#and it costs so much to get it printed at a print shop

[himblebo]

Why do some of the best historical pattern companies have to be based in a different country than I live in

[my-darling-boy]

A couple of vintage inspired Christmas cards for our degree exhibition shop!

[thephooka]

I've been dreaming of making a webcomic for nearly half of my life, and I've just started actually working on that, but... do you think it's worth it for me to start even with the decline of the scene? White noise is quite possibly my favorite piece of media, period, and it's in a format I love, so I figure you're a good person to ask the thoughts of.

(In reference to this post, I am guessing.)

ABSOLUTELY! 100%! MAKE YOUR WEBCOMIC!! Please don't let the whinging of us old heads deter you from making a project that you're passionate about.

I think it's important to ask yourself what would make it 'worth it' in your mind. What do you want out of making a webcomic? Is it that you want to experience the act of creation? Do you have a story you need to get out? Is your goal to get a book printed? To have a large audience? To improve your artistic and storytelling skills? To make a living on your artwork? To make merch? Some of these are way harder to do today, but some of these are goals that you will reach simply by making your webcomic.

If it helps at all, I had to do a lot of this kind of talk to myself when I was starting in 2011 (less because of the scene and more because I was low in self-confidence.) The only way I could get myself to start posting WN on Smackjeeves was to remind myself that I was doing this for myself only, and maybe no one would read it, and that would be ok, because if nothing else I would be making something I love and I would learn a lot doing it. 13 years later and I'd consider my goals met, even if I stopped WN before I'm truly done with it.

(Which speaking of, I feel very strongly that unfinished or abandoned webcomics are not a waste of time for either the reader OR the creator. Just because a story doesn't get an ending--or gets an ending you don't like--doesn't mean it's without worth!!)

The webcomic scene is not going to fully disappear anytime soon--it's just suffering the same corporatization that has gripped almost every art scene at some point in some way, and I think that problem has been compounded by the consolidation of the internet into a few social media platforms. But those platforms will crumble, and the corporations will bail once they can't squeeze any more money out of webcomics. The scene won't ever been the same as it was in the 2010s, but that's how time works, and that doesn't mean it won't ever get better than it is or that there's not gems to be found now. The only way it gets better is if more people make and read webcomics!

[xcziel]

oooops i forgot

tuesday new releases for november 14:

patrick rothfuss novella the narrow road between desires (same size as slow regard of silent things)

david baldacci has new thriller the edge

mitch albom novel about the lives of three holocaust survivors little liar

new novel from michael cunningham day

a return to the time-travel cafe: before we say goodbye by toshikazu kawaguchi author of before the coffee gets cold, english translation by geoffrey trousselot

elizabeth crook's western sequel to the which way tree, the madstone

harmony new book of poetry from whitney hanson

jacquelyn mitchard's new familial drama a very inconvenient scandal

.just once new christian fiction by karen kingsbury

letters of j.r.r. tolkien edited and selected by humphrey carpenter with assistance by christopher tolkien

rush drummer geddy lee's new memoir my effin' life

johnny cash: the life in lyrics with mark stielper

the night parade: a speculative memoir by jami nakamura lin

a woman i know: female spies, double identities, and a new story of the kennedy assasination by filmmaker mary haverstick

city on mars by kelly and zach weinersmith (good non-fiction gift for those who like the martian and laughing at elon mushk)

tomlin: the soul of a football coach by john harris

entangled life: illustrated edition by martin sheldrake - new gorgeous hardcover for the mushroom and fungi fans

core of an onion another micro-history - with recipes - from michael kurlansky, author of cod and salt

new leather gifting style black cover of 48 laws of power: special powers edition

the bill gates problem the myth of the good billionaire by tim schwab

the money kings by daniel schulman

new hardcover collector editions of madeline miller's circe and anthony doerr's all the light we cannot see

also new romance collector hardcovers of archer's voice by mia sheridan and one last stop by casey mcquiston

star wars the eye of darkness a high republic novel by george mann

the marvel multiverse role-playing game core rulebook is out now

the upcycled self by tariq 'black thought' trotter

political books 😔:

network of lies about fox news by brian stelter

biography mitt romney a reckoning by mckay coppins

mike pence's advice(?) book go home for dinner

tired of winning by jonathan karl about trump and the gop

[foone]

why are printers so hated? it's simple:

computers are good at computering. they are not good at the real world.

the biggest problems in computers, the ones that have had to change the most over the time they've existed, are the parts that deal with the real world. The keyboard, the mouse, the screen. every computer needs these, but they involve interacting with the real world. that's a problem. that's why they get replaced so much.

now, printers: printers have some of the most complex real-world interaction. they need to deposit ink on paper in 2 dimensions, and that results in at least three ways it can go on right from the start. (this is why 3D printers are just 2D printers that can go wrong in another whole dimension)

scanners fall into many of the same problems printers have, but fewer people have scanners, and they're not as cost-optimized. But they are nearly as annoying.

