The Introverted Writer + Patreon

9 min readDec 12, 2020

(Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash.)

Why I want & need a community of patrons

I first heard about Patreon from a Minecraft YouTube channel. My six-year-old (and I) had just learned all about how to defend a pixelated village from zombies, and at the end of the video the host gave a shout-out to some random person.

Another day, another informative Minecraft video, and the host thanked a different person.

I got my kid to school and settled into some research.

Arts Patronage in 2020

Patreon is the virtual, 21st-century version of Renaissance-era arts patronage. Arts patronage used to be just for rich people (Queen Elizabeth helped pay Shakespeare’s bills), but that’s no longer the case. Patreon lets everyday folks support their favourite creatives with per-content or monthly payments, sometimes for as little as the price of a cup o’ coffee a month.

Thanks to the whole-world reach of the Internet, those $1/month subscriptions can really add up: Brandon Stanton, the force behind Humans of New York, has over 19,000 patrons who pay $1.50/month+.

So: Patreon is about the money, I thought.

The idea of having a monthly source of income from my writing was enough for me to start my own Patreon page. BUT …

Then I kept reading. (I’m that person who reads all the FAQ pages.) And the part that stirred my jaded, scarred, fiercely independent heart was the bit about using a Patreon page to create a community.

Why would an introvert need/want a community?

I love my alone time. I don’t get lonely, and therefore I don’t need a community to alleviate loneliness.

However, I liked the idea of having invested supporters be part of my writing adventure. My 2020–2022 writing goals are exciting, and it would be fun to have other people with me for the ride: cheerleaders, but also voyeurs, co-brainstormers, and those interested in the process of creating, writing and publishing.

Why not Kickstarter or GoFundMe?

When my first mystery novel was shortlisted for the Unhanged Arthur Award, a lot of people said they wanted to buy my book: it pained me to tell them the award was for an as-yet-unpublished manuscript, and there was no book to buy (yet). What a lost opportunity. I considered pre-selling copies, either privately or through Kickstarter or GoFundMe. Wouldn’t a hundred or so pre-sold copies be a delicious lure for a publisher?

It was a marketing fail, to have publicity without a way for people to actively support my writing.

Having a hundred or so Patreon community members isn’t as juicy an offering as 100 pre-sales for a publisher: I’ve only promised to send out 25 copies of that someday-book, to my most-senior patrons.

But once I started thinking about hosting this community, I realized it was the community I wanted and needed, rather than simply income and book sales. Yes, I’m an introvert, but I’m also a writer, and writers long to share their experiences and ideas with the world.

Creating an online community of patrons would assuage that longing I had while writing my first book: that longing to share my experience of writing. There are daily lows, highs, and bizarre moments in the creative process.

Murder mystery research … Google thinks I’m a psychopath.

For some reason, views of my Medium story “How Brains Process the Death of a Loved One” spiked in September 2019. I want a community of people who will share these exciting moments with me.

What’s in it for the patrons?

I kept this community-focus in mind while creating my Patreon page, which offers two tiers (“Aiders & Abetters,” and “Accomplices”). The membership rewards I offer include advance access to my Medium stories, as well as private posts about the creative process, membership in our “work-in-progress” book club, and the option of receiving postcards when I go on adventures, because getting mail is fun.

Some Patreon creators offer video or telephone interactions, online Q&A sessions, physical mail-outs of their art, or commissioned content. It’s an interesting challenge to articulate what you want from your community, and what you can offer to make it worthwhile for your patrons, aside from the warm fuzzies they get from supporting your art.

Introverts & self-promotion: ugh

Once I had my community set up, it was up to me to tell my existing supporters about it. I’m a vocal cheerleader for many causes, but not so much for myself.

To get around this reluctance, I made myself a list of all the ways I could tell people about my new Patreon community, and cold-bloodedly started checking off to-dos. Facebook, Instagram, my website. Today: Medium. Next up is my email newsletter, and perhaps a real-life launch party.

My first patron

It happened six days after I launched the community: I got my first patron. While (of course) getting patrons was the whole point, and logically there would be a first, I was still shocked. Other gut responses:

Validation. “Someone believes in me, and in my writing.”

Accountability. “I need to get those in-process Medium posts written asap.”

Permission. “Yes, it is worth using my time to write.”

And: gratitude, because she was the first person to click that “Join” button. Her patronage elevated my writing from a solo journey to a shared adventure.

Next steps

My current goal with Patreon is to have 50 community members, but I’d like to have 200 by the time my first mystery book is published in 2022. The inevitable book launch parties will be so much more fun, with 200 patrons celebrating with me.

Want a VIP invite to that someday launch party? Check out my Patreon page here.

Or, if you’re a creator and considering starting your own page, click here for a great place to start.