Patreon is one of the leading online platforms that allows fans or patrons to support creators for their work. While most people assume that Patreon is only for adult content, did you know there are plenty of other categories thriving on the platform?
If you’re a girl who’s planning to make some side hustle this 2020, here’s everything you need to know about Patreon and how you can possibly make money off it.
What is Patreon?
Patreon is an online service that allows fans to support their favorite content creators financially. As a result, creators can now connect with their viewers and earn income from the content they post. The platform was first founded in May 2013 and it currently has over 3 million monthly active patrons.
Depending on ads and other online revenue formats alone may not be enough for a content creator to rely on it as a full-time work. In a way to make ends meet, Patreon provides creators a way to achieve a more steady source of income.
Those who give money or donations (called “patrons”) receive exclusive rewards for their support. The platform can be likened to mainstream crowdfunding services like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, but on Patreon, the support is on-going.
Patreon acts more like a long-term income source, as long as your patrons agree to an ongoing monthly donation schedule. The platform is designed as an avenue for fans to fund the passion projects of their favorite creators, and for these creators to focus on these projects.
As a way to keep the platform up and running, Patreon takes 5 percent of the commission and other transaction fees average 5 percent. Creators get to keep 90 percent of their garnered revenue.
If you’re a girl who’s searching for a side hustle this year, consider starting a career on Instagram and Patreon.
How to create an account
Creating a Patreon account is just as simple as creating an account in any social media platforms you’ve signed up for, but we still want to give you the basics of signing up on Patreon:
Step 1: You can simply select Sign Up which gives you the option to create an account or Sign In with Facebook which directly links your Patreon and Facebook account.
Step 2: Fill up the basic information by typing in your full name, email address, and password. Remember that you might need to input your email and password twice for confirmation. We also recommend that you should choose a password that you will easily remember and try to add numbers and uppercases to improve the strength of your security password.
Step 3: If you’re signing up as a creator, it is important to select one best category that best suits the content you would like to publish. Patreon is a flexible platform where you can choose what content you want to be paid for. You can choose from various categories such as drawing, music, videos and film, photos, education, comics, crafts and DIY, and the list goes on.
Step 4: There will be 4 Tabs to fill in order to complete your Sign Up
- Who you are
- Your Patreon Page
- Your Goals
- Your Reward
Who you are
This tab is most likely an in-depth introduction of yourself which allows you to put on your name and some brief description about yourself. In this tab, you can also put information regarding your other social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube URL. This allows the viewers of your page to check on your other accounts which they can follow and subscribe to. You can also further introduce your works and contents under this tab.
Your Patreon Page
This tab is divided in two separate parts which includes:
- Your Video
- Tell your patrons why they should pledge to you
Putting a video on your Patreon page increases the success rate of your page because it serves as an introductory video about you and your content. You can choose any video such as a sneak peeks and samples about your contents or a simple greeting and heads up to your patrons. Try to be creative as much as possible.
Telling your Patrons why they should pledge to you gives you a chance to talk about what you do and how you will make good use of your Patron’s support to further publish more interesting contents.
Goals
Goals is an optional tab to establish but for creators who want to set milestones and keep track on how far they’ve achieved on their Patreon journey then setting your goal is a must. Goals also allows you to come across different benefits along the way such as removing ads, having special effect on your next video, or anything that can be a tool to your own creativity. It also lets you set multiple goals and change goals anytime you want.
Rewards
For a creator with supporting and loyal patrons, what rewards can give you give to your chosen top patrons? There are a variety of rewards that serve as your option, but the most famous and practical ones are printed and digital rewards. Printed rewards such as shirts, signed artwork of yours, and other merchandise you might have while digital rewards may include a Thank You video, an editorial content and early access of your recordings and contents.
How to Earn Money on Patreon as a Girl
To make money on Patreon as a girl, you must offer something that other people are willing to pay for. This may be in the form of creating art, writing, making music, or selling adult content — which is among the top things the platform is known for.
If you’re an artist, you can charge your fans to get access to your whole online gallery. You can offer them a pack of signed prints, a personalized note, a shirt, or a wall calendar.
Other girls offer NSFW stuff to an interested audience. Access to the 18+ gallery requires a paid plan which typically starts from $5-10. The pricing depends on you as a content creator, naturally.
Fans may be willing to help support your passion without necessarily accessing your gallery. For this, some may consider throwing in a dollar or two a month to their favorite content creator just because they like what she does.
So, before you decide to hop on to Patreon to get started, ask yourself if you can offer something that people will actually pay you for. Creating content isn’t enough. You also have to target a certain audience for your content to generate ample revenue in the long run.
Always remember: building an engaged audience helps you make money on Patreon as a girl.
About Payments
As a content creator, there is really not much for you to learn on how the payment process works because patrons will be the one who’s most likely to process their payment to continually patronize and remain as a member within your circle.
Regardless, we just want to share this information for the potential patrons reading or when the time comes you will be deciding to be a patron of some creators.
