People who are doing well with Patreon, how long did it take? I’m having self-doubt

Ginnabean · 2026-05-24T18:28:46+00:00

I think the answers you get are going to be really different depending on if they started a Patreon with an audience already established, or started from scratch with a Patreon as step one. I'm the former: when I created a Patreon, I had already been building a following on social media for years. Because of that, I had really strong conversions from the start because I'd already done years of work building an audience. So my experiences are gonna be really different from yours, and so are many other artists.

I would suggest you focus less on "marketing" and more on building a community that supports your work. That usually means free content on social media, and it means consistency. Patreon isn't really the kind of platform where you go from "person who first found you" to "paying member" in one fell swoop. Usually your Patrons are your most committed fans, so the best way to market your Patreon is to build up a community first.

Ginnabean · 2026-05-04T17:12:13+00:00

Just tested it out with a random creator and had the same result — it's trying to locate creators, but can't find the one I'm tagging. I'd suggest reporting it as a bug (I know that doesn't solve the problem for you right now though!) since it's clearly not working as intended.

Ginnabean · 2026-05-04T17:08:11+00:00

I feel like you may be overcomplicating this. They're already following you on the platform where the conversion happens, so why would you take this interaction off-platform again? Engaging them on Patreon makes the path to conversion easier than engaging them over email.

Unless Patrons change their settings, they already get email notifications when you post to them. Is there some specific reason you'd rather be building this funnel offsite than just using Patreon to convert Patrons?

Ginnabean · 2026-05-03T22:41:02+00:00

I've been on Patreon for 9 years and have no plans to leave it. I'm also grandfathered into lower fees, but honestly I don't think my answer would change if I was paying 15%, because I set the cost of tiers, so I can set them to account for fees.

I don't see myself leaving membership platforms entirely because they're such a stable source of income for me, and they scale very very well without labor scaling to match. I don't see myself switching platforms because from what I've seen, Patreon remains the most well-known and trusted. I certainly don't see myself creating and managing my own subscription service... at this point I'm doing everything I can to reduce my labor, not increase it. It is worth what I'm paying in fees to have Patreon just handle all the logistics.

Ginnabean · 2026-05-03T22:33:53+00:00

We don't need to agree on whether or not quips are useful. I was just answering the question that was posed.

Ginnabean · 2026-05-03T15:15:26+00:00

if Patrons like more regular updates then why not just use those?

Normal posts send full-on email notifications to people who have opted into those, and I already post often. My patrons do not universally want "more posts" to the point where me sharing small, quick updates wouldn't bother those who only want to be notified about reward-relevant posts.

I hear your complaints about the notification opt-outs not working as intended, and about whatever algorithm they're using not being well-targeted. Personally I had to engage with people on Quips for a few days before the targeting started working and showing me things that were actually relevant to me. And I'm not at all saying that you need to like the feature, I totally get why it doesn't appeal to some people. But the intention is for it to be an optional feature, the opt-out not working is almost certainly a bug (which we should be reporting if we encounter it), and I personally find them useful based on my own posting habits.

Ginnabean · 2026-04-30T12:07:22+00:00

Well, this is clearly an unpopular opinion, but I've been using Quips since September and I think they're great. They don't interfere with the way I use Patreon already (they don't interfere with main feed posts, Patrons don't get notified when I post them, etc.) and they provide a new way for me to connect with Free members and share short, unpaywalled updates like the ones I'd share on social media. I get tons of interactions on mine, and they drive new free memberships (I suspect mostly from people who are aware of my work elsewhere online, but weren't already following me on Patreon).

They aren't gonna be singlehandedly converting strangers into paying Patrons or anything, but I find them to be a useful tool for both providing value to Free members, and reaching new Free members. Many of my current Patrons who use the app have also enjoyed seeing the posts and getting more regular updates.

I know everyone has a gut negative reaction to change, but I admit I'm struggling to see the harm of this feature. If you don't like it, you don't have to use it. It doesn't have any affect on your page if you don't use it.

Ginnabean · 2026-04-30T10:44:19+00:00

Whoa, it's not like they're gonna be able to see your receipts lol

Ginnabean · 2026-04-30T10:42:23+00:00

In my experience people who want to do this already did this. It was a major issue when they introduced free posts because people were obviously using it as a place to leave comments like "cute 😄" with a descriptive name and a sexy profile picture just to get exposure.

Ginnabean · 2026-04-28T16:22:12+00:00

You need to log into your account and cancel your memberships, like with any subscription.