This is also why you can make a printer better by cutting down on the number of moving elements: laser printers are better than inkjets, because they only need to move in one dimension, and their ink is a powder, not a liquid. and the best-behaved printers of all are thermal printers: no ink and the head doesn't move. That's why every receipt printer is a thermal printer, because they need that shit to work all the time so they can sell shit. And thermal is the most reliable way to do that.

But yeah, cost-optimization is also a big part of why printers are such finicky unreliable bastards: you don't want to pay much for them. Who is excited for all the printing they're gonna be doing? basically nobody. But people get forced to have a printer because they gotta print something, for school or work or the government or whatever. So they want the cheapest thing that'll work. They're not shopping on features and functionality and design, they want something that costs barely anything, and can fucking PRINT. anything else is an optional bonus.

And here's the thing: there's a fundamental limit of how much you can optimize an inkjet printer, and we got near to it in like the late 90s. Every printer since then has just been a tad smaller, a tad faster, and added some gimmicks like printing from WIFI or bluetooth instead of needing to plug in a cable.

And that's the worst place to be in, for a computer component. The "I don't care how fancy it is, just give me one that works" zone. This is why you can buy a keyboard for 20$ and a mouse for 10$ and they both work plenty fine for 90% of users. They're objectively shit compared to the ones in the 60-150$ range, but do they work? yep. So that's what people get.

Printers fell into that zone long, long ago, when people stopped getting excited about "desktop publishing". So with printers shoved into the "make them as cheap as possible" zone, they have gotten exponentially shittier. Can you cut costs by 5$ a printer by making them jam more often? good. make them only last a couple years to save a buck or two per unit? absolutely. Can you make the printer cost 10$ less and make that back on the proprietary ink cartridges? oh, they've been doing that since Billy Clinton was in office.

It's the same place floppy disks were in in about 2000. CD-burners were not yet cheap enough, USB flash drives didn't exist yet (but were coming), modems weren't fast enough yet to copy stuff over the internet, superfloppies hadn't taken over like some hoped, and memory cards were too expensive and not everyone had a drive for them. So we still needed floppy disks, but at the same time this was a technology that hadn't changed in nearly 20 years. So people were tired of paying out the nose for them... the only solution? cut corners. I have floppy disks from 1984 that read perfectly, but a shrinkwrapped box of disks from 1999 will have over half the disks failed. They cut corners on the material quality, the QA process, the cleaning cloth inside the disk, everything they could. And the disks were shit as a result.

So, printers are in that particular note of the death-spiral where they've reached the point of "no one likes or cares about this technology, but it's still required so it's gone to shit". That's why they are so annoying, so unreliable, so fucking crap.

So, here's the good news:

You can still buy a better printer, and it will work far better. Laser printers still exist, and LED printers work the same way but even cheaper. They're still more expensive than inkjets (especially if you need color), but if you have to print stuff, they're a godsend. Way more reliable.

This is not a stable equilibrium. Printers cannot limp along in this terrible state forever. You know why I brought up floppy disk there? (besides the fact I'm a giant floppy disk nerd) because floppy disks GOT REPLACED. Have you used one this decade? CD-Rs and USB drives and internet sharing came along and ate the lunch of floppy disks, so much so that it's been over a decade since any more have been made. The same will happen to (inkjet) printers, eventually. This kind of clearly-broken situation cannot hold. It'll push people to go paperless, for companies to build cheaper alternatives to take over from the inkjets, or someone will come up with a new, more reliable printer based on some new technology that's now cheap enough to use in printers. Yeah, it sucks right now, but it can't last.

So, in conclusion: Printers suck, but this is both an innate problem caused by them having to deal with so much fucking Real World, and a local minimum of reliability that we're currently stuck in. Eventually we'll get out of this valley on the graph and printers will bother people a lot less.

