#I have not getting much attention on my other platforms so hopefully tumblr will work

[tazzydevilyea]

[thejockout]

Finally set up a free Patreon for new files!

Hey everyone! It's been a bit. I've got some files ready to release over the next few weeks, but I had to sit down and actually work out a consistent platform for myself going forward; I've settled on using Patreon's Free Membership option, where you'll be able to sign up to get access to file streaming/downloading/notifications of new content I post. To be clear, you actually DO need to sign up to access them; Patreon is apparently a little stricter about pages that are completely free, open access so I don't want to draw too much attention.

[Going forward, I'll also host new files on Warpmymind (and eventually, Youtube) for the sake of having a backup, but assuming all goes well with Patreon, it's a nice platform for audio content.]

Currently in the process of backing up all my old releases there (I forgot how many I've put out!) and will announce new files here as they're released.

Thanks for bearing with me while I've figured all this out. Hopefully you guys sign up and take advantage of the download feature on Patreon too for listening wherever and whenever you want.

------------------------------------------------

When I'm not trancing myself or others, I'm usually off being a mystical forest bro in the wilderness of Ireland, but I am always available for commissions if you reach out via DM. My flat rate is currently $60-100, but you can check my pinned Tumblr post for more up-to-date info. You can also support me with a one-time tip either via Paypal or Ko-Fi. Keep listening, bros.

[robogart]

So do you just respond to anon hate because you know itll get you showered with compliments after? Because you really shouldve just deleted them and moved on ... Dont engage, just block, right? Or are you just too good for that. If its not worth the effort, why do you keep doing it? Look, I really truly love your work .... I *agree* with all the people complimenting you. But taking the time out of your day to formulate snarky responses to people that should not matter to you, for the sake of drowning it out with others' approval just makes you look really vain and desperate. Im sorry if that upsets you. Im not trying to judge your character, im just saying thats how you might appear to an outsider, but you shouldnt care about what i think of you anyway. Regardless, i hope you have a wonderful day and keep making the art that you want to make. ✌

I will say "don't engage, just block" has been a successful tactic that I have used/been using on twitter (and instagram, when I remember to use it) since two people can't really engage with a character limit. There's also no real anonymous posting on either platform, so people can get dogpiled on either side, which I try to be aware of and avoid.

So it's tough because I do agree that most times it is better to walk away - you're right! And I'd be inclined to do that for most internet circumstances. But I guess this Shadowheart situation has honestly just become something that I am going to speak up on, because to these anonymous messages, I want to state and clearly explain why this piece, and others like it, are important to me. Drawing fat people is very important to me.

And I have been very much "in the pocket" today in responding to things, much more than I usually am, considering I usually don't get this much inbox attention at all. In the past, the few times I'd get this sort of quantity of responses would also come from a similar circumstance when I would want to draw a character from a popular series (usually drawing them as fat, buff, larger-bodied than their original design) and people want to speak up on it. So when this does happen, and specifically on tumblr because it's a blogging platform that supports long text and anonymous messages, I do find myself responding to most things. Especially since it's revolving around drawing fat bodies and it is something I feel impassioned to speak up on and explain why I do it.

My more "snarky" and cheeky responses are towards the anonymous messages that are giving me that energy at the start. And I respond to them because I am a person, not just some art-making machine on the internet. I want these anons to know that I see their messages, their attitude is not appreciated, and their commentary is hateful and wrong because they have internalized shit they should work through (as do we all). But it's not going to fly here and there are MANY people who agree with me and do not tolerate this behavior, and these anons should see that that is the case.

The kind and supportive messages I get because of these situations I vastly appreciate. I respond to them because I'm grateful for the time, I'm in that typing/ready-to-respond pocket, and they help me (and hopefully others) remember that for every hateful thing someone might say, there are a dozen people who support you. Every time you dare to draw and represent a person outside of the beauty standard, there will always be people who will hate it and they are going to tell you. But with them, there will be dozens more who truly love it because they find it beautiful and they will appreciate what you do. It is immensely meaningful and important to me that people see this and see more artwork that expands the scope of beauty. That is why I respond to these messages.

[writingquestionsanswered]

Hello! So this question is a little different from the ones you usually get, so I completely understand if this doesn't fit the scope of the blog.

I haven't put out any of my writing before bc its usually deeply personal and im not generally looking for a critique. I do however want to start and I was thinking of doing that through reviewing movies and shows I watch. I want to post some reviews of popular films from my home country through a feminist lens but im worried that when I promote it on different subreddits im going to receive misogynist backlash and hate for my marginalized religious identity. I can't think of any other way to curate an audience. Do you have any advice on curating an audience that would suit my content and/or to deal with the hate I could potentially get?

Worried About Backlash When Curating an Audience

Some things to consider...

1 - There will always be critics, no matter who you are and what you write. If you can't handle criticism, putting yourself out there as a creative may not be for you. Criticism is part and parcel with putting your work out, whether it's novels, music, art, movie reviews, OpEds, or any other sort of creative work. There will always be people who disagree, always be people who don't like what you said, always be people who don't like you and want to tear you down. Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice is often considered one of the most beloved novels of all time. It has a whopping 4 million reviews on Goodreads, and 2.2 million of those reviews are 5-stars. However, almost 100,000 people hated it so much they 1-starred it, with some of the critical keywords being things like insipid, overrated, boring, one-dimensional, and anti-feminist. Some of these reviews attack Jane herself... a woman who died over 200 years ago. The point is, no amount of audience creation will shield you from criticism, unless you choose to share your work only with a small, trusted audience.

2 - Consumer commentary isn't a good place for feedback. It's futile to argue that nothing can be gleaned from what people like or dislike about your writing. However, consumer commentary isn't really there for you. Even if it's directed at you, it's really just there for other consumers. People are letting others know, "Hey, I really enjoyed this or I agreed with what was said." If you can read through reviews and commentary without taking it to heart and without responding, if a lot of people are liking and disliking the same things, sure--you can definitely take that and grow from it. Most of the time, though, it's better to just avoid reading the commentary. If you want feedback on your writing, seek it out from critique partners, alpha and beta readers, trusted mentors, and paid services.

3 - Start small, work you're way up. Reddit probably isn't a really good place to start if you want to curate an audience, especially if you want to avoid attracting lots of attention from people who are only interested in tearing you down. Instead, I would suggest something like tumblr, and maybe even bolstering that with activity on something like Instagram and tiktok. Ultimately, most of either platform will be other content related to movies and TV, but now and then you'll post your review (or a link to it wherever it is) and hopefully get a little crossover. The thing to remember is it takes a long time to build up an audience. You're going to feel like you're shouting into the void for a long time, but if you stay active, keep with it, and post good content, the audience will build up over time.

I hope that helps!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

Learn more about WQA

Visit my Master List of Top Posts

Go to ko-fi.com/wqa to buy me coffee or see my commissions

[the-fengqing-podfic-agenda]

About this Blog

What is the purpose of this blog?

The purpose of this blog is to highlight podfics of the ship Feng Xin/Mu Qing from Heaven's Official Blessing, as it can be quite a chore to find podfics sometimes. I will provide all the necessary information, including title, name of the author, name of the podficer, tags, summary, rating and length of the podfic in the posts. The posts will not include the soundfiles themselves, but links to where you can find them. Hopefully, this will make podfics more accessible than what platforms like Ao3 have to offer.

