#but they also have a tumblr etsy and probably twitter

[dollfat]

sent the exact same email as 3 days ago. if no reply this time ill send messages on their shops or social media.

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

03/05/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Samba Schutte BTS; Extended Battle Jacket Scene; Alex Sherman and his Butt; Rhys Darby; UK Crew Billboard Meetup; Watch Party Reminders; Fan Spotlight/Podcasts; Love Notes; Daily Darby/Tonight's Taika;

= Samba BTS Explosion =

Most of you have probably seen it by now, but Samba posted the longer version of the Battle Jacket scene that Ruibo mentioned yesterday in the WJW interview.

= Alex Sherman =

Samba also gave us some more BTS Videos, but tumblr won't let me upload more than one video at a time per post, so here they are on separate posts:

Alex Sherman BTS Part 1: Buttox Guy

Alex Sherman BTS Part 2: Buttox Guy and Arm Guy

BTS OFMD Extras

== Rhys Darby ==

Well with no context, my only thought is maybe Rhys is going to be playing Dungeons of Eternity next on his youtube channel! I guess we'll see.

== Taika Waititi Kudoboard!==

Several lovely crew-mates have been putting together a Kudosboard for our dear Taika Waititi!

Please add your kind words, well wishes, thanks, or other positive thoughts for Taika! We will share the link with him on Wednesday, March 13.

Please note that this board is moderated and inappropriate comments will be removed immediately.

https://ofmdlove.kudoboard.com/boards/Mi5DxyBL#view

== UK Crew ==

The UK Billboard has been scheduled for 11 Mar!

Tumblr / Instagram / Twitter

== Watch Party Reminders ==

= A League Of Their Own =

Tomorrow the 6th is ALOTO Episodes 4-5, and then OFMD 4-5 Time: 1-4PM EST/6-9PM GMT Where: You can watch ALOTO on Amazon Prime

Watch Party Hashtags:

OurFlagMeansBaseball, 

SaveOFMD 

SaveALOTO to join the event!

= Mar 4 - Mar 8: Wrecked Season 1 =

Don't have access? DM @iamadequate1 on Twitter or Tumblr

Season 1 watch from March 4th to March 8th. 

Season 2 watch from March 11th to March 15th. 

Season 3 watch from March 18th to March 22nd.

Times will be 10pm GMT / 5pm EST / 4pm CST / 2pm PST. Watch two episodes per day. Episodes are 21-22 minutes each. Use the following Saturday for the tags/watch if interested but not able to make this time.

Hashtags: 

#WreckedPirates

#SaveOFMD

#RhysDarbyFaction

== Fan Spotlight ==

= Never Left Podcast =

Never Left Artwork by Amy Gleason

Episode 007 Beautiful Princess Disorder (Part 1)

Our lovely crew-mates over at the Never Left Podcast are delving into BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder or Beautiful Princess Disorder) and how it relates to Edward Teach. Very interesting and kind discussion of BPD and it's coming in multiple parts. I'm so happy that we have a safe-space-ship to discuss this.

Never Left Podcast Linktr.ee

= Cast Cards =

Today's new Trading Card is Will Arnett! Thank you @melvisik for giving us more and more to collect!

== WB is removing stuff from Etsy ==

FYI to all you sellers out there on Etsy. Thanks @ofmdfanpage for this info.

== Love Notes ==

Hey Lovelies. It's that time again to take a moment for yourself, and do a quick self-care check.

First: Have you had any water lately? Anything to eat?

Whatever you're doing, take a minute to get yourself a glass of water, maybe a small snack, the rest will be there when you get back. I know it feels like you absolutely CANNOT stop what you're doing, or you won't get back to it, but I promise you, unless what you're doing is literally life-saving (like open-heart surgery) or you're in the middle of driving a bus full of people, it can wait a couple minutes.

I know you're strong enough to push through and keep going, but you deserve a break. You deserve a minute or two to yourself.

Second: Time to take a deep breath.

Remember to hold it just for a second or two and take your time breathing it out.

In through the nose, out through the mouth.

Great job :)

Today I was reminded of a short meditation poem by Thich Nhat Hanh on breathing that used to help me get through rough days and I wanted to share it with you-- with each line, breathe in and out slowly. Here's more on it if you're interested: Meditation Poem

In, Out Deep, Slow Calm, Ease Smile, Release Present Moment, Wonderful Moment

Right now, you're the wonderful, present being. You're alive, you're breathing, and you're kicking ass. It's fucking tough out there sometimes, and it's okay to struggle, just don't ever forget how incredibly unique and wonderful you are.

Infinite numbers of events, random meetings, and stars colliding led up to the imperfect, glorious you, and you're still here, shining with us (whether dim or bright tonight).

Love you crew. Whatever challenges you're facing, know we're here for you. Reach out if you need us <3

== Daily Darby / Tonight's Taika ==

Tonight's theme is THAT STASH.

Taika Src: @skux-life Rhys Srs: @fandomsmeantheworldtome

[redgoldsparks]

What a time to be trans and alive in America. If you follow me, you are probably already horribly aware of the hundreds of pieces of anti-trans legislation that have been introduced in nearly every state, some seeking to ban trans healthcare for both minors and adults, some to ban drag, to ban trans people from restrooms, from sports teams, and in some of the most extreme cases take trans children away from parents who support their transitions. I highly recommend following The Trans Formations Project for their daily updates on the progress of these bills through the state government. They also have a very helpful tool on their website where you can search representatives by state and see exactly which legislators have introduced or voted on anti-trans bills, so you know exactly who to call and complain to about their terrible policies. The Trans Formations Project is active on insta, tumblr, twitter, discord, tiktok and FB. They are currently seeking volunteers and taking donations through their website. If you have the means, here are some other organizations you can support to combat these bills:

ACLU or especially the ACLU of Tennessee, which is ready to fight Tennessee's new anti-drag bill in court

The Trans Law Center especially their Trans Health Legal Fund, which provides resources for trans people facing investigation, arrest or prosecution for seeking healthcare

Trans Life Line, a crisis support line in English and Spanish

Trans Latina Coalition

The Marsha P Johnson Institute

TGI Justice Project

For the Gworls

Keep up your courage! Keep up your strength! We've also had some pieces of good news this week too- Minnesota has become a refuge state for trans folks seeking gender-affirming healthcare, Michigan just expanded their protections of LGTBQ citizens, and Wyoming rejected a trans healthcare ban. All is not lost, but if you see a bill moving through your state's legislation, please do make some noise about it!

instagram / patreon / portfolio / etsy / my book / redbubble store

[otomiyaa]

PSA: Back up your blog, check your tumblr e-mail for copyright strikes

Hi everyone, after suddenly losing my account with main blog + sideblogs last week, I would like to share the following warning with y'all. Not to scare you even though it is shitty, but to raise awareness. If this somehow results in me getting kicked off the platform again, so be it lol.

If you post anything fandom* related on your tumblr blog**, whether that's gifs, screenshots, videos, cosplay pics or even fics (?), you may risk getting a copyright strike (up to 3 in 18 months) or even immediate account termination. The chance is still rather small, but just know that it can happen.

