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Post by hypixion on Jul 6, 2014 20:03:05 GMT
Tom has finally become a Patreon creator. So go and support him: www.patreon.com/gunnerkriggDon't know if this belongs here but don't have any other boards to post this :/
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Post by GK Sierra on Jul 6, 2014 20:33:59 GMT
>$500,000 a month >I will print and eat the entire comic.
This would be a great time to have a billionaire uncle with a sense of humor.
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Post by Rasselas on Jul 6, 2014 20:50:24 GMT
That video was awesome!
Although, who's that handsome guy there narrating? Where's the spider-infested creature with stubbly hands? WHO IS THE REAL TOM?
Edit: I do have to add a bit of criticism, though. The goals and ranks don't seem to be very well thought-out. They should be stuff that people would really actually want. I don't want Tom to eat a bunch of inked paper and make himself sick.
Tom, you're a marvelously creative artist. There is other stuff that could be in the rewards. People already want to give you money. Use the Patreon to allow you to do more creative stuff.
1. Someone on Twitter mentioned PDFs of the comics. This! I know they might get leaked after, but it's free on the website anyway, and besides, everything gets leaked. It's just an opportunity for people to give you money.
2. I think I saw that Tom is good with 3D and animation. Why not make something like this the final goal? An animated short within the Gunnerkrigg Court universe, from the author himself. That would be AMAZING. Or even just 3D models of some characters.
3. Maybe some written stories?
That's what I could come up with so far, I'd love to see what you guys can come up with.
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Post by KartoffelnMcNugget on Jul 6, 2014 21:46:00 GMT
My question after this is if things like streamings (like the City face one) will be only for people who paid or open for everyone...
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Post by Gulby on Jul 6, 2014 22:13:38 GMT
2. I think I saw that Tom is good with 3D and animation. Why not make something like this the final goal? An animated short within the Gunnerkrigg Court universe, from the author himself. That would be AMAZING. Or even just 3D models of some characters. THIS !!! SO MUCH ! ME WANT IT ! *o* And I would like to be a... "patron", but I don't have enough ressources for now. T_T I'll definitely will when I will have a job again.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2014 22:19:00 GMT
I'm apparently unable to link my (freshly created) PayPal account to my (freshly created) Patreon account. I suspect I'll just have to validate my bank account on PayPal using that 4-digit code which I'll receive, but just to make sure: is anyone else having problems with PayPal?
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Post by keef on Jul 6, 2014 22:22:53 GMT
A great development for Tom I think. Of course if you just donate through Paypal it means 5% of your donation goes not to patreon but straight to Tom. ... I do have to add a bit of criticism, though. The goals and ranks don't seem to be very well thought-out. They should be stuff that people would really actually want. I don't want Tom to eat a bunch of inked paper and make himself sick. Edible paper and chocolate ink, and a few weeks to eat it all. Yeah, some Coyote stories? Gunnerkrigg the movie, directed by Terry Gilliam. I'm apparently unable to link my (freshly created) PayPal account to my (freshly created) Patreon account. I suspect I'll just have to validate my bank account on PayPal using that 4-digit code which I'll receive, but just to make sure: is anyone else having problems with PayPal? Never a problem till now, but yes, you probably have to make sure your bank and Paypal account are linked before you can donate or pledge.
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Post by fish on Jul 6, 2014 22:41:12 GMT
I almost fell off my chair laughing at Tom's creative process when working on a GC chapter. I've been waiting for this for a while now, managing a monthly schedule with regular donation is a pain.
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Post by Rasselas on Jul 6, 2014 23:09:02 GMT
4. Videos with commentary about certain chapters or moments in the comic. Like the moment when Reynardine almost killed Annie; what motivated Tom to make the scene that way, how he felt about people's reactions and speculations, anything. There are so many powerful moments in the comic that could take this treatment, and I know we're all thrilled to hear thoughts on it from the author himself. Basically, something like DVD commentary for movies or series.