- A patron will need to join a specific membership program under their preferred creator who works on their preferred tier or genre. Patreon will then send an email informing the patron that he is officially a member now, and will verify the patron’s card via Card Networks and Issuing Bank to make sure it is valid. The patron will not be charged right away upon joining but Patreon will start charging him or her the monthly pledged amount on the following month upon joining.
- Exactly the first day of the following month, Patreon will charge the patron’s debit or credit card which is kept on file in a secure vault. Remember that there will be no hidden charges and only the pledged amount to the creator will be charged by Patreon
- Patreon will access the Payment Gateway to find the best possible transaction that will ensure that the charging process will be successful. This is needed because transactions may differ depending on where the patron lives.
- The Payment Gateway will eventually be directed to the bank portal to ask for the fund that the patron pledged.
- To ensure the safety and security of the transaction, the card network will relay the request to the bank that is connected to the patron’s card. Card networks cannot easily free up the fund to prevent fraud and insufficient balance issues.
- The bank where the patron’s credit or debit card is connected will eventually agree to release the pledged amount of funds or in some cases it won’t. If the issued bank of the patron denied the request for the fund then it might be because of insufficient balance, connectivity errors, incorrect credit card number, or expired card number.
NSFW modelling micro-economy (Adult photography)
Selling nudes on the internet isn’t anything new. However, Patreon serves as a bridge to make the transaction easier and more appealing for both content creators and their “patrons”.
For one, the payment process is simple. Patreon accepts major cards like Visa and Mastercard, among others. When creators upload their content on Patreon, they can be rest assured that no third party apps can profit from their content as the platform will host it exclusively, and it encourages direct engagement between the two parties.
Many patrons like the intimacy behind supporting their favorite model’s career on Patreon, while many content creators say the platform’s paywall makes their patrons feel like real fans more than thirsty strangers on the internet looking for nudes.
Unlike major social networks like Instagram and Facebook where nudity isn’t allowed, Patreon capitalizes on the popularity of erotic modelling — so much that it made its own micro-economy on adult photography.
Patreon’s community guidelines state that: “Patreon is not for pornography, but some of the world’s most beautiful and historically significant art often depicts nudity and sexual expression. Because of that, we allow nudity and suggestive imagery, as long as it is marked NSFW. Think of the policy as allowing “R Rated” movies… but not porn.”
Stigma against NSFW modelling
Adult content on Patreon is clearly marked exclusive, hence it is not included in the search page or explore sections. Users who are looking for safe-for-work content are unlikely to stumble across the NSFW ones.
But even though Patreon advocates as a platform to support the creative arts, there is still a lingering stigma attached to erotic modelling. The negative association to the craft is something most 18+ models deal with on the platform.
If you’re eyeing to join the adult cosplay community, you might want to brace yourself. Members are free to build and modify costumes of their favorite fictional characters, yes, but it’s also some sort of an unspoken rule to follow a rigid and arbitrary set of rules.
It’s like walking on a thin fine line of in-betweens. Apparently, cosplayers mustn’t get naked and when you break this unspoken rule, you are likely to be ostracized from the community. Or face some backlash across online communities like Reddit and Twitter, at the very least.
A lot of adult cosplayers are scared to stand up for themselves because it would typically mean going against the entire internet, and the whole online community. Even the cosplayers who are open to the idea of nudity faces a hard time in avoiding the conversation about objectification.
Other genres aside from NSFW content
Keep in mind that Patreon wasn’t designed to be a platform solely intended for adult content. In case you’re in a dire need of SFW content ideas and strategies for your next campaign on the platform, here are some you might want to check out:
Arts (Drawing and Painting)
The drawing and painting category has experienced a 21% growth on the platform. Content makers in the Drawing & Painting categories are among the most populous on Patreon, and only Video & Film has the larger population by number of creators. Some of the fastest growing campaigns on the platform earn $1,191 more in total from patrons.
Photography
The photography category got a 19% growth on the platform. If you have the talent to capture stunning snapshots, Patreon can be your next best friend. Creators in the photography category are always producing breathtaking art, and the world is blessed to see their work.
Education
Remember the last time you had to check on Khan Academy to understand a complex math formula? Or listened to a ted talk about space science and all that jazz? Well, education creators have also found a home in Patreon. They create a variety of education videos from physics videos to a literary digest of the Lord of The Rings. They want to spread their knowledge to their patrons and fans all over the world.
Comics
Heads up, comic fans! Comics has always been in the top 5 largest categories on Patreon, and the good news is: this category has seen consistent growth since the launch of the platform. Your extensive knowledge about the DC and Marvel universe may just be put to a good use here!
Science
If you’re a fan of Bill Nye the science guy or Neil deGrasse Tyson, you might want to continue spreading their legacy on Patreon. Science creators might be one of the smaller groups on the platform by the numbers, but recent times have seen some strong growth. Check out the science pages on the site and you’re guaranteed to stumble across some mind-blowing facts!
Arts (Crafts and DIY)
Unleash your creativity and show the world your creative talents! Crafts and DIY is one category that most people are surprised to see on Patreon, yet creators in this category are some of the most talented creators you’ll see on the internet.
How much does a female Patreon creator usually make in a month?