*I say fandom in the broad term, so blogs that post about movies and series, anime/manga, games, celebrities, models, sports/olympics, etc. and it goes for gif and fic creators too. Not just accounts that post music or videos for example.

**I say tumblr blog, but this goes for all of the internet ofc. People have been getting this problem on any platform, from insta to etsy, youtube and twitter.

Disclaimer: I am no legal expert, just an unlucky blogger who lost her silly multifandom fic blog after 7+ years.

This will be a bit long and detailed so I proceed under the cut!

What can you do?

...To make sure you don't suddenly lose days, months, and years of content:

CHECK THE EMAIL LINKED TO YOUR TUMBLR. I know a lot of people don't do it, myself included. Tumblr does send warnings (though not always). It wouldn't have changed anything for me because I wouldn't want to appeal - since I don't want to go into this "fair use" discussion for just a fic & editing blog. I personally don't know the chances of retrieving your blog if you protest against the claims, so can't say much about that.

Back up your Tumblr blog if you can. Also save your Tumblr chats with people dear to you if you can. Account termination seems to work differently than deactivation. I was still able to see chats with people who deactivated long ago. But my blog that got terminated has vanished from everyone's DMs and ask boxes à la Thanos snap. I mourn my years of Tumblr chat with my best friend. It was not as if we even considered exporting/copying it just for the memories of the start of our friendship. But now that it's entirely gone, hehe, well. It is sad.

Save URLs and masterposts outside Tumblr. After losing your account, for I thiiink about 24-48hrs (I didn't clock, but it was temporary) you will be able to access it at least temporarily through cachedpages, if you have the URL. It doesn't seem to work for everything, but most of my Tumblr posts I could still see shortly through this site, even after I got wiped off the platform. I did this by googling my tumblr username + certain keywords, and the posts would pop up and give me the URL.

...To prevent getting copyright strikes and losing your account?

Probably nothing - but like I said, I'm not the expert, just the fool who lost her account. The termination e-mail will give you a numbered URL so it's not easy to see which post resulted in the account loss, but for me the keywords were:

-

-

Despite the 7+ years of posts, many followers and a lot of memories, I did not gain anything else from this blog and didn't think it was worth the (legal-) risks and effort to try and get it back. It would require filing an objection against the copyright claims with personal info from home address to name, and consenting to USA legal law stuff.

Even if I don't know the exact details, I'm sure they're not wrong, because whether it's fair or not, most fandom stuff has copyright issues in the end, so I can't protest against the claims with 100% certainty it won't get me in real trouble. Besides, I read about similar cases, lost cases, and admitted defeat right away.

They work with manual reports and most dangerously, bots, who seem to be randomly picking unlucky people to take down their posts and possibly the entire account.

So besides putting an entire halt to fic writing, gif making, video editing and other fandom indulgement, or the inconvenient act of censoring every single word and image, I don't think there is a way to entirely prevent getting targeted.

The one that treated me to the strikes leading to account termination was a certain Mr. Green who seems to have targeted mostly people on Etsy. But apparently now also on Tumblr. More about this I can share here for further information. I also share some other links that can inform you about how far the copyright problem can go. Again, no reason to panic. It's rare and I was unlucky. But it happens.

About Mr. Green, using bots all over the internet to take down fandom related material:

Tumblr post about his attack on fandom.

Long detailed doc from an Etsy user.

Insta post about also loss of Etsy account.

Also Etsy related, but same Mr. Green and his bots taking down something only because it used the NAME of an anime character.

Tweet about him and his company not being officially contracted but getting compensated.

About copyright claims on Tumblr - they are still rare, no panic, I just call it russian roulette and these are all unlucky people like me :')

Post by user @/marilynjeansiims about claims against users who post about Sims, including a petition against it.

Post by user @/happyheidi about Moomin posts facing issues.

Post by user @/hanyusan about olympic related claims.

Example by user @/koov about what a vague copyright warning looks like.

Good news, post by user @/yunghos about getting their account back after filing a counter notice. It seems to be possible.

Post by user @/iamkatehardy about getting a strike for using a gif.

Post by user @/stxrshxpxd about getting their acc terminated for no 100% clear reasons.

Post by user @/tekweela about getting terminated mercilessly because of a reblog.

Post by user @/fromanotherroom-revived about losing their account with similar advice as I write here.

Post by user @/ladyphasma about gifs and US law

Knowing this won't bring lost accounts back, or change the law, I do hope at least you can be better prepared just in case it happens... Better prepared than I was at least.

[ultrainfinitepit]

Shop Update January 2024

Happy New Year! Can you believe it's 2024 already? It's been four years of running UltraInfiniteShop, and I'm looking forward to what's to come. I hope you all enjoyed your winter holidays. Let's get into the update. My Etsy shop is now open once more, and you may notice some new items:

Four new Cerberus Cherub pins

A new Astrological Putti pin for the constellation Canis

Mini Trigun pins; as well as Vash as the Hanged Man and the Fool

A new Spiderverse pin featuring Gwen

Recolors of the Gender Outlaw pin inspired by the Transgender and Genderqueer flags; as well as recolors of Decarabia

New stickers of some Angeltober 2023 designs

A restock of some 2022 Pride Angels pins

And last but not least, Angelology III leftovers!

That's all in shop update news, if that's what you came for you can stop here. But since it's a new year I figured I'd do a recap of everything UltraInfiniteShop, for anyone who is new or just wants a refresher. Read on for more!

Let's start off with introductions. Hi, I'm Ultra! If you're seeing this you probably already know who I am and what I do: I am an independent artist and pin maker living in sunny California, I make eldritch angel pins and other merch.

I run an Etsy shop as well as sell with various partners, my stockists: SJMade, BizBaz Club, Mushroomy (based on Australia) and Gamelandia Palo Alto.

You can find my designs print-on-demand on Redbubble, and digital products on Gumroad.

I collect pins as well as make them. I sell pins from my personal collection on Mercari. I have an ISO (in search of) list on Tumblr, I'm always open to sale or trade offers for these pins.

If you prefer to get news about my shop away from social media, you can subscribe to my newsletter.

You can follow me on social media on Instagram, Tumblr, TikTok, and Twitter.

I run pin campaigns to fund pin series. My last one was Angelology III. Next up in February is Angelology IV: Angels of Extinction, featuring angel pins inspired by endangered and extinct creatures. My final planned pin campaign in June is Pride Angels, featuring angel pins in various Pride flag colors.

I also self-fund pins. I try to make new designs every month. This year I am planning to make an Angelic Hierarchy pin series, as well as finish up my Astrological and Zodiac Putti pins. I have lots of fanart pins I plan to make too, including for Ghibli, Spiderverse, Better Call Saul, and Baldur's Gate 3.

If you have more questions or want more details, check out my About Page/FAQ.

You can find all these links in my Linktree.

That's not all. I've been hard at work on two new storefronts for UltraInfiniteShop, which I hope to open this year.

A storefront on Shopify, which will have cheaper prices than Etsy due to lower fees.

A storefront on Faire to sell my items wholesale to retailers across the globe.

If you got this far, thanks for reading. Enjoy the rest of your day!

