I'm no salesman, which is the understatement of the century for those who know me. I'm often reminded while trying to promote my work of the comedian Kyle Kinane and his pondering of the futility in his attempt to sell cake decorations by phone...
"If you ever want to feel like a toothless cog in the machine of humanity, try selling gourmet cake decorations over the phone... Hello, would like to buy any cake decorations today? No? I completely understand... "
I've always had a difficult time treating my work as a commodity. However I am in the business of creating a very real, three dimensional product, such as it is, that is becoming somewhat of a rare commodity these days. In an effort to print more of my own work, while subsidizing the process to the extent that I can, and at the same time sharing more of what I do with the world, I've started an experiment of sorts on a new(ish) site called Patreon.
So how does this work? Simple, you sign up to pledge x amount of dollars each month and in return you get stuff from me, such as...
- Access to all exclusive content I post on Patreon, including wider takes of many series, behind the scenes, process notes, etc. I'll normally be posting twice a week, both new and archived material.
- Random perks in the mail from time to time, such as postcards, short run proof prints, things of that sort. I totally dig the mail and really love sending people stuff...
- Discount codes for books, silver gelatin prints and polaroids in my online shop. Always adding news things to the shop, I'll be posting discount codes for patrons on new work as I add it.
- A 5x7 inch proof print of your choice. One final perk, just for singing up and becoming a patron, I'll send you a 5x7 proof print of your choice.
I'm starting out simple and small with one level of support. Eventually I'll be releasing prints on a monthly basis in varying sizes with increasing levels of support... I've just begun adding content, but expect to be posting more material regularly from here on out...
If you're interested, please check out my page. http://patreon.com/jszymanski
If you have questions, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.