Crowdfunding backlash so far... (Patreon)

This is an exclusive post just for patrons because, to be frank, I want the freedom to be a bit blunt and open up more than I'm comfortable with in public. 

Surprising no-one, we're already experiencing some low-level backlash for being feminists in public. 

Sorry, did I say this was about us being feminists? I meant we're getting backlash for doing something as wild and unprecedented as raising money for our independent niche website through a crowdfunding campaign. 

Yes, that's definitely why these people are objecting. 

"More than a week away before the crowdfunding even starts and Amelia is already pleading to her base for cash. It's quite unedifying really."

"Imagine holding your Patreon subs hostage for $10k+ more money on top of the $2k they are already paying."

And, my personal favourite: 

"Crowdsourcing is not good if you're trying to run a company, get sponsors."

Apparently the best and most noble kind of fundraising is... the kind where you don't ask people for money. Who knew? 

(As an added bonus, this kind of fundraising will ensure you get nowhere near your goal, meaning you won't inadvertently do anything as gauche as make money from your work. Score!)

Now, if these points had come from people who actually support AniFem, I'd be engaging with the commenters and reviewing our approach for potential improvements. However, it looks more like these comments come from people unfamiliar with our work, our ethics, or our community. 

I say this in part because the story is very different in the comments under my editorials, where members of our community have asked thoughtful, challenging questions which sparked open discussion of our plans. Three posts into our crowdfunding editorial series, with many questions answered and concerns addressed, we're receiving feedback like:

"This is how a crowdfund should be run. These informative posts in the leadup are excellent, thankyou. Concrete goals and impressive transparency."

"Those lines sent chills down my spine. THIS is what leadership looks like."

"I'm really excited about the proposed Anime Feminist expansion! Definitely want to help support your vision, so will be increasing my monthly donation. Go AniFam!"

In other words, the people I designed this campaign for seem happy with how we're handling it. That is, and will always be, what matters to me most. 

Over the past couple of years, our community has consistently asked us for three things: 

1. More of what we already do, handled just as ethically

2. An ability to support us through one-off payments alongside Patreon 

3. Branded AniFem merchandise - specifically T-shirts

We've been paying attention, and have crafted this campaign to meet your wishes. So we're not worried about the backlash we're receiving. 

Apart, that is, from the fact that it's likely to get much, much worse once the campaign goes live. 

I made the decision to market only to our existing community during the pre-launch phase. That means patrons, Twitter followers, Facebook followers, and our personal networks. RIght now, we need to focus on the people most likely to be invested enough to give us their email address before the campaign launches. 

However, there is a much wider group of people who may not know we exist yet but would be willing to throw some dollars our way as an impulse spend. We only have one shot with these people, and they aren't likely to give their addresses or bookmark our campaign if we make contact with them now. 

I'm working on a press release we can send to major feminist, geek media, and feminist geek media organisations this week. If any of them publish it, or request an interview (as Kotaku did back in 2016 when we first launched) we're likely to get a flood of mixed attention. 

Some of you will remember the harassment we dealt with from Gamergaters when we first launched. It's hard to describe just how stressful and upsetting that is to go through (though obviously I refused to give them the satisfaction of showing that at the time). 

Things calmed down significantly from 2017, and these days we've muted the worst offenders and never Google ourselves. Harassment is no longer something we deal with in our day-to-day operations. 

However, this campaign is outside our day-to-day operations. And the stakes are higher on this for me personally, as I will actually appear on our campaign video. 

On the one hand, I hope we don't attract trolls likely to call me fat and ugly and insult the passion project I've poured my heart and soul into. 

On the other hand, I aspire to the sheer quantity of attention where that becomes more likely. 

In other words, I'm actively working towards the tipping point where AniFem is big enough that this kind of backlash is commonplace. 

Ah, the fun of being a woman CEO of a feminist media organisation in geek spaces. 

This campaign represents that dilemma in a microcosm, and I'm expecting some rough times after we promote our crowdfund outside our existing, supportive community. 

It will, however, all be worth it... if we meet our goal. 

The next patron-exclusive post I write will be next Monday, two days after our campaign has launched. Here's hoping that post will say we breezed through our target of 30% of our goal in the first 24 hours, and are well on the way to 100%! 

If you're planning to contribute and haven't yet let us know, please send me some reassurance by registering your support on our pre-launch page now: https://www.animefeminist.com/crowdfunding