Why did I make this blog?

I am a big fan of podfics and I noticed there is a bit of a shortage in podfics within the FengQing community. To help this I want to maybe record my own podfics in the future, but in the meantime I want to bring more attention to the already existing podfics, so more people can enjoy them and might also be inspired to record their own.

On this blog, I will try to assemble any and all podfics centered around the ship FengQing. In the future I will work on a tagging system, but for now there's not that many podfics, so you should be able to work your way through them. I use my own tag #fqpodfic for all future posts, so feel free to block that if you're not interested in it. All posts will also be tagged with the fengqing tag. The posts are not automated, I assemble everything I post myself and rely heavily on things that people are sending me.

If you find a podfic centered around FengQing (or have recorded your own) on any streaming platform or fanfic archive (including but not limited to Spotify, Soundcloud, Youtube, Ao3), please send them to my inbox here or to my main blog @raindrops-on-concrete. If it's uploaded to tumblr, I'd love if you could tag my main blog in the post, so I can reblog it on here.

About the admin:

The only admin of this sideblog is me, Rain. My main blog is @raindrops-on-concrete where I talk about Star Trek, danmei novels, Doctor Who, Minecraft Youtube, asexuality and all kinds of other fun things and sometimes do small literary analyses. Please send any questions to my main blog as I'd like to keep the inbox of this sideblog strictly for submissions of podfics. You're also welcome to just chat to me on my main blog.

If you feel inspired to record your own podfic, keep the following in mind:

always get permission from the author of a fic unless you yourself are the author. Some authors give blanket permissions in their bio or add a tag that gives permission for a specific fic. If you can't find any sort of permission to record a podfic anywhere, reach out to the author either on social media or in the comment section of a fic. If you don't have a permission, don't record the podfic.

this is very much just for fun so don't stress about sound quality or editing much. Some podficers just sit down and do a recording in one sitting.

typically podficers just like fanfic authors are also nice and approachable if you ask them for help nicely.

Also remember to leave kudos/likes and comment if you liked a podfic. Comments can be specifically about something you liked about the recording or about the fic itself, just be nice. Never leave any negative comments, podficers just like fanfic authors are doing this work for free in their free time.

Regular posts will start on the 8th of April and will be spaced out by a few days until we reach all the podfics I've found so far.

[robynmizore]

Takumi pic for attention. So those of you who follow me have seen the video of the girl who was harassing my quotev account. Long story short, even though she was harassing me I ended up getting banned. (Unfortunately sometimes if they get friends to gang up they’ll just auto ban you without actually seeing if you did anything wrong) Right now I’m trying to appeal it while she continues to slander my name and sent friends to harass me on other platforms. Luckily I have all the chapters of Redemption (my Takumi oc x canon fan fiction) but it still heavily damaged my views. For now I’ll be primarily on here, Wattpad, fanfiction.net and soon AO3. I will also be making a second tumblr account just for the chapters of Redemption for easier access. New chapter will be delayed because with how much harassment this person has done it’s caused my health issues to act up to the point where if I continue being unable to keep food down I’ll have to go to the hospital. Which is expensive. In addition.. I’d also like to ask my followers help. Quotev tends to ip ban users so if she can be shut down, hopefully she and her group will give up because they won’t want to lose their accounts as well. Her account is linked below. I don’t recommend contacting them (because then they’ll harass you too) but if you guys could please report this account for harassment it would be appreciated. I didn’t want to resort to this but I’ve been dealing with nonstop harassment on other platforms to the point where the mods on them have gotten involved and started trying to ban them. You don’t need a quotev account to report luckily, you can just click the three dots in the corner and report for harassment. If you need proof of their actions you can find it in the video on my profile which I’ll be pinning. I’m tired. I’m exhausted. I’ve barely eaten for days because of this person. I’ve had that account since 2015 so they’re trying to ruin almost a decade’s worth of work. So if you’re willing to lend your support.. thank you. I just want her harassment to stop.

[unseededtoast]

Rectify | Bucky Barnes

Part 22/37 | Part Twenty One, Part Twenty Three

Summary: I've lived every day for the past five years looking over my shoulder. I knew they'd come for me, it was inevitable. I was foolish to think I could outrun my past. It's followed me everywhere I go, lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Never would I have anticipated that the shadows would lead me to the light.

Bucky Barnes x OC

Series Warnings: Discussion of human trafficking, alcohol consumption, graphic depictions of violence, sexual content, discussion of suicidal thoughts.

a/n: Hi everyone, thank you for checking this out, I appreciate any and all support! This series is also posted on Ao3 and Wattpad if you prefer those formats/platforms! This is a completed series, and it's going to take some time for me to transfer it to Tumblr, so please bear with me!

"You don't know how long I've waited for this."

Music booms downstairs and vibrates the floor slightly. I don't feel like going to the party because there's much more going on that needs attention, like Tony trying to create an all-powerful artificial intelligence program that will affect the entire world. But I guess that's on the backburner for him tonight. 

I had avoided the lab like Bruce wanted me to today and I haven't been able to talk to him yet. Hopefully the party is short lived and people leave early so I can discuss things with him. Although I have a feeling that Tony's parties are anything but short and uneventful. 

It has also become quite evident that some of the wardrobe my room was stocked with is likely to be from women attending parties just like this one. The bottom left drawer of the dresser was full of clothes, unfolded, and probably shoved in there hastily. Luckily, the women these clothes belonged to were close enough to my size that I was able to figure something out; though it's not my preferred style.

I put the earrings that I found on and fix my hair one last time before walking out of my en suite. I put on a pair of black suede ankle boots with a tall chunky heel, also courtesy of the drawer, and try to wiggle my toes. Obviously whoever these shoes belonged to had smaller feet than me, but I'll have to make it work for the night. I take one last look around the room before I walk out to make sure everything is in place. I lock the door from the inside as I step out into the hall, I don't need anybody snooping around tonight. 

Filled with dread, I step onto the elevator and make my way to the main floor where everyone is. Thankfully this building is quite spacious, otherwise I don't think this many people could've fit. The lights are dim, the music is loud. I step into the crowd and try to find the bar, it's going to be the only way I get through this night. 

"Vodka cran please." I yell over the music to the bartender. I turn my back to the bar and look for a familiar face. As I anticipated from Tony, there are a lot of women here, beautiful women. I look at some of them, admiring their outfits and getting sidetracked. 

The bartender taps my shoulder and hands me the drink, snapping me out of my admiration. I grab the glass and take a quick drink, starting to maneuver through the crowd. This feels like a nightclub instead of the building I've been living in for the past two weeks. People are dancing on each other as I push through trying to find Bruce, Steve, or Bucky. 

I look left to right and finally spot Steve and Bucky. I feel my heart drop to my stomach as I realize what's going on. I should've ordered two drinks. I finish my first and turn around to get another as quickly as possible. As if anything could've made this party less tolerable. 

The bartender is quick to get my second drink to me, and I down it with ease. I guess I could use another. With my third drink in hand I make my way back over to Steve and Bucky. I slide past people enjoying themselves, knowing I will likely not be enjoying much of anything tonight. Just as when I went back for my second drink, Steve and Bucky are sitting on a long couch away from the main crowd, Bucky with his arm around a slender blonde woman who looks like she just stepped off the runway.

