#accounts/blogs/emails/etc�� it's okay to do whatever you need to enjoy something and find your community.

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

Hey, I don't normally make my own posts about this, but.

Do not argue with an anti on their own terms.

Don't get me wrong, I get it. You see the hypocrisy. You see the way they take aim at your favorite ships or characters or tropes while enjoying something similar. And you think "if I can point out to them just how hypocritical and idiotic they look right now, everyone will see our argument, they'll see that the anti is wrong and a hypocrite, and then maybe more people will stop harassing the people who like my thing. Maybe the anti will see the light and stop being a hypocrite."

But it will not work. It will not work.

There is an extremely high chance one of two things will occur:

They will double down on their argument, and ignore what you've said. (Ex. They might say "This relationship has an age gap. That's p3dophi1ia. That's dangerous." And you might say "well you ship something with the same age gap. Is it not p3dophi1ia and dangerous when you do it?" And they will just double down and say "This ship is dangerous. The shippers are grasping at straws to make their p3d0 ship normal.")

They will agree with you, but in the worst way possible. (Ex. Someone says "Ew your ship are basically siblings because they're childhood friends and grew up together. 1nc3st apologist." And you might respond "And yet we allow our most popular ship in this fandom to be popular? They grew up together as childhood friends and were inseparable. Why is that not inc3st?" because you think they'll gain a sense of perspective here. But then that person responds "People who ship that popular ship are freaks too then." Maybe they believed that before the convo or maybe they didn't, but the point now is that (while not your intention or fault by any means) some people have gone on to harass shippers of a ship that aren't doing anything wrong. What you think will bring clarity ends up raising tensions between shippers instead)

Do not meet them where they're at on their preconceived notions. You will not make them believe that they are wrong or hypocrites. Do not concede to their heavy assertions of abuse, p3dophi1ia, 1nc3st, etc levied against the thing you like for the sake of arguing that they are a hypocrite, or with intent to make them feel dumb for inadvertently labeling 80% of a fandom with said labels. They will not "see the light". The best thing you can do, if you have to say anything, is double down with "I'm not hurting anyone and it's fiction. I can do whatever I want" or "I don't give a shit what harmless things people like as long as it's tagged and I can filter out what I dislike" (especially if this is your stance). Then block and move on.

Antis, like trolls, thrive on engagement. They want you to argue so they can continue to point at you or lie about you or make you look bad.

It is in your best interest to pick your battles, and to try to sus out the difference between a friendly argument or standing up for yourself versus feeding the trolls. You won't make the right choice every time, all of us are human after all, but I promise you that ignoring and blocking bad faith actors, deleting their hate anons, etc, is not the coward's way out. Sometimes you don't need to fight. Sometimes keeping yourself from platforming bad faith actors and giving them nothing to go on will do the job (because there are more antis that are just small blogs with little power to do anything than you think, the kinds of people whose inflammatory posts will die if no one touches them).

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[superutahraptor-blog]

Why do I always have to explain myself? (Warning: Rant ahead regarding being an alleged ‘art thief’)

Okay first of all WHAT THE FUCKING BLOODY HELL?!! I TOOK DOWN THE POST AND I’M STILL GETTING FUCKING FLACK FOR IT! Me and the actual artist have reconciled our differences and I was very much in the wrong and should have taken the post down as soon as it was asked of me. But that was because it was THE OFFICIAL ARTIST who asked me to take it down, not some Tumblr post art gestapo! 

If I post any art it is because I look for things on google images when I get bored. If I find something I like I save it to a flashdrive to look at later. Most of these are memes, gifs, or fanart of series I enjoy. Now for those who are not aware unless you get documented permission from the original company whose characters you are portraying, you cannot profit financially off of your fanart. That is blatant plagiarism (and you can get in trouble with the law because of it). So technically your fanart isn’t yours but for fair use among the public (which means Tumblr). So let’s say for example you did an amazing drawing or fanart of Steven Universe and you want to make money off of it. You need to contact the publishing company or the author via email or a PO Box asking them for permission to financially profit off of what is actually their work. 

If they give you the green light awesome! However, generally there are certain catches if they allow you to do so. You will most likely have to sign a contract agreeing to this and that. Keep in mind that the creator of Steven Universe (per our example) needs to make a living as well. That is royalties my dear friend! Whatever financial profit you make off of your fanart, part of it will go back to the publisher or creator. 