[amplexadversary]

@spacedustpan You have activated my trap card! (that being the fact that I'm folding laundry right now, and I don't want to be folding laundry right now, so I took this picture instead.

Barring some duplicates and a few I bought from conventions that currently live in tiny picture frames, this is my current personal inventory of stickers.

One craft store had a fucking goldmine of designs last October (the month that I do pretty much all of my home goods shopping because I'm that person), which make up the bulk of what I have here. I arranged several sheets of the tiny ones and the back of the package of HUGE ones to cover up the fact that I am using a shirt as a photobooth.

The mewtwo pack is from an import bookstore that's kind of near ish two different places that I've lived (and more importantly in the same city as a cheap community theater), the undertale stickers are bonuses from buying merch, and the remaining pokemon stickers are loose-bin items sold at the game store where I buy TTRPG miniatures.

The rest are from various online artists; Allenby was/is listed as "Smugenby" on Etsy, "Assthetic" Genji was on the same site, the rat yin/yang is a replacement of a sticker a close friend gave me that has since worn out, and the corviknight and skeletal crow are also online purchases.

Finally, those little tiny gundam pilot stickers are from a twitter/tumblr artist named HolyCheeeese, whom I am so sad seems to have gone offline and stopped selling their little stickers. I really want to buy another set (they included a bonus alternate costume of several characters if you bought enough and I'm really sad I never got a bunch more Schwarz stickers to get their Kyoji design) and completely missed my chance. If they ever come back and start selling those things again I'm probably going to give them like $30 easily because I am WEAK for adorable mini gundam pilots.

[cindylouwho-2]

Recent SEO & Marketing News for Ecommerce, November 2023

As promised, here is the separate report on marketing and SEO news for ecommerce businesses, up to the end of November. This is now separate from the ecommerce report (which will be out in the next week or so).

I probably won't be posting SEO and marketing news again until the new year, so this is my chance to remind you that I plan on leaving Twitter soon. You can still keep caught up here on Tumblr, plus daily on Bluesky and on LinkedIn. My plan is to have a new way to follow my news posts in a more timely fashion early in 2024, so stay tuned!

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES 

Google launched another core ranking update on August 22, which ended on Sept. 7. eBay, Amazon and Etsy lost a fair amount of page visibility in the UK, according to this analysis. The US version of the same study saw large drops for the same 3 sites, while sites with “user-generated content” did well. Then Google released a Helpful Content update, which finished on September 28. Sites with poor UX (user experience, for example too many pop-up ads) and too much focus on on-page SEO seem to be experiencing the worst effects. Google also gave out tips on what might be considered “unhelpful.” Then, Google rolled out the October Core update, which ended October 19. But wait, there’s more! They also did a November core update, which finished at the end of the month. 

Google has long denied using click data to determine search ranking, but the current antitrust hearings have revealed a different story. We also learned that it cost $26.3 billion in 2021 alone to buy spots as the default search engine in many browsers and devices. Here are more revelations about search ranking from the trial. 

Deleting old content will not necessarily help your Google rankings or traffic. However, if Google is penalizing your pages because it deems them “unhelpful”, removing those less-helpful pages will probably help the site overall. 

Internal links on each important page of your website will generally result in better Google traffic. The study covers 23 million links, but the author notes it only demonstrates correlation, not causation. Different anchor text for the same link is an even better predictor of Google search traffic. Note that Google staff recently stated links aren’t a top-3 ranking factor any more, though. 

Optimizing category/collection/section pages can provide a big SEO boost on an ecommerce website. Here are some tips. 

Google recently started showing follower counts for social media links in search results, but says they are not a ranking factor. 

Large media sites overwhelmingly rank at the top of Google search for common queries in many areas. It’s an interesting read. 

My periodic reminder that “LSI keywords” don’t help your SEO. LSI is an outdated method of data analysis that tries to find connections between words, but it was invented before the internet as we know it existed, and simply isn’t relevant for Google. Yes, related words are good, but LSI is not the way to find them. 

Semi-advanced content: how to figure out your potential buyers’ path to your product through Google data. This is a little more detailed than figuring out which problems people have and how you can solve them, but the basic idea is there. 

In case you missed everything on Google in August, here is a roundup, then you can catch up on September, and finally, October’s changes. 

Not Google

Bing Chat (basically, regular Bing search with Chat GPT involved) is now known as “Copilot”. The name change alone is unlikely to increase traffic, though, which is showing very little gain on Google despite the AI-driven search experience. 

Yahoo’s search redesign is expected to start appearing in early 2024. 

Yandex, the top Russian search engine, is for sale.

SOCIAL MEDIA - All Aspects, By Site

General

Branding is an important part of social media for businesses; here are some good tips on representing your business well and getting seen. As I always remind folks, you don’t need to be on every platform; that can actually be harmful. “It’s unlikely your audience will be active on every single social media platform, especially considering how many are out there in this day and age. Be thoughtful about which platforms you want to leverage for your social media presence. Once you know where your audience is most active, ask yourself whether the platform itself aligns with your brand values, story, identity, and tone of voice.”

Facebook (includes relevant general news from Meta)

European users can soon pay a subscription to opt out of advertising on Facebook and Instagram. 

Facebook uses member information to train its artificial intelligence models, but you can opt some of your data out of that process. Unfortunately, “[t]here’s no guarantee from the company that it’ll delete it, or that it’ll provide you with the information you’re asking for, even if it’s yours.” Also, this only includes the outside data and not your actual posts. 

Meta has new AI-tools for its ads, but not all accounts have access yet, as they continue to test. Ad revenue was up 23% in the third quarter.  

Instagram

Just like many other platforms, Instagram has issues with people advertising illegal things for sale. They are also blocking people posting research on the problem, instead of blocking the illegal ads. 

The basics of Instagram SEO: “The platform says there isn’t one Instagram algorithm. Instead, there’s a personalized set of classifiers and processes for each user.”

LinkedIn

Like most sites, LinkedIn is looking to upgrade some features with AI, but unlike most sites, it is planning on summarizing the feeds of its Premium subscribers so they don’t have to read everything. 

Yes, SEO can help you get found on LinkedIn.

Pinterest

Pinterest is now a bigger shopping destination for Gen Z, who are now the site’s “fastest-growing audience”. 

Reddit

Reddit removed its awards earlier this year, and will be replacing them with gold awards only, and will also pay top creators who earn at least 10 gold a month. 

Reddit may end up blocking Google and Bing from crawling the site, as a way to stop AI training. 

Snapchat

Snapchat ad revenue led to an improved 3rd quarter for Snap, but the company is still losing money. 

Threads

Threads - Meta’s Twitter competitor - continues to get upgrades, with polls and GIFs added recently. Apparently the site has almost 100 million users every month. They are now planning to launch in the EU by the end of the year.

TikTok

TikTok may be considering a ban on links to products for sale on other sites, although the company denied it. This may be to protect their own shopping platform: “Consumers in the U.S. are currently spending around $3 million to $4 million a day on TikTok Shop, up from around half a million to $1 million a day in June, the report says. TikTok staffers expect this number to exceed $10 million by the end of the year.”

