Good morning everyone. Almost 10 months is completed for the year 2019. Where has the time gone? Who has found the most geocaches so far? In Canada, it's Troqueurs32 with 10,423 finds. That's almost ten thousand more than me. Down in the U.S., mondou2 has found 16,743 geocaches. Locally, 4elements5senses has logged 2,169 finds so far among Manitoba based geocachers. Tick_Magnet is the top North Dakotan with 2,004.
If you follow any of the Geocaching YouTubers (vloggers), podcasters, or bloggers, you may have heard some talking about and thanking their Patreon subscribers. What exactly is this Patreon that these people are talking about? Hopefully this week's blog will help you understand the background and connection that these geocaching artists have with Patreon. Helping me out with this project are two people that I subscribe to. GeoJangie and Cache the Line, both of whom are Patreon creators.
First, a little background history. Patreon was co-founded by developer Sam Yam and musician Jack Conte in May, 2013. Jack was looking for a way to make a living from his YouTube videos. Together they created a platform that allows subscribers, or 'patrons' to pay a set amount of money every time an artist creates something. More than 125,000 'patrons' signed up in the first eighteen months and were sending more than one million dollars monthly to the site's content creators.
Patreon became popular with the Geocaching YouTubers when YouTube changed their policies for monetization. Prior to this, vloggers were collecting a small amount from YouTube for the amount of views their videos received. Now it was extremely difficult for small-time creators to recuperate the costs for their videos. When you think about it, all the Geocaching creators do what they do for the love of the hobby. They are not hired by Geocaching HQ or any other business. They do this on their own time, at their own expense. It can be costly. Cameras, editing equipment, computers, web pages, whatever is needed to get quality product out, that cost comes out of their pockets. When YouTube changed their policies, Patreon became a popular choice among the Geocaching creators and quickly gained traction with it's platform and business model. Patreon allows the creators to have direct communication with their subscribers.
As a subscriber, the first thing you need to do is go to the Patreon website https://www.patreon.com/ and create an account. Once in, you can do a search for Geocache or Geocaching. Not all creators will show up with that search. You will find a few Geocaching creators. The more popular ones that I know of are The Geocaching Vlogger, Geocache Talk, the Geocaching Podcast, Geocaching Jangie, Cache the Line, Cache Canada, and the list goes on.
Most creators will have a 'tier system' set up. The tier system is a set price that the subscriber is willing to support the creator. I think the most common tier system is $3/month, $5/month, and $10/month. There are other denomination amounts, depending on how the creator wants to set their page up. This is all in U.S. currency. As a subscriber, you get to pick which one will suit your budget. In return, the creator will have different rewards for each tier. The higher the amount, the more 'swag' the subscriber gets as a way of the creator saying thank you for the support. Some of the swag a subscriber could get include, stickers, pathtags, trackables, buttons, exclusive videos and newsletters.
What does this do for the creators? I had put that question to both GeoJangie and Cache the Line. Neither of them knew I was asking the other, but their answers came back very similar. It offsets their cost to start with. It gives them incentive to continue to create and to put out quality product, knowing that there are people out there that support them. It gives them that base of supporters that enjoy their content so much, they are willing to help offset the cost so they can continue to enjoy what the creators put out.
I am not a Patreon creator, although I have thought about it. More thought is required before I make a leap into this realm. The big question that I think every creator asks when they want to start up their own page is; who will support me? What can I give back to the supporters besides the content that I already provide? Every creator is eternally grateful for the support they get.
I am a Patreon supporter. The first person that I took the plunge and gave my support was GeoJangie. It was more of a way for me to say thank you to her for the help and assistance she provided me when I wanted to start blogging. I've always enjoyed her blogs, so it was an easy decision to support her creative endeavors. You can find her blog here > https://geocachingjangie.com/ Now that I'm supporting a blogger, I wanted to support a vlogger. This was a tough one. So many good vloggers out there. Ultimately, I chose Cache the Line. I would love to have him with me when a tree climb is involved. I have done some tree climb caches, but not the kind that Cache the Line does. I'll save those for him. You can find his YouTube channel here > https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ2CBS4upyqZlZza6b1z9og Most recently, I decided to support a podcast. The one podcast I really enjoy watching is The Geocaching Podcast. It is one of the longest running Geocaching podcasts and the only one that is a live call-in talk show. You can find their home page here > http://geocachingpodcast.com/ That is my trifecta of creators that I support.
As mentioned, there is bonus content that only Patreon subscribers can see. This could be videos, behind the scenes look at something, maybe an advanced sneak peak at something that could be coming from Geocaching HQ, whatever the creator wishes to share. I love the bonus content.
If you follow any of the Geocaching YouTubers (vloggers), podcasters, or bloggers, you may have heard some talking about and thanking their Patreon subscribers. What exactly is this Patreon that these people are talking about? Hopefully this week's blog will help you understand the background and connection that these geocaching artists have with Patreon. Helping me out with this project are two people that I subscribe to. GeoJangie and Cache the Line, both of whom are Patreon creators.
First, a little background history. Patreon was co-founded by developer Sam Yam and musician Jack Conte in May, 2013. Jack was looking for a way to make a living from his YouTube videos. Together they created a platform that allows subscribers, or 'patrons' to pay a set amount of money every time an artist creates something. More than 125,000 'patrons' signed up in the first eighteen months and were sending more than one million dollars monthly to the site's content creators.