I take another sip of my drink before making my way over to them. Steve sees me first and his eyes widen, 

"Adalyn, I was starting to think you weren't going to show up." He smiles. I smile back as I sit next to him and cross my legs, leaning back on the couch. 

"Trust me I thought about skipping." I say and observe the crowd as I pace myself on my drinks, I don't need a repeat of when Bucky and I went to the bar. Thankfully Steve is tall enough to shield my vision from Bucky and his lady friend. 

"It'll be fun." Steve says to me, I look at him doubtfully. 

"We'll see about that." I say as the crowd suddenly goes wild. I try to see what the commotion is about, and see a tall blonde-haired man walk through the crowd. My jaw almost drops, it's Thor. He flashes the crowd a bright white smile and waves, signature hammer in hand. He spots Steve and waves before making his way to us through the sea of women who surround him. I take another drink as he sets his hammer down on the glass accent table in front of us. 

Steve stands to give Thor a quick greeting and Thor says hi to Bucky and the woman next to him before he sees me. I smile back at him and stand to introduce myself. 

"I'm Adalyn, it's nice to meet you." I say and extend my hand. Thor grabs my hand and places a gentle kiss on the back of it, 

"The pleasure is all mine." I know I'm blushing, but who wouldn't? 

"Natasha should be here soon." Steve announces as Thor holds my gaze for a short moment. Maybe I'll stick with her tonight to save myself. I can't bring myself to look away from Thor, he's much taller and more good looking than what they show on tv. The song changes and Thor starts nodding his head. 

"I actually know this one, Stark played it in the quinjet once. Care for a dance?" He asks and turns back to me, his hand reaching out to me. Feeling the confidence from the vodka, I take his hand with a smirk. Thor leads me to the floor and we move to the music. He's energetic and free-spirited as he dances, his favorite move quickly becoming the fist pump. 

I let loose and dance to the beat, having fun with Thor. One song quickly turns into two and we continue to dance and have a good time. I finish off my drink and I'm starting to feel relaxed and more in the party spirit. Women try to push me out of the way to get their moment with Thor, which is understandable, but quickly becomes old. I give up the fight and point to my glass, telling Thor I'm going back to the bar. I return the glass and take a moment for a breather. 

The music suddenly stops, and I look towards the area where the dj is. I see Tony with a microphone in hand, smile on his face. 

"Let's celebrate the Avengers and our recent victories. Open bar, party all night. Let's go." He says and drops the mic before disappearing in the crowd. The music starts back up and I go back into the crowd towards Thor. As I get back, I see that both Bucky and the woman are gone from the couch. I take a quick sigh and shake the thoughts out of my head, wanting to get back to feeling good. 

I blend in with the crowd since it'll probably be entirely too hard to get back to Thor. I dance with some women who are having the time of their life. Steve finally made his way into the crowd as well, though he looks like he's out of place and feels weird. I leave the ladies I'm dancing with and go to Steve knowing he needs some encouragement. 

"Don't think, just dance." I say and nod my head to the beat. After a few moments he starts moving, warming up to the crowd. I push all thoughts of Bucky out of my head, I did make a commitment to myself that if he found someone I wouldn't intervene.

From the crowd, a hand taps my shoulder. I turn and see a dark haired man who is dressed sharply. I notice how the button up shirt clings to his biceps, his sleeves rolled to his elbows. 

"I'm Oliver, wanna dance?" He asks. I look to Steve who just gives me a nod. I turn back to the man and follow him into the crowd. The party is still as strong as ever as the next song comes on. I feel Oliver's hands on my waist as I get into the song. I have to admit, I think Bucky's hands would feel nicer, but he's found someone for the night and I can't do anything about it. People are against each other all over the place, having a good time. 

As much as I dreaded coming to this party, I'm glad I came. Tony can throw one hell of a party, I'll give him that much. Oliver's hands travel up and down my torso as we get closer to one another, my body starts heating up. I feel his lips on my neck and I close my eyes, savoring the feeling. His stubble reminds me of Bucky's. 

I flutter my eyes open, feeling like someone is staring at me. Oliver continues kissing on my neck, and I see Bucky leaned up against the bar, eyes locked on me. He looks mad, and I don't see the blonde woman from the couch anywhere near him. As the bartender hands him his drink he walks away, taking one last glance at me before he disappears amongst the people. 

Taken out of the moment and feeling slightly more sober, I break away from Oliver. 

"I have to go, I'm sorry." I say, leaving him. I navigate through the crowd, trying to find Bucky. I look back to the couch I first saw him and see he's not there. I look around for him as I walk through the crowd, trying not to spill anyone's drink or bump into them. As I break through the edge of the crowd, I see Bucky outside. 

I rush to the door and open it, the cool air hitting me like a brick wall. He looks over to me and takes another drink. The music is muffled, but still audible from outside, though it feels a lot quieter. 

"Are you okay?" I ask him. I'm not sure what happened to the woman, or if he's feeling overwhelmed by the crowd. He stares at me for a moment wordlessly, 

"I thought I was your dance partner tonight." Is all he says. I scrunch my eyebrows, not understanding why he's bringing this up. 

"What do you mean? You never asked me." I push a strand of hair behind my ear. I take a few more steps so that I'm right in front of him. 

"Yesterday I said you were my only partner, but I guess it didn't go both ways and that's alright." He finishes the drink in his hand. 

"Bucky what are you talking about? You found someone, the blonde woman." I say. He shakes his head.

"I don't know who she was. She came over and sat down with us and just started talking, I was just trying to be nice." He explains. 

"I didn't realize being friendly included putting your arm around her. You two looked close, I assumed she had caught your eye. I wasn't going to intervene." I say. Bucky stays silent. He turns to face me and looks down to me in order to meet my eyes. His eyes look over my face,

"No, it wasn't like that." Bucky reiterates. 

"I'm sorry, I just assumed." I say, struggling to find the words I'm looking for. 

"But you sure did catch the attention of every man in there tonight. I can't blame them, you look amazing." His voice is soft, yet raspy. 

"Thank you, I kinda just threw something together with what I could find. You're looking pretty good yourself." I look him up and down, admiring the way he's dressed tonight. Bucky takes a step closer to me and holds his hand out.

"This isn't the kind of music I'm used to, but may I have this dance?" I nod and put my hand in his. The music inside is not the type for this dance, but I try to tune it out and follow his lead. One of his hands rests on my waist, the other holding one of mine. I rest my free hand on his shoulder, remembering what he showed me back at the Shield compound. 

We dance close to one another, and I rest my forehead on his shoulder as we sway back and forth. I take in his signature smell and feel at home. I close my eyes as we step, loving the closeness and intimacy of the private dance. Though there are big windows and people can easily see us if they look, I doubt anyone in there is sober enough to read into it. 

I lift my head from his shoulder and look into his baby blue, shining eyes. He smiles softly,

"I'm sorry I got upset, I just didn't like seeing you with that man, or even Thor." He admits. 

"I didn't like seeing you with the woman, and I'm sorry I got upset too even though I had no right to be. " I say quietly. 