That beta test is now live: TikTok Shop is officially in the United States. “As part of the rollout, the company is bringing features such as a dedicated shop tab on the home screen, live video shopping, shoppable ads and affiliate programs for creators…TikTok execs told The New York Times that more than 90% of sellers on TikTok Shop were based out of the U.S.” 

Longer videos may be a TikTok goal, as they are easier to place ads with.

Twitter

Twitter continues to die, losing users since it was sold. Advertisers are leaving completely, and others are not posting content. (Etsy has not posted any promotions on Twitter since November 14.)

Musk keeps stating Twitter may start charging users, and the company is forcing new members in New Zealand and the Philippines to pay $1 a year if they join via the web and want to tweet or retweet, i.e., they can still read without paying. A phone number is also needed for verification of new accounts in these countries. 

Twitter removed headlines from news link cards, but will be bringing them back soon. 

Tumblr

Tumblr will be rolling back some changes and focussing on “the core functionality” of the site, after many new features failed to gain traction. 

YouTube

Look for new AI video tools on YouTube in the near future; the new “Create” app is currently in beta for Android. 

If you produce Shorts for YouTube, you will want to know how that algorithm works. 

(CONTENT) MARKETING (includes blogging, emails, and strategies) 

Gmail, Yahoo and AOL are all implementing new email rules in 2024 that may impact some types of email newsletters, although most major companies have already complied with the new requirements. 

While Gmail hides your promotional emails, Yahoo is now offering new AI tools that will find those missing “gift cards, discount codes and store credits that people may have forgotten about.”

Newsletter option TinyLetter is being shut down by Malichimp. 

Substack users: be aware that your subscribers may see your address and phone number unless you change the default setting. 

The first step in writing content isn’t necessarily doing SEO keyword research [I’d argue that products are different than content, though, and that even forum or social driven content could benefit from a bit of SEO.] 

Looking for content marketing topics for December? Here are 5 ideas to get working on, and if you have some free time, get a head start on January.

ONLINE ADVERTISING (EXCEPT INDIVIDUAL SOCIAL MEDIA AND ECOMMERCE SITES) 

Did you know there are tools to track ads from different companies on many ad sites? Some are even free. [includes TikTok, Meta, Google and LinkedIn]

Ecommerce advertisers may find Amazon a better place to spend their budget compared to Google Ads. “Amazon’s search volume comprises 54% of all product-related searches in the United States.”

Google’s third quarter was decent, but Cloud revenue was below projections while ad money was up. Microsoft’s ad revenue also improved. 

Chrome plans on ending all third-party cookies by the end of the third quarter 2024, and will start with 1% of users in early 2024. This will affect some types of ads, if you are wondering why platforms start changing. 

Anyone using Google’s Performance Max campaigns may be interested in this overview of how to get the most out of them, with screenshots. 

STATS, DATA, TRACKING 

Since a lot of people still can’t figure out Google Analytics 4, here is yet another good overview. 

This new YouTube video from Google shows you how to figure out traffic sources in Google Analytics 4. 

Still working on moving to GA4? Here’s a bit more info, including how to save your old UA data. 

For video learners, here is “5 reasons for using Google Search Console”. [YouTube, 3 mins.]

BUSINESS & CONSUMER TRENDS, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE 

A report out of the UK on small business use of online platforms calls for the UK government to better protect small businesses from the power differential often evident in these relationships. 

Amazon’s Prime Day sales barely beat last year, while their competitors actually dropped. [Washington Post gift link] Some analysts think this bodes poorly for the holiday season, and that consumers are looking for discounts.

Around 50% of Generation Zers in the US plan to shop in malls this holiday season, and people in general plan on spending less this year. But another study said nearly half of Gen Z shoppers will make at least some purchases on social media, while the US average is just ⅓. Most online holiday shopping will take place on mobile instead of computers, and ecommerce shopping will be up less than 5% per some reports, and over 10% according to others. Black Friday stats also indicate that mobile outpaced desktop - smart phones delivered 54% of online sales. “Global data from Shopify also showed strong mobile performance for merchants on that platform. Mobile versus desktop 76% to 24%, respectively.”

Large companies report that various types of consumer fraud are on the increase, and cost $100 billion annually. 

IMAGES, VIDEO, GRAPHIC DESIGN, & FREE ONLINE TOOLS

Thinking of using AI to create some products and images to sell? Be aware that AI art is not copyright-protected, at least in the US at the moment. A recent case led the court to rule that “human authorship is a bedrock requirement of copyright.” [article includes a copy of the entire case]

Need some free web design tools? Practical Ecommerce has a recent list of 19, and an even more recent list of 17. 

MISCELLANEOUS (including humour) 

A snarky article in the Verge had SEOs all worked up, and some were very defensive about it. I thought the whole thing was hilarious. 

Reminder that there are usually consequences for (and laws against) improper use of a customer’s private information, which includes asking them on a date. “Almost one in three people aged 18-34 have received unwanted romantic contact after giving their personal information to a business, a UK poll has shown.”

Do you know what happens to your website and social media accounts when you die? Sometimes, even the platforms get confused about this, and there are few laws. 

Jewellery finding company TierraCast is closing by the end of 2023. 

UPDATED: December 4, 2023

[holothelix]

HELLO i am ransley (or rans if youre cool!)!! i am a fic writer (attempting), artist (retired /j), cosplayer (occasionally), and a jack of general crafting trades. i am also known as gh0stneon, or ghostneon (if youre from etsy)! ive been on tumblr since 2015ish but ive never really posted anything or interacted w people before here, and the ettiquite has probably changed since i was most active (2016-17) so Bls be patient with me WWFHSJFJK

i am interested in a wide variety of things:

>mcyt (hermitcraft, 3life, ONLY the cbeeduo corner of the dsmp)

>Markiplier/3peens (distractible)

>Music (flipturn, GIRLFRIENDS (jerry joiner NOT the 2020 band), mostly math rock/whatever tf dan barrett is doing)

>antiques, vintage, thrifting and such

>ARCHITECTURE (midcentury american & before)

....thats it Reallt AIFJAKFJAJDJ

my account is reblog heavy, tho u may find the occasional crossposted AU from my twitter. i likely wont be active here much either, but i am at least here!! i also have minor interests in the art nouveau art movement & historical fashion (my favorite era is edwardian!)

n e way... thats abt it :] Enjoy !

[fuzzimutt]

*Returns from the Void?*

Hello. Happy New Year.

It’s been strange, lol. Twitter became my new base of operations for many years, but I kinda miss things here, y’know? This was always my favorite social media. I’m gonna try to post here again, audience or not.

I have also renamed my main and personal tumblr: TehMutt → JustFuzzi, just to keep things tidy. I haven’t gone by “teh Mutt” in quite some time anyway, lol.

So hey, how about a roundup of the past 6 years? LOL [TL;DR version: I’m two locations later; Did way more conventions for a bit; had a major health scare; currently trying to get back to doing what I love.]

[End of] 2017:

Moved to a place where I could have a dedicated studio. It was small, but awesome

Roster switch to new fursona: Fuzzi. She’s great. Art of her here. Relevant for branding things, lol.

