#and the pay was commission and based on how much you sell which is like

[cozypups]

my everything hurts, i am home and showered and just finished eating.............. and i was dreading tomorrow because i had a second interview for this like, sketchy at&t job but my mom luckily came in clutch and said it didn't sit well with her and so now i don't have to go and i can relax thankfully hrhrhgh

[not-terezi-pyrope]

Recently saw someone chastising a friend on their commission post complaining about them charging too little, and how doing so is an insult to the value of artists' work, when said friend is struggling to make ends meet while living in a 3rd world country.

I have pretty much always taken issue with that talking point, which gets around a lot. Not "artists should value their work and charge their worth" but specifically "if you are 'undercharging' by my standards then you are hurting other artists by being too good at being competition".

Individual artists are not to blame for the economy, and this mindset fails to take into account pretty basic economic concepts like "different countries have different cost values for goods and services and sometimes someone is selling their work from somewhere that is not the US" and "capitalism is in fact a violent coercive force that pressures people to set their prices based on the state of the market vs their own desperation and need".

"Don't you dare charge so little for your work, third world artist, because other artists who are privileged to be able to charge more might lose work for it" feels like an incredibly entitled worldview. The discourse around the value of art-as-labour is genuinely so toxic sometimes, to the point of hurt its own.

Anyway, if somebody wanted to pay my friend $1000 to do a three second animation then please go ahead and do it, unfortunately I cannot afford to but if you can then it'd be more than worth that amount. But I sure bet nobody complaining in that thread is going to do it.

[elumish]

I talk about what writers should do a lot, so now I'm going to take a break and talk about some reforms that I think agents should make.

A caveat: I am not an agent! Unlike when I talk about writing, I am just talking about this as an author who happens to be in the midst of querying. If I have an followers who are agents who think I'm getting something wrong, please let me know!

That said, here I go:

Trad publishing is, fundamentally, about getting past a whole bunch of layers of gatekeepers, and agents are the first gatekeepers. With some very limited exceptions, you can't be trad published without having an agent. From what I can tell, being an agent is a bit of a thankless job--it's based on commission, so an agent only gets money if they are selling their clients' books. (Remember: the money flows towards the writer. If someone claiming to be an agent is telling you that you need to pay them to represent you, run.)

Because of this structure, agents have a massive amount of power over unagented authors, particularly because unagented authors simply do not have another option if they want to trad publish. It is my opinion that that power dynamic is part of the reason why querying actually sucks so unbelievably much for authors.

Now, part of why querying sucks is that it's a numbers game, which means that most of us will lose. Every writer is competing against a gazillion other writers, some of whom are better or writing things that are seen as more sellable or happen to be eariler or whatever. You are going to get a bunch of rejections, and that's not the fault of agents.

But here's the other problem:

There are, from what I can tell, no true industry standards and somewhat limited professional expectations for agents when it comes to how to deal with querying. Again, this is what it looks like from the outside--agents, if I'm getting this wrong, please let me know.

For example, many agencies and many agents will have different rules about what you can submit to them and how, and in many cases those rules are in somewhat arbitrary places, which means that querying authors have to hunt for them, and it's easy to run afoul of them even when you're trying. It's common for some agencies to say that you can't query two agents from the same agency at the same time, but some say that you can't query two agents from them ever--a rejection from one is a rejection from all.

But most agents' Twitter bios/MSWL pages/personal pages/etc. don't say that--which means that authors need to hunt through every individual agency's webpage and then cross-reference against every agent that they have ever queried previously, which can be arduous when many people are querying dozens or hundreds of agents. It also means needing to keep track of things like when agents switch agencies.

There are also no standard expectations for agents to actually respond to queries in any sort of time span, or at all, which complicates the above issue even more. But it also is just (imho) kind of unprofessional to ghost people who are seeking a professional relationship with you, when you have explicitly asked them to reach out to you seeking that professional relationship.

And to make that worse, many agents don't say whether or not they respond to all queries, meaning that authors are often left wondering if a 6-month or longer wait is a "no" or an "I haven't gotten to this yet but will definitely respond to you."

There are more issues that I could cite, but my overall point in this is that authors have no recourse here. There's not authors' union, no way to go on strike until agents change what they're doing.

And some agents are really awesome about this! But enough are not, and authors don't really know what they're going to get when they query someone.

So all of this is to say that, if you are an agent, here are some fairly easy changes I would love for you to make to your own behavior to make querying a little bit less of a nightmarish hellscape for authors (and thank you so much if you already do some or all of these):

Respond to every query that you receive

Tell people your general response times and be communicative if that changes. It's okay if it regularly takes you six months! Just tell us it regularly takes you six months, so we're not left wondering if we've been ghosted at four months

Outline all submission guidelines on Query Manager or where you accept queries, including things like a) rules about whether a rejection from one is a rejection from all, b) length expectations for things like synopses (I've seen a range), and c) any other expectations you have (e.g., you require trigger warnings). Don't make people hunt through 2-4 websites to find what you want

Stop asking or at least strongly rethink how you ask about Own Voices or why an author feels like they are qualified to write about a marginalized identity--I understand the impulse, but nobody should be expected to disclose medical or other personal information like that in a professional setting

Also, just to say (other than please don't reject my query because of this post), agents: authors really do appreciate the work you all do. I want someone to work with to get published, because I am very well aware that I am not the expert in this situation.

And again, please tell me if I got anything wrong or misrepresented anything.

[thegothicalice]

Do you ever find yourself getting discouraged as an artist? I really want to make a sell a lot of art but I feel like I get discouraged quite a bit and worry anything I make isn’t going to be good enough.