"Adalyn, nobody else will ever be able to catch my eye like you do. When you're around it's like everyone else disappears. The woman in there couldn't even begin to compare to you. You're so much more than just a pretty face, you're one of the strongest and smartest women I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. I'm glad I get to spend my days with you, I look forward to hearing your voice, seeing you." I feel butterflies in my tummy as he speaks. He stops us from swaying side to side and puts a hand on my jaw, his thumb brushing lightly on my cheekbone. His other hand stays on my waist, both of my hands now resting on his shoulders. 

I look into his eyes with adoration, and as if I were being pulled by a magnet I feel myself leaning towards him. He pulls me in by the waist, and I close my eyes. I wrap my arms around his neck as I feel his lips meet mine. A rush of heat flows through my body, causing my cheeks to become rosy. I taste the liquor on his warm lips as I soak this moment in. Finally.

After a moment, we pull away and look into each other's eyes. In the back of my mind I worry about how this could affect things with the team, but my heart is taking lead and all I feel is happiness. 

"You don't know how long I've waited for this." He says as he brushes some hair out of my face. I smile and pull him in for another kiss. Once we break away he leans his forehead on mine.

"I adore you so much, Bucky." I say as I move my hands from his neck to hold his face. Gently, I cup his jaw in my hands so that he's looking right at me. We're inches apart from one another, my heart pounds in my chest. 

"I adore you even more, Adalyn." He says with a big smile on his face. I pull him in for a hug, his arms wrap around my waist tightly. I feel him place a kiss on the top of my head, making me smile even harder, if that's possible. As I pull away I can see the joy all over his face.

I don't know how this is going to affect things, but I know in my heart that this was not a mistake. We can deal with the consequences, but I don't think I could deal with having a boundary between us any longer. My heart desired Bucky every single day, the longing was becoming unbearable. The thought of him with anyone else is enough to crush my soul, and seeing him beside the other woman tonight confirmed what I thought my feelings were. I'm not sure where we go from here, but as long as I have Bucky by my side things will be just fine.

[fff777]

I was going to put my comments in the tags but it got super long so I shall write it under the cut.

I think Exo's Tumblr fandom slowing down is due to a number of reasons.

Exo as a group is not releasing as much music and videos as they used to, and definitely not as much as the rest of the kpop industry, so there's not as many current events to drive discussion. Part of it is due to branching into solo work and part of it is enlistment.

As Exo branches out into solo activities, some fans may only have time to follow their faves (myself included 😔).

People move on. I got into Exo near the beginning of the pandemic and admittedly my interest in them has fizzled a bit. I used to be heavily interested in reading and writing fic, but I've kind of exhausted my thoughts on them, and in relation to #1, there hasn't been anything new (content or discussion) to challenge my thoughts or to get my brain juices flowing. (And I must admit that my attention has recently been taken by more active groups that are constantly bombarding us with content 😔) Nowadays, my participation in Exo fandom is mostly just checking out the music, checking out the update blogs on Tumblr, and sometimes watching their video content. Side note: I do appreciate the update blogs immensely because life gets busy and I don't have time to check out multiple sources...so I really do appreciate the aggregator blogs.

I suspect some other fans might have followed the same timeline as me, where I got into Exo near the beginning of the pandemic and was hit with a whole new world of music to listen to and stuff to watch. Now that it's been a few years, I've kind of caught up with most things so there's only new stuff to catch up on and back to #1, it's not so often now.

The fanbase is older. I think another comment mentioned that this age demographic may have other priorities and admittedly that's why I've slowed down too. I used to do more reaction posts but I've kind of stopped because they do take a bit of time 😅 It is a bit tiresome to constantly pause and screencap/react when watching, when I can just watch their videos once through and not have to pause and break up the pace.

I don't think Tumblr is as popular of a platform as it used to be. A few years ago, many fans left for Twitter, but since the decline of Twitter, I don't think a lot of people are coming back to Tumblr. But even if they are, I think people haven't gotten used to how to communicate with each other on Tumblr (different interface, different communication culture, etc). And I think people are definitely a bit shier now to send asks or DMs to other blogs here.

Unfortunately I'm not the kind of person who normally participates in fan fests so I can't really shed light on whether that would boost life into the fandom. (But it could definitely work! I do know some people who are more active on Twitter who still regularly sign up for events and such.)

I do think that conversations is the best way to boost activity and engagement though. It's way more fun talking to a person about fandom than just reacting to a photo.

I think another comment mentioned the Tumblr Community function. I'm not super familiar with how to use it yet but I think it functions a bit like Livejournal communities where you post directly to a board that is focused on a topic. I think that would be a great way to encourage people to discuss :3

To OP, I appreciate you putting out this message. Even when I started getting into Exo fandom, the Tumblr community wasn't too active (because most people had already moved on to Twitter) and I was often sifting through posts that were years old. But hopefully some ideas will be floated out there and this will encourage people to not be afraid to reach out to other fans.

So I can't be the only one who's noticed the decline in fanmade exo content here on Tumblr. We've gone from a fandom who's new posts could be measured in hours to a fandom who's posts have days....to weeks....to months....to even years for some specific tags.

We have had 6 solo album comebacks this year, 3 fancon tours, 2 solo concert tours, a myriad of festival concert appearances, youtube videos, magazine shoots, instalives, etc. Yet if you go to the exo tag it's mainly populated by archive blogs. And the nude bots, which....that's a whole other problem on its own. I digress. My point being, the tags, at least from what I've seen (I admit I haven't looked into the shipping tags) are being filled by the same handful of blogs yet given the high amount of source material, no one seems to be doing anything with it beyond archiving it.

Again this could just be because I didn't delve too deep or too far back, but it does have me wondering if part of the reason participation this year was down was simply because there's hardly anyone left.

There's been instances in the past where others have attempted to inject new life into the fandom so to speak, with....varying...level of success. The exo revival project being the first and most successful that comes to mind. I'm wondering what everyone else's thoughts are on the matter and if holding new fandom events might be a way to involve more people year round because I really do want to continue holding this event next year but if things keep going the way they have been there won't be anyone signing up.

Let me know what you think, ideas you might have, reblog this and tag your mutuals to get them involved in the discussion. I have a few ideas that I've pilfered from other fandoms, watch alongs. Fic bingo. Theres valentines exchanges. Fandom sleepovers. Heck I'd set up a Tumblr based scavenger hunt if I thought people would play. Like....we dont have to be monoliths in a placid sea of we don't want to. Fandom can be fun. It should be fun.