2018:

Website launch! check out FuzziMutt.com! 🌐

Did Furry Weekend Atlanta, AnthroCon, and my first Midwest Furfest. (twitter posts linked.)

2019:

Bought this monster, learned many new tricks~

Did FWA2019, Megaplex2019, and MFF2019

Had a whole adventure with an awful job, rage quit, then was asked to come back for a different branch. 🙃 

Attempted (and nearly completed!) an October Art Challenge.

2020:

You know. Not a great year for anyone, but hit a low point with disaster after disaster. Had to move again; lost my beloved pets 🌈, battled chronic health stuff that involved a tumor. There were no conventions, business slumped for all. Virtual cons are neat, tho.

New and current studio, tho. Biggest one yet:

2021:

The voidiest year. Still no conventions, I had to contemplate what to do with business.

Work was all-consuming and not healthy for me.

My health was not healthy for me battling continuing chronic issues.

2022:

Finally stuck it to my awful job, never to return to abusive corporate retail again if I can help it. Just in time, as my chronic health thing required surgery. It was not successful. This came back later.

Cautiously did FWA2022 out of necessity.

Started a great new job that would allow me the time to run business in earnest; excited planning!

Left Etsy for many reasons, but launched my own store right on my website, and finally got on instagram. 🤣

My biggest health scare. :( I had a cryptogenic stroke. The cause was complicated, but a lot of blame was on the meds I was taking for my tumor/chronic thing. That lead to another surgery to finally be tumor free. The damage was done tho. I’m okay physically outside of one-sided loss of strength, but my memory is a little affected and my ability to manage neurodivergent things.

Therapy is great and important.

I have been slowly trying to get back into things since, but new job took a weird turn and I find it eats up my energy as I navigate my new health status quo.

2023:

Hi. Here we are, lol.

My plans are getting back to business in earnest, with a possible day-job-change in the works. One of these days I’ll be stable enough to just sit and sew and make cute stuff, I swear.  Anyway, I’ll be intermittently posting things lost in the void and probably keep referencing this post for a bit. Hello again if you are still here on tumblr, and hi, welcome for any newcomers.

[booktineus]

Since I haven't properly posted on here since probably 2016, I think I should (re)introduce myself.

GIF by muvana

Hello! My name is Bec, and I'm a bookworm in Australia.

Last time I was properly active on Tumblr, I was still in vet school. I have since graduated, practiced as an equine vet for two years, realised I am not cut out for that, and am now back at uni. I'm a semester away from graduating with my second degree 😅

Other than that kerfuffle, not much has changed, honestly. I'm older now but still reading, mostly fantasy but I also really got into historical romance and romance as a whole these past couple of years.

I still talk about books all over the internet, and I plan to bring my reviews and other bookish content over here.

Other places you can find me are bookstagram, booktok, Etsy (I sell bookmarks there!), Happy Indulgence Book Blog, my own fresh new blog, Goodreads, and Hive (I don't know how to share a link to this one, but the username is @booktineus).

(there's an inactive Twitter account too, but that's probably disappearing soon so not worth a mention)

I'm excited to be back on this platform because I have missed it. So far, I like the changes that have been made so we'll see how it goes. Here's hoping I manage to stick around!

[gojonanami]

Lovely, wonderful, beautiful Sab, may I ask you for some very random advice?

I was potentially thinking of getting myself some jjk merch, but I’ve never gotten myself anything anime related before, so I don’t even know where to start!

Do you have any advice? Xxx

oooh okay so i def have advice for this hahah

so top places to buy:

you could go for official / officially licensed jjk merch, which you could find on crunchyroll's store website, jjk merch is also kind of everywhere it depends on what you're looking for! crunchyroll has figures, some art books, and some other little trinkets! i also wanna mention the jjk nendoroids (which i love, i still need to get high school satoru and suguru), but i have s1 gojo and jjk 0 gojo, which i love so much (they come with a bunch of parts and are posable and you can their expressions and stuff). if you also have a barnes and noble near you, they sell a lot of anime merch - for jjk, they usually have figures, blind boxes, and other things like that. also stores in the US, like hot topic, comic book stores, etc, sell a lot of anime merch.

artists are another important place to buy merch! i have so much jjk stuff that artists have made - including prints, charms, keychains, even a calendar that hannah got me :). there's plenty of talented artists that sell things and if you want me, i could list some if you want (but let me know i'll probably do it in a separate ask). i also buy a lot of merch at anime conventions, but a lot of artists have online shops! you can find a lot of artists on tumblr or twitter or etsy.

there's also websites that sell jjk merch like neokyo and mercari that sell more japanese / japanese exclusive things, but obviously be wary of knock offs / fakes and just cheap / bad quality things (i never ordered from these websites, but my friends have!).

i hope that helps in some small way! if you have questions, feel free to send another ask :) <3

[grunesdragon]

"But Grune, if you need cash, why are your comms closed to do personal works?"

(context: current commissions status as updated on twt)

Because if I don't start taking care of myself by doing art for fun/for myself, I am going to lose my ability to make art at all & probably lose my sanity along with it, after 9 years of constant validation seeking.

A blog post about the state of it all.

I've had a serious interest in the art commission business since 2014 - indeed, the very first advertising post I can find is from when I was 17. Around that time was when I started doing art (mainly digital) much more frequently and when I really started getting starry eyes for the art commissions community. People could draw beautiful things and get paid decent money for it. That was what I wanted, I decided. If I'm only decent at/interested in one thing, it's getting paid to draw shit. (this was my best in 2014, btw)

I wanted to be like all the popular online artists at the time; opening commissions and having them close after not too long, tabling at conventions, making cool and memorable pieces that would do numbers and circulate and get tagged as fav/inspo and so on. (Of course I couldn't have anticipated the cost of being that person, at the time, but that's beside the point almost.)

Even at the time of roughly age 18, I was self aware enough to have the sense that "this is what I want to do" was a cover up for "I have no other marketable skills, interests, or talents, & this really seems like my only option for growth". It was even to the point that, when I was falling behind in high school and they wouldn't work with me to give me the little wiggle room I needed to stay (despite it being a very friendly special place with a small student body) - instead of being straight up with everyone around me that I was failing, I framed it as "I'm going to skip graduating high school and start trying to get straight into art school." Which was obviously a lie to myself from the start. Didn't happen. But if I was going to drop out of high school in junior year from basically exhaustion, that was the only available narrative for potential success.

It's always been my only available narrative for potential success. I can kinda draw OK. That's all I have. There's nothing else here. (at least, nothing that's worthy in this capitalist autocracy.)

So what choice have I had, but to keep milking that for all the effort I have? (which is not that much effort; I don't have much energy.) So it's been this way, since 2014. Keep advertising and hoping. Keep making pieces with the intent to impress people & gain a following. It'll be a decade of my life of doing this as of next summer.

I started my Redbubble shop which now nets me maybe $20 every two months if I'm lucky, I tried to run an Etsy which was almost a complete bust, I tried to start a comic and other major projects - several, really - that I never had the ability to follow through on. I've tried tabling twice and barely made back expenses both times. I tried to run a Patreon, which I then closed because I couldn't generate enough content to make good on my promises to backers. (Funnily enough, I tried again and failed again exactly the same way just this year.)