5. Q&A in the same form. Answering questions with video, like the formspring thing but more involved. That way there's interaction with Patreon subscribers, and people get to ask for something and get it. With option to choose just the most interesting questions to reply to.
Also, he could always make this as exclusive content for Patreon subscribers, but release it for free after a year or something.
Edit: Also I feel bad that my previous post was so critical. The outlined goals as they are now are not bad at all. I guess it's just the comic-eating thing that was jarring to me, because I don't want it to be harmful to our dear author.
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Post by sapientcoffee on Jul 6, 2014 23:44:22 GMT
3D sugar or chocolate printing. Make it small. One page every couple days. Sell extras at cons.
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Post by arf on Jul 7, 2014 0:53:06 GMT
3D sugar or chocolate printing. Make it small. One page every couple days. Sell extras at cons. Gunnerkrigg Cake?? Top plate: Coyote telling you that this cake contains his great secret Bottom layer: The words "I do not exist!"
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Post by GK Sierra on Jul 7, 2014 3:03:12 GMT
I do have to add a bit of criticism, though. The goals and ranks don't seem to be very well thought-out. Yeah, I noticed that too... Makes me kind of nervous for Tom. Patreon is pretty much the same idea as Kickstarter, and SOP for Kickstarter is to take several weeks or a month to think through your rewards and your follow-through so you can have as much impact as possible. I'm glad Tom's warming up to this new way for artists to enjoy the fruits of their labor, but it could have used a bit more polish. Abraham Lincoln once said, "If I had eight hours to cut down a tree, I would spend the first six sharpening my axe."
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Post by Covalent on Jul 7, 2014 4:21:39 GMT
Personally, I think the perks are pretty reasonable.
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Post by Rasselas on Jul 7, 2014 6:01:55 GMT
I do have to add a bit of criticism, though. The goals and ranks don't seem to be very well thought-out. Yeah, I noticed that too... Makes me kind of nervous for Tom. Patreon is pretty much the same idea as Kickstarter, and SOP for Kickstarter is to take several weeks or a month to think through your rewards and your follow-through so you can have as much impact as possible. I'm glad Tom's warming up to this new way for artists to enjoy the fruits of their labor, but it could have used a bit more polish. Abraham Lincoln once said, "If I had eight hours to cut down a tree, I would spend the first six sharpening my axe." I wonder if he can adjust them on Patreon after they've already been posted. After all, it's a long-term thing, it'd make sense to have it adjustable? On the other hand, I prefer that he did it, instead of agonizing for months on whether his reward tiers are perfectly thought through. I have that streak personally, so sometimes I just have to step out and do something imperfectly, instead of never at all.
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Post by Daedalus on Jul 7, 2014 7:12:50 GMT
This is amazing, and I will try to contribute either by this or the normal 'donations' button. I do hope, however, that the bonus materials will eventually be available to the casual reader who can't spare a cent? Also, on the topic of money issues, did Tom ever pass judgment on the topic of printing custom T-shirts with Gunnerkrigg logos/characters?
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Post by smurfton on Jul 7, 2014 7:23:10 GMT
I would patronize Tom, but money isn't exactly renewable right now for me. I would like to see him eat it though (as long as he doesn't do it all at once); I'm wondering whether he would fry the pages or something before eating them.
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Post by warrl on Jul 7, 2014 7:28:14 GMT
I suppose I should give Patreon a fair shake.
My first exposure to it was from another webcomic that is trying to use it to host not one, but two, side-comics. In a single account. The way they are using it makes it the worst web-comic-hosting facility I've seen to date. After struggling with it as a user for a couple weeks I just gave up. And haven't been back since.
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Post by Eversist on Jul 7, 2014 7:56:15 GMT
Fantastic! Ever since webcomic artists have started using this service, I've been waiting for Tom to create one. I just need to decide my amount. (Yowza, $50+ a month for a sketch, tho. ) It really bodes well that it's been less than 24 hours and he's nearing 1k. Edit: I've seen him in a convention interview video before, but it's pretty cool to see him here considering he's a bit reclusive (at least in the past). Edit edit: Dang, gone up ~$100 dollars since I made this post maybe 15 minutes ago. You go, Tom!