[valtsv]

Yeah I know what you feel I see stories popping up every so often about people saying horrible things in twitch streamers chat and they do nothing to stop it and I’m like I’d have a nervous breakdown if there was so much racism in my chat and then at the same time I see people that Stan creators and I’m like shit even if the creator doesn’t turn out to be horrible it’s still like almost a cult but the creator didn’t even want to make one. No need to answer this ask just wanted you to know others have a similar opinion on the situation

yeah. the issue with addressing parasocial relationships

is that they're extremely complicated to discuss, because everyone involved in them past the point where boundaries get blurred and ignored is in some way a victim because they're not healthy for anyone. and anything you do as a content creator feeds into them. and no matter what you say or do some people will continue doing things you've said you're uncomfortable with because it doesn't match up with the version of you they've formed a relationship with in their heads. or to get a reaction out of you because the possibility of receiving your attention, no matter how realistic, is a major part of what fuels a parasocial relationship. (which is not me saying content creators shouldn't address things like racism and other forms of bigotry in their fanbases, but there's only so much they can do and even if they try to block or ban as many people as possible to discourage them there's always some people who'll slip past because there's just too much for one person or even a team of mods to keep up with 24/7).

and at the same time content creators do use these relationships to make money through fan meetups, selling merch, random interactions online, etc. which in a way can't be helped because that's how they make their careers but does arguably exploit people who've fallen off the parasocial deep end and need help and support getting out of that mindset. but also any creator with a platform cannot bear responsibility for or offer support to every single person who claims to be a fan of them and in fact could cause more harm than good by feeding into that desire for attention.

parasocial relationships can drive people to do increasingly desperate and unreasonable things in pursuit of that (entirely human, but often unreasonable and unhealthy in parasocial relationships) need to receive validation, which is unfortunately just the nature of online spaces to develop because we all post and interact with each other at least partly to receive the validation of other people liking our content and, by extension, especially in parasocial relationships, us.

i'm speaking from experience. i used to be addicted to receiving validation online (and i am a former addict, so i don't make that comparison without understanding the implications) because there is a high that comes with seeing the numbers of likes and shares and positive comments on your content go up and it is possible to get addicted to that rush. i did, and it took me the better part of a year after realizing how negatively it was affecting my life and therapy - no, i'm not kidding - to start to make progress and no longer be obsessed with pleasing strangers online who know very little about me and don't really care about me even if they think they do (and this is not in any way an attack on my followers, i'm sure many of you are good, kind, helpful people, but at the same time the concept of me that exists in your minds and you care about is a parasocial one.)

this is even harder if you're a content creator who has a career online. i don't make any money from posting on tumblr. so it doesn't matter if i produce less content or don't consistently interact with the people who follow me for that content. but if you do, it's not easy to step away from that and try to recover from and distance yourself from parasocial relationships and set boundaries when your whole career relies partly on them. even if it gets to a point where, like me, they're harming your wellbeing. it took me months of obsessively checking my social media and follower count and having panic attacks when i couldn't or my activity dropped, struggling to sleep and having anxiety attacks because i couldn't think of enough fun new content to share, struggling in classes and at work because my attention was elsewhere, and feeling despair to the point of having depressive episodes brought on by people saying hurtful things about me or criticizing me about things that weren't my fault and i couldn't control, before i even considered that i needed to do something about the parasocial hell i'd dug myself into. and i don't make a single cent. if i did, it would have been a lot harder. maybe even impossible.

this is really just a ramble with no conclusion but it just frustrates me and makes me really sad that parasocial relationships can cause so much lasting harm to people, both content creators and their fans, and there's not really any solution except seeking therapy one day and hopefully being able to heal from the damage. although i do think talking more openly about and spreading awareness of parasocial relationships would also help people find support and think more carefully about how they interact with people and consume content online (without ruining the fun!).

[whiskeynwriting]

Account Update

Hi my lovelies,

I still have two more fics to post tonight, but I wanted to let you all know this now before it gets too late into the night.

◆

I’ve thought about doing this for a while, and things have kind of come to a head for me on this platform, so I’ve decided I’m going to take a break for a little bit.

Unfortunately, I have ran into quite a bit of negativity as of late. I've seen friends of mine claim to support me in our direct messages, but not when it comes to my writing or posts. I've seen people recommend my writing, and then other writers comment underneath that people should read something else instead. I've received anonymous asks criticizing my writing style and detail in extremely impolite, non-constructive ways. I want nothing to do with this negative, toxic, and unnecessary behavior.

I've also been wanting to return to some old hobbies and routines that I have not been able to do anymore because I've been so focused on writing. And it's not that I don't love writing anymore, I very much do and will probably continue to write while away, but I need to pay other areas of my life attention, too.

◆

I plan on returning Monday, June 20th, just in time for my one-year Tumblr anniversary on June 23rd! I could be back sooner than that, but for now, that's the date.

◆

I’m going to take this time to really think about why I started writing and sharing my work on here in the first place. I've been writing for 14 years, and never felt this way about it before. Writing for this platform and posting on here is just not fun for me at all anymore, and it’s become really pressuring and just plain depressing. And it saddens me to see that because Tumblr really was my little safe space for a while.

I will still be on to chat with some of my mutuals through direct message though, and to occasionally show support where I can ♥️ Because that truly is what this platform is about for me, supporting others and sharing what I love.

◆

I love, support, and appreciate everyone who does the same for me, and hopefully I'll see y'all soon ♥️

Love, Liv 💞

◆

[thebibliosphere]

@abalonetea said: oops yeah, sorry! books! i've been admiring your works and your books since the start (i have a physical copy!!!) and i'm just always so impressed by how many PLACES you have your book, and how far it has reached! like, it's amazing!

----

Thank you so much! I appreciate it--and I'm glad you enjoyed Phangs enough to have it in the physical edition.

So, here's the thing, my range of availability is less to do with promotion (although that helps) and more to do with where I distribute and how easy I make it for retailers to order it.

A lot of indie authors will sometimes opt to distribute/print through Amazon exclusively, as it nets a higher royalty rate. And that's their prerogative; they know what is best for their work and what they want to do.

If, however, you want to go as far and wide as possible, (you'll see it referred to as "going wide"), you need to know which platforms to upload to and how to set international rates.

For ebooks, I use draft2digital.com to go wide, plus my own payhip storefront. Draft2Digital also enables library lending services, including things like Libby and Overdrive, which is incredibly helpful.

You can also sync your D2D stuff up with books2read.com and create landing pages for your books/works that are not exclusive to Amazon. Books2read will also track audiobook links and most physical outlets as well, though I've had to manually input a lot of my international ones for the physical copies. It's not a complete list, because not all retailers work with them, but a sizeable chunk too.

Draft2digical is also currently in beta for its physical print service, (I haven't used it yet, so I can't talk about it with any authority), but it looks as though that will enable wide distribution in the future as well.

At present, one of the best ways to go wide with print is to use both Amazon and Ingram Spark. There are a few other places, but Ingram is one of the largest. Ignoring the issues I've had with them over hardbacks for this entire the last year (sweary words!!!), they've actually been really good for global paperback distribution. Setting the prices can be a bit confusing, but once you figure out the rates (there are little pop-up boxes that explain things), it's not so bad. Ingram also enables library lending licenses, which is really helpful if you're trying to get into local libraries with physical copies--though some libraries will not buy from indie authors who don't have a publisher.

That's why I set up my own LLC (Humerus Intentions Publishing) to be my own publisher. I could have gone with Joy Demorra LLC, which a lot of authors do, but I've got that one marked for something else.

After that, it's making your links as easy and clickable as possible and trying to be as consistent as possible with advertising across your social media platforms. (or, if you're incredibly lucky like me, having an absolutely feral bunch of followers who routinely rec your work for you because they know you're bad at it.) Having graphics you can use to grab people's attention is super helpful. And make sure to pick out some good quotes to go along with them. Recommended advice suggests short, one to two-lines, but I've found Tumblr prefers longer ones.

You can also pay for ads, if that's something you have money for. I do not, so I have no experience with it. I just have mood boards and a feral Tumblr following.

Networking with other authors also helps when you want to do group promos/share audiences, and that's something you're going to see me doing a lot more of in 2023. Provided I can get my shit together and organize it 😅

So, yeah. That's what I do. Hopefully, this information is useful!