Patreon became popular with the Geocaching YouTubers when YouTube changed their policies for monetization. Prior to this, vloggers were collecting a small amount from YouTube for the amount of views their videos received. Now it was extremely difficult for small-time creators to recuperate the costs for their videos. When you think about it, all the Geocaching creators do what they do for the love of the hobby. They are not hired by Geocaching HQ or any other business. They do this on their own time, at their own expense. It can be costly. Cameras, editing equipment, computers, web pages, whatever is needed to get quality product out, that cost comes out of their pockets. When YouTube changed their policies, Patreon became a popular choice among the Geocaching creators and quickly gained traction with it's platform and business model. Patreon allows the creators to have direct communication with their subscribers.
As a subscriber, the first thing you need to do is go to the Patreon website https://www.patreon.com/ and create an account. Once in, you can do a search for Geocache or Geocaching. Not all creators will show up with that search. You will find a few Geocaching creators. The more popular ones that I know of are The Geocaching Vlogger, Geocache Talk, the Geocaching Podcast, Geocaching Jangie, Cache the Line, Cache Canada, and the list goes on.
Most creators will have a 'tier system' set up. The tier system is a set price that the subscriber is willing to support the creator. I think the most common tier system is $3/month, $5/month, and $10/month. There are other denomination amounts, depending on how the creator wants to set their page up. This is all in U.S. currency. As a subscriber, you get to pick which one will suit your budget. In return, the creator will have different rewards for each tier. The higher the amount, the more 'swag' the subscriber gets as a way of the creator saying thank you for the support. Some of the swag a subscriber could get include, stickers, pathtags, trackables, buttons, exclusive videos and newsletters.
(some of the cool swag I've received by being GeoJangie's patron)
(some of the neat swag I've received from Cache the Line)
What does this do for the creators? I had put that question to both GeoJangie and Cache the Line. Neither of them knew I was asking the other, but their answers came back very similar. It offsets their cost to start with. It gives them incentive to continue to create and to put out quality product, knowing that there are people out there that support them. It gives them that base of supporters that enjoy their content so much, they are willing to help offset the cost so they can continue to enjoy what the creators put out.
I am not a Patreon creator, although I have thought about it. More thought is required before I make a leap into this realm. The big question that I think every creator asks when they want to start up their own page is; who will support me? What can I give back to the supporters besides the content that I already provide? Every creator is eternally grateful for the support they get.
I am a Patreon supporter. The first person that I took the plunge and gave my support was GeoJangie. It was more of a way for me to say thank you to her for the help and assistance she provided me when I wanted to start blogging. I've always enjoyed her blogs, so it was an easy decision to support her creative endeavors. You can find her blog here > https://geocachingjangie.com/ Now that I'm supporting a blogger, I wanted to support a vlogger. This was a tough one. So many good vloggers out there. Ultimately, I chose Cache the Line. I would love to have him with me when a tree climb is involved. I have done some tree climb caches, but not the kind that Cache the Line does. I'll save those for him. You can find his YouTube channel here > https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ2CBS4upyqZlZza6b1z9og Most recently, I decided to support a podcast. The one podcast I really enjoy watching is The Geocaching Podcast. It is one of the longest running Geocaching podcasts and the only one that is a live call-in talk show. You can find their home page here > http://geocachingpodcast.com/ That is my trifecta of creators that I support.
As mentioned, there is bonus content that only Patreon subscribers can see. This could be videos, behind the scenes look at something, maybe an advanced sneak peak at something that could be coming from Geocaching HQ, whatever the creator wishes to share. I love the bonus content.
GeoJangie shares some inside information as she gets it, and lets us know who is running contests to win stuff. Who doesn't like winning stuff? And it's geocaching related stuff, which is even more awesome.
Cache The Line always has a video, Patron subscribers get to see his newest video before the rest of the general public. A sneak peak. You can also find his newest hobby that he does a live stream every Wednesday called Wednesday Whittle.
Two of the hosts from The Geocaching Podcast, Jessie and Scott, usually have a video of a geocaching adventure. Their latest one takes them to a very interesting town, Casey, Illinios. This place is on my bucket list now as I love to find roadside attractions.
That's it for this week. Do you subscribe to any Geocaching creators on Patreon? Until next time, be happy, be safe, hug your geo-pets, enjoy life, and most of all, just have fun. Peace out.
That's it for this week. Do you subscribe to any Geocaching creators on Patreon? Until next time, be happy, be safe, hug your geo-pets, enjoy life, and most of all, just have fun. Peace out.
(Where are my pets? What is taking you so long to pet me?)
Great blog Ken. Going to share this with our Cache Canadians
ReplyDeleteThank you. As a writer, I never know if I did a topic justice and sometimes feel like I could have done more. I'm glad it turned out the way it did and everyone is liking it. :)
DeleteVery interesting blog. I have often thought about starting a Patreon page but my concerns are like you wrote: What do I have to offer besides what I already give in my videos? Why would someone want to send me money?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I wonder if receiving money would make my vlogs more like work than a fun creative outlet. I have never received any payout from YouTube. My subscriber base and total views are too small. I have over 600 subscribers and videos average 125 views.
My Patreon trifecta is Geocache Talk, GeoJangie, & Cache Canada.
Keep doing what you do. Hopefully someday we'll cache together.
I'm glad you enjoyed the blog. You do bring up a good point; will it become more like work instead of a fun hobby/pastime? If you give yourself deadlines, then maybe. Thank you for the support. I'm not sure if I've seen your videos as your name appears as 'unknown'. That could be a good YouTube handle. The Unknown Vlogger. You never appear on camera. Hmmmm. :)
Delete