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Post by hypixion on Jul 7, 2014 8:12:07 GMT
Tom is still figuring out what axactly to do, but it seems people like the way it is set up for now. He can still change it. If you have any advice, put it here and he'll probly read it.
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drdave
Junior Member
Posts: 99
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Post by drdave on Jul 7, 2014 8:24:53 GMT
I am SO gonna do this. Can't have GC run down before it's finished.
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Post by Tom Siddell on Jul 7, 2014 9:17:06 GMT
Hey, thanks guys. I'm going to clean up some of the stuff on the Patreon page itself as things settle down and I have a better idea how well people will be taking to it. I do like the idea of making pdfs of the books, and those should be easy enough to set up. I'd never really considered a video series before, but thinking about it, it might be nice to read through my comic chapter by chapter and record some comments about it. Things like that would be early access for patrons, but I'd want to make it available for everyone later on too. Streams will also be uploaded after they are recorded, but only patrons will be invited to the live session of some of them.
The main point of doing the Patreon is to make income from the comic a little more stable, rather than give myself a lot of extra work to do. People that are angered by me doing this are free to not pay anything while they read the comic, and in the meantime, I'm really happy that there are people that find real value in the comic itself and want to help support the kind of work they like to see online! It's thanks to them that this is even possible.
So, if you have any ideas about stuff you might like to see, please feel free to mention them in this thread.
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Post by Eversist on Jul 7, 2014 9:49:09 GMT
Edit: I went ahead and moved my pledge question to the Patreon page. As for other possible ideas for the tier levels (just spit-ballin'; I know a lot of these just take more time): -Process sketches and similar behind-the-scenes things (if your comfortable showing that; if this is what you mean by sketch-page, awesome yep) -Echoing Rasselas; bringing back something similar to the FormSpring, people loved that. Monthly Q&A? -More information about side-characters (unless this is something that will be addressed in the extra comics, which I believe you mentioned) -Removing ads from the site (something I've seen other artists do; not sure if it's something that interests you) -Random sketch sessions where you just doodle with people chatting/requesting silly things to be drawn (you've done a bit of this when doing streams of the covers being created, if I'm remembering correctly; EDIT: again, if this is sketch-streams 2k goal, awesome) Here's an interesting article discussing other webcomic artists on Patreon. Congratulations on your Patreon success so far.
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Post by sapientcoffee on Jul 7, 2014 9:54:16 GMT
If you do pdfs, would it be possible to have the page comments included? It's something I miss when I read the books. -Random sketch sessions where you just doodle with people chatting/requesting silly things to be drawn (you've done a bit of this when doing streams of the covers being created, if I'm remembering correctly) Congrats on your Patreon success so far. I liked the doodles, those were fun times.
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Post by hypixion on Jul 7, 2014 10:06:56 GMT
I would like to see more slice of life stuff from the characters, it's just fun to know what to know more.
So how about the $5 patreons get acces to a monthly or weekly sketch. Like it is now but add a schedule so people know exactly what they get.
The $15 looks solid to me but only if the streams are more than just looking, it would be more fun if people hear you talk and if you answer questions (non comic related or Q&A stuff)
The problem lies with the $50 pledge, because you give money every month people expect a monthly reward. If this is the case I would add it to the description.
Do higher pledges give acces to the previous rewards?
edit: Okay, this is a crazy one. I would like to see and I don't want to see it: For a milestone, like 5k a month or more you could redraw old chapters as bonus content? I like that webcomics show a evolution in an artists skills and that is a charm many other mediums don't have but on another side I would like to see the first chapters as if they were drawn today. Totally crazy, I know.
