Crowd-sourced funding for Goblins comic?

[thinkslogically]

Ok, first of all: Mods, please move this post if you think it's in the wrong place or would do better elsewhere.
Second of all: I have no experience of and nothing to do with the following website, it just seemed like a cool idea.

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If any of you read SMBC, you might have noticed today's comic is a link to a website called 'Patreon' which appears to be a way to allow fans of an online artistic medium to patronise it by providing money to fund the art in return for something exclusive. Kind of like kickstarter, but smaller amounts and more long-term. Anyway, it got me thinking that this might be something that could work for THunt and goblins? There seem to be different ways to set up the funding, so contributors could pay e.g. a monthly amount, or a set value every time a comic is posted (which you can restrict to a max. amount per month). It might be a more reliable source of income than ads (though there's no reason to get rid of them either) and having a pay-per-update would mean that fans only pay for the content they really want to see (so, maybe e.g. filler comics don't get paid for).

With the fanbase around here I'm sure there would be a few people willing to support it and it might be worth a try.

I haven't looked into any of the details or FAQs or any of that though, just had a quick glance at a couple of projects

EDIT: Link is here: http://www.patreon.com/

[LooksAndSmiles]

The only problem is that... when will Thunt actually have time to give you something for the goodies you leave?

I mean, it would be nice to get something personal for your money, but then it's not really a donation, is it? You can just shower him with money via paypal or by buying existing merchandise, if you really mean it.

(The idea in itself is not bad, though. But I don't think it'd be a good/feasible option right now.)

[thinkslogically]

Sure, but there are small rewards that he does anyway that could be made exclusive. Stuff like sneak previews or whatever. Similarly, I don't know if he needs to offer any rewards at all since a lot of folk might just like to support the comic. Anyway, like I said it's just an idea to throw into the pot, but out of 40,000 readers even if only 1% offered a dollar a month it would still be $400 a month, which isn't a lot, but I bet it would help with a few bills.

[WearsHats]

I think those people would want something for the dollar or whatever that unpaid readers aren't getting. Subscribe for an ad-free version, maybe?

Evil Inc has a thing now where you can read daily online or you can buy the entire month's strips in advance in one bundle. Obviously, that won't work for Thunt, though.

I guess the closest thing is the Goblins PDFs, where you can read a bundle of pages offline and ad-free, with bonus extras, for just a few dollars.

[Glemp]

For what it's worth, this is how NationStates did it. Mind, I don't know how much a one-off purchase would make Thunt in comparison to long-term ad revenue - though it would be a solution to users who want to use AdBlock without screwing him over.

[Bad At Jokes]

:Deleted: For being a dick

[Glemp]

Didn't we buy him a house? and I don't remember seeing the reward for that (e.g tempts fate)

That is a pretty harsh thing for me to say but I am only buying merchandise.

Not this again.

[Bad At Jokes]

Deleted for being a dick.

[Thunt]

Didn't we buy him a house? and I don't remember seeing the reward for that (e.g tempts fate)

That is a pretty harsh thing for me to say but I am only buying merchandise.

Not this again.

Oh no don't bring up shitty stuff that Thunt has done.

It is shitty that I haven't drawn the last page for Tempts Fate. Bad At Jokes is right. Let's discuss it a bit.

I'm kidding myself, thinking that I'll be able to squeeze in a detailed, high quality TF page without taking time off the comic to draw it. The drive promised four TF pages, which I delivered, but then I stupidly promised a fifth for no reason other than being emotionally moved by the generosity of the people who donated. My three choices are...

1. I take time off the comic to draw it.
2. I phone it in, drawing something quick and lacking.
3. I don't do it.

I hate all three choices, but that's all there is. I started attempting option 2, with a crudely drawn set of pages, but I hate drawing unfinished looking stuff like that. The mentality was that if I draw a handful of unfinished, crappy pages, it'll sort of feel like I've done enough. I keep kidding myself, thinking I'll somehow find the time to draw something awesome for it.

I should have just drawn the four pages and been done with it. Now I've drawn a total of six pages and I've dug myself into a hole, owing more pages still. It's really dumb.

Bad At Jokes, I feel terrible that you're feeling this way. If you email me the name you donated under, I'll check my records and gladly give you a refund for the amount you gave during the TF run. I'm really sorry.

[Krulle]

We did not buy him a house.
We helped with a down payment.
There's a BIG difference!

But then, most of us received a fantastic comic for years without any obligations or favours we had to return.

I'm still waiting for SFF updates, but then, the main comic is much more important to me.
And I don't mind at all of the TF-updates are "lacking", as you formulated it.
I read them for the humour, and the storyline, which allows you to exploit things outside of the Goblins world.

(Personally, I think THunt is overdoing the art glossiness a bit anyway.)

@Thunt: Anyways, I hope you're taking a few days off over Christmas and Old/New year, so that you can visit and celebrate with family!
You deserve this.
Please.
(And if you feel crappy about that: put some fillers online. We love them, as you can see with quite some of our forum-avatars.
Or we just love them because they expand the Goblins universe.)

► Show Spoiler

24 April 2011: http://www.goblinscomic.org/tempts-fate ... -my-house/
http://www.goblinscomic.org/tempts-fate ... adventure/ (with the challenges and targets)
14 July 2011: http://www.goblinscomic.org/tempts-fate ... venture-2/
04 November 2011: http://www.goblinscomic.org/whats-with-the-demon-page/
17 November 2011: http://www.goblinscomic.org/the-house-a ... to-an-end/
17 May 2013: http://www.goblinscomic.org/the-search-for-tempts-fate/
no guarantee for completeness... :(
And Thunt: I hate the blog navigation... ;(

[RocketScientist]

I didn't donate a lot, but I've gotten more than my money's worth, just from knowing Thunt & Danielle have a safe place to live, (and of course to draw Goblins). I didn't really give money toward getting any content/stuff/perks/whatever. And if I wanted to buy products, I'd go to the store. I just wanted to help, because I've gotten a lot of enjoyment from the comic, and because Thunt and Danielle are genuinely good people.

[LooksAndSmiles]

I guess this intermezzo with BaJ & Thunt's post describes pretty well what would happen if something like Patron would start off.

I keep thinking about ways to make some income for the comic without being too demanding from Thunt, but nothing really comes to my mind. (I can't see the "worth to pay for" or the feasibility of any of the ideas above so far.)

There is one thing, though.
How about broadcasting while drawing a lot more? Then people could subscribe (pay) for that? I quite often watch League of Legends streams on Twitch TV, and people who can build a large followerbase can get a contract with the host, so they get part of the revenue or something? I'm not sure whether there is something similar for jtv or ustream or wherever Thunt decides to show up, but the idea is there... You get to see more of Thunt and his work, he doesn't really have to do anything out of ordinary, and he gets a bit more money for it. (And seriously, the rare occassions I catch him on stream are pure jewels of comedy.)

[thinkslogically]

Yup, and even something like the option to use an exclusive (but generic) avatar or title for the forums could work (and those could be tiered by donation level if appropriate). It's all stuff that gives value without requiring a ton of extra work from THunt. I don't use the live feed (very much the wrong timezone for me) but maybe something similar could be added there for the people who use that?