Let’s say though, in a different example (mine for instance): I don’t know the creator of this gif, and I am an honest person. So I state as such that it is not my art and belongs to the actual creator. I am only sharing it because I like the artwork and think it is cute, funny, or cool. I am not making financial profit off of it, nor am I claiming this work as my own (as stated in the hashtags). So technically I’m not committing art theft. But I will take it down if the actual artist of the work comes forward and asks me to do so (which admittedly I should have done as soon as the artist asked me to do so, I was in the wrong then but I did the right thing by complying with the artists request.) 

So get over yourselves you bunch of bullies! 

(You know who you are)

When you post anything and I mean ANYTHING; a photo, a drawing, a video, a meme, etc. It will be on the internet FOREVER! It doesn’t matter if you delete it. It will float around in cyberspace, popping up in searches due to it having a search term that matches a word in someones search terms.

People aren’t kidding when they say Tumblr is toxic. It’s full of witch hunts, hate, bullies, and SJW’s. No other social media account I have had was this damn toxic! Hell Tumblr makes the YouTube comments sections look saintly! It’s just that bad! 

I already hate people, and Tumblr has made me realize why I hate people so much. Because so many people are judging assholes, who don’t even bother trying to learn the full story from someone before jumping to wild conclusions! 

In light of these ‘art thief’ accusations I am never, EVER going to post artwork or photographs that I find on the internet here on Tumblr. I will be a repost blog only. 

If you want to blame anyone, blame the Tumblr community...I’m done with this total bullshit!

[pikaland]

How to promote yourself when you’re shy

One of my friends recently asked me: how was I not on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook more often spreading the word about my blog, classes and zines? I just told her that I was a very low-key person, and that posting about myself and my work wasn’t something I was comfortable doing. I have all the respect in the world for people who choose to do so, but personally for me, it would make me exhausted, because in reality, I’m a little shy.

I chose to be quiet

I was lucky that when Pikaland first started 9 years ago, I just hopped onto the bandwagon because these apps were shiny and new. I registered an account at Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest just to see what the fuss was all about, and to connect with blogging buddies and online friends. I never thought that when I first signed up that these channels would become the social media behemoth they are today. I’m lucky – I’ve skipped so many others – Snapchat, Periscope, Vine, etc., because keeping up with what little social media channels I had on hand was frankly, already more than I could handle. I didn’t find the need to go into apps that I didn’t have an interest in (and most of them are long gone by now as well). Yes, there were the occasional pangs of FOMO (fear of missing out), but whatever urges I had to register for a new account for the new app of the day was overtaken by the need to keep myself sane, first and foremost.

Do all the things!

If you’re an artist/illustrator/designer/maker, there’s so much pressure from everyone to do everything you can for your work. Start up a blog! Email marketing! SEO! Master flat lay for Instagram! Share process videos! Pin, pin, pin! Again, if that’s what you want to do, that’s perfectly fine too. I can understand how marketing can be seen as an evil necessity; it’s the job that you have to do to get out there to get people to notice you (unless you really like it, of course!) But from my personal experience, I can tell you that it doesn’t have to be the only way, especially if like me, you’re uncomfortable with bombarding your readers, fans and family with updates about your work. I mainly promote what I’m doing through email, and only then will it trickle down to social media by way of auto-pilot. Pikaland is like a secret club where my readers get first dibs on everything.

“I’m not just doing this for you”

I suppose one can say that I’m selfish. Everything I did was to further my self-education into the realm of illustration: I started up this blog to keep track of amazing artists and illustrators. I dug deep to learn about their thinking process and trained my eye to recognise what worked and what could be improved on. I enjoyed going to illustration conferences, learning from generous teachers and meeting like-minded friends. I discovered I love teaching more than being an illustrator. Heck, even my online classes were selfish endeavours – they were based on topics that I was curious about, and were summaries of what I’ve learnt throughout the years. Putting the class together in a cohesive fashion was a way for me to remember what I’ve learnt along the way so that I wouldn’t forget them myself.