By this point, not as much— tattooing for getting close to nine years has taught me to draw on command a lot, in addition to all the other art stuff I do because I can’t not create things— but being an artist comes with a bunch of imposter syndrome tendencies? I do art every day and accept that I’m good but always have room to improve and grow and learn, which will result in fuck-ups or even what feels like backslides. Sometimes I’m overthinking or wanting something specific and can’t quite puzzle out that gap between the technical knowledge and practical application and am convinced it’s a failing until I push through the block either by blind luck or many years of learned skill. The hardest thing’s always that your audience will never take the same thing from what you make as what you might intend, because taste is totally subjective. I think when it comes to selling your art there’s this discrepancy between your feelings and your potential buyers that you just kind of have to accept (I don’t know exactly how to word what I mean, hopefully this isn’t wrong). I’m always making stuff and tattooing is the bill-paying thing I know easily how to charge for but the big reason I rarely do commissions for other art is I don’t know how to price it.

I have a bunch of paintings in my space at work and each has prices based on one of three things— the “I like it but am willing to part with it for $$$” and the “I’m neutral on it and I’ve known it’s $$ since I finished it” to the “I’m tired at looking at it, it’s $ so get it away from me”— or even the “I’m gifting you this because I have three dozen pieces in my house and I want someone to love it more than I’m blind to it.”

I guess that last bit is the most relevant (since this is a ramble that’s possibly missed answering you correctly) because I make stuff that I’m not as pleased with compared to what I planned in my head, but someone will love it in a way that I never will and you just have to hope that that piece ends up with the right person. Best you can do is keep creating because making things, even when it’s hard or it’s not going how you planned, is good for you, and sharing it with others is worth it.

[cozywriter]

After two coffees and several breakdowns, I finally have my BVZ OC!

And because I don’t want to torture you guys with my horrid handwriting, all her info is typed here!

FULL NAME: “Yume Fujiwara”

PREFERRED NAME: “Yume”

NICKNAMES: “Yu” and “Mei Mei”

TITLES AND ALIASES: “The Book Keeper” and “Ms. Dazai”

PRONOUNS: She/Her

CHRONOLOGICAL AGE: 10 Years Old

MENTAL AGE: 24 Years Old

GENDER: Female

SEXUALITY: Asexual

RACE: Poppet

Poppets are mechanical dolls that are designed and manufactured by Puppeteers — people who are licensed to design and create Poppets — who are commissioned by clients to create them for any purpose. Because of this, Poppets can pretty much look, act and sound like anything. However, a dead giveaway are their ball-joints located behind their elbows, wrists, fingers, where their pelvis meets their thighs, behind their knees, ankles and toes. As creations, a Poppet’s personality depends on their programming, however in extremely rare cases, Poppets have been known to break from their pre-programmed self and become sentient. In simpler terms, although extremely unlikely, it is possible for a Poppet to become their own person despite their former programming

ORIGIN: Victoria

BIRTHDAY: Unknown

OCCUPATION: Informant/Bounty Hunter

HEIGHT: 5’1”

WEIGHT: 153 lbs

PERSONALITY: Adventurous, Loyal, Optimistic, Kind, Empathetic, Stubborn at times, Childish, Forgetful and Clumsy

POWERS: Yume has the ability to eject solid steel strings from her fingertips, which she then uses like whips during combat, tools in traversing harsh terrain and sometimes uses them to pick locks when necessary. When she’s especially irritated, she uses her strings to control her opponent by wrapping them around their wrists, knees and feet and make them off themselves. However at the same time, she also uses them to assist in her everyday life, such as using them to grab objects from across the room. All in all, her ability is very versatile, but their maximum length is only 20 feet long.

BACKSTORY: Commissioned by the Mafia, Yume was designed to be one of the first Poppets the organization would utilize to dispatch their targets or anyone who dared cross one of their own. However, after a failed assassination attempt on a high ranking Government Member of Empirica, the Mafia had left her for dead and resorted to using a protocol that forcibly shut her systems down, resulting in her memory banks being wiped. Two months later, she wakes up in a junkyard of some kind due to a lightning strike kickstarting her once more. With no clue who or what she was, she wandered and wandered until she found Sensei’s Temple, in which she trained and studied under him. She continued living her life never knowing of her past and eventually breaks from her programming and developed as her own person with Sensei’s guidance. Later on, she even comes to think of him as a father of some sorts and develops his taste in literature. Fast forward to five years later and she now owns a quaint bookstore, aptly named “Doll House” and makes a living by selling books, information on anyone people pay her to tail and a few bounties here and there.

EXTRAS:

She often forgets the keys to her bookstore at home, so she resorts to lock picking most of the time

the official time line of events is supposed to go something like this: Mafia (2 Years) -> Training with Sensei (5 Years) -> Opens her bookstore -> (1 Year) -> Starts her Bounty Hunting Career (Onwards)

before she broke from her programming, she was aloof, insensitive and lacked empathy. However, after an incident involving a lone, stray pup and one lengthy talk about responsibility from Sensei, she cried for the first time, mumbling about how it was just missing its mama and wanting a home. So with great hesitancy, Sensei let her keep the pup… Until it ran away the next day and Yume was inconsolable for about a week.

since coming to Sensei’s Temple, he had given her a new name based off of a character in one of his novels. “Yume” meaning “Dream” and “Fujiwara” meaning “Wisteria Field”. Her true name from her time in the Mafia remains unknown.

She dislikes modding her own body despite knowing how to

She does best in melee combat even without her strings.

She has a soft spot for children and baby animals, to the point she almost cries in happiness at anything they do.

She likes anything sweet but dislikes anything sour

on the same note, she prefers cold drinks over hot ones, but dislikes cold meals and prefers when they’re piping hot.

She doesn’t know that Sensei had died

She dislikes the zombie outbreak since they drive away her usual customers, but it has given her the time and opportunity to continue reading her own books, so she’s thankful for it to an extent.

[keirou-kun]

A Little Help Here?

I know a lot of folks in dire need are asking for help right now, and I hesitate to join my voice to the throng, but I could use the assistance.