$5,000
For Stephanie Michelle, she can make $5,000 in a good month with her current supporters. Managing her Patreon account is her full-time job. She’s creating adult and naughty cosplay content on the platform.
She rewards her subscribers with an access to her various NSFW content, which includes a signed sexy print, a personalized sexy video of three to five minutes, and an access to her constantly updated Patreon feed. Her feed is filled with erotic photoshoots and videos.
Michelle is among those who use Patreon to sell their nude photos and videos to an interested audience. She’s considered a successful 18+ content maker on the platform.
Other aspiring NSFW content creators can only rely on Patreon as a side hustle. Although they want to go full-time, their current earnings and number of patrons isn’t enough yet.
$1,065
Talitha Brauer produces photo essays on refugees around the world. Her inspiring cause enables her to use her talent in photography to capture the image of refugees, and her word-weaving skills in telling their stories.
Patrons who support her achieve a new perspective on how lucky they are given their own situation and privilege. Some Patrons even pledge up to $200 a month, which is good news.
$887
Dani (from the popular web development forum DaniWeb Fame) uses Patreon as a way to support a cause. She helps Moroccan students find, apply, and land scholarships in the USA.
The platform isn’t merely for the Arts and NSFW content. Through Dani’s account, Patreon can also be an avenue to inspire and help others. Patrons can donate to the cause and help hopeful students find opportunities in America.
$500
Another NSFW female content creator on Patreon is Monica Zamora, who says she makes about $500 a month on the platform. She says the amount could actually be higher if she spent more time doing it. Zamora makes most of her money as an erotic dancer.
Patreon acts more of a side hustle for someone like Zamora, who already has a solid source of income she’s bringing in. It’s also one way to expand her brand on other platforms.
For as low as $1 a month, Zamora’s Patreon feed can be unlocked which features uncensored, erotic photos. For $3 a month, her followers can enter a raffle which has the prize of an exclusive nude print.
Her highest priced tier is at $25 a month for a signed print. She named it the “True Support” tier, composed of fans who want to make a difference in her career. Zamora’s price is actually significantly lower than other models on the site. Top-priced tiers usually asked for around $200-1,000 per month.
$100-200
“Naughty Nessa” never made a steady income off erotic modeling prior to when she joined Patreon. Her account offers nude fetish and art photos to her subscribers, even making personalized naughty e-cards and wallpapers, fetish shoots, and exclusive topless pictures.
At $69 a month, her fans can chat with her live for half an hour about whatever they want. Nessa says her patrons often share their steamy fantasies with her and ask for sex-related advice.
Although the money she makes on Patreon isn’t much yet, she wants to grow the numbers over time. She doesn’t use Patreon often enough to completely support herself by her earnings from patrons. Nessa plans to keep promoting her Patreon account on Instagram, Twitter, and FetLife (a BDSM, kink, and fetish social network) to attract new subscribers.
Tips to Grow your Patreon Fan Base
Just like in every social media platform, growing your subscribers, followers, and likers doesn’t happen overnight. It takes a serious amount of patience, effort, motivation and hard work to eventually grow your fan base to your desired level. Here are some tips you might want to apply which will be helpful for you as a creator just starting out:
Create a simple yet unique website
Upon browsing for new creators to follow, your website is basically the first thing potential patrons will lay their eyes upon. You would want to make sure that your website will establish a lasting impression with potential patrons that will boost their interest more. It’s basically where they can find everything about you including your social media accounts, personal information, contents and more. With a unique and simple layout that’s pleasing to the eyes, the patrons will surely be looking for more of what you have to offer.
Consistently release digital and shareable content
Digital contents are basically the easiest way to rapidly share across the internet. You might say it is obvious, but releasing digital contents isn’t really what every creator is doing. One possible scenario that’s most likely to happen is a patron will share your contents with his or her circle, and they’ll share it on other social media platforms for other people to notice it and by that time the rest of your social media accounts will gain popularity. May it be video, photo, film, games, editorials, and songs— just keep on releasing.
Collaborate with other creators.
Working with a creator is one of the best tips we can give you. Having a shared project or content with another creator sends out fans both ways. Make sure to find another creator that matches the same content you release or if not, a creator that will compliment your genre. Some popular concepts for collaborated projects include making parody, spin-offs of famous films, or videos, making cover songs or reaction videos. And if you’re both into flaunting your outward appearances, one of the most effective ways is a collaboration of NSFW modelling. Always try to do things that will work and benefit the two of you.
Listen to your Patrons
Patrons will surely critique and give their opinion about your contents. Positive feedback sure is flattering and motivating but consider that you may have some shortcomings as a creator along the way. Always listen to your patron’s suggestions, requests, and opinions and try to see their perspective. Establishing relationships with your fanbase is important because that’s when they will feel that their voice matters. Creators who listen to their fans will surely improve on their contents and at the same time establish a firm connection with her fanbase.
That’s pretty much it! Treat Patreon like any other platform where you have to provide great-quality content on a consistent schedule, and for sure, you’ll gain a following along the way. The platform continues to be a great option for girls who are looking to venture into a side hustle this 2020.
So, are you ready to give Patreon a try? Let us know in the comments and share the link to your profile!