I haven’t gone down the whole social media route because (selfishly) I want what I do to speak for itself. I am of sound mind – of course I know that having this mindset will keep me from growing. But here’s the catch – I don’t want to grow big. Not yet anyway. I like being small. I like interacting with my readers one-on-one. I love teaching in a small group. I don’t want to oversell and overestimate myself. I’m not in search of “likes”, and I don’t keep score. I want my students to walk away from my class with a clear purpose and a plan they’re excited about. And if that doesn’t happen, I’m happy to go back to the drawing board to do it all over again until I get it right.

It has to be a bit of a balance, I suppose.

Everyone’s different

If you like being on social media, good for you. For others, it’s okay if it’s not your cup of tea. Some people like sharing stuff. Others just like to see what others are sharing. And there are those who use social media as a self-promotion tool. Yes, there are people who were discovered through social media, but let’s not discount the fact that there are also others who get discovered the old fashioned way: blogs, newspapers, magazines, competitions, word of mouth, etc. There isn’t a one-route-fits-all solution.

Personally, I’m a very private person, and I like to process a lot of what I’m doing on my own. I find that I rarely talk to Mr. T about my work, and instead I talk to my friends who have the same interests, or my community. I prefer to keep things private and close to my heart, so it’s not hard to understand why I usually prefer doing my communications via email. This is then followed by Facebook, and trailing far behind is Instagram and Twitter.

However you feel about self-promotion through social media, I’ve listed down 3 recommendations on how you can choose what works for you:

Be consistent. Take some time to think about what you’ll be comfortable doing for the long run. Spreading yourself thin trying to be everywhere at once will knock the wind out of your sails before you even get going. Be selfish. Do what you want to do, not what people expect of you. That way, you can have some fun, colour outside the lines, play a little and let people see the real you, and what you stand for. Do great work. I cannot overemphasis this enough – if people put in more effort into doing great work as opposed to the time they spend on social media, then perhaps they wouldn’t need to use it so much. I may be wrong, and some people may genuinely love being on social media – but hey, there’s no harm in doing great work too, is there?

There are no hard and fast rules about using outlets like Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Sure, there’s lots of things you can do to help it along – hash tagging, commenting, posting at a certain time of day, etc – among hundreds of tips out there that will hopefully help bring you the fame you’re looking for.

Just don’t forget to do the work first and foremost – you’ll realise that it’s the one thing that won’t go away ever, even if those platforms disappear one day.

A guide to email pitches (for shy artists)

This topic has made me think a lot in terms of how differently people approach self-promotion these days. But I’m also keenly aware of how a lot of things still stay the same. In spite of the popularity of social media, I think that emailing is still a very important form of self-promotion. I deal with email a lot, even before I started this blog. I used to work in publishing, and as an editor you get a lot of emails and letters, pitching an event, new work, or a launch. I know that even with the rise of social media, email itself has not changed much.

It’s a pity that this form of communication hasn’t gotten a lot of attention because it’s one of the best ways to get your work out there. When done right, it can open doors, make people notice you and bring you opportunities you might not even know of. So it would stand to reason that emailing blogs, magazines, news portals, etc., should be a piece of cake right? Turns out, not really. I’ve met many artists who were uncertain about the best ways to write an email, and it’s a nail biting affair. When’s the best time to write? How should I sound? What should I do if they don’t reply? ARGH! I’d roll up my sleeves and listen so that I can help them formulate a plan.

A friend came to me about this problem recently, and I’ve come to realise that my advice is pretty much the same each time, and that I should probably start to just compile my thoughts in a proper manner. So if you’re shy, introverted and unsure of how to write in a way that will allow your personality (and work) to shine, I’ll be writing a guide that on how to pitch yourself via email. It’ll be ready within the next couple of weeks, but if you’re interested to know when it comes out, just click the button below and enter your details when prompted so that I can send you a note to let you know when it’s ready!

[Illustration: Jon Klassen]

[socialmediabang]

12+ Places To Promote Your Blog Post

"Privacy Policy & Disclosures: this article contains affiliate marketing and affiliate links that we may get compensation in order to pay for this blog to remain publicized. We do not share your information with any third party." 

Promoting Your Blog Post Is Essential

You spend a lot of time putting together your blog posts and you spent a lot of time looking at the best blog sites because you obviously want what’s best. I know you do, ’cause you care about offering quality content to your readers. You take the time to research, to write a draft, review it, take or find the perfect image, add graphics, proofread and then you are finally ready to click the “publish” button. Yay!   Now, absolutely none of that matters if your blog post remains in internet space, below is your saving grace.    

