Update - I'm now on Patreon!

When I started my newsletter last year, I’d waffled between starting up on Patreon or on Substack. At the time, Substack seemed like the best place to begin - and for a while it seemed like the newsletter-focused space was a good fit. But as time went on and as I expanded into creating other forms of media, it became clear to me that I needed to move to a platform that could support everything I want to create into one space. There are other reasons I stopped posting on Substack - after my last full newsletter was posted in September, I learned of the platform’s problematic relationships with hate-speech spewing creators. I refuse to add content to a platform which values profits over protecting people and who do nothing to stop the spread of hate.

why Patreon?

In those months when I was deciding between which service to use, Patreon seemed to have a bigger focus on gaining subscriptions rather than allowing a flexible mix of free content and paid content. And at the time I did not have a vision for how to go about building a community through Patreon - a huge part of this is because of impostor syndrome. I was a writer without a book deal, and with nothing published for people to find and read. I create art but I rarely share that art publicly (again, impostor syndrome rearing its thorny head). To me (at the time), Patreon seemed like it was tailored for the writers, artists, and creators who were already established and had years of books, stories, art, and other media already out in the world. My little hope of creating a community of writers and dreamers seemed out of reach.

But now? I know my impostor syndrome has been keeping me from making the leap. And now that Patreon has a join for free option, I’m more comfortable starting this project of mine - to create a space for writers, artists, and people who love books and art so we can come together and talk about craft and share the things that inspire us.

Here’s where to find me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/shanatargosz

The Join for Free option should be at the top of the page, or on the Memberships page at the bottom (unfortunately Patreon won’t allow me to create a separate Free tier in memberships). I will be posting all my newsletters/updates as free content. Paid tiers will have early access to any videos I make, and there’s a special tier for those who want to receive monthly mailings to their actual mailbox (mini prints, tiny stories, and more!).

I hope you’ll join me there 💙✨