Lately I've been juggling different revenue streams for my art and the way Sharesome stacks up against Patreon has been a fun puzzle. Patreon feels like the seasoned, dependable friend: it's structured around memberships, predictable monthly income, tiers, and community posts. Fans subscribe because they want ongoing access, rewards, or a feeling of belonging. For my illustrations and serialized comic strips that benefit from steady support, Patreon gave me clean tier
management, decent analytics, and integrations with platforms I already use. The tradeoff is that discoverability is limited — your audience usually comes from your existing channels — and fees plus payment processor rules can eat into smaller creators'
Margins.
Sharesome, from my experience, leans
more toward social-share dynamics and communities where content can spread quickly if it resonates. It's friendlier to certain content types that get demonetized
Elsewhere, so creators producing mature-themed material or edgier content sometimes find it easier to host paywalls there. The audience behavior is different: people are often there to browse and discover, which can mean surprising spikes in traffic but less predictable monthly income.
If I were building strategy now I'd use Patreon for stable memberships and to nurture a core fanbase, and lean on Sharesome for broader discovery and one-off sales or pay-per-view content. Whatever you pick, diversify — keep an email list, cross-post teasers, and own as much of your audience connection as possible. Personally, balancing both felt like hedging smartly while keeping creative freedom intact.