So this morning I got some email from Patreon: Apple has made it very clear that they do not like the per-creation model that I’ve been using since opening up a Patreon campaign back in the first year it was possible, and that continuing to have it as an option is incompatible with Patreon continuing to have an iOS app.

Because Patreon is very much A Corporation now their example of a post I might make about this says nothing about this coming down from above, but positions it as entirely a change I’m making “both for the consistency it provides to members and us, and the flexibility to consider other benefits we can provide that aren’t tied to the number of paid posts we make”. They made it a lot more clear in the message they sent to me, and whoever else is still using the per-creation model that they’ve been trying to get rid of for a while:

Apple is requiring that Patreon use their in-app purchasing system and remove all other billing systems from the Patreon iOS app by November 2024. This means that starting in November, new memberships purchased in the iOS app will be subject to Apple’s 30% App Store fee.

You’re currently on a per-creation billing model, but Apple’s in-app purchase system only supports subscription billing. Apple has made clear that if creators on Patreon continue to use unsupported billing models or disable transactions in the iOS app, we will be at risk of having the entire app removed from their App Store.

So, starting in November, your fans in the iOS app won’t be able to purchase subscriptions to your membership until you switch to subscription billing. And, as a result of Apple’s mandates and in order to make sure that you can continue getting new members in the iOS app, we’ve started a 16-month-long migration process to bring all creators onto subscription billing by November 2025. This means that your current billing model will be discontinued in November 2025.

Bold is theirs.

I guess it’s time to start figuring out how my tiers should look, then.

Financially, for me, Patreon really only pays my bills in per-creation mode if I’m putting out eight paid posts per month. Which I have been able to hit in the past, and feel like I could hit again, at the cost of focusing pretty much exclusively on cranking out the comics pages, with not much slack for life getting in the way.

Financially, for a patron, that would look like a tier that was worth either (your current tier) * 8, or whatever your current maximum payout is. If you’re already supporting me then you can find that out over on Patreon’s membership page.

Most of my patrons are at the $1-per-thing level, which means that unless your maximum payout is less than eight bucks (which is perfectly fine, it all adds up) then you’re effectively $8/mo patron when I’m spending a month in the comics-creation zone.

Ten of you are at the $5-per-thing level, which effectively maxes out at $40 even if you said you’re willing to give me $400 on some impossible month where I figure out a way to generate 80 pages a month. That ain’t happening unless I turn into an AI-wrangler or hire a staff to draw for me, and neither of those sound like much fun.

And three of you are at $10-per-thing, which maxes out at $80/month. All those numbers feel so much different when you look at them at that scale, don’t they.

The next current tier up is a $500 tier, with zero members, that is mostly there to make me and you laugh. And maybe to do a little marketing trick on you to make you open to paying more, it’s called the “anchoring effect” and people who want to sell you things are using it on you all the time.

I’m also honestly not sure I’m willing to commit to that many comics pages right now. I keep on feeling like I need to learn Moho. Maybe to animate, maybe just as a faster tool for doing this particular comic that is generally shaped like an animatic anyway.

I’m gonna have to think about what to do for new tiers. Patreon says I can email them for some suggestions based on what they see working for similar creators, and I’m doing that, but I’d like to know what you think, too. I could rail against this but this change is at the behest of Apple, and I know Patreon ain’t big enough to sue them over this, assuming it’s even legally possible. And I’m not married enough to pay-per-post that I want to roll up my own Patreon-like as a couple of WordPress plugins.

Also: a closer look at their pages on the transition process suggests that they are retaining your maximum payouts, so if you’re at (say) $5 per thing with a maximum of $7, you’ll still be paying $7? That’s kinda nice. See here and search for “Monthly limit considerations”.

Right now I’m kinda thinking:

$5/mo – you get all the WIP posts, yay! And the public posts! And you’re supporting some weird trans lady who draws stuff you like.

$10/mo – also you get a chance at a bi-monthly commission slot? Do I feel like offering those? Part of me does, part of me wants to keep on doing a half dozen in a clump on a yearly basis. Which I note is about the same number of pieces, just in a different rhythm. Hmmm.

$50/mo – you get nothing more from me, but you have previously figured out how to totally be a person who can throw that kind of money around without worrying, congratulations!

$100/mo – same as above but with a different clever name

$1000/mo – also you are in command of a corporation’s charity fund and relentlessly pursuing a scheme to set up people like me as legal charities, so that the maximum amount of money is tax-free, congratulations, you have made yourself into a queer supervillain, fuck yeah!

Maybe that last one’s a bit much? It’s there more as a punchline and an excuse to do a tier icon of YCH as a radiant supervillain. I’m just stoned and dumping my thoughts into this text area now.

Anyway, that’s a first rough. How’s that look compared to anyone else you might be supporting?  Lemme know.

..also maybe I should just buy some Apple stock and start getting dividends off the fact that they seem to be determined to elicit a 30% tithe off of every payment that passes through a mobile device they made, sheesh.