Hey, Joy! What’s your biggest tip for marketing?

I'd say, "try to be consistent," but, um, I'm not sure I do so well at that myself.

What are we marketing? I am assuming it is books?

[ynscrazylife]

Hey, here's a Marvel request that can hopefully help with your writer's block. Natasha x Reader where the reader is Tony's protege & a wiz with mechanics. Natasha first meets the reader when the reader is working on a car & she's immediately intrigued. Thanks

Grease Stains | n.r fluff fic

Summary: The story of how Natasha fell in love. 

Authors Note: Thank you so much for requesting! I loved this. 

Request to be on a Taglist (or multiple) here! (Taglists are at the end of the fic)

MCU Masterlist #1 | MCU Masterlist #2 | Main Masterlist

PSA: Do NOT copy, steal, translate, plagiarize, republish, etc any of my works on Tumblr or any other platform. Also, do NOT claim any of my works as your own. All of these works are either requests I’ve gotten that people have wanted me to write or original ideas I’ve had for works. If you happen to take inspiration from anything I’ve written and want to write something inspired by that, please a) ask me first and b) IF I say yes, credit me as inspo in your post by tagging me and link whatever work of mine that inspired you. Thanks.

header c @sniktfam on pinterest

Being the woman she was, Natasha had grown to have quite a handful of memories ingrained into her mind — some so deep they left a handprint on her soul. Some were sad, others angry, and some happy. However there was one particular memory that soared above the rest. It was one of the lucky ones that painted a masterpiece of sunset colors on her soul, and it was the only one to grace her heart. That memory was one that always looped a smile on Natasha’s face, and it was when she met Y/N.

Also known as, the love of her life.

It had been a normal day. Nothing out of the ordinary. Tony had been talking about recruiting a protege - which the rest of the Avengers were against, because he was most definitely going to screw that up - who he’d teach about his technology. Little did she know - he actually did it! His protege was a young woman a couple years younger than Natasha who was not only mentored in the Iron Man and Avengers’ technology, but was a skilled mechanic. 

The spy learned all of this that afternoon when she had come back to Tony and Pepper’s house to drop Pepper off and spotted him and Y/N in the garage. 

“Tony?” She asked as she approached them, eyes furrowed in slight confusion.

Tony snapped his head up from his post where he was working on the coding for an update to Peter’s A.I, Karen. “Nat!” He said, his friend’s presence causing him to smile. He swung his legs over his workbench and jogged over to meet her. Y/N only spared a glance at Natasha, before resuming her work on Tony’s car.

“Who’s this?” Natasha asked, lowering her tone and gesturing to the mechanic with a nod. She couldn’t help how the butterflies began to swarm in her stomach, because the woman was absolutely gorgeous (and had muscles that even made Natasha a little jealous). 

“Oh!” Tony said, glancing over his shoulder. “That’s Y/N! She’s my protege.” 

Natasha blinked in slight surprise before she smirked. “Are you forcing her to fix your car?” She asked, crossing her arms. 

Tony chuckled and shook his head. “No. She was actually going to go on break but saw that there was a problem with my car and offered to fix it. Turns out she’s a mechanic!” He clarified. 

Natasha nodded, thinking, but before she could complete her train of thought, Tony lightly grabbed her arm and brought her over to Y/N to meet her. 

“Hey, Y/N/N! This is Natasha Romanoff, my friend. Nat, meet Y/N,” Tony said before stepping aside. 

Y/N’s head snapped up and she almost lost her balance. “Wait-” she said, glancing at Natasha before her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. “You’re Black Widow! Oh my god, Tony told me all about you. You’re such an amazing fighter.” She stood up, smiling. 

Natasha nodded, chuckling. She liked this one already. “Thank you,” she said. 

Just then a loud beeping noise interrupted their conversation - and Tony whirled around to see Karen springing to life. “Let me go fix that - you two carry on,” he said, quickly getting right back into the zone and continuing his coding. 

Natasha just shook her head in amusement before turning her attention back to Y/N. “It’s very nice of you to work on Tony’s car,” she commented, leaning against said car. 

Y/N shrugged. “Yeah, well, why not?” She replied, continuing the small talk but catching a view of herself in the car window. “Shit.” She went to rub the grease stains on her forehead but only ended smudging it since there was grease on her hands. 

Natasha quickly scanned the room with her eyes and when she spotted a clean cloth, snatched it up and offered it to Y/N. “Don’t worry - it just shows you’re a hard worker and . . . it’s cute,” she reassured her. If Y/N didn't return the feeling, Natasha reminded herself she could just brush it off as being her usual sneaky self, but a large part of her hoped that Y/N would return the feelings. 

Y/N lightly scoffed, taking the cloth and mumbling a “thank you”. “Oh, I didn't know that. Guess I should get grease on myself more often,” she said casually, wiping her forehead. Natasha shifted the weight between her legs, thinking that Y/N might not know that she was flirting with her. 

She had to try again. 

The two fell into silence as Y/N resumed her work. Natasha watched her, feeling entranced. As time went by the redhead noticed more cute things about her. How her hair curls lightly bounced and framed her face. Or the freckles that dotted her nose. Time seemed to flow by like a breeze on the beach.

After a bit, Y/N leaned against the hood of the car, taking deep breaths. She was tired and sweaty, but Natasha didn't care. She leaned against the hood of the car as well as Y/N grabbed her water bottle and took a huge gulp. When she put it down, she ended up bumping her knee into the car and instinctively stumbling.

Natasha, who was always alert, easily grabbed her by the arms and caught her before she could fall. Now steadied, Y/N caught her breath and met Natasha’s eyes, just now recognizing that that warm, soft touch was her palms.

The two held their gaze for a couple moments. Time seemed to stand still and everything else fell alway. Y/N got a first hand look at just how stunningly pretty the Black Widow was, and Natasha felt herself captivated by her eyes, unable to look away even if she wanted to.

“Kiss already!” Tony’s yell of encouragement jarred Y/N and made Natasha send a sharp glare his way. But neither of them moved.

“Well?” Natasha asked, raising her eyebrows.

Y/N took a breath, in bliss, and then - not believing what she was doing - leaned forward. Natasha met her halfway and they captured each other’s lips in a meaningful kiss. Natasha pulled Y/N a little closer and Y/N curled her fingers around Natasha’s hands.

After a couple of seconds, they both departed. Y/N was in a daze. That kiss was probably the best kiss she ever had. Natasha was able to snap back to normal a bit quicker and smiled, the ghost of the feel of Y/N’s lips on hers causing a small ache.

“Is there grease on me?” Natasha asked in a whisper after a moment.

Y/N giggled, and then nodded. “Probably,” she answered, also whispering.