My name is Kei. I recently made it to the finals of the World Karaoke Championship, which is being held in Las Vegas the second week of November. This is my first time even trying for a contest like this, so to make it this far is a huge deal for me. The trick is that I have to pay my own way in terms of travel, plus room and board. My worst-case-scenario budget is $1500 to cover all of it with a little breathing room.

I'd appreciate it if y'all could toss a little help my way. Donations are very welcome and much appreciated, but! I also make chainmail and would love to sell you some! Some examples of my work are below the cut - to save dashboards everywhere - along with a basic price list, and I am willing to ship internationally, though I apologize in advance for the shipping costs for that. I absolutely take commissions, too, so if you have something specific in mind please reach out to me!

My Paypal is here, but I also have Venmo and a kofi that I keep kicking around. By all means share this post, spread the word. I'm grateful for any assistance I can get!

Price List: Keychain Fidgets: $10 Maille-Men: $10 Earrings: $10+, depending on design Hearts: $15+, depending on design Bracelets: $20+, depending on design and length Lanyards: $25+, depending on length Necklaces: $50+, depending on design and length Pouches: $80+, depending on size and design

Commission Rules: Payment in advance for anything under $40 Over $40, I require 1/2 up-front, 1/2 upon completion with photo evidence Estimated Prices are estimates. I charge for materials and $20/hr labor; if I have not made something before, I can only guess how long it will take me based on past projects and average time needed. Tracking Numbers will be provided for all orders I ship via USPS Shipping: Within the US: $6-10 [weight-dependent] International: $10+ [weight-dependent]

[beanghostprincess]

A lil question: What do you all think about Ko-fi for writers? The writer being obviously me, lmfao.

I've seen quite a huge, huge increase in the amount of asks I get per day, usually with prompts and concepts that, even if they're not for fanfiction technically and anons aren't asking for them, it's quite obvious that they're asking me to give my opinion or to write something based on that. Because you all know I always end up writing fanfics about asks or just a long, long analysis that could end up being a fic. Anyway- The thing is, I gladly do it for free because I absolutely love it and those are not commissions or people actively asking me for fanfics. But I was thinking that if there are so many people interested in my views and writing (apparently you all like my writing and want more, which is, wow, fucking awesome to me) maybe you'd be interested in me opening a Ko-fi?

It would work kind of like this (please, if somebody has more ideas, tell me. I have no idea how these things work and it'd be great if you could help):

Ko-fi for donations and commissions. Simple as that. Because I want to write my own original book and I also keep writing fics. It's a good way for some of you to donate if you ever feel like supporting me and my work. Because, I mean, let's be honest, I need the money. It's not directly paying for a service, just donating to motivate me to keep writing! And then I'd just take commissions of whatever fandom I'm in (or damn, maybe you want me to write something original with a concept of yours!). The commissions would be posted anyway in my AO3 account however, they'd be that, commissions for the people who specifically want me to write something they want. I don't have in mind yet how the prices would go, but you would not pay for a genre of fic, but for the amount of words. Like, you pay an amount of money for 5k-10k words and more money if you want something in between 10k-20k (with obviously a range. Dw, I'll think about it) etc, etc, etc.

I am aware of the whole stigma surrounding fanfic writers profiting off their fics, but I am not selling anything, actually. Ko-fi would be for donations to support me and commissions.

Let me know what you think, please, because when I say I get a ton of asks per day I am not joking and I thought "oh, well, if people like my opinion/writing so much they'd be willing to pay a lil bit for new, specific content". That being said, you can send asks like normal and I will always give my opinion on things and even write fanfics if I like it a lot, but if you truly, really want me to write something for you, I could open commissions.

[sharpth1ng]

hey again!! thank you for answering my ask, and for the clarification! i figured you probably had it all sorted out because you're a grown adult and seem to know your stuff but i still said something anyways just in case haha

i should have been more clear with my original ask but i myself still find all this stuff quite confusing so thats my bad sorry 😞 basically it has nothing to do with the labour of printing or if the company publishes it or not, it’s because fan fiction is already grey area, it’s ok when no one is making money off it. as soon as at any point someone makes any money off it, like these printing companies, or commissioning someone on etsy, or even just going somewhere local to get the pages printed, it now becomes illegal - fanworks infringe on the creator's intellectual property and you need a licencing agreement if it's not public domain etc blah blah blah you get it lol

as soon as the word "pay" comes in, it's illegal - you can't pay for anything, even if you are the one that wrote the fanfic (which fucking sucks). but your merch and stuff is completely fine because the references are based on your original writing, like theyre not gonna be like "how dare you sell this tshirt with a bloody B on it thats illegal!!" bcs that whole thing is entirely unique to your work and has no ties to the original property 👍

but thats just my understanding of it, and the specifications of it can get really confusing!! same thing happens with fanart too, technically you aren't allowed to sell fanart - that's why people often only sell it irl at cons to avoid copyright strikes. but then again there is people selling fanart on redbubble and in fanzines etc so like, i honestly don't know how that side of it works as well?? i think its under a different law since it’s a transformative work maybe...??

its all very confusing i wish clarification was more clear 😭 but you sound like you've looked into it and know what you're doing so thats fantastic, and i'm glad to hear. thank you again for answering so quickly i dont mean to be a bother. ur a talented writer and i loved debaser, keep it up 😊

Yeah no problem! I do appreciate the effort to give a heads up. And like to be fair I’ve done my research but I’m not a copyright lawyer or a legal scholar and the law on this stuff is very confusing to me.

In terms of the fanart stuff my understanding is that it is illegal to sell but for the most part fan Artist are too small for copyright holders to go after, it’s just not really a thing that’s done for the most part. There’s even a number of situations where selling fanart led to those artists being directly employed by the copyright holders. I think it’s very rare for fan artists to get sued for copy right and the only examples I know of are from Disney.

