Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Day #8: Wednesaday 7th December

Today is not a good day for Big Tim's Funny Books and the "business plan" I've set up so far. We'll get into that in a minute.


ACTION TAKEN: Completely out of ideas I went back to Tyler's first podcast on Patreon. After listening to that, I realise why my Patreon page isn't going to go anywhere anytime soon. But again, we'll talk about that later...


No real action was taken today. I posted one panel from my artists on my personal Instagram, Twitter and Facebook (and of course put in a link for my Patreon page). But that's all I did as far as pimping my page today.


I have more important things to figure out.


RESULTS: Again, 0% growth. 11 patrons = $79 per month


AFTER THOUGHTS: My entire set up is wrong. After listening to that podcast today, I realise my half-arsed "business model" is not going to work for Patreon.


I don't have a lot of money, that is why I'm paying my awesome and accommodating artist Ahmed for one page of art per fortnight (as I'm paid from my day job fortnightly). I would love to pay more and get more pages quicker and get it out there, but it's just too far beyond my financial means.


Hence having started a Patreon some months ago.


So, now I have to ask myself some tough questions.


Even my Patreon has been set up the wrong way. I have finished pages, as they come in, being shown to my paying backers. and panel previews and BtS pencils and inks going to my public backers.


From what I'm hearing today, this is wrong.


Where does this leave me and Gorilla my Dreams and my current backers?


Here's my thoughts:


1. I need to make Gorilla my Dreams a webcomic. I was always pimping it as a webcomic with a $1 cover charge. But this (obviously) isn't working.


2. I need to set Gorilla my Dreams up as a legit online webcomic. This is problematic for a number of reasons. Which brings me to...


3. I am truly a technological Neanderthal. I have tried building websites from some of the easiest providers available today. But I genuinely suck. Drag and drop? Not the way I understand the phrase. How am I going to build a website, and maintain it, and update it every fortnight with a new page of story, when I can't even figure out how to put my logo on it?


4. And what about my current backers who are already happy with the current arrangement? Do I upset my current backers in the hopes of attracting more backers that may never come? I really don't know.


So I'm tempted to just throw in the towel, take my bat and ball and just give up.


But I won't.


Tough decisions aside, I've started this social experiment so let's see what happens.


I will still strive to do at least one active thing every day this month to pimp my Patreon.


See you again tomorrow.

1 comment:

  1. Hey, Big Tim!

    I'm loving seeing you take action and getting results... now it may seem like you're not getting the ultimate results you were shooting for immediately (more backers) but just in reading the questions you're asking yourself and the ideas you're generating, it's clear that this is getting you moving.

    It might seem like you're stuck... but the truth is, recognizing that you're stuck is a GOOD thing, because it forces you to stop what you're doing and come up with a new plan. (Being stuck and NOT recognizing it... now that's the bad thing.)

    A few ideas for you...

    1) Rather than focus outward, consider focusing inward. You have a small number of Patrons right now, but the good thing about that is, it wouldn't take very long at all to dash each and everyone of them an individualized thank you and expression of gratitude for their support. Those big creators with hundreds or thousands of patrons... they can't do that easily. So use the fact that you're small at present as a strength, not a weakness.

    2) Instead of going the full-on webcomic route for Gorilla, why not start serializing it on WEBTOON? The advantage of this is that it's super easy to sync your WEBTOON with your Patreon and you can get your comic up and running and infront of hundreds or thousands of potential readers in a few hours or less... even the technologically challenges should have no trouble getting rolling on that platform.

    I think you've recognized that, at this point, your biggest challenge is awareness... so it's time to start putting your content in places where people might see it.

    That's not to say creating a proper webcomic/website/homebase that YOU control isn't also a good idea...

    But at this point, let's just get you a few more readers and fans in the shortest time possible... and I think a platform like WEBTOON will do that for you.

    Hope this helps.

    It might not feel like it all the time... but you're doing great.

    Best,

    Tyler

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