Random fun facts about printing of the past and their local minimums:

in the hot metal type era, not only would the whole printing process expose you to lead, the most common method of printing text was the linotype, which could go wrong in a very fun way: if the next for a line wasn't properly justified (filling out the whole row), it could "squirt", and lead would escape through gaps in the type matrix. This would result in molten lead squirting out of the machine, possibly onto the operator. Anecdotally, linotype operators would sometimes recognize each other on the street because of the telltale spots on their forearms where they had white splotches where no hair grew, because they got bad lead burns. This type of printing remained in use until the 80s.

Another fun type of now-retired printers are drum printers, a type of line printer. These work something like a typewriter or dot-matrix printer, except the elements extend across the entire width of the paper. So instead of printing a character at time by smacking it into the paper, the whole line got smacked nearly at once. The problem is that if the paper jammed and the printer continued to try to print, that line of the paper would be repeatedly struck at high speed, creating a lot of heat. This worry created the now-infamous Linux error: "lp0 on fire". This was displayed when the error signals from a parallel printer didn't make sense... and it was a real worry. A high speed printer could definitely set the paper on fire, though this was rare.

So... one thing to be grateful about current shitty inkjet printers: they are very unlikely to burn anything, especially you.

(because before they could do that they'd have to work, at least a little, first, and that's very unlikely)

[loverboybitch]

from the Seditionaries collection book by Hiroshi Fujiwara and Jun Takahashi, scans via archivepdf.net.//.

[canonkiller]

I don't want to beg but it's so bad rn. explaining below the break because it's a Lot but if you have the means I would really appreciate the support

Make a one time donation on Ko-fi

Subscribe monthly for WIPs, bases, and other art rewards on Ko-fi

Buy bases and other resources in my Ko-fi shop (there are also freebies you can test out!)

Buy pre-made designs / adoptables listed for sale on Toyhouse

Buy prints, merch, stickers and other physical goods on Redbubble

Buy prints on INPRNT

E-mail me to discuss commission ideas for when I open slots next

thank you so much for your time and patience with me, it goes beyond words.

not to get right into it but I am going to fucking die here as things stand I shan't lie

the teeth I need out or repaired are going to cost thousands. the implants to replace the ones already out are $1500 to start and it's only going to go up from there. magnet therapy to try and get my brain to accept that food and medication aren't evil poisons are more thousands, before the daily transportation costs. medication, supplements, and most of the testing I need done isn't covered in Canada, same with pretty much anything about my vision. subsidized housing is $800+ for accessible units after a 7-14 year minimum wait, and the last unit that changed ownership in my area did so in 2020. rent without social support is currently hovering around $3k for anything that isn't a single bedroom at the end of a flight of stairs.

I know there is so much going on in the world right now and I already feel like I ask for a lot. but I'm disabled, blind and a wheelchair user, on government disability benefits that don't even begin to cover any of this, living in the upstairs corner of a house I'm not physically able or permitted to use because my family simply doesn't fucking like me, and despite it all I still desperately want to fucking live. I've applied for housing, transportation services and other government programs that have basically all ghosted me or left me in perpetual waiting list limbo. the coverage u try to get takes months to process, if it ever does, and it's scraps. I'm really trying to not lose my mind about all of this but this cycle of bearing it until it breaks me is getting shorter and shorter and I can barely walk without my heart trying to give out now. I'm really scared, honestly, and I don't even have the energy to feel it as fear. I just don't know how to make it out of this okay.

[catbatart]

20% OFF ETSY SALE!

YO GUYS!

So I made an update not too long ago about our sweet orange boy Phoebus. He has lymphoma and was doing really poorly last month, but we're trying an alternate chemo to get us some more time with him.

He IS doing better, but his treatment has been expensive. On top of the chemo, he has 6 different medications. We also have to take care of Obi's seizure meds as well.

We're making it work, but it is taxing. SO! I'm doing a full etsy shop sale to hopefully mitigate some of the costs! Everything is 20% off! This covers everything- prints, minis, coloring books, mousepads, etc.

If you're more interested in tipping, check out my Ko-fi! I have several PWYW coloring pages, as well as simple donation options if you'd prefer.

Thank you guys so much for your patience with my slow art output these past several months. <3

[miguelhugger2099]

Punk!Miguel who’s proud of his tattoos. At least most of them. He has some professionally done and others were stick and pokes from when him and Gabriel were younger.

