If you have heard at all of Patreon, you no doubt noticed they were in the news (as such) recently, after they announced a change to their fee structure. Lots of people complained, lots of people dropped their patronage, and there was dissatisfaction all around. Then Patreon did an about-face, saying they’d consider another approach.

I did not wait that long. I deactivated my Patreon account.

I had been thinking about doing that anyway, but their decision to change things gave me the nudge I needed. Of course, after I deactivated my account, they changed their minds. I did not.

The decision was overdue, for the following reasons:

1. Unlike Amanda Palmer and a few other better-known people, I do not already have an audience that is willing to follow me to such places. (That’s a judgment of neither Amanda Palmer nor the audience I do have; it’s simply the way things are.)
2. My blog is my primary venue for sharing my writing; maintaining a Patreon account meant also posting things there. That got tiring after a while.
3. I do not want to keep the things I share online behind a paywall, which is what ‘patron-only’ posts do.
4. I do not want to come up with a tiered reward system to persuade people to read my poems. Being a poet is hard enough; I don’t need the extra aggravation.

I have not yet added a ‘donate’ button to my website since I brought the current incarnation back online, though I intend to do so. If you like my writing—whether it is my poems, or my ‘love notes’ to the days of the week—read my blog posts; click on like when you like something, or leave a comment; share or re-post my blog posts; buy my books; engage with me on social media (or share or retweet, as appropriate); tell your friends to check me out online. Support folks whose books/poems/art I mention, and tell them Kevin sent you.

I do what I do because I have to. I share my poetry because I think my voice is as worthy as anyone else’s of being heard. I want a greater audience, but not because I have forced myself upon them. I remember Frank Zappa using the tagline ‘the world’s greatest optional entertainment’ as part of the labelling/marketing of his music. As I wrote not too long ago:

This poem knows that one person’s deep connection
is another’s intense revulsion
but wants to keep going anyway
because making that connection
is everything

If you like what you read here, help me make that connection. All other things being equal, that’s really what it’s all about, what makes life worthwhile.

Thanks for playing!

Kevin

(19 December 2017)