And I've followed the art community around to different websites, searching for the place that would finally kick off for me. That was when the great Twitter meltdown happened. I'd migrated there after people bailed from Tumblr en masse, and finally gotten a cute little foothold, only for that platform to fail, too.

So that was when I burned out for a good several months. It wasn't just burnout, though; and it wasn't just the loss of the second major construction of "grunesdragon" as a Thing. (which is a big deal on its own.)

It was also, as it turns out, two major points; - My attitude towards creative endeavors is seriously damaged, and my mental health along with it, due to the validation seeking cycle - This has been a failure. This has all been a failure.

(and all of the emotional fallout those two statements entail, believe me.)

Before getting too concerned or getting up in arms, I know it is not a complete loss! The drive to do/make something impressive has leveled up my art, whereas if I were only concerned with having fun I might not have ever tried so hard. I've made my best friends & current partner by joining communities in a bid for support & recognition. There's a small club of people who care about what I make who I'm really touched by, and I have a few regular clients, these days, finally. These are all wonderful things that I am grateful for!

But - almost 10 years later, I'm failing to sell any art dolls, I straight up can't run an Etsy, my only ventures in tabling have been a waste of time, and what I make from the commissions I do get (that I'm very happy to do); - $0 in an unlucky month - $40 in a lucky month - $80-100 on a really really lucky month

And I'm teetering on burnout making that much, by month. So... I really don't think it's inaccurate to call this whole "Art commissions are the one thing I'm able to do for myself and my future!" thing, unfortunately, a failure.

And it unfortunately still remains true that I don't really have anything else. All this time, that was the only thing I was spending my limited energy on. I have a GED and no job skills and almost no employment experience at all. - while I really shouldn't blame anyone but myself for all of this, it really did not help that my family situation precluded me from getting anywhere in school. I missed a lot of years of school, and when I was going, I wasn't learning all that much because I was trying to, shall we say, meet some unmet needs lower down on maslow's hierarchy. (but I still had a lot going for me, compared to others' worse stories. which is why I can name this as something contributing to my failure of a life so far but can't heavily lay any blame. people have come from way more nothing and ended up way cooler and smarter and better than I!)

So I don't really know what comes next for me. Literally, the gas station down the road doesn't want me. Certain circumstances (mainly: too anxious to drive) make any employment extremely hard to obtain. but that's its own thing.

This is not the end of grunesdragon art! If anything, this is a metamorphosis. An itchy, sometimes miserable, often mentally unstable, but ultimately at the end, hopeful change.

Facing this failure state has allowed me to finally tackle what I could get away with all these years - that my attitude towards my creative works has gotten really, really bad* and I need to start spending time making art for fun, for me, for the enjoyment of it. and maybe someone out there might feel me on those works.

(*see: everything i make has to improve my portfolio, everything i make has to appeal to some sort of audience, it has to be good enough to do numbers, it can't be personal/cringy, self indulgent content is embarrassing, content has to be as perfect as i can make it, i can only be as proud of something as how well it does online... constantly refreshing to check numbers and getting depressed when something doesn't hit...)

And, if I give up on the idea that's always been an unrealistic coping mechanism - that I can "make it" and do an OK job of supporting myself this way - I can do commissions because I want to, not because my "success as a person" is dependent on doing so. I still need money, and I still want to work with clients!

But giving up on goals that are out of my reach turns out to be one of the healthier things I can do at this point.

Does this feel like shit? Fuck yes; despite the positive takeaways there's no way to approach "everything I've been working towards has been me lying to myself, and having hopes far too high for my potential, and now I don't know what I'll do in life" without crying several times.

And I fully acknowledge the fact that I'm able to give up is a privilege. I'm fortunate to have a partner who works hard all day to take care of us both, and a loving family I can fall back on in a worst case scenario. I'm one of the lucky ones. I hope I can help the less lucky (& often way more deserving) ones in some small way.

(being an online artist has always been a, uh, less than assured market, even back in 2014; it sucks now more than ever, i think.)

I don't know where I'm going, I don't quite know how to bury the past 9 years of my life, I don't know what to do with myself, and my value as a person and sense of Self is extremely tenuous at the moment. But

I wouldn't be living in the country with someone I adore very much if I hadn't tried to go this path. I wouldn't know the people who inspire me most. I'd be so much worse off. I did gain something!

"Grune Grunesdragon" is not 100% OK by any means. She is going through it. But it'll be better from now on.

Anyway, I'll reopen commissions when I damn well feel like it. lmao

Thank you to my friends & everyone who has had the kindness to care about what I make! I owe you everything for your kind words and support! This is not the end!

[theshiningbeacon]

Tutorial for my OFMD Breakup™/Bird Robe

Disclaimer: I’m not a professional sewer or costumer, so any weird methods of execution are entirely due to my own (mis)adventures in sewing. Also all of the links for the fabric and research are in the replies bc I have no idea if tumblr is still ~suppressing~ posts with links.

The basic design for my Breakup Robe™ was based on heathervanderstitch and  hannahgreenecostumes‘s instagram posts (two of the costume designers on OFMD) who said that their bird robe was a modified 1940′s kimono pattern with a box pleat in the back to give more movement at the bottom without being too baggy at the top. So I took that info and essentially worked backwards by comparing screenshots from the show and a bunch of online kimono patterns. (The most helpful ones were Ralph Pink’s free Satchi kimono pattern and The Tailoress’s Giselle Kimono). 

--- 🦜 ---

I found a helpful starting place for pattern piece sizes was a twitter post from another fan (fiftyfathomkinit), however I ended up making my own modifications because I found her drafting slightly confusing (she includes armhole cutouts in her back panel which i could never figure out). I also adjusted the sizing to better fit my own measurements and I added an extra seam on the sleeves so one side of the pattern wouldn’t be upside down.

On a personal note, don’t be afraid of making mistakes! I didn’t realize I needed to adjust the pattern measurements until after I’d started making the lining - which was an oopsie on my part and could have saved me a little bit of money on fabric for my lining. You can get around this error by making a mockup in cheap fabric, or you can do it like me and start off with larger pieces and make them smaller as you adjust to your own fit.

Speaking of the lining, the original robe has a fuchsia dupioni (coarse) silk lining and a hand dyed, block printed 100% cotton velvet outer shell. I found the velvet from (I believe) the same seller on Etsy. It’s a little pricey, but they also have a regular cotton version for those who want a cheaper option. 

For the lining, I wanted silk to match the original, bc it breathes better than polyester satin, and I believe it’s longer lasting. But I wanted something softer than the dupioni, so I went with... literally the smoothest silk in the closest colour I could find at a local fabric store. (I literally just rubbed my fingers against every fuchsia silk they had). But you can go with whatever lining you’ll be most comfortable with (satin, cotton, etc). 

I got tassels from that same fabric store and the thread and orange bias tape from Fabricland, but you can make your own tassels with yarn if you prefer.

I bought 5 yards of the bird velvet (bc they don’t do half yards) and 4.5 metres (5 yards) of the silk. I ended up using most of the silk and about 4.5 yards of the velvet.