Punk!Miguel who watches you with a smile when you touch up and down his arm. He hides the shivers down his spine when your perfectly manicured pink and green nails rake across the art decorated on him.

“What’s this one?” You poke at a terrible done smiley face, it was a little blobbed but barely noticeable with the much nicer ones done around it.

“One of the first tries my brother did on me when he was starting out.”

“And you kept it?” You tilt your head with a scrunch of your nose. Miguel laughs.

“Sentimental value.”

You scoff. “No way.”

“Yeah, way.” He takes your hands and pulls you closer, lugging you forward onto his lap where you belonged. Getting yourself comfortable you placed your hands on his chest.

“Are you just gonna have them on your arms?” You ask, tugging down his shirt for a peek at any new ones. Miguel smirks and stops your peeking by tsking and shaking his head—a knowing look on his face.

“Course not but tattoos cost money, babe.”

“You should get one of me.” You pout your lips, crossing your arms that makes you seem snobbish.

“What? Like get one of your face?” He laughs and leans back on his hands.

“No! Like—I dunno! Something sentimental about…me?” You look away, feeling the prickling embarrassment crawling up your neck. “Never mind!”

“Oh, so you want to be on my body, huh?” He teases, taking your hand and sliding it under his tank top to feel his warm stomach, faint dips of abs.

“You know what I mean!” You whine, feeling frozen with him holding your hand in place. He can’t help but find you adorable. Letting go of your hand to come around your waist as he leans up again, one hand coming down to cup your ass. He swallows your squeak with a kiss, unable to stop himself from biting into your sweetness.

Punk!Miguel who—even if he teased you about it—actually adored the idea of having a tattoo of you on him.

Punk!Miguel who thought day and night of what could represent you. Flowers he felt was done often, your name was cute but basic and anything else could very well be mistaken for something else. He wanted something that was obviously you.

Punk!Miguel who was rearranging his room again, bustling through various boxes for some spring cleaning.

Punk!Miguel who found his box of memories from when you two first began dating. It had been filled with all your gifts and letters you’d given him—every last piece saved securely in the corner of his room.

He smiles as he opens the box up again. Some pieces of papers falling out and the little broken keychain you got to match with him until it snapped when he accidentally sat on it.

He sits at his desk, flipping through the pages and tiny plushies you’ve given him. His heart swelling at the swirls in your writing with blue ink—the bunny pen you always wrote with.

The smile on his face continues as he reads through your words of love for him—words that you often found too difficult to say. He slams his forehead on the desk, blush coating his cheeks and ears while he groans loudly.

Each letter you’d given him ended with a print of your kiss mark at the very bottom. Some of it was a matte red, others was a faint glitter stain, but most of it was a soft pinkish color. The kind that was glossy and gave you just enough color that it looked tinted and natural.

His finger grazes the mark, an idea popping in his head.

Punk!Miguel who goes to a tattoo shop he was very well acquainted with, with an artist he knew extra well.

He slams his arm on the counter where a man was behind it, sucking on a lollipop and doodling in his sketchbook. The guy raises an annoyed brow.

“Do you have any space open for a walk-in client?” Miguel asks with a smirk.

“I don’t have space for annoying ones.” He sighs and puts his drawing pad away.

“I have money this time, Gabri. Plus, family discount.”

Punk!Miguel who is both afraid and excited to show you what he’s done to himself. He feels his heart hammering while he preps himself to show you. He’d done the aftercare as precisely as possible, taking extra care of it because this was no ordinary tattoo.

Punk!Miguel that lets you take off his shirt when he tells you he’s gotten a tattoo of you.

Punk!Miguel who smiles with amusement when you gasp and hit his arm that you were joking before! That tattooing is a permanent thing! He tells you that he knows.

His heart stills when you eyes land on his chest. On his left side, where his heart would be was your kiss mark. Just like the ones you left on the letters you used to give him.

You touch your lips subconsciously, your other set of fingers hovering over his lifted skin. You look up for permission and he nods, brining himself closer.

You marvel at the piece of work that replicated your lips. “Oh, Miguel…” You sigh, blinking back tears.

“Are you getting emotional?”

“No!”

He brings you to his chest in a tight hug, your hand still resting beside your kiss mark now permanently etched on his person—a permanent reminder that he is yours and that he loves you.

[livelongandpinup]

Live Long and Pinup Kirk and Spock Calendars For Sale!!!

