I’m very excited to announce that Feast In Thyme now has a Patreon page!
Thanks to the words of encouragement and excellent advice from a number of friends and colleagues, I’ve finally decided to put together a Patreon page for the blog. As many of you certainly know, creative endeavors can be a long, often lonely road. Additionally, the traditional food blog scene is saturated with talented creators and gorgeous content, making it much harder to find your footing and build out an audience than it was some five, ten years ago. This also means making enough to support a career in the area is more and more difficult.
What is Patreon?
Patreon is an online platform that allows fans and followers to support creators directly through automatic monthly payments. In exchange, the creator can provide special perks, behind-the-scenes content, and other benefits depending on the level of support.
Why Support Through Patreon?
Supporting Feast In Thyme through Patreon not only funds the work I am currently doing, but will build the financial foundation needed to grow. The funds raised will go towards classes to expand my skills, upgrades to the equipment and tools I use daily (both on and offline), and most of all, towards growing a community that will sustain the process, through tough times and great successes.
In the two years since I left my career in non-profit fundraising and launched Feast In Thyme, I’ve learned so many things. Having a food and entertaining blog is so much more than just creating recipes and sharing them with the world. Recipes take hours to perfect. Photo shoots can be exhausting and require the right props, light, and equipment. Web design has (thankfully) been relatively smooth, thanks to the great tutorials WordPress offers, but still takes a lot of research and investigation to find the right themes, plugins, and best practices.
In an effort to optimize my reach correctly, I’ve taught myself proper SEO (search engine optimization), social media strategies, photo editing, and copyright laws. The algorithms used by Google, Pinterest, and other social media platforms change constantly (and often erratically), and require constant oversight and research. Attending industry events and seeking brand partnerships for sponsored posts and cross-promotion can be exhausting and often leads to dead ends. And of course, website ad revenue and product affiliate income have decreased overall with more and more viewers using ad blockers and so many bloggers taking advantage of the affiliate programs.
This is all in addition to just trying to write interesting, quality content on a regular, consistent basis.
To be clear, I don’t write all of the above as a complaint. It’s part of the business, and I absolutely love what I do. I spend my time eating delicious food, sharing delicious cocktails with my friends, and engaging with amazing small business owners and fellow industry professionals. More than anything, I love the community and connections that I’ve built so far.
Tiered Patreon Benefits
Patreon works off of a tiered membership system based on the amount a patron pledges per month. Each tier offers special benefits, which understandably increase with the amount pledged per month. While larger amounts are more than appreciated, every little bit counts. Just knowing you are out there, believing in me and the work that I do, means so much to me.
Below you can find a summary of the membership levels. I hope you’ll check out the Patreon page for more details:
- Tier 1 – Reveler ($2/month): As an integral part of the party, anyone who joins as a Reveler will have my undying gratitude and be kept up to date with post previews, special opportunities, and new campaigns in advance of the general public whenever possible.
- Tier 2 – Sage Adviser ($5/month): In addition to the latest info, Sage Advisers will have a say in upcoming posts and projects through polls and feedback forms. In addition, as Founding Members the first 25 subscribers at this level will also gain access to a Private Facebook Community (otherwise only available at higher tiers).
- Tier 3 – Epicurean Entourage ($10/month): Members of the Epicurean Entourage will get all of the benefits of the first two tiers, plus special access to exclusive behind-the-scenes content. Members of the Epicurean Entourage will also gain access to a Private Facebook Community.
- Tier 4 – Merriment Mavens ($25/month): In addition to all of the benefits of the first three tiers, after 3 months of consecutive support Merriment Mavens will have the opportunity to request a custom tutorial or recipe list.
- Tier 5 – Bacchanalian Benefactor ($50/month): In addition to all of the benefits of the first three tiers, after 3 months of consecutive support Bacchanalian Benefactors will have the opportunity to request the development of a custom recipe.
- Tier 6 – Partner In Thyme ($100/month): Specifically designed for professional writers, game designers, and storytellers, Partners In Thyme receive benefits of the first three tiers, as well as monthly consultations for as long as their membership is active. After a set number of consecutive payments, Partners also have the opportunity to request client services, either in the form research or recipe development projects.
Private Facebook Community
One of the benefits I’m most excited about is the creation of a special Feast In Thyme Facebook Group. I want to answer your questions, share in your food successes, comfort you in the occasional fail, and just get to know you, my amazing supporters, better.
A Work In Progress
Patreon is a new platform for me, so I’m sure there will be things to learn along the way. I’m always open to ideas, suggestions, and conversations, and I hope you’ll bear with me as we work together to build something great!
Cheers!