For the most part fanart sold is illegal, but it’s similar to torrenting content where its not really enforced so people do it anyways, and often at a pretty large scale. The stuff on red bubble and in fanzines is also illegal as far as I know, it doesn’t count as transformative.

Honestly I think it’s very unlikely that anyone printing my work would get targeted like that, mostly because this fandom is small and I’m even smaller. I only have a little over 1000 followers here and while that’s more followers than I’ve ever had before in my life it’s pretty much microscopic on the internet. Beyond that there’s less than a handful of printed copies as far as I’m aware.

Honeslty I have a lot of issues with copyright law- obviously it needs to apply to things like generative AI which is essentially a very environmentally damaging collage machine, but in terms of fanart and fanfiction I really don’t see how it could be construed as taking away profit from copyright holders.

People for the most part only read my work because they were already into scream, and a number of people have even told me my work got them to watch scream so if anything I’ve created profit for them. Fandom is the reason these original works have the legacy they do, and fanworks are a massive part of that because you can only consume the original content so many times before you get bored.

Beyond that we wouldn’t have some of our most highly acclaimed cultural works if copyright law had existed hundreds of years ago. Like, Shakespeare would have been fucked.

Alright lmao rant over. Tl;dr I’m doing my best to do this all in a legal way, but it’s good for folks to be aware that there may be an issue with the legality of printing my work even if they aren’t paying me. I think it’s unlikely any of you will face repercussions because this fandom is miniscule but if you’re worried maybe don’t post on Tumblr- but feel free to dm me or post in my discord 👍

[kvothbloodless]

As someone who’s followed you for a long time, and a fellow writer….do you genuinely support chatGPT? Even if it has been proven to scrape people’s writings without their consent? And the fact that its a soulless husk of what actual writing is?

So Ive done my best to avoid AI discourse, but I am bad at it. So to put it clearly.

I dont Support chatgpt specifically. Its a program made by a corporation because they can make a profit from it, and curtail its capabilities in line with their goals. I use it sometimes because its fun ans convenient, but I dont pay for it or anything. I think pretty much all legitimate concerns about AI are really just concerns about corporate ethics, at which point the AI specifically becomes irrelevant

I also dont really think the situation in general is one where "support" is the right word to use; its like asking if I support cameras.

I want to be clear im not trying to be vague though; i think in general AI is pretty cool, and that 99% of the arguments against it are factually incorrect, based on inconsistent or bad moral frameworks, or both. Im not going to get into all the reasons AIs are cool, since I dont feel up to doing a Big AI Post, but I do want to gesture vahuely in the direction of how much more accessible this makes artistic creation and experimentation, and all the insanely fun things people can use AI for. However, i do want to address the common arguments against it, especially since it feels like a lot of people are just misinformed and falling into the very easy tumblr trap.

1. Scraping fics without consent: if you post something on a public site for the public to read, and someone downloads it to read it, its not stealing. Tumblr is generally pretty firmly against strict copywrite laws, so its a bit weird that so many people are Very concerned about AIs "stealing" their work in a way thats even less direct than fanfiction. Like, "your writing is so in character" and "wow youre really good at imitating the authors writing style" are common compliments on fics.

To be clear, there are absolutely ways of interacting with free public content thats bad (like reposting). But AIs arent frankensteining stuff together, or copy pasting anything; they literally could not do that. The training/model files are so insanely tiny compared to the amount of training data that it would be impossible for them to be storing that sort of thing. An AI learning from your writing isnt really any different than a human reading your writing, going "oh I like that" subconsciously, and using that to inform their future writing.

Whats that quote about "to get better at writing, read more"? If you believe that statememt is accurate, then Im a bit confused how youd be upset about an AI "reading" your writing and learning from it?

All of the Actual ways this could be used badly (copying someones art style and then selling art cheaper, etc.) arent actually unique to AI (a person can also do that!), and also usually arent really a thing thats happening enough to be a problem (most people who want art from an artist enough to commission them, are going to want it to actually be done By that artist). Using AI to make an original work, or even to finish a fanfic someone else wrote, is no more theft than if you did it by yourself.

2. "Soulless Husk": im sorry im genuinely trying my best here to be gentle and respectful, but this talking point genuinely makes my blood boil a bit, so im not trying to get personal or insult anyone specifically. Claiming that art made by humans is automatically deeper, that art is all about Meaning and Struggle, comes off as extremely pretentious and just doesnt engage with the reality of art. Im having trouble articulating a good argument here, but like. Art doesnt have to be deep, it doesnt have to have a Message, and the necessity of struggling in order to learn about and create art is an unequivocable bad thing.

Many many people make art (visual, written, etc.) becuase they want to see or read something cool or because they think others will find it fun. Many many people who would like to create art do not do so because it requires talent/practice that they are not willing to put the time and effort into developing, and this is not a moral issue. As Ive said before, laziness is a virtue and self-indulgance is a goal we should aspire to. Using a tool to make the incredibly fun act of creating easier and more accessible is awesome.

Also, who gets to define what "actual art" is? Genuinely seems a bit arrogant and presumptuous to declare that something is or is not "actual art" based on your own preferences.

The posts that Really annoy me are the ones that are like "cant understand the people RPing or playing a TTRPG with AI becuz its soulless. I only ever RP with other people because the fun part is being social or collaberatively building story" or whatever. Cool. I rp and play tabletops because i like to have fun and I enjoy those activities. Im gonna be honest, i find it a bit offensive and kinda.. dumb, to act like its somehow morally superior to only enjoy oneself in a way that Builds Community or Has A Meaning. People do meaningless things because they enjoy doing them and so long as no one is being hurt, thats fine.

