This is the Creative Funding Show, a podcast for authors, YouTubers, and podcasters who want to fund the work they love. I’m your host, Thomas Umstattd, Jr., and with me again is Mary Demuth. She’s an international speaker and podcaster, a novelist of both fiction and nonfiction, and has published over 35 books. Her latest, The Seven Deadly Friendships, is coming out in about a month.
Mary loves to help people re-story their lives. She lives in Texas with her husband and is a mom of three. When Mary was on the show last time, we talked about her Patreon and brainstormed ways to improve it. After the episode, we kept brainstorming, and I joked that once she doubled her revenue, we should have her back on the show. Well, she contacted me and said, “Hey, I doubled my revenue!”
So true to my word, I’ve invited her back.
What is “Pray Every Day”?
Thomas: Tell us a little bit about your podcast.
Mary: I have a podcast called Pray Every Day, where I pray for people based on scripture. I usually go through books of the Bible in order, like Philippians, James, Psalm 119, and the Sermon on the Mount. In my next episodes, I’ll be praying through relational verses from The Seven Deadly Friendships. So if you’ve got some broken relationships and would like some prayer, you can check it out.
What did Mary’s Patreon look like before the changes we brainstormed?
Thomas: What were you doing on Patreon before our last interview?
Mary: I had shared my Patreon with my email list and got a few subscribers that way. These were diehard fans who supported me no matter what, which was really humbling and sweet. At that point, I only had one reward level. Anyone giving over $5 a month would receive an original art piece from me each month. People loved it because they had already asked for it in the past. And I enjoyed doing it; it wasn’t a burden at all.
That’s how it started, but we’ve added more levels since then. I also started promoting it more on the podcast, and that’s when I saw real change.
What difference does a big promotional push make?
Thomas: One thing we talked about was borrowing a strategy from CBS or NPR and having a focused pledge drive instead of a constant slow drumbeat. CBS, for example, does an intense pledge drive once or twice a year. Wikipedia does the same around Christmas. They don’t ask for money every time you visit, just during that one period. You tried something like this. Tell us what happened.
Mary: Initially, I sent it out to my list and did a big push. That brought in the first wave of patrons. But then I started doing what you call the “drumbeat” of mentioning it regularly. Every few days, I’d see another $1, $5, $10, or $20 come in.
I also added several new levels in addition to the Art Level. One was called “The Brick.” I created a graphic that looked like a wall of bricks, similar to the donor bricks you see at libraries. Anyone who sponsors the podcast gets their name on a brick, and that wall appears in all show notes and on every podcast episode. It’s like advertising year-round.
Then I followed your advice and added an exclusive audio podcast for $20-level patrons. I don’t have a ton of patrons at that level, but I’m grateful for the ones who are there. I record a casual, heartfelt update about what’s going on in my life, what I’ve learned, and answered prayers. It’s about 15 to 20 minutes long each month.
Why offer higher-level Patreon tiers?
Thomas: One thing Bremner Morris from Patreon mentioned is that people want to give at higher levels. A common mistake creators make is only offering low-tier options.
We saw this on Novel Marketing.