Permanent Taglist: @natasharomanoffismywife @hehehehannahthings @paulawand @blackbat2020 @cerberus-spectre @marrymemcgrath @celestialbarnes @kathryndimitrescu @snipyloulou @big-galaxy-chaos @cc13723things

MCU Taglist: @stephanieromanoff @summerlovingbaby @ineffablebean @okkulta @procrastinatingsapphictrash @prettysbliss @caseyfish @sarahp-stan @thewidowsghost @basiclesbianbitch @mycosmicparadise @kidswhofightmonsters @xtraordinaryfangrl @peggycarter-steverogers @username23345 @ima-gi--na-tion @yori-nakajima @hi-i-1 @mmmmokdok @xxxtwilightaxelxxx @mads-weasley @tenaciousperfectionunknown @afraid-to-be-me @lilclownx @acertainredhead @natromanoffxox @lilymurphy03

[mcyt-peach]

Hiii!!! I’m a new tumblr user, so I’m a little worried I’m doing this wrong😅 but I have a request:

Cc!nihachu Drabble x female reader that has a fear of large buildings and confesses this when they’re both going to a big city? I’ve had a fear of large buildings almost my entire life and i’ve recently found out I’m going on vacation in a few months to a really big city!

If you don’t feel comfortable, feel free to delete this:)

how not to ruin the day

·˚ * summary: niki plans a surprise trip to the city for a date, but your fear of large buildings makes you struggle to enjoy the day

·˚ * pairing: cc!nihachu x fem!reader

·˚ * warnings: in depth description of fear and anxiety, reader is fem but could be gn as no pronouns are really said

·˚ * word count: 823

·˚ * genre: hurt/comfort, fluff, romantic

·˚ * note: this was so sweet nonnie and I absolutely loved writing it, hopefully your vacation goes well and maybe you can tell your family you'd enjoy more indoor activities so you can't see the building or some time at local parks <3

Every other Friday was date day. The day that you and Niki spent your whole week looking forward to, finally getting a designated time to spend together without worrying about work or family. This Friday was Niki’s day, meaning she got to choose the date.

She told you to dress comfortably and wear some shoes for walking. You had expected some sort of hiking trip, but that became less and less likely as you boarded the train.

Trains only ever mean one thing... the city. The city itself isn’t bad, the shops, street performers and cafes almost make it worth it. But all those skyscrapers and tall buildings made you feel like the world was closing in on you. The thought of hundreds of people staring down at you made you shudder in your skin.

You gave Niki the window seat, hoping to keep her attention on the landscape rapidly passing by. Your fingers picked at the loose strands of your sleeves, hoping to calm yourself.

You wouldn’t dare tell Niki, wouldn’t dare mess up the day she’d spent so long perfectly crafting. Why couldn’t you just suck it up. She loved the city, why couldn’t you just enjoy it with her?

The carriage suddenly stopped, the station platform visible on both sides. Niki turned to you with her smile brighter than ever, excitedly grabbing your hand and leading you through the doors.

Deep breaths. You can do this, right? As long as you focus on Niki, you can do this. Just keep looking at her, don’t look up.

Niki got the two of you settled into some cafe she’d been eyeing for the last month. She handed you a menu as she prattled on about their specialty cakes she’d seen on a friend’s story.

The words seemed to swim off the page, drawing your eyes to the window you sat next to. The other side of the street was haunting. The high concrete walls extended so far up you couldn’t see their tops through the window.

“Are you ready to order, love?” Niki places her menu down, flagging over a waitress.

Would you even be able to keep anything down at this point? “Maybe later.” You hope your smile’s convincing enough to stave off her questions.

“Oh, good idea. Don’t want to fill up too much before dinner!” She claps her hands together and your stomach sinks at the realization that you were staying here all day. For all you know, she’d already made reservations and you were going to ruin everything if you didn’t just calm down.

Your breath was shaky at best and it was so like Niki to notice. The gentle pinch of her eyebrows, the slight frown she now sported. She was catching on to you.

“Why don’t we go to that boutique you talked about!” You stood up, giving her no choice but to follow you out of the cafe and into the streets.

The streets. Built so wide, but still suffocating with the height of the buildings on either side of you. You held onto her hand, maybe squeezing harder than you should have. The air felt too far to catch, your lungs heaving to calm yourself.

You could feel the stinging in your eyes. God, you promised yourself you wouldn’t cry. You didn’t want to cry, not in front of Niki.

But it seemed your heart disagreed with this because all the stress you had been holding in came flooding out. You didn’t recognize the dampness on your cheeks until Niki wiped it away with her shirtsleeve.

“I’m sorry.” You could barely get the words out between your shaky breaths. “I didn’t mean to ruin the day. I can’t be in the city. I’m sorry, it’s too much.” Your gesture to the surrounding buildings was wild at best, too nervous to look up and spiral again.

“My love, you’re not ruining anything.” She pressed her palm to your cheek, letting you place your hand against hers. “I only wish you had told me sooner. We could’ve done something you liked more.”

You hadn’t noticed she was leading you along the streets while talking. The ground beneath you changed as you stepped onto grass. Grass?

“Do you feel a little better? I thought the park might help... since there’s no buildings.” She was unsure, trying her best to comfort you without really knowing what was wrong. The two of you sat down on a bench, finally able to catch your breath and stop the shaking of your hands.

Niki’s fingers flew across her phone screen, trying to find the next train ride home. Your fingers entwined with hers made the task a bit more difficult, but she still smiled when you squeezed her hand in a “thank you”.

The walk to the station wasn’t easy, but Niki’s promise of a special night at home made the tightness in your chest dissipate, if only by a bit.

[stevethehairington]

Congratulations!! Honestly I’ve never seen a fic get anywhere close to 1k so 2k is so fucking impressive. That’s insane! I was wondering if you have any tips for bringing in readers? Obviously your writing is amazing. Currently I’m struggling to get 20 kudos. 😅

so sorry for the late reply, it's been a busy week! but thank you so much!!!!! i'm honestly so like shocked that it's managed to get up to 2k! it just baffles me that at least two thousand people have read/liked something that i wrote. it's incredibly validating and i just feel so so so grateful.

ooh, tips for bringing in readers hm.

share your fic on multiple platforms! obviously, once that fic is posted it's going to show up in the tags you've used on ao3 (assuming that's where you've posted it!), but you want it to reach more than just those looking on ao3, because not everyone looks in the general pairing tag or narrows their search down to the trope tags you may have used. so my advice here, is to take that link and make a tumblr post with it! make a tweet that includes it! throw that link up on instagram if you use that for fandom stuff. if you're in any discord servers for that fandom/pairing, drop the link there too! spread it around as far and wide as you can so you can get as many eyes on it as possible!

do not be afraid of some good ol' shameless self-promo! in the same vein as #1, don't be afraid to then promote those posts you've made about your fic! self-reblog, self-retweet, self-rewhatever! get your fic circulating! it's your blog/page/account, so you shouldn't ever feel bad about boosting up your own content!

find yourself a good group of friends who will hype the hell out of you and your works! not only is it ridiculously nice to have a group of people who you can talk with about fandom stuff, and spitball ideas with, and discuss theories or headcanons with until they turn into something more, but it is also soooo incredible to have people that are in your corner and that will read anything you put out and who will then also reblog/retweet/rewhatever your fics too! even if you run in the same general circle, they're still going to have connections with other people that you won't, so if they help you out by reblogging your fic, then that spreads it even further than just your own followers. and like, in my experience, fandom friends will be some of the most ride or die, supportive people that will stop at nothing to hype you up to the highest point they possibly can, so like hang onto them as tight as you possibly can because they are just the absolute best things ever <3

create some sort of banner/moodboard/graphic to go with the fic i have not personally done this, just because i am usually far too impatient once i finish a fic and i just want to get it up asap lol, BUT. i know that there are fics i've seen that have totally eye catching banners or moodboards or things like that that the writers will attach to the beginning of the fic but also to their promo posts, and those absolutely will grab attention! like, someone will be scrolling through the tag and see the banner/moodboard/whatever you made and go woah, that's cool, what is this? and they'll check out your post and if it's something they decide they're into, then the fic itself too!

i'm trying to think if there's any other advice i could give you, but tbh these are the things i stick to doing the most with my own fics. hopefully that was at least a little bit helpful!! i wish you the absolute best of luck, though! trying to get engagement on writing can be very difficult, but it's really awesome that you're putting yourself out there no matter what and sharing something you've created! that's so special and you should be very proud of yourself for that!!