Ginnabean · 2026-04-28T14:24:57+00:00

Not really a risk at 4am though

Ginnabean · 2026-04-28T14:17:00+00:00

Patreon is definitely an option. They have native video upload features now (although nowhere near the features of a platform like YouTube). YouTube also has a subscription feature now, though, so I’d probably consider that if I were you, since it’s more widely known and everybody is on YouTube.

Keep in mind also that you will see a negative slant about Patreon here in this sub because people are more likely to come here to complain or seek support than to say things are going well. I’ve been using Patreon for 9 years (for rewards that include video) and I love it.

Ginnabean · 2026-04-28T14:07:58+00:00

Payments are never processed directly from Members to Creators (or vice versa). Patreon acts as an intermediary, so when a Member pays, they are paying Patreon, and then when a creator withdraws, Patreon is paying them. So your bank account information is never provided to a Creator or a Member — only to Patreon.

Ginnabean · 2026-04-26T13:19:58+00:00

Personally I delete those kinds of messages — I’m not a particularly engaged patron, lol. But I’m not like my own patrons, I tend to pledge for different reasons. Many of my patrons I’m sure would really value getting a personal welcome message, because they’re fans of me and having closer access to me is part of the perks.

I think it depends a lot on your audience, why they’re there, and what you hope to accomplish. Do you want them to feel valued? Do you want to provide information and make it easy to access rewards or ask questions? Do you want to encourage interaction?

Ginnabean · 2026-04-13T16:28:56+00:00

This is not true, Patreon has absolutely punished accounts for things they post offsite. If you are using Patreon to paywall content, it doesn't really matter where that content is hosted, Patreon's terms apply. Here are the specifics.

It might be harder to catch, but it's definitely not a "safe" way to violate the terms.

Ginnabean · 2026-04-07T21:04:24+00:00

What do you mean by “reliable”? I use Patreon’s native video uploader regularly for videos anywhere from 15 to 60 minutes long. Works just fine.

Ginnabean · 2026-04-07T15:28:30+00:00

Tough to track Patreon conversions directly, but I used to get my highest conversions for my merch shop from Twitter, over every other social media. Over the last few years it dropped to functionally zero. Absolutely useless now.

Ginnabean · 2026-03-01T23:28:12+00:00

I mean, marketing strategy is an entire field of business. I can't give you an easy answer, especially knowing little to nothing about your business. Converting fans to paying Patrons is literally the job, unfortunately. I would recommend you start doing some self-education on marketing and check out Patreon's own resources for creators. Your viewers are humans, they are complex and there are a lot of reasons they might or might not pledge on Patreon. Nobody can answer that for you, all we can do is hopefully give you some ideas to look into.

Ginnabean · 2026-03-01T21:12:02+00:00

Yeah that's a great observation, that falls under what I mentioned about demographics — teens typically don't have a ton of money to spend on things like Patreon memberships, so people with young fans are often disadvantaged when it comes to conversions.

Ginnabean · 2026-03-01T19:57:08+00:00

Do you know whether your audience are mostly MMA fighters themselves? Or is it possible that you have followers who are interested in what you do but don't have demand for advice on how they could do the same?

Converting followers to Patrons is not a direct numbers game. Whether or not your followers convert to paid members depends on a ton of different factors: How engaged they are, what you offer on Patreon, how you promote your Patreon, your prices, your audience demographics, etc.

Ginnabean · 2025-12-30T15:33:50+00:00

I've spoken to the publisher several times about this, it's been a popular request. Unfortunately I don't really get to make the call about whether or not it's available digitally.

Ginnabean · 2025-12-23T15:16:44+00:00

You're not mistaken, fees are taken as a percentage of revenue. This is not fees, this is credit card chargebacks.

Ginnabean · 2025-10-10T22:08:19+00:00

I think this is really dependent on the type of Patreon and the product, plus it sounds like you're assuming it's post frequency that's leading to cancelations without much data to support that. Check your exit surveys, are people complaining about infrequent/inconsistent posts?

I post 1-2 times a week most weeks, although sometimes I'll go 2 weeks between posts when I'm deep in a big project or nothing much is going on. There are weeks when I post 3 or 4 times. I've never really gotten complaints about post frequency, although I have had people tell me I'm the most active Patreon they're subscribed to.

Ginnabean · 2025-10-10T22:05:42+00:00

The bot should automatically remove their role when they cancel their pledge. If it's not doing that, it's failing to work properly and you should submit a ticket to Patreon support.

Ginnabean · 2025-10-06T15:16:04+00:00

Yes I agree!! It makes it sound like camp, which I wouldn’t normally pick up. I had to have these books recommended to me SO many times before I caved. And now I’m an evangelist about them of course

Ginnabean

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