Back in May, our mods dreamed of someday seeing Kirk and Spock in pinup model poses. Wouldn't it be fun, we thought, if we made a classic Pinup Calendar with our beloved Space Husbands?

The response from fan artists was incredible! Our original idea of a single 12 month calendar filled up in one hectic day. We bumped it up to an 18 month calendar - and that not only filled up but left us with a waiting list. So we decided to make two 18-month calendars, one each for Spock and Kirk. We had to close submissions after 48 hours because we were once more full.

After months of work by over 30 artists, we proudly announce that the Live Long and Pinup 2025-2025 18 month calendars are for sale!

These are real, printed Spirk pinup calendars you too could put in your home or gift to a nerdy friend!

They're chock full of original Pinup themed art by nearly three dozen fan artists.

Click here for Kirk

Click here for Spock

We chose Lulu.com because

They let us set the price AT COST; we are a literal non-profit project! No mod will ever touch your money.

They ship internationally

They have good reviews by other users

The final result is surprisingly affordable!

If you can find a seasonal Lulu discount code, use it! We're making $0, so it has zero impact on us.

The shipping dates say 10 business days, but our trial calendars came in much earlier! The closer we get to Christmas, the more accurate that 10 day estimate will be, so keep that in mind if you want to give one as a gift.

Because this is Print on Demand, there is no worry about running out. If you covet one for yourself but can’t afford to buy one until January or February, don’t worry. The Lulu shop will still be there.

From December 1-18, we'll post two fics a day inspired by the incredible Pinup themed fanart.

January here is the raciest page in the entire set. There is no full frontal nudity (though there are a few butts) and no graphic depictions of sex. In the spirit of Pinups, there are plenty of sultry poses (think rated M on AO3).

The mod team is so incredibly proud of our hard working artists and writers. It's a joy seeing something we all made together become a real, physical object you can hold.

We invite you to share in the fun with us, both with the printed calendars and the upcoming three dozen fresh new fics!

[imm0rtal-idi0t]

Official Merlin Books - Details!

Here's all the details for the official Merlin BBC books, for anyone wanting to collect them!

They have been out of print for a long time, so you'll need to find these second hand. I found mine through ebay, abes books, thrift books, world of books, biblio and facebook marketplace.

Make sure you shop around to get the best price, and try to get from the same seller to save on shipping.

There are a few extra rare ones that cost a lot more or took a much longer time to find. From memory, these were Lancelot and Guinevere, The Last Dragonlord, The Death of Arthur and The Nightmare Begins.

There are 6 paperbacks and 10 hardcovers. The paperbacks are for 'younger readers' and have cute illustrations inside. The hardcovers are for 'older readers'. Both are written really well and are worth collecting in my opinion.

The books span the first two seasons of the series, and unfortunately weren't continued beyond this point. The paperbacks cover x2 episodes in each book, and the hardcovers are dedicated to one episode (as titled). If you can't collect them all, consider buying just your favourite eps :)

Tip - Caring for your used books

You can use sandpaper to gently sand your page edges and remove foxing and discoloration. A glue eraser / peppermint oil with cotton round will remove any stickers and residue from your covers. You can wipe down your covers with isopropyl alcohol to remove dirt and freshen them up.

PAPERBACKS

The Adventures of Merlin: The Magic Begins ISBN10: 0553821113

The Adventures of Merlin: Potions and Poison ISBN10: 0553821121

The Adventures of Merlin: A Fighting Chance ISBN10: 0553825011

The Adventures of Merlin: Sword and Sorcery ISBN10: 055382502X

The Adventures of Merlin: Dangerous Quests ISBN10: 0553822055

The Adventures of Merlin: The Sorcerer's Curse ISBN10: 0553822071

HARDCOVERS

The Adventures of Merlin: The Dragons Call ISBN10: 0553821091

The Adventures of Merlin: Valiant ISBN10: 0553821105

The Adventures of Merlin: The Mark of Nimueh ISBN10: 0553821148

The Adventures of Merlin: The Poisoned Chalice ISBN10: 0553821156

The Adventures of Merlin: The Labyrinth of Gedref ISBN10: 0553822101

The Adventures of Merlin: The Death of Arthur ISBN10: 0553822063

The Adventures of Merlin: The Nightmare Begins ISBN10: 0553822047

The Adventures of Merlin: Lancelot and Guinevere ISBN10: 055382211X

The Adventures of Merlin: The Last Dragonlord ISBN10: 0553822195

The Adventures of Merlin: The Traitor Within ISBN10: 0553822217

[neytui]

I thought I could do some free to use icons for achieving 2000 followers the other day!

