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independence2 unconnected · 1 more author in those circles
standing

contested · 4 claims against 3

applies to

consumer, needs an existing audience

mixed results

confidence

high

evidence

7 claims · 5 articles · 4 receipts

window

2018-07-24 → 2024-08-29

2 builders who never spoke to each other · contested

Ask the audience for money once a year

Concentrate the appeal into a single annual campaign with a deadline, a public radio style drive or a once-a-year shirt sale, so the ask is focused rather than constant. Recurring listener support works where the show delivers on a schedule, while crowdfunding a content project competes for the same hours as making it and mostly collects from people who would have paid anyway.

Where this splits

An annual drive and recurring listener support are reported working, while a standing donation link placed across a site, an extension and support signatures produced about three dollars a month.

  1. side 01 · 4 claims

    Concentrate the ask into one campaign a year

    Glen Allsopp · Justin Jackson

    1. 1Concentrate fundraising into one campaign a year - a public-radio style drive or an annual shirt sale - so the ask is focused and carries a deadline.
    2. 2Recurring listener donations work when the show delivers consistent value on a schedule.
    3. 3You can be funded for the mission alone, with no reward attached, if the thing you do visibly helps someone.
    4. 4Name the people paying for you on a public page and show what each of them wrote, so support is visible rather than a private transaction.

  2. side 02 · 3 claims

    Standing donation links and crowdfunders collect almost nothing

    Cory Zue · Justin Jackson

    1. 1Skip crowdfunding a content show: the campaign competes for the same hours as producing it, and the money tends to come from a backer who would have paid anyway.
    2. 2Skip listener crowdfunding where fans sponsor individual topics; it draws in whoever would have paid anyway rather than new money.
    3. 3A donation link is not a monetization plan; placed on a page, in a browser extension and in support email signatures it can still produce essentially nothing.

What it returned

  • 1,739

    Drew's Sleep With Me podcast had over 1,739 Patreon supporters and was earning about $6,000 a month.

  • Justin cites NPR's annual drive and the once-a-year t-shirt sale run by Merlin Mann and John Roderick.

  • Justin ran a campaign on the Ignition Deck plugin, hit his goals, and would not repeat it because most support came from a single advertiser.

  • Justin ran a campaign on the Ignition Deck WordPress plugin letting listeners sponsor future topics, and nearly all the money arrived from one advertiser who was going to back the show anyway; he says he would not repeat it.

Sources

the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

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More in other

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the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

963 corroborated plays to draw from · 3 a week

One email a week. Unsubscribe in one click, and the address is used for this and nothing else.