--- 🦜 ---

I started by making my own patterns from some super cheap brown wrapping paper with gridlines on the back, which I got from the dollar store. You could also probably just measure and cut your fabric directly, but having paper patterns made me feel better.

Your own measurements will vary (I’m 5′7″ and 120 lbs), but I wanted it to be quite oversized, with the sleeve shoulder seam hitting a little ways down my arm, and the overall length sitting just above my ankles, the same way it does in the show robe.

You can see in the above graphic I have a neck opening cut into the front panel that ends halfway down - this is how long I’m also making my collar. (Pro tip - cut the collar longer than you think you’ll need). Meanwhile, the sleeves have an 11″ x 1″ diagonal cut on the sides that will be attached to the main body of the robe, as used in a lot of kimonos.

Here are my pieces cut out (minus the sleeve diagonal bc I forgot to do it while I was cutting everything - but that was a very easy error to correct later):

--- 🦜 ---

For the inverted box pleat, based on screenshots and insta posts, I went with 3″ on either side of the centre point and guestimated that it ended a little lower than the armpit. So mine ended about 10″-11″ from the top of the back panel.

I basted some stitches along the three points (centre back, 3″ to the right and 3″ to left, so it was easier to keep both sides equal). Then I pulled the two sides of the fabric together so they met in the middle at the centre point of the back panel. I pinned them together, stitched the sides together by hand with a ladder stitch, and then machine stitched a line across the top of the panel at my ½” seam allowance.

I then machine stitched the sides together down the middle with a really small zigzag stitch to make sure it was extra secure.

I cut a 1″ x 7″ inch neck dip after doing the box pleat, which is probably not the proper way to do it, but it worked out for me!

I didn’t take a picture of it, but this graphic is an approximation of how you’d go about it:

--- 🦜 ---

To sew the actual robe, it requires very simple straight line sewing to connect all these rectangles. 

Firstly, you’ll want to attach the front panels to the back panel at the shoulders (right sides together).

Next, you’ll want to sew across the top of the sleeve panels (right sides together). Make sure you’re matching the diagonal sleeve indents so that when you open up the sleeve panels, it looks like this:

Then you’ll open up your robe body so the right side is facing up:

You’ll then attach the sewn sleeves to the front panels (right sides together), ensuring you’re matching the sleeve seam with the shoulder seam. Make sure you’re sewing the side of the sleeves with the diagonal cutout so when the garment is flipped right side out, the diagonal is next to your body. You’ll sew from the marked line to the marked line.

Next, you’ll want to sew the sides of the robe together to close it. However, this was a tricky part for me, because I had tried to sew the body and sleeves at the same time when I was doing my lining, but the armpits ended up bunched and slightly twisted around. So I tried getting around this issue by stopping about 1″ from the armpits, leaving a gap, while sewing the sides together. (You’ll close this gap at the very end of your project).

For the collar, attach both pieces together at one end, right sides together, to ensure the pattern isn’t upside down on one side. Once done, the right sides of the attached fabric should look like this:

Then, take the collar and fold lengthwise so the right sides are together. Sew a straight line across the two bottom ends. Then, flip the collar inside out so the wrong sides of the fabric are together and the bottom edges are nicely hemmed. It should look (more or less) like this:

(Ignore the weird cuts on the bottom right and left hand corners  - this was my first attempt with a collar that I realized was too short. [Pro tip - cut the collar pieces way longer than you’ll think you’ll need!] I forgot to take a pic of my second attempt, but you get the general idea of what it’s supposed to look like).

For the bias tape, this is probably not the proper way to go about it, but it was the only way my CFS brain could figure it out and it worked for me! (As the disclaimer said, I’m not a professional sewer - I’m more concerned with whether something works than whether it’s the 100% professional method of execution).

So, take your bias tape, open it up, and pin one edge against the raw edge of your collar. Sew these together a little bit lower than your seam allowance (1). Then you’ll want to fold the bias tape up so both edges are facing the sewn edge of your collar. Then pin and sew your collar, bias tape side down, to your robe (2). (When doing so, make sure to match the seam at the back of the neck on the collar with the middle of the back panel).

This way, when you attach the collar using your seam allowance, you’ll still be able to see a small amount of the bias tape peaking through around the collar when it lays flat against you, like so:

For the bias tape on the sleeves, I attached one edge of the bias tape to the right side of the fabric, stopping an inch past the 9″ marking on both sides of the sleeve. (I sewed this about 1/4″ from the edge).

I then flipped each sleeve inside out (right sides together) and sewed it together, stopping about 1/2″-1″ away from the armpit (as previously mentioned) and at the 9″ measurement on the opposite side. For the side with the bias tap, I flipped the bottom part of the tape over onto the wrong side of the fabric and sewed it down as I was sewing the entire sleeve.

At this point, if you flip the entire robe inside out so the right side is facing outwards, it should look like this:

--- 🦜 ---

For the lining, follow the same steps as you did for the velvet (minus the collar). But when you do the box pleat, make sure the inverted side (the side you pull together) is on the wrong side of the fabric. 

Once the lining is fully constructed, you’ll want to attach the lining to the velvet, right sides to right sides, along the collar and centre front.

Once you’ve sewn the lining and velvet together, flip your robe inside out so both right sides are showing. 

As you can probably see in the photo, I already started the next step. Which is hemming the bottom of the robe. I’d recommend doing so while it’s hanging (either on a hanger, dress form, or another person), to ensure you don’t have any weird spots where the lining is pulling up on the velvet. I attached the lining and velvet by hand stitching.

For the sleeves, I folded the bias tape down onto the wrong side of the fabric, folded the lining under itself to make a nice little hem, and sewed both together. I did so by hand with a really simple stitch. (As with the bottom hem, make sure you’re only picking up the bias tape and lining so you don’t poke through to the other side).

Then for the final touch - the tassels! Mine came with a large loop that I had to remove. I cut it off and then encased the shorn ends in hot glue to ensure the entire thing didn’t somehow unravel. 

I let the glue harden and then attached the tassels by hand to the corners of the sleeves and collar.

Now we’ll finally close those ~1″ gaps under the armpits. I did this with a very simple hand stitch, making sure I grabbed a bit of fabric from each side of the fold and pulled the thread taught.

--- 🦜 ---

And voila, you should now be the proud owner of the infamous breakup/bird/wrap robe.

--- 🦜 ---

And that’s it! Hopefully this all makes sense and if anyone has any questions either send me an ask or add a reply to this post and I’ll do my best to answer! 

On one final note, not to be That Person™, but this took quite a lot of work (both the robe and this post) and I’m a chronically ill freelancer who’s income was hit hard by COVID. So if anyone wants to throw some change at my KO-FI if you found this helpful, I’d be very much appreciated.

[no-set-fixation]

Things That’ll Happen in a Superhero DR That No One Talks About

i think a lot about the subtle world building in superhero comics so. here lmao (also this is for both DC and Marvel)

people will argue over their fav superhero

dedicated fans will probably track down footprints of heroes who’s identities are secret and try to find out their shoe size lmao

stan twitter. (yes, All of stan twitter)

also, fandom. fanfiction, tiktoks, fancams, edits, ships, drama, you name it.