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Post by Lightice on Jul 7, 2014 10:43:34 GMT
Alas, my cash situation is rather precarious at the moment, but not so bad that I can't pledge a couple of bucks per month, at least. I hope I get a steadier income source, so I could start pledging a bit more meaningful sum, but I imagine that if even 10% of the readers pledged that $2, Tom's lifestyle would change radically. edit: Okay, this is a crazy one. I would like to see and I don't want to see it: For a milestone, like 5k a month or more you could redraw old chapters as bonus content? I like that webcomics show a evolution in an artists skills and that is a charm many other mediums don't have but on another side I would like to see the first chapters as if they were drawn today. Totally crazy, I know. Though that sounds cool, personally I'd prefer to see original bonus content rather than old stuff remade. Ofcourse, if both were to be possible...
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Post by Gulby on Jul 7, 2014 13:08:27 GMT
(I just saw the intro video for the patreon page, waow ! Tom, you're nice ! And I love the City Face thing. ^^)
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Post by warrl on Jul 7, 2014 16:31:12 GMT
Hey, thanks guys. I'm going to clean up some of the stuff on the Patreon page itself as things settle down and I have a better idea how well people will be taking to it. I do like the idea of making pdfs of the books, and those should be easy enough to set up. The only reason to prefer PDF over EPUB is for the benefit of people who want to print the book on the same size paper the person who created the PDF expects. And it's cheaper to buy a copy (new, when available) than to print it on an ink-jet printer, plus the purchased copy will be bound. The reasons to prefer EPUB for ebooks are numerous. If you actually prepare the volume as a Word document with embedded (not linked) images (other than the cover, it gets special treatment), in accordance with certain style/format rules, and upload it to Smashwords, your ebook becomes an EPUB, a PDF, a MOBI, and a few other formats and gets sold at the price you choose through multiple vendors including Barnes&Noble and Apple (but not Amazon at this time except under special circumstances, because Amazon hasn't provided Smashwords with an automatable way of sending them stuff). Smashwords takes a smaller cut for direct sales than most other commercial epub distributors, and a very small administrative cut for sales through their affiliates - in exchange for the latter they amalgamate payments, produce a single tax document per year, give you one company to deal with over tax issues instead of several... Since Smashwords is in the US, there's some special paperwork to fill out to avoid being subject to US tax withholding (for authors in certain countries including the UK). And you'll need to have a Paypal account (Paypal will, I presume, handle currency conversion) to get paid. (Note: I am not affiliated with Smashwords except that I published a book through them and plan to publish more in the future.) There are also print-on-demand websites that you can publish a book through for people who want to buy a paper copy. Because they use commercial-scale printing and binding facilities, it's still cheaper than printing your own (plus it comes with a proper cover). And because it's print-on-demand, it's never out of stock. However I don't happen to remember any of the names.
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Post by Eversist on Jul 7, 2014 18:31:35 GMT
There are also print-on-demand websites that you can publish a book through for people who want to buy a paper copy. Because they use commercial-scale printing and binding facilities, it's still cheaper than printing your own (plus it comes with a proper cover). And because it's print-on-demand, it's never out of stock. However I don't happen to remember any of the names. I may be wrong, but his publisher (Archaia) probably has a holding/contract on creating at least print versions of the story.
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Post by exuberancium on Jul 7, 2014 18:55:11 GMT
Excellent. I first heard about Patreon from Dinosaur comics, and I immediately thought, "Wow, this is perfect for webcomic artists/writers." I wish you all the best, Tom. Looks like its already up to roughly 40% of the average monthy income. It would be pretty neat if it went all the way.
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Post by Daedalus on Jul 7, 2014 18:58:17 GMT
I'm seconding how awesome it would be to see the old pages (about chapters 1-13ish) redrawn - both to show progression but also so I can snare in new readers more easily. You see, I tell people about this webcomic with fantastic art and story, but I tell them to not judge the art until later into the comic. I am sad to have to add that disclaimer, but it would be awesome to see the whole thing in the glorious art style of the Modern Siddel Period!! Also, yeah - we all appreciate you, Tom. This comic is a thing that gives me triweekly happiness even when life sucks sometimes, so thank you so much
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