3. Replacing workers: This is the only argument that has Any weight, but its still a bad argument. Its absolutrly true that AI is gonna put people out of work. The fact that more people will be out of work and struggling is a bad thing. This is also what happens when literally any new technology is developed, dating all the way back to the industrial revolution (at the Very latest). Automation is almost always a massive net benefit to humanity (im aware this topic could be its own series of posts but You Know What I Mean, please dont start industrialization discourse here), and the fact that it puts people out of work isnt actually an argument against it. Lots of radio operators lost their job when telephones were invented, but that doesnt mean people should have never used the telephone and obstinately stuck with radios. When phone technology advanced, a lot of phone operators lost their jobs, but that doesnt mean people were Morally Wrong to use the new developments that made phones far more convenient.

As in all things, el problema es capitalismo; AI isnt preventing anyone from doing art, its just reducing how many people can get paid to do their art. The correct solution to automation putting people out of work is not to stop the wheel of tech development, but to change society so that one doesnt have to slave away in order to survive.

This also raises the adjacent point, which is that halting tech development like this is impossible. Once the cat is out of the bag, its not going back in. AI tech is going to develop and become more widespread and theres literally nothing you can do to stop that. If you want to be upset about that, its your perogative ig, but im gonna be excitedly waiting for the dam to break and we get an open source LLM that I can use without worrying about data privacy or corporate filters, so I can have fun and RP however much I want and finally be able to write the stuff I want to write but cant do on my own because I have adhd and chronic fatigue, and Id kinda prefer if people stopped trying to rain on my parade because they think im not having fun or creating art in the "right way".

EDIT: I did want to add one more thing! A US court ruled that you cant copywrite something created completely by an AI, and i think thats an awesome move and I hope it gets expanded a bit and spreads elsewhere. This isnt a position based on whether something produced in this way counts as "real art" or is morally bad or whatever, I just think that reducing corporate and IP grasp on anything is good, and that AI specifically is going to be most enjoyable when its free and open source.

[janedoewrites]

I want to publish a book someday, but I'm not sure where to start. What was your experience like publishing The Heart of the World? How did you format it for printing? Did you have to hire someone? How did you find a cover artist? Was it expensive?

I bought the hardcover as soon as I could. I love the story, and I loved the story in its fanfic form, too.

I hope one day to be as good of a writer as you.

(P.s. Have you considered selling signed copies?)

The Heart of the World by me (@janedoewrites)

Thank you, anon! Glad you like the book and the original fic! I always love to hear from people who've a) read it b) enjoyed it. Always nice to know it's not just me.

And I'm sure you'll get there if you're not there already. I didn't start out nearly as good as I am today, it just takes time and practice.

As for the publishing stuff most of this is discussed here.

Publishing, Was it Expensive, How You Do?

Self-publishing was very simple, stupid simple really. Hardest part is writing and editing and then, if you're trying to make decent money/a living, marketing which is the hardest of all.

Now for your questions.

There are word document templates you can use that have the specifications required for print books (both hard and soft). This is what I used for the print versions. For the electronic version I used software to render it as an e-pub and make sure the chapter titles and sections were all correct. This software is freely available and is easy to use/has tutorials.

I had friends help edit the book through various drafts and didn't have to hire anyone for editing. However, hiring a professional is absolutely something you could do, but I have no experience in how much that would cost.

I was lucky for cover artists in that @sunnyfish0-0, who is amazing and a great artist, volunteered because they were a fan of the fic series and were very excited about the story. They also wanted a chance to add something like this to their portfolio. They were very kind in that, so long as they retained copyright of the image (this is very normal/should be the case, as you as the author are then granted use of the image but don't own it) and were able to use it in their portfolio, I was not charged. I'm still so happy about it, because it turned out absolutely fantastic and really captured the vibe of the story.

If it hadn't been for that, I probably would have drawn the cover myself (and it wouldn't have been nearly as good and would likely have been quite different). To create the cover, there are specifications of the exact dimensions the cover requires based on the number of pages in the book/the paper being used/the size of the page. For Amazon, what I went through for hard printing, these dimensions and templates were provided to me.

There are also tools that can help you generate covers from stock images for free as well.

If you want to hire an artist, there are artists all around on tumblr who will do so for commission. See if they're accepting commissions, see what their pricing is, look at their style and see if it matches what you're looking for, then talk to them about the project. I've seen artists saying that sometimes they get manuscripts, sometimes they don't and are just told "vibes of the story/main trends/themes and things that are important to portray". Prices will vary based on the experience of the artist, the complication of the scene you're asking for, the size of the cover, cost of materials/software, and really depends on who you're looking for and what you're doing.

Might also be worth reaching out to friends and such/people excited in the project and see who is willing to help out with what and for what if any price.

So, for me, it was extremely inexpensive, the only thing publishing cost me was my free time (which I was spending writing anyway). Because I chose a route where printing is on demand, printing and shipping is slow but does get there eventually and it means I don't pay out of pocket to have 50 books I may or may not sell on hand. I also don't have to ship them myself which helps a lot.

Now, all this changes if you're getting published by a publishing company, in which they will likely handle the cover art and editing for you, but that's not something I have familiarity with.

Signed Copies

Alas, one of the downsides of not having print copies on hand is I don't have print copies on hand. I can get authors copies for the price of printing and then there comes the problem of shipping.

Shipping, especially for readers who span across the globe, is expensive even for something as relatively light as a small paperback/hardcover book.

And since it's not something I really want to offer to some versus others, and don't want to cut off at a few lucky people who get a signed copy, it's pretty much a "if you know who I am in the real world and can meet me in person with a book". I also don't want to offer signed copies only for exorbitant prices of "make up printing and shipping plz".

Maybe that will change someday, but for now, I sign only in spirit.

If it's any consolation, my handwriting's garbage.

[affiliateinz]

5 Laziest Ways to Make Money Online With ChatGPT

ChatGPT has ignited a wave of AI fever across the world. While it amazes many with its human-like conversational abilities, few know the money-making potential of this advanced chatbot. You can actually generate a steady passive income stream without much effort using GPT-3. Intrigued to learn how? Here are 5 Laziest Ways to Make Money Online With ChatGPT

Table of Contents

License AI-Written Books

Get ChatGPT to write complete books on trending or evergreen topics. Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, guides – it can create them all. Self-publish these books online. The upfront effort is minimal after you prompt the AI. Let the passive royalties come in while you relax!

