Re-Introducing the Happy Place Patreon! — It Turns Out the Naming Rights! Membership Option Was For Real and Someone Is Now Five Hundred Bucks Poorer Presents Nat

When I launched Nathan Rabin’s Happy Place back in April of 2017, my goal was to steadily increase the site’s Patreon haul until I reached my goal of five thousand dollars a month, which is more or less what I made when I was a staff writer for The A.V Club and The Dissolve.

As with so much in life, it didn’t quite work out as planned. Instead of steadily increasing, the site’s Patreon income has steadily decreased with time, from a high of thirty eight hundred dollars a month and somewhere in the area of seven hundred patrons to its current low of 482 patrons and a little under two thousand and five hundred dollars a month.

With the exception of Control Nathan Rabin 4.0, the column where YOU pay me to watch movies and television shows of your choice, everything I’ve done to try to increase my Patreon haul has failed miserably.

I am nowhere near as savvy at business as these two clowns, alas.

2020: The Year YOU Control Nathan Rabin was a terrific idea that ended up losing a sizable amount of money over two very long years of struggle. Introducing new merchandise featuring Felipe Sobreiro’s amazing artwork didn’t push the needle or attract new patrons either.

I’ve figured out why: while the Nathan Rabin’s Happy Place merchandise I offered was nifty, it did not prominently feature either action movie icon Crank, from the motion picture masterpiece of the same name, OR screenwriting icon Mank from the David Fincher joint.

The tee-shirt and hoodie I’m now introducing as tiers on the Nathan Rabin’s Happy Place Patreon page not only features Crank or Mank: they feature them both, in action, in Felipe Sobreiro’s artwork from our wildly unpopular Crank N’ Mank Month.

Now at this point you might be asking: Nathan, if adding merchandise to your Patreon didn’t work before and Crank n’ Mank Month was spectacularly unsuccessful, then why on earth would combining these two demonstrably unpopular ideas help you?

Hey, I didn’t get to be where I am—barely scraping by after a quarter century as a pop culture writer—by having any business savvy or knowing what I’m doing when it comes to money and growing an audience. Wearing a Crank N’ Mank hoodie or tee shirt is a wonderful way to broadcast to the world, “I am a deeply weird human being” and also “I am into some VERY obscure stuff. Stuff you wouldn’t know anything about. Stuff that’s secret.”

If you spot a whole bunch of people also wearing Crank N’ Mank hoodies you’ll know you have found your tribe. This is particularly true since as of today not a single person has chosen either option so if you are kind enough to level up or join our weird little club there’s a very good chance that you could literally be the only person in the world with a Crank N’ Mank tee shirt and/or hoodie.

But that’s not all! I’m also introducing a poster featuring Felipe’s image of ALF soliciting a sex worker from The Joy of Trash and a baseball shirt with Felipe’s illustration from Get High on Yourself that prominently features both a genuine swear and The Beatles, the most popular band in the world.

But I’m not just offering sweet new merch! I have neglected my Patreon for the most part. I’ve devoted all of my time, energy and resources into my website, podcast and books and consequently haven’t given the Patreon the time and attention it deserves.

That’s changing! I’ve started updating the Patreon constantly and plan to start running exclusive material there as well. I want the Patreon to be a community of the very best kind of people: those willing to give me money to support this fragile dream of mine.

I plan on posting a sort of daily second blog called Nathan’s Natterings where I kibitz with y’all about all the crazy, depressing, fun things going on in my life.

It’s gonna be fun! I’d like to reach at least five hundred patrons by February 14th. Will I succeed? Probably not! I fail a lot, particularly these days. But it’s nice to at least have a goal.

One of the options for the Joy of Trash Kickstarter gave patrons an opportunity to choose a movie for me to watch and write about for Control Nathan Rabin 4.0 along with a signed copy of The Joy of Trash.

That did quite well so I am making it permanent, and also better. IF YOU DO A CONTROL NATHAN RABIN 4.0 FROM HERE ON OUT, YOU WILL RECEIVE A HARDCOVER COPY OF THE JOY OF TRASH SIGNED BY FELIPE AND MYSELF ALONG WITH ME WRITING ABOUT YOUR MOVIE. THAT’S ONE HECK OF A DEAL!

A HARDCOVER copy! One that’s all expensive and fancy-like, but complementary if you are kind enough to help sustain the column that has just barely kept me in the business after nearly five years.

In conclusion, buy my book and join my Patreon! I promise it’ll be worth it!

Buy The Joy of Trash, The Weird Accordion to Al and the The Weird Accordion to Al in both paperback and hardcover and The Weird A-Coloring to Al and The Weird A-Coloring to Al: Colored-In Special Edition signed from me personally (recommended) over at https://www.nathanrabin.com/shop

Or you can buy The Joy of Trash here and The Weird A-Coloring to Al here and The Weird Accordion to Al here

Help ensure a future for the Happy Place during an uncertain era AND get sweet merch by pledging to the site’s Patreon account at https://www.patreon.com/nathanrabinshappyplace

Alternately you can buy The Weird Accordion to Al, signed, for just 19.50, tax and shipping included, at the https://www.nathanrabin.com/shop or for more, unsigned, from Amazon here.