Tho as I were doing them I realized they look better as stickers... So I decided to upload them to my redbubble so you'all can get them if you wish :)

Of course there's some cost of production there but it's really cheap I think. But for people who dont know, creators don't really get much profit from the sales, so if you wish to support me I would really appreciate a tip on my kofi! Thank you so much guys again ❤

(If you want to print them yourself that's also good, just let me look at them if you do! but a tip it's always apprecieted...)

[custom-emojis]

Well! Just when you think things can’t get worse huh….

While I’ve been trying to get money for my boyfriends arrival and wasn’t trying to take donations— our utility bill has gone up Again and I am at my wits end as I literally can’t even afford my phone bill let alone the rest of the bills and food money. I really don’t know how the hell im expected to survive to live in this economy … I’m currently trying to get on disability but it costs money I don’t have to fill the forms out so… ugh.

So if you’d like to support a queer disabled artist survive this month— you can check out my KOFI SHOP or COMMISSIONS (both of which have a 21% off sale going rn. Use code SETH for the shop and SETH21 For the commissions)

Otherwise you can donate to my PayPal @ paradoxproductions (or just use my kofi to pay with Apple Pay and other methods) and cash app is $137islands

I’m fully willing to work for $$ creating art , stickers, prints or whatever you like. I just need to be able to get enough to pay my bills. I don’t have a set goal amount because I feel like my bills are too high to expect them all to get paid by donations— but for transparency my utility is ~ $280 and my electricity is ~$110 and my phone bill is ~ $28 which are the most pressing issues, so truly anything helps. Thank you so much for understanding and any reblogs to spread the word would be appreciated

[littleststarfighter]

Kylux art book by Littleststarfighter

Is again a go.

It’s now available for order at my Big Cartel

Bigcartel LINK ♥

This is a fanbook I put together of my Kylux art from the past few years.

It's going to be £25. I’m really sorry to have had to put the price up, but printing costs have gone up since I last had it on order. The size of the artbook is A5 (148x210mm) with Perfect bound binding. Printed on 150g silk paper, with a 300g gloss cover. And has 48 pages of full colour illustrations. 

🚨🚨IMPORTANT STUFF🚨🚨

This isn't a pre order like last time. I will print the books to demand so it will always be in stock. Because it's printing to demand the print time will probably be 2 weeks so please wait that time before I send. Of course if there's a problem never hesitate to get in touch with me here or on BC. I’ll try my best to answer everything and fix any problems if I can. I will try to get everything shipped out quickly. But, please realise I’m posting these individually, and will have to fill out customs on anything outside the UK, so it’ll take me a while. 

I do not ship to Russia, Ukraine or any country listed as ‘on suspension’ on this list https://business.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5317/~/international-incidents-update I will cancel any from those countries due to the Royal mail being unable to send to them. I’m really sorry about that.

After all that ramble I really hope that all goes well, and thank you as always for the support. I’m hoping soon to add more to my shop like stickers and pins so any suggestions for what you'd like to see from me is always welcome.

Much love, Lucy ♥

[thebibliosphere]

I saw your post about ingram, and out of curiosity, is there some advantage to going through the whole self-publishing thing with retailers when you're just starting out? like I mean the way that fandom zines work is that they don't even bother going through ingram or amazon or whatever. they just set up a social media site (usually twitter) to gain followers, open preorders (usually 1-2 months in length) to generate the costs of printing upfront, and then sell anywhere from a few dozen to several hundred copies of their books (usually artbooks, but anthologies exist too). I've seen some zines generate over a thousand orders. they're kind of like pop-up shops, except for books. maybe the sales numbers aren't so impressive to a real author, but the profit generated is typically waaaay more than the $75+ apparently needed for Ingram Spark, so I still feel like new authors could benefit from this method too, especially if they just need some start-up cash to eventually move to ingram if they want to for subsequent runs of their book. I think authors would also have to set aside some of the pre-order money to buy an ISBN number to have printed on their book, and I'm not really sure what other differences there are, but I just wanted to ask about it in case there's some huge disadvantage I'm missing!

So, popup zines work well for some people, and I know some authors who kickstart their work successfully. But for a lot, it's just not feasible as a long-term stratedy. Or even as a means to get off the ground.

