AniFem and the new Patreon fees (Patreon)

Yesterday Patreon announced that it is changing its fee structure, shifting the cost of transaction fees from creators to patrons. I’m sort of fine with this in theory, as a bigger and more stable income would help us out immensely, plus I think patrons as a species are by definition so supportive that the right approach would have been accepted and made very little impact.

Unfortunately, Patreon has taken an approach almost nobody is happy with. 

The new fee structure and impact on AniFem

From now on you will pay a fee of 2.9% of your pledge (so $1 becomes $1.03) PLUS 35 cents. So that $1 pledge becomes $1.38. Per pledge. This is unlikely to be a blow for those who only support AniFem. However, patrons as a species are more likely to have multiple pledges, meaning 10 x $1 pledges suddenly becomes a $13.80 outgoing. 

Someone on a tight budget suddenly has to choose which four pledges to drop, and may even drop all of them so they don’t have to choose. It puts independent creators in competition with one another, competing for the dollars and cents of those on the tightest budgets. It’s a bad, bad call, and if you feel strongly about it I hope you’ll let Patreon know by email or on Twitter.

This is obviously pretty frustrating for AniFem. You’ll recall that I deliberately restructured our Patreon pledge tiers earlier this year to encourage smaller pledges. As has been mentioned already, smaller pledges are more stable recurring income, ideal for what is essentially an online magazine. We’ve focused on increasing our $1-$5 pledges to get more people into our community, paying smaller amounts per person. 

And my efforts worked - while our actual income has gone up but fluctuated, the number of patrons supporting us has risen every month. Looking into the numbers, there’s a clear pattern of people pledging higher amounts then cutting their pledges but continuing to support us - which is exactly what I wanted. People can maintain a $1 pledge for years without questioning it. What Patreon has done is encourage all patrons to question their commitment, and it will cost us for sure.

So that’s the bad news. Let’s look at what we can do about it.

AniFem’s current situation

First, I want to highlight something really important and positive: AniFem has never been in a better position to be screwed over by Patreon. Patreon is a commercial company. This kind of thing was probably going to happen at some point. 

From my perspective, I’m delighted that it’s happened at a time when:

1. We have an awesome and committed team in place. Dee has done - and continues to do - an exceptional job as Managing Editor, and the rest of the team support her with incredible writing and editing. Communication and trust between us are strong. We can and will weather this (possibly with the power of friendship).

2. We have a track record of fulfilling our original aims and objectives. Output has been consistent, varied and high quality, from a wide range of diverse writers, who have all been paid for their work. Anime Feminist has changed the landscape of anime writing for the better, and everyone can see it.

3. We are well connected. We have high profile supporters around the world, many themselves well connected. When I ask for help and support, these people are generous with their time and knowledge.

4. We haven’t even BEGUN to reach our full potential. 

I think I said this at the start of 2017, but this year was, for me, all about achieving consistency. We have done that. 2018, though - this is where we start to grow.

Next steps

2017 has proven that we cannot survive on Patreon alone. Even without their policy change, we’d still need to look at diversifying our income sources and building on what is now an extremely strong foundation. This announcement from Patreon makes it very easy for us to raise the topic, both with our consumers and with potential partners.

Just to put any red flags to bed - my ethics remain the same. There will be no paywalls. No premium content. No ads. Nothing that could compromise us or cause any conflict of interest in the future. However, there are ethical opportunities that we haven’t yet explored. In that sense, Patreon’s timing couldn’t have been better.

We’re exploring options like building relationships and potentially cross-promotions with other feminist media organisations. Options like this are not only exciting and appropriate, they have been part of an internal discussion since long before Patreon said anything about fee changes.

I’m also putting a lot of thought into our business model and how to tweak it. One source of income is always risky, and we’ve been taking for a while about how to diversify it. Steady recurring income is absolutely a requirement, but could we layer our monthly income with regular fundraisers, or ad hoc crowdfunding, better suiting those who’d prefer to give one-off or ad hoc donations than set up a direct debit? Would instituting a tip jar on posts give people a way to express direct appreciation for content that particularly resonates? 

We’ll try out a few things in 2018 and see which combination of payment options people are happiest with. (People will continue to be paid as they are, regardless.)

The other thing we’re looking at is how to increase our readership. To an extent, this is a numbers game. Maybe 1% of our readers are patrons. Until now my efforts have been driven to increasing that to 2-3%, but the other option is to increase how many people make up 1%. This is perhaps the most exciting area of potential.

As you all know, I’m based in the UK, and when I first presented a panel at a convention here a couple of months ago, no-one had heard of Anime Feminist. That’s one small country full of potential patrons. We were mentioned recently by a national museum in Australia, but I’m not sure I’ve spoken directly to any readers from New Zealand.

Nobody does what Anime Feminist does. Now we’re doing it as well as we are (full credit to the team for that) we are very well placed to start making our presence known outside North America. That’s just a matter of marketing - which happens to be my new day job, as of the middle of this year, and I’m getting an amazing education in how to grow a small company.

In conclusion...

In the short term, we may have to tighten our belts a little - which, as 100% of our income goes to paying contributors, editors and administrators, means reducing output. However, that’s a pretty strong message to go out there with, and it may be enough to bring in a bit of a buffer from those who are sympathetic and have a little spare cash (though December’s a rough month for that).

So the Patreon announcement is unfortunate, but probably not devastating for Anime Feminist. On the contrary, it’s a catalyst for work we would always have needed to do to grow and be truly successful. The short term is our biggest concern, and if you are able to maintain your pledge to us, you’ll have our deepest appreciation. If you’re not though, we completely understand.

If you have any questions or comments, please ask in comments - I'll do my best to answer. 

Amelia