1. Social Media

No brainer, right?  social media is free advertising and traffic for days, but you would be amazed by the number of bloggers who will not use social media to promote their blog posts! The best things is with most social media networks there are now ways to schedule your post promos, so you can set and forget it. If you are using WordPress. Install the Publicize plugin and have your post immediately on social media the moment it is published. I personally use social warfare plugin, it has a lot of features to cut out some of the unnecessary plugins, such as pin this, tweet that, etc. Saving space means a faster website.

Twitter

Facebook

Medium

Tumblr

Instagram

Snapchat

2. Email List Subscribers

Create a monthly newsletter in which you highlight your favorite posts from the last month and send it out to your email subscribers. It is the backbone of your website and effective way to engage with followers and reminds them to see what they have missed. It also eliminates the need for sending spammy emails everytime you post something. Offer your readers something in return for choosing to read your blog out of millions. Try Mailchimp if you're just starting out and want to get your feet wet, so to speak.

Reader Incentives

Planners

Planner Sticker

Wall Art

Helpful List

  3. Reach Out To Popular Bloggers In Your Niche

You may post list and photos from other bloggers when you communicate with them and let them know your sharing relevant material and give the proper credit when and where it's due.  They may feel some of your posts collaborate well on their site and a mention by an already successful blogger can mean a huge increase in traffic.

4. Forums

These are all over the place in every niche. Keep it primarily to whatever topic you are promoting. Bottom line you never know you are going to come across your comments or questions, then they may share leading to further promotion of your material. Just send them an introduction and a little about yourself,

5. Facebook Groups

Facebook is loaded with groups for every subject matter imaginable. Most Facebook groups have rules on self-promotion and don’t allow you to simply publish to the group each time you create a new post. Instead, most groups will have a weekly sharing where you are encouraged to share a link to a post, or your social media links as a way to help the members promote and grow their blogs.

6. Linkup Parties A.k.a Link Roundups

Similar to social media groups,  many blogs have a monthly, or weekly link roundup where they encourage other bloggers to take part and link to recent blog posts. These are usually centered around a specific niche and all blog posts shared need to relate to that subject matter. Here are a couple of resources to help you find some linkups to be a part of depending on your niche.

Link Up Library Master

List of Link Roundups

Show and share 

Mad Skills Party

Not sure what Linkup parties are all about or where to find them?

That is okay, just have a look at my more in-depth post on Ultimate List of Linkup Parties

7. Pinterest Group Boards

Searching Group Boards on Pinterest that match the topics of your blog posts is another great way to expose your posts to new readers. Ask to join these groups and, once accepted, pin images from related blogs to these group boards and everyone in that group will be able to see it. The chance of gaining new readers this way is pretty high as you know people in that group are already curious about your niche and share those post.

8. Q & A Sites

Question and Answer sites (like forums) that deal with topics similar to what you write about on your blog can be a good place to hang out. Take a look at questions posted and if you have written a blog post that answers that question, post a reply with a link to that post and it is that easy to have your website advertised for hundreds to see. Did I mention it's free! Some people take for granted the price of advertising can really chew a hole in your designer handbag.

9. Blog Comments

Approach this one with caution, self-promotion on others blog post can come off as completely tactless and unprofessional. However, If you actually have a blog post that is helpful to the topic in the discussion or post, then perhaps leaving the link and how it may back up the main bloggers' point should be okay. I wouldn't mind if that was the case on my website. We have to support each other to get to where we want to be.  

10. Submission Sites

There are a lot of websites out there now that allow content to be submitted and then voted on by readers. These are called aggregates. The more submission is liked the more it is shared, pretty sweet deal if you ask me. examples of these websites include:

Inbound

Kingged

Digg

Bizsugar

Dosplash

11. Reddit

Reddit is a platform that allows for content to be sorted into subreddits and exposed to the huge number of users on the site. It features thousands of "communities" with dedicated topics or niches.  Easily create an account and after 30 days you have tenure to create your very own community.

12. Mix formerly Stumbleupon

Mix is a great way to find new content to read yourself, but also a great way to promote your own posts to new readers. The site works by selecting content for readers based on what the indicate their interests are.  

It's all about enjoying others blog as a reader and being generous in spirit. You only get back what you give, so self promote but also help boost your fellow bloggers.