‘Captain America Apologists DNI’ ‘Red Hood Stans DNI’ ‘Harley Quinn Sympathizers DNI’ etc.

The memes. oh my god the memes that will be made.

People naming their pets or, hell, even their kids after a superhero who saved their life. There’ll be so many Robins or Steves or Tonys

also potentially people naming themselves after you if they’re changing their name for whatever reason

There’ll most likely be tumblr blogs or reddit users or whoever who agree with the villains. If they’re cocky enough, they might even say it to your face. (I’m preparing for people to be in alley ways with clown makeup, even if they don’t officially work for the Joker).

If you’re feminine you’ll be asked the “what’s your diet?” “how do you do your hair?” “do you ever get overwhelmed when fighting?” questions unless you script it out

merch for you on etsy!! i wouldn’t be surprised if you see a pop socket or keychain with your logo or face on it!

little kids looking up to you (if you present femininely expect little girls to absolutely Adore you, they want all the badass femininity they can get lol)

halloween costumes of you!!

FAN ART OF YOU!!!!!

little kids playing superhero during recess or at the park

eating takeout on the roof of some building. alone or with someone, both are gonna be lovely

people envying how you look or for who your friends are (also, people envying those who are friends with You)

fans have a rivalry over certain teams (“no way, the young avengers do such a better job that the og avengers” “bro can you even hear yourself??”)

if i you’re going to DC, metropolis and gotham having the relationship that britain and america have (“yeah man, gotham fucking sucks. all i ask is for one day of peace.” “yeah lol gotham fucking sucks” “ayE DONT TALK SHIT AB—“ and also: “lol get wrecked you have to deal w lex luther lol” “yeah well at least i don’t get murdered going to the market!” “………” *central city folk watch from afar*)

people shifting to be with you

“avengers moments that make me shit tears” comps on youtube

that’s all i can think of as of now, but pls feel free to add on!!

[stonedregulus]

hi! hope it comes across as my genuine curiosity and expression of admiration, but how do you live your life and are so active here on tumblr and then i also saw you on twitter, i think, and then your discord servers? i know you have kids and i see you online here all the time and you post ff all the time also. i struggle so much with time management, if i'm on tumblr then nothing else gets done that day, if i'm doing sth else than no one hears from me. i can't imagine balancing kids on top of that. do you keep a daily schedule or sth? thanks and have a good day!

so i know you meant this as a compliment or whatever but this just felt so… it’s just so steeped with parent shaming. and even if you didn’t mean that, i think it’s important to talk about this and our own preconceived notions about what constitutes good parenting.

first, would you ask a work from home parent these same questions? i doubt you would. it’s just because i’m a “stay at home parent” right? if i had what is considered to be a “normal” job while working from home no one would ask me this because you would all just assume i’m doing my job and my kids are entertained somehow during the day without me.

my kids are at the age where they’re fairly self sufficient. they play alone. they play with each other. if they want a snack they get it for themselves and then ask me to open/unwrap it. if they need a drink they bring me their cup and ask for a refill. the oldest one goes potty on his own and when the youngest one needs a diaper change he brings me a diaper. when they’re tired they take naps. they get 3 hours of tv time a day which sure is more than recommended but i don’t give a flying fuck.

i do not sit and stare at my kids all day long. no stay at home parent does, no matter how old they are. there are times we play together. there are times we color together. there are times we work on learning games. there are times we build legos. there are times they attack me with lightsabers and tackle me. we play outside. we play in the play room. we go to the library, gymnastics, the grocery store, play dates with friends. we go swimming, and visit family and eat meals together. we read—like we read SO MUCH.

and in between all of that i do what I consider to be my job, which is writing. i’m working on my original fiction along with my fanfic. i draw for fun but i also have a few commissions i’m doing for real life people. i also run an etsy shop.

i know it seems like i spend a lot of time on my phone. because you see me post or reblog or comment, but in reality when i look at my screen time on my phone i spend 2 total hours on tumblr, 1 total hour on tiktok, 1 total hour on twitter a day. it seems like i’m on here a lot because i scroll quickly, reblog a bunch of shit and then disappear for a couple of hours.

all of this to say no, i do not have a schedule. i have adhd and schedules and time management do not work for me. i work when i want to, i get on social media when i want to and insinuating that i don’t spend enough time with my children because i’m too busy socializing or spending time on my hobbies and interests is hurtful to parents.

and i’m sorry, like i know you probably didn’t mean it but this is like the second message i’ve gotten recently mentioning my parenting and i’m just a bit on edge about it.

[publishinggoblin]

How to Self Publish

So, you wrote something. You want to put it into the world.

Here’s what you need to know:

Self publishing will almost never, on its own, pay the bills. You will not probably sell very many copies unless you are very intense on marketing or you already have a following that wants to purchase something you wrote.

This is the simple fact of being a writer. If you want to become a new york times best seller, you either need to publish with a publishing house, or you need to have a MASSIVE following before self publishing.

That being said, do not be deterred. I’ve written and helped publish over 20 books and projects, and I still have a day job to 1) pay the bills and 2) help fund my projects. The day job is how I earn money (for now), but what I do for a living is 100% creation. 

First, re-read your book. Is it clear of errors? Do you have friends who want to read it to see if it’s meandering or unclear? This is true for fiction, poetry, TTRPGs, and more. Have other people look it over. It’s always worth it.

Then, you can do some research into the ways to self publish, i.e. the sites that will help you print, but I have found personally that Lulu is one of the best/cheapest options. I have moved largely towards Drivethru’s sites, DrivethruRPG and DrivethruFiction, just to consolidate my stuff. The pricing and quality is pretty similar to Lulu, but I do poetry and don’t feel Drivethru is the right place.

Note that self publishing doesn’t require paper copies, like through those sites. You can also just have an itch.io, or an etsy shop, or an internet store front for PDF copies alone.

If you are doing all the work yourself, be sure to take some time to be thoughtful with your book’s layout. If you are making something to look fancy, with a neat layout, be sure to take your time with it. Look through fonts to find nice ones. Use a fancy one for titles/headers or the book’s title, and a clear to read font for the body text. If you are using art or borders or fancy stuff, be sure to check out other books of that book type to figure out what you want to include in the design for yours. It’s okay to steal design ideas, color palletes, or general shapes of the layout, just dont go stealing logos or actual design elements from the other texts.

Most printers also offer advice or tutorials on how to make your book print ready for their manufacturing needs. Be sure to read those thoroughly, especially the first time.

Then, once you’ve order a print proof from them, you can start selling right away. From there, as a solo artist/self published artist, you will 100% be doing all your own marketing. Almost none of the print on demand websites that you can use for this will do any of the marketing for you, at least without you paying for it. So post on your twitter, your tumblr, your facebook, your instagram. Include links, and post once a day (or more, once in the morning, once at night) leading up to the release, and for a week or more after. Don’t be afraid to support yourself!

If people have specific questions, or specifics on items other than books, I’d love to answer on here!

I have some experience on Kickstarters and more!