(also, if your fic is a steddie fic or another st pairing that i'm into and you want to drop me the link i would totally love to check it out!!)

[ettawritesnstudies]

For context for anyone who's not in the know: Meta/Instagram recently started collecting EVERYONE'S data on EVERYTHING (posts, comments, captions, hashtags, etc. maybe even DMs but idk about that) and scraping it for their AI. In certain parts of the EU you could opt out of this if you could prove that your data has been found in the AI generated images, but if you were a smaller account that couldn't prove this or you lived in the US, Meta said "you have no data privacy rights, sorry not sorry, we'll steal your face, your art, and your identity."

Understandably, a lot of artists replied with "Fuck This, it's been impossible to get visibility here since you introduced Reels and started making the algorithm pay-to-play" and fled in droves to a new app called Cara. It's made by artists for artists, has a strict no-AI policy, and built-in integrations with Glaze, which is a program to protect your work from scrapers. At first sounded too good to be true, but then I reconsidered the sunk-cost-fallacy and decided to give it a shot.

I'm going to document my experience and experimentations and thoughts and hopefully turn this into a coherent blog post for future reference in a couple weeks but here's my initial reactions as someone who is Primarily a Writer and a Self Taught Hobby Artist that dabbles in both traditional and digital medium

oh my god the lack of ai and ads is so nice but the thing that gets me. that really gets me. is that there's NO VERTICAL VIDEO FORMAT. No reels. No stories. Just posts. It's so quiet. I finally have peace. I can think clearly. It's like the fog has lifted.

There's two different layouts for the home page - an algorithm YOU CAN CONTROL which lets you choose percentages of people you follow, posts from the network of mutual's mutuals, and posts selected from the app as a whole. I think it's something like 60/30/10 as the default but you can change those if you want. There's also a toggle to only view people you follow. I love this feature so much. A customizable algorithm is really nice to discover new people when you're brand new to an app and the choice to tune it when you want is so novel and refreshing. (this is something I saw on desktop, so you may have to change it on your computer to see it reflected in the app)

On your page there's also two different view: Portfolio and Timeline. Portfolio is like an Artstation profile of the work that you post, curated to show off your best pieces. Timeline works exactly like a tumblr blog - you can repost (reblog) other people's work, make text posts, share doodles, etc.

Overall the vibe is still very Professional :TM: All the work I'm seeing in my feed is gorgeous, finished/rendered pieces maybe accompanied by progress shots. The big popular names in the Art Industry get all the attention and likes, and everyone else is just kind of... there. I've only had it for a day so I'm still trying to find my mutuals. I'm sure it'll become more casual over time but everyone is still trying to put their best foot first.

Because it seems like a place for professionals to connect - I think there is a place for Writers on this platform. Even if you aren't an artist yourself, I still think it's valuable to have an account just to lurk, collect inspiration and art styles from artists you like, and find people to commission for book covers, illustrations, character art, and more. If you post little doodles of your OCs, that could be fun. I just don't think it's the right place to market your book.

The platform blew up from 40K users to 650K users and the poor dev team is struggling under the workload and financial burden of running the site. They're going to have to monetize it at some point, and with that comes enshittification so I'm not holding my breath it'll stay untainted forever, but I'm hoping that when they do monetize it, it'll be through a subscription-based platform or getting large corporate sponsors to become like a LinkedIn for Artists

So far I have one post up, which is the full cover art for "First Flight of Spring" (one of my Ko-Fi stories). It's the first place that hasn't compressed this monster file which is super nice, so if you want to check that out, I guess you can follow me. And if you're on Cara, drop your information in the comments! I'd love to find other users!

Made a Cara account! Not entirely sure what I'll post yet, I'll probably lurk for a while until I figure out how to promote myself because I'm primarily a writer and the app is very much for artists, but I'm thoroughly enjoying all the beautiful art and the blessed silence that comes with the absence of vertical video.

[cajunfoxnight]

Heya! Long time follower of askoctoberfox here. You would know me from ask-terrakion and askomni, if those names are familiar, and here! Anyway, here goes.

I've been here since 2011 so hopefully I can offer some perspective that may help. I've ran a few blogs in that time and yes, in the past it was more active before The Ban, but things here are there, and picking up again I think. I'm getting a lot of attention on my blog as it is, probably close to or near the same as it's peak for the more exciting posts.

I know you're not a Pokemon blog, but your blog is absolutely beloved by the Pokemon ask blog community in particular. Every October I know so many people, including myself, welcome October's return every year.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't take care of yourself, though. I'd advise you to do the story art and such throughout the year, if manageable, to post on October to help with ask flow, so you can continue that interaction.

I know people flocked to twitter after The Ban but I also know it's not that great there either. I don't think there's a specific site or platform that works like Tumblr does. It's hard. But, if you're worried about audience interaction, know this: You're very loved here. :)

Whatever you decide, know I support your choice 110%. :)

~Skins

I swear im not going to cry. Im not.. gonna cry. IM NOT GONNA CRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY TAT Hello! Yes I do remember you! I would really love to say thank you so much for your note and reaching out to me (I hope I can reply to everyone who did!) as well as your thoughts on October and her blog. I admit that I didnt think it was.. quite that vastly spread?? But, hey, color me surprised! Wow, has it really been that long?? Since 2011?? Wow I have lost all track of times these days, haha! But yes, youre right in that this offers a real nice perspective, which is something I badly needed. I no intention of her blog going anywhere, but I guess I wasnt all too sure if people were here much these days. Last year I felt like I was seeing quite a drop in notes/interaction from the previous years- and while it was still a good bit (and I was thankful for each one!) I was starting to wonder if people had moved on. Twitter is another place I am quite active outside of here, but I hear you when you mention about how crazy it is and getting your content seen is so hit or miss. Its funny in a way, youd think that running a blog for one month of the year that Id have plenty of time, but the problem is that I do commissions outside of October and that eats up a lot of my everything (I do enjoy it ) So personal work often has to be put to the side, that and my time management skills are bad |D as noted by how this year has gone |D. The nice thing about October's story is that The Plot thankfully is something thats not pressed for time, but I just have to get those certain pieces in place before I can move onto That. Even outside of the story, the thing I have loved the most when it came to making this blog, has been getting the chance to interact with others and spread my love for Halloween all over the internet with all of you!

There has been a lot to think on this year, and having that chance to just vent out those feelings, and getting the feedback that I have, has already done wonders for me. Whatever it is that I decide to do, I just want everyone to know that no matter what, I will not leave the story of October untold. Even if I may not get to tell it the way I want to, I dont want to leave people wondering what happens. Id still like to be able to draw it out, but.. well, time will tell, wont it? Thank you again! 🦊🕯️