Generate SEO Optimized Blogs

Come up with a blog theme. Get ChatGPT to craft multiple optimized posts around related keywords. Put up the blog and earn advertising revenue through programs like Google AdSense as visitors pour in. The AI handles the hard work of researching topics and crafting content.

The Ultimate AI Commission Hack Revealed! Watch FREE Video for Instant Wealth!

Create Online Courses

Online courses are a lucrative passive income stream. Rather than spending weeks filming or preparing materials, have ChatGPT generate detailed course outlines and pre-written scripts. Convert these quickly into online lessons and sell to students.

Trade AI-Generated Stock Insights

ChatGPT can analyze data and return accurate stock forecasts. Develop a system of identifying trading signals based on the AI’s insights. Turn this into a monthly stock picking newsletter or alert service that subscribers pay for.

Build Niche Websites

Passive income favorites like niche sites take ages to build traditionally. With ChatGPT, get the AI to research winning niches, create articles, product reviews and on-page SEO optimization. Then drive organic search traffic and earnings on autopilot.

The Ultimate AI Commission Hack Revealed! Watch FREE Video for Instant Wealth!

The beauty of ChatGPT is that it can automate and expedite most manual, tedious tasks. With some strategic prompts, you can easily leverage this AI for passive income without burning yourself out. Give these lazy money-making methods a try!

Thank you for taking the time to read my rest of the article, 5 Laziest Ways to Make Money Online With ChatGPT

5 Laziest Ways to Make Money Online With ChatGPT

Affiliate Disclaimer :

Some of the links in this article may be affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission at NO ADDITIONAL cost to you if you decide to purchase something. While we receive affiliate compensation for reviews / promotions on this article, we always offer honest opinions, users experiences and real views related to the product or service itself. Our goal is to help readers make the best purchasing decisions, however, the testimonies and opinions expressed are ours only. As always you should do your own thoughts to verify any claims, results and stats before making any kind of purchase. Clicking links or purchasing products recommended in this article may generate income for this product from affiliate commissions and you should assume we are compensated for any purchases you make. We review products and services you might find interesting. If you purchase them, we might get a share of the commission from the sale from our partners. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended.

[friend-crow]

Have you heard about sea grape apothecary? I was saying I wanted a covid-safe group in Portland to hang out/dog meetup and maybe do some community work with and someone suggested them. Looks like an MLM to me.

After poking around their website for 10 minutes, it looks to me like a "metaphysical shop" with a particular aesthetic and a "self-care as witchcraft" angle. They do wholesale the products they make, but that's normal for businesses that manufacture products (I manage a wholesale department myself). Their wholesale application asks for information about your store, which is not how MLMs work. Manufacturer->store->consumer is the normal way that goods are sold. An MLM depends on tiers of sales people who recruit more sales people and make commissions based on how much they AND the people they've recruited sell. They sell directly to consumers without going through a store.

The community they're pushing doesn't seem to be part of their wholesale business. Instead you pay a monthly fee for tarot meetups, and what I'm guessing would be a newsletter and some sort of online forum. At the higher tier there's workshops (workshops can be another sort of, in my opinion, kind of scammy way occultists make money, but at least these don't cost THOUSANDS of dollars for a workshop series). There also seems to be what I'm guessing is a sex therapy angle to some of what they're offering.

Seems like they're really into tarot, journaling and self-care. And referring to everyone involved as "babes". Personally I don't think this is my thing, but I don't think their business model is particularly harmful, either. If you're mostly looking to meet people who are interested in some sort of magic, it might be worth subscribing for a month to go to a meetup and see how the social aspect is, but if you're trying to get into a group that does regular group workings that aren't self care workshops or tarot journaling, this might not be it.

But again, this is based on like 10 minutes of looking at their website and subscription/wholesale information.

You might also see what groups are on meetup.com, as those are often free so you wouldn't need to subscribe to anything to just go check out a meet up.

[mcgruffthecrimedog]

Tell me about it

The thing about recent magic sets is, a lot of them are just blatantly advertisements. Like the baldur's gate set is just an advertisement for Baldur's Gate 3, which isn't a bad game, but it just kind of sucks that the player-base has accepted that games of magic are just going to be another vehicle for serving ads. Don't even get me started on Universes' Beyond which i will never understand why people like. It also brings in another nightmare for reprints. How do you reprint something that requires a license? We will need them at some point to drive the card prices down.

A common argument for UB cards is that people already alter/commission alters of their cards. The main difference here is who is paying for the art. When it is an individual painting or paying, there is a personal touch to it. When a corporation does it, it becomes just another product to sell. Buy our Doctor Who commander deck so you can show how much of a fan you are. Make your deck a vehicle for us to advertise this property to you and everyone you play with. Idk it just bothers me. Apparently our game now exists to sell other properties.

But hey we may be able to re-enact the Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny at some point. Just need WotC to nut up and print a Benito Mussolini, Fascist Dictator legendary creature.

[literaticat]

Would you please explain the different ways agents are set up financially with their agencies? For example, do some agents pay a fee to cover the legal services and other forms of support? Do agencies get a percentage of their agents' clients' advances/royalties? Thanks!

There are different ways an agency can be set up:

A) CONTRACTOR, STRAIGHT COMMISH WITH SPLIT: Probably most common (in the US), and how my agency works: The agents are essentially independent contractors who work on commission, and the agent and agency have a pre-established commission split. So let's say you are a new agent at the McDreamy Agency, and you unfortunately have a 50% commission split. You sell a book for 300k. Yay! AMAZING! But the advance is 1/3 on signing, 1/3 on Delivery and Acceptance of the final ms, and 1/3 on Publication.

