Earlier this month, I disabled my Patreon account after seven years as a creator on the site and switch over to Ko-fi. Their recent decision to force all creators to switch what they were doing regarding payment timing because of Apple’s policies was the final straw for me, and it’s honestly a decision that was overdue. While I am deeply grateful to everyone who supported me, Patreon is not a place I ever felt valued by the powers that be.
Not that this is a new or unique phenomenon, mind you! I don’t think that Meta or Twitter or Tumblr or Twitch or any of the other places I’ve tried to set up shop have been particularly writer-slash-comic-creator-slash-gamedev-slash-streamer-friendly. The difference between those sites and Patreon, however, is that Patreon had better community features to make them a better fit for smaller-audience’d creators, and has been actively stripping them out recently to make themselves more appealing to bigger-audience’d creators. That, combined with my diminishing support there, prompted me to seek out greener pastures.
It is not a given that any artist will be able to support themselves with their art, and I consider myself fortunate to receive any kind of payment for my work. With that said, my original vocation of choice (teaching collegiate math) has all but closed its doors to me, and I do need to eat food to keep living, so I’m going to allow myself to be somewhat more gimmicky and annoying in an attempt to get more eyes on my work and bring in more revenue while still making everything as free as it can be for everyone. I often tell myself the excuse that I’m not very good at marketing myself, but honestly, that’s just a bad combination of pride preventing myself from doing anything that might make myself foolish and anxiety preventing me from doing anything that might annoy people. I’m gonna be foolish! I’m gonna be annoying! And I’m gonna make some damn good art while I’m doing it!
So we start with this. You can support me over at Ko-fi, basically the same way you could at Patreon! It also allows for one-time tips as well as commissions. Any of the above are treasured and appreciated!
I’m working on fun and exciting ways to get your attention without wasting your time, and I hope to have more details soon. For now, if you have a friend who might be interested in some of my 500+ pages of comics, why not point ’em in the direction of your favorite? I’d appreciate it bunches. 💚
That’s all for now! Hopefully you’ll be hearing from me more often on here now that my Patreon’s shuttered. See you around, friend!
Josh Closs Comics and Stories 