Fanzines succeed primarily because an existing fanbase is willing and ready to throw money at something they love. They’ve got a favorite writer or artist they want to support. Supporting all the others is just a happy by-product. They also take a HUGE amount of short-term but intense planning that just doesn’t always jive with how some of us work.

I, for one, would never offer to organize a fanzine. I’ll take part in them as a creator, but I’d rather throw myself off a cliff than subject myself to wrangling that many people and dealing with the legal logistics.

When it comes to authors doing anthologies, it'svery much the same. The success of the funding often hinges on having other big-name authors involved whose existing fans will prop up the project. Or having a huge marketing budget.

Most self-pub authors have zero marketing budget. I’m one of them, and I’m under no illusions that my work would not be as popular and self-sustaining as it is if I didn’t have a large Tumblr blog.

When I thank Tumblr in my forewards, I am utterly sincere. Tumblr brought fandom levels of enthusiasm to an unknown work and broke the Amazon algorithm so hard, that Amazon thought I was bot sniping my way to multiple #1 spots and froze my sales rankings.

That’s not the norm. And while I could probably kickstart my own work as an indie creator, that’s because I’ve put literal decades into building up a readership. I’ve been doing this since I was 16 and realized people thought I was funny. I didn’t know what to do with it or if I’d ever actually write anything, but it meant the groundwork was already there (thank you, past-me). I basically fell upward into my success by virtue of never being able to shut the fuck up and wanting to make people laugh. Clown instincts too strong.

New or first-time authors trying to sell their work without that will find it infinitely harder.

All of that aside, even if an unknown author somehow gets lucky and manages to fund their work, there’s still the question of shipping and distribution logistics. Are you shipping everything yourself? Better hope you’re able-bodied and have the time for it. (for reference, it took me months to ship out 300 patreon hardbacks because of my disabilites. It damaged my back and hands. I couldn’t type for several weeks after I was done.)

Are you going to sell primarily at conventions? Better hope you’re able-bodied, have the time and don’t have cripling anxiety about being in large groups...

Also, will selling a dozen to a few thousand copies in one burst be sustainable in the long run as a career? Not for me. Doing things via Ingram and Amazon means I earn a steady trickle of sales for the rest of my life provided the platforms remain and so long as I keep working and can generate interest in the series, not just when I have funds to pay for physical copies to sell. The one-time (in theory) cost of $75 to distribute through Ingram gets paid off pretty quick that way. And it doesn't require the same logistics as doing the popup/crowdfund.

Ultimately, it comes down to what you are capable of but also the type of work you’re doing. If you’ve got an extended network of fellow creatives who will back you or you’ve got a large following elsewhere, doing it like a popup might work for you.

If you’re an exhausted burnout who can’t fathom the short but intense amount of organization that sort of thing requires, not to mention doing it over and over and over... Ehhhhh. No thank you.

[dookins]

Ladies and Gentlemen, Gays and Theys,

He's Finally Here....

DAKIMAKURA COWBOY P03

God part of me can't believe I did this... Welp, I guess this is my life now! So uh, yeah! Coming to my Etsy Shop, a SUPER LIMITED RUN of a Bounty Hunter P03 Pillowcase! 50x150cm or 19.6x59inches with 2 Way Tricot Fabric!

One side sultry, one side smug!

Originally I wanted to make the other side a different P03 entirely but I ran outta time. If this one does well though, who knows, maybe I'll make it? ONLY SIX HAVE BEEN ORDERED So as soon the release date hits, it's a first come first serve deal. When that is, Mid October or Early November if everything goes off without a hitch. As for how much, just the pillowcases and shipping cost me $137, so I still need some time to think about it. My 'manager' wants to make sure the cost pays for itself before half, so... probably $60-$80 ball park. I know I know that's kinda expensive, but it's because I didn't wanna get the smaller size. I know that if I had a character body pillow, I'd like it close to 'actual size' as I can be. I hope it's been worth the wait!

As a side note, my older P03 merch is dwindling down. The only prints I have remaining for cowboy P03 have white siding, or slightly bent corners due to bad cuts during production and poor containment during delivery. So I cut the the price in half. It sorta adds to the grunginess of the image, so it's not terrible. But I can't in good conscious sell those at full price.

Also Pokemon stickers are now available too! And they're HUGE!!

More to come later in the week. A new addition to The Cozy Ferret, and introducing some merch of a popular Inscryption artist you might know about ;) Until than! Thank ya kindly for listenin!!! <3