So, when the contract is signed, out of $100k, the author gets $85,000. The commission is 15% ($15,000) with a 50% split. The money goes to the agency. The agency keeps their split -- $7.5k. They give you, the agent, $7.5k. When, later, the other payments or royalties come in, the commish for those royalties will be split in the same way. Things like overhead for the office, lawyer fees, paying for admin, bookkeepers, the website, whatever, all come out of the Agency part. Anything that is strictly the Agents (like our own computers, health insurance, etc) comes out of our own pocket but is a tax deduction. Some agencies also do pay stipends for travel, personal assistants, etc -- some don't, and the agent is responsible for that stuff.

(Note that 50% was just an example for ease of math - some agencies have much better splits. Like mine, thank God! And at most agencies, you'd start out with a less adventageous split and get more of the % as you have more experience / get promoted. But yes, agencies always get some portion of all the commish in this scenario).

B) CONTRACTOR, DRAW WITH SPLIT: Similar to the above, except that the agents have the option to get a "draw". I can't speak to the finer details of this since I have never personally seen it in action, but my understanding is, essentially, the agent gets paid X amount per month. It's basically an advance on what the agency thinks they SHOULD earn. So they get X amount per month, and whatever commissions they earn after the agency split goes into the pot to pay that back. So let's say their draw is... idk, $5k a month. In January they sell that book I mentioned above, so $7.5 goes into the pot -- $5k goes to them. In February they sell zero books. $5k goes to them, and the pot is now -2.5k. In March, they get a commission for $5k and another for $10k. $5k goes to them, the rest goes into the pot, which is now +$7.5k. ETC. -- This is a good thing for some people, especially when they live in NYC or something and NEED to know they definitely have x-amount of money coming in every month -- Publishing is SO slow and unpredictable, so it can really be feast or famine, and there's just no way to predict how long money will take or how much it will be!

Now -- the draw is based on the average amount that you should be earning, right? So what happens if the end of the year comes and you are way short of that? I have no idea. (AND, what happens if you end up having some major hit, and you are way ABOVE that? Maybe it would roll over, or you'd get a bonus at the end of the year -- but I don't know at what point that would kick in or anything.) Again, any expenses for the agency, overhead, etc, would come out of the Agency part of the split.

C) SALARIED EMPLOYEE: You are an employee of the Agency, and you have a salary. No commish, no split. (This is true of SOME US agencies, but not many -- it is more common in the UK). Again, I don't know the deets here, but basically, you get whatever your salary is, and ALL the income goes straight to the agency, however they also pay for everything, presumably you get insurance, etc etc. And, I'm sure (or at least I'M HOPEFUL) that if you have massive hits, your salary would be raised to be commensurate with how much money you are bringing in AND/OR you'd get big bonuses. I guess if you consistently way underperformed... uh... you'd be invited to leave? Or your salary would go down? But I don't know that!

D) PARTNERSHIP/CO-OP: Once again, I've never seen this IRL so I'm speculating, but I do know that there are a handful of agencies that are basically Co-Ops/Parnerships. There are different ways this might be set up: Perhaps it would be "eat what you kill": The agent partners would get whatever their full commission is for anything they sell, and then they pay in to the agency equally to run it. So let's say there are 4 partners, each with a 25% stake in the company, and the expenses are... idk, $400k a year to pay for the office and all the support staff. Each partner would be responsible for paying in $100k a year. If one agent makes a million dollars, they'd pay $100k a year and bring home $900k. If the next agent makes 200k, they pay $100k a year and bring home $100k. OR, perhaps it is profit-sharing -- all the agents put all their income into the business, and expenses are taken out of that, and each agent gets a share of the profits? Or, some other way, that I don't know, bc I'm not in that kind of agency! Much like a partnership law firm, I'm sure there are many different ways this could be set up.

There might be other models, but these are the ones I have heard of, and I would imagine that any model would be based on one of these basic frameworks!

[romantic-reveries]

Today was fucking insane.

I’m not quite a month into work yet (two days out), and a manager was there training me in sales Saturday and today.

Then today, my boss just decided to throw me in the deep end. The manager, Rick, had set me up to key in a fake sale (which we also did Saturday), to help me get more comfortable and familiar. I literally didn’t even have time to start it when he strolls over and says, “okay, you’re up,” and gestures to some customers who just came in.

Fear floods me and I gape. “You’re joking,” because he has joked with me like that. “Nope,” He tells me. He says my boss thinks I’m ready. Boss says “what better way to learn than by just doing it?”

And so I greet a middle-aged man, woman and younger girl. They’re immediately lovely. The interpersonal stuff isn’t so much an issue. They seem to know exactly what they want.

And I’m so flustered and frantic that I keep messing up on pricing, and forgetting things. I don’t know what I’m doing. I’ve retained some things, sure, but for the most part, I feel like I’m flying blind. There’s so much to remember. So many details.

You have to talk to them and find out what they’re looking for, okay, easy enough. Then price it. And you gotta go into different price books or programs for prices and use pricing metrics to find the retail price and then discount it based on the price which I STILL don’t know how to do, and then close the sale while also trying to add onto it, then key in the sale and figure out whether the items are in stock or if you have to back order and also talk about warranty (which I don’t know much about, price wise) and calculate delivery price which (AGAIN) I still don’t know how to do, and print the invoice and remember info about the customer and remember to follow up with them and send a thank you card and just AHHHHHHH FUCK.

And like, I think I could be good at this, truly. But it’s also SO fucking overwhelming and I feel so ill-equipped. Like selling a bedroom suit today—I don’t know how to tell the difference between sizes in our SKU numbers. Rick was supposed to go over it with me but we didn’t have time. And then he isn’t coming back for more training with me, which is wild. They’ve trained me for two days and said “good luck”? And my coworkers will still be there to help, but that’s not the point.

