Just before Christmas, with a very limited amount of disposable income, I splashed out a bit and joined a couple of Patreon. I had specifically made a point of not doing so until I was sure I could continue to pay for one ad infinitum, and in the end I made the additional rule of limiting myself to two. I joined Robyn‘s on account of the fact that (i) they are a dear friend and (ii) the stuff they do is smoking hot; I also joined GOTN‘s, which – as it turns out – is a very good investment, even when you consider the fact that I’m not really a fan of audio porn.
If you are looking for a Patreon to join, you could do a lot worse than considering the above.
Someone I know asked me the other day if I have a Patreon. I don’t. There’s a reason I don’t.
What would getting a Patreon entail?
Just in case you weren’t at Eroticon last year, it’s worth mentioning that GOTN herself did an excellent session about running a Patreon and that I actually took a lot of genuine notes about it (my ‘con notes usually amount to things like “a man got his hair cut at this point”, “sandwich tweet means absolutely nothing” and “Zac just stuck her tit to the table”; this was more involved). I even made a list of things I could offer if I did start one:
(i) Abandoned drafts. This is a tricky one since I tend to post pretty much any old shit, but the idea is there. There are a couple of old things I went back to years later and refined, and this practice might also be something I could offer.
(ii) Audio recordings of my blog posts. This is something pretty much everyone does, and since most of my posts are written to entertain, they may transfer well enough to the spoken word. I regularly read them aloud to an invisible and non-existent audience, and I’d do so if I ever got to read at Eroticon again.*
(*I never will.)
(iii) Group conversations. This worked really well the first time I experienced one, at GOTN’s virtual birthday party (exactly one week after my birthday, although I didn’t mention that!). Since I am a chatty ILB, I’m fairly sure I could do that. I’m still not sure the game of “I Have Never” I want to play with sex bloggers is achievable over Zoom, but…
(iv) Flash fiction. I genuinely don’t write a lot of fiction, but I do have a Word document full of the stuff that I’ve never done anything with. I even have my almost-complete novelette set on Rockall. Could serialise that.
(v) Songs. Just to make sure people leave my Patreon in droves.
So why don’t I have one, then?
That’s a more complicated thing to answer. But I do have a reason. A few, even.
The first is that my blog isn’t a commercial venture and never has been. I don’t really count Patreon as being anything more than supporting artists independently, so it’s not the same as – say – a paid-for ad or a sponsored post. However, were I to be effectively putting some of my content behind a paywall I’d be taking a machete to what I produce. I don’t really think that’s fair.
The second is that I’m not even sure anyone would be interested. I’m not as high-profile as some of my blogging mates who already have one, and I’m not even as high-profile as I used to be in the earlier days before the saturation of the sex blogging community. There’s nothing particularly tempting about me or my writing… specifically when all of it’s available for free on my blog to begin with.
And that’s the real reason behind it. I post all my content on my blog and I always have. It’s never occurred to me not to, and when it comes to reading bits of it out, then who am I kidding? I’d do that for free.
I’m genuinely not important enough
I’ve never, ever even really considered joining Patreon, even if my wife told me to when it was first a thing. I have an account and, for what it’s worth, I have been enjoying what I’ve heard so far.
It’s just not appropriate for ILB. I’d rather post all my content on my blog like I have since 2007. If there’s fiction I like, maybe I should self-publish. If there are unfinished drafts, then I should finish them and hit the post button. And I can always read my blog posts aloud to myself (the laughter can be in my head). But, in all these things, the truth is that, even with the best of intentions, I ultimately lack the drive.
And maybe that’s the real reason.
