch ignores the opportunities of TikTok and YouTube. But if you take the time to understand the quirks of each platform and its users, and then chop up your content into sizes and styles appropriate for each platform, it's actually extremely easy to go from zero online presence to $10k/mo within two years. Not everybody understands Patreon or wants to use it (and frankly, it's not a very usable site), so if your subscriptions are solely based around that platform, then you're ignoring 95% of the potential subscriber market and making everything more difficult than it needs to be. Content is content. It can go anywhere, and investing a few days into learning basic video editing makes content distribution a breeze.