I made the sale, and the people were really lovely. The fianceé and her daughter had left while the man was negotiating (haggling) and they literally came back in when it was all said and done to hug me. They were so incredibly sweet.

And Rick and my boss and my coworker were all praising me and saying how I just had it, and I’m natural at it, and I guess to an extent—I like people. I’m naturally friendly and warm and curious. I care. I’m not a bullshitter. But the technical bits are so new still, and throwing me in it like that was so nervewracking hahaha

But also, I did make a sale. Even if Rick helped me through a lot of it. And I make commission on that. And my base pay will also probably bump up now. I can do this. I think I can really excel at this. I just can’t let myself get too stressed and psyched.

But I hate it, because I’m already dreading going back to work. I don’t want to do that again. Hahaha I hate that it’s a learning curve. I wish I could transport to six or eight months from now and already be mostly confident and comfortable at this.

I don’t know how they were all saying I was doing so well. I felt like a train wreck. Sure, maybe I was talking to people well. Talking to people is easy, mostly. It’s not hard to be nice and friendly and helpful. It’s all the other stuff I’m struggling with, and selling involves more than just being nice and friendly and helpful. I’m not sure what they’re seeing that I’m not.

Maybe I’m just exhausted. It was a long day.

[iiisekaifriends]

What Is VGen And How To Use It?

-A blog post by iiiSekai artist Bitsy-

https://iiisekai.com/vgen-vtuber-art/

If you are new to Vtuber art+rig commissioning then you may not have heard of Vgen yet.

But what is VGen?

In the ever-evolving world of Vtubing, VGen stands out as a groundbreaking platform that connects creators, artists, clients, and fans.

Because they make commission easy!

Whether you’re an artist looking to showcase your skills or a Vtuber in need of captivating model art or rigging, VGen is your one-stop solution.

The Mission

At VGen, fairness, environmental consciousness, and organization are at the core of their mission. VGen believes that creators should be compensated fairly for their work, and we’re committed to providing a platform that ensures just that. In an era where selling online should be a necessity, not a privilege, VGen steps in to bridge the gap.

And I just need to say how much I, Bitsy, Appreciate what they are doing for us artists. In a world where Vtuber Skams and AI ripoffs are becoming more and more prevalent, it is so important to have sites like VGen that make it easy to connect trustworthy artists with real clients, and a much-needed paycheck.

How VGen Works

VGen is more than just a marketplace; it’s a thriving community of artists, clients, and friends. Here’s how it works:

For Artists+:

Beautiful & Easy Profiles: Complete your profile with commission services, Terms of Service, handmade request forms, portfolio, and more.

Showcase Your Work: Share your profile to attract potential clients.

Receive Requests: Get requests from clients interested in your services.

Proposal and Invoices: Send proposals with built-in invoices for hassle-free transactions.

Review and Showcase: Review, track, get paid, and showcase commissions, all in one place.

Initially setting up a profile can be overwhelming, but if you take your time to work out the details your commissions will be so much smother than using a Google Doc or something, haha!

~I for one, absolutely LOVE how my vtuber art + rig comms turned out looking ♡

For Clients:

Discover Artists: Explore incredible artists and their profiles.

Easy Commissioning: Browse open or waitlist services, samples, and more.

Submit Requests: Submit your request, and wait for the artist’s proposal and invoice.

Convenient Tracking: Pay, review, and track your commission progress seamlessly.

Need help with the interface? Check out this video by TheArtsy.

A Human-Centric Approach

VGen takes a strong stance against AI integration. Until generative AI:

Is 100% opt-in

Gives credit to contributing artists

Provides royalties to contributing artists

VGen will remain human-centric. Their dedication to supporting and empowering humans takes precedence. We prioritize your art and ensure it’s protected against unauthorized use.

NSFW Policy

VGen allows adult content but draws a clear line when it comes to pornography. All adult content on commission services and portfolio showcases must be appropriately tagged. This approach is influenced by payment processors’ restrictions, such as Stripe and PayPal, which prohibit explicit adult content.

“Skeb-like” Commissions on VGen

VGen fully supports “Skeb-like” commissions. To offer the best client experience, they recommend the following setup:

Service Naming: Use “Surprise me” as the service name for clarity.

Clear Description: Include a comprehensive description of how your “Surprise me” commissions work.

Flexible Pricing: Allow clients to offer a Pay What You Want (PWYW) amount, with a specified minimum.

VGen’s Fees

At VGen, they believe in transparent pricing. There are no upfront or monthly fees; they charge a 5% service fee along with usual payment processing fees to artists only when a commission is secured. Clients are responsible for their currency conversion fees.

VGen Payments (Stripe)

For US-based artists: VGen service fee (5%), Stripe payment processing fee (2.9% + $0.30)

For non-US artists: VGen service fee (5%), Stripe payment processing fee (2.9% + $0.30), Stripe international payout fee (varies by country)

PayPal

VGen service fee (5%), PayPal fees as per PayPal’s terms

What Kind of Artist is VGen For?

VGen welcomes all kinds of artists, starting with a particular focus on art for Vtubers, live streamers, and content creators. Whether you’re into visual arts, rigging, music, animations, video editing, graphic design, motion design, 3D art, or more, VGen is the platform for you. While we initially target Vtuber art, our scope extends to all creative domains.

Do note that selling on VGen is currently, invite only.

In this way, VGen can act as a gatekeeper to help make sure the artists selling on the platform are 100% human and as trustworthy as possible.

Conclusion

VGen is more than just a commission platform; it’s a thriving community that supports artists and creators. Whether you’re an artist looking to showcase your talents or a client seeking exceptional Vtuber art, VGen has you covered. As we move forward, VGen remains committed to its mission of fairness, environmental consciousness, and organization in the creative world.

So if you are in need of a trustworthy Vtuber art or rig commission then check out VGen today and be a part of this transformative journey in the world of Vtuber art creation!