#independent content creator

[theflowergothic]

On Self-promotion and Feelings of Inadequacy

Hey guys, it’s Flowergothic. Taking the time here to get a little more personal. I’ve been working on this on and off since last week, and now it’s ready to share.

First of all, thank you to everyone who has watched, shared, and enjoyed the Max/Kelly exposé! I’ve had a blast reading your comments, seeing the discussions it’s sparked, and realizing that, yes, we’re all collectively raising an eyebrow at the same things. The response has been so much fun, and the attention it’s gotten so far is about what I expected, given my channel size, the subject matter, and the general messiness of it all.

But I can’t help but worry that I’m not doing enough to make the videos have maximum reach. I’ll admit it, I’m not the best at self-promotion. Sometimes when I’m sharing my work repeatedly on social media, I start feeling like I’m being annoying or trying too hard. And I know that’s a dumb thought (if I don’t hype up my work, who will?). But it’s a mental block I still haven’t fully shaken.

Part of it probably stems from being told to shut up about my passions and interests growing up (the joys of being on the spectrum), and part of it is that I just don’t know what the best methods are for promoting my work. I see other creators getting their stuff out there so effortlessly, and meanwhile, I’m over here wondering if posting about my own video twice in a week is overkill.

So yeah, I’m figuring it out as I go, but I want to get better at it. Because I know this is a story worth telling. I know there are more people out there who would be interested, entertained, and just as baffled as the rest of us if they found it. But finding them is the challenge.

And in turn, some of this is feeding into my fears of inadequacy. My feelings that I could be doing so much more to make sure the exposé gets attention. My feelings that everything I’m doing isn’t enough. They don’t stem from the video itself, they’re fears I’ve had for a very long time and contribute to how I function as a human being. Because while I am deeply proud of this project and the attention it has gotten, there’s still that little voice saying, “But what if it could be bigger? What if there’s some magic formula I just haven’t cracked yet?”

I also worry about what will happen once I start my other projects back up, once I branch out beyond Max and Kelly. The next video I have planned has nothing to do with them but is something I was working on alongside Max/Kelly when the latter was still in its infancy. I know a lot of y’all found me through Max/Kelly, but I hope y’all will stay for what comes next. Because I have so much more in the pipeline, projects I’ve been sitting on for ages, waiting for the right moment to dive into. A dissection of the second Nina Paley film. A deep dive into House of Anubis. A video on Burning Man that I have a very personal stake in.

At the end of the day, I’m not planning to stop anytime soon. I’m here to tell stories, to deep-dive into the absurd, the overlooked, and the bizarre. But to keep doing that, I need to figure out how to get my work in front of the people who will care about it. I know I have my weird self-promo anxieties, but whether I push past them or trust the algorithm gods to do their thing, I’m going to keep going.

If you’ve enjoyed what I’ve made so far, I hope you stick around. I have so much more coming. And if you want to help get these videos seen, there are a few things that really make a difference. Sharing the video anywhere relevant helps so much, whether it’s Twitter, TikTok, Instagram stories, Discord servers, group chats, or even a random comment section. Engaging with the video through likes, comments, and shares also pushes it further in the algorithm. Starting discussions, whether that’s through quote tweets, reaction posts, memes, or even arguing in the comments, keeps the conversation alive. And if you see people talking about Kelly or Max, drop the link! Make more people aware of my work!

Every share, every comment, and every discussion helps push it further, and I appreciate it more than I can say. I also hope that when I branch out beyond Max and Kelly, you’ll still be here. Because this is just the beginning, and I have so many more stories I can’t wait to tell.

Love,

FG

[mr-laveau]

A little NeXus Lore Tidbit

Here's some canonical info we know about some listeners + added lore about them that you won't get from the audios, directly from the discord:

Hot Shot - has a pair of strong arms, aether, visually defies gender norms in their appearance, secretive, asks a lot of questions, orphan, preference for earth elemental magic, smart and athletic but not very active in sports

Cher - has one arm, also secretive, does not have a green thumb, protective alpha, empathetic to a degree and is an artist who can still draw alright because they hadn't lost their dominant hand

Pet - smoker, just moved out of their home to New Orleans, best friends with a dog shifter, drifter telepath, now a vampire and was actually a very good cook

Sherlock - sneaky, mischievous, strategic, put together, a vampire who's over a century old, works as a freelance night guard and has actually family in new Orleans they don't talk to

Bud - Shape shifter, more withdrawn but can be firm, was bullied in AMP for a time, senior year student, works as a teacher's aid and has a custom coffee order that's too long for any person to actually think it's sane.

Trouble - daemon turned werewolf, rough around the edges, withdrawn, stubborn and does not like being touched without permission

Liege - talented liar, gaslight, gatekeep girl boss(gn), has committed several crimes, telepath, canonically has no issues with murder or blackmail, seems to know things about the criminal underworld and they have a bunch of playing cards they keep on hand to play solitaire

Seaweed Brains - shape shifter drifter, has not yet been fully registered, reckless, studied marine archeology in college, experimental, loves horror books and has a hard time putting names to faces if they're not close to someone

Angel - hacker, hard ass but cares, very intelligent, has a righteous streak, is pretty well known online and owns too many hoodies to make this look healthy

Best friend - dog shifter, has been a part of the garroway pacl for a while, protective, loyal, tough & intimidating and is a gym rat-or dog

Rascal - troublemaker, adventurous, solid leadership qualities, pretty down with cases of murder, married, most seen with a handkerchief over their mouth wild west bandit style and they are more fashionable than Joseph as shown by the many cowboy hats they keep on hand

Genius - stubborn, incredibly smart, does not know how to take no for an answer, loyal to a fault, not reckless all the time, daring, does not realize their own circumstances until it hits them like a brick, inventor and does know how to fire a gun because of their brother

Doll - married, loyal to a massive fault, ex-cop, very empathetic, community oriented, idealistic in some sense and they are an avid reader who prefers historical romance and non-fiction

Tanker - scientist, earth elemental, smart but also a bit of an ass, mischievous, does not hold themself in high enough regard or their achievements and is well learned in boxing

[fragmentsforms]

[theofficialdeannawinchester]

My official Independent author account on tiktok please follow when you have the time

[rosiexjo]

Girltober Day Three // Naomi Jon

[parasitoidism]

The most shocking thing to me about the hbomb video to me is the amount of people who actually thought the internet historian makes good content

[catcomixzstudios]

A bit of good news for everyone.

After the editor and chief of the longstanding gaming and culture network, The Escapist, was fired, the entire video-making staff followed him over to a fully employee-owned group called Second Wind.

These creators - most notably figures like Yahtzee who is responsible for his 15+ year old, short-form game review series, Zero Punctuation - plan to continue working on the projects they've established in one form or another.

As of writing, the Patreon alone is already hitting around $4,000 a month.

With all of the projects crashing or getting cancelled lately, it's genuinely SUCH a blessing to see such a dedicated team getting to not only escape corporate whims, but also getting such a HUGE outpouring of support.

[aidenwaites]

Before long we are going to need something to shift the landscape for film and television or else we're gonna get stuck in streaming service hell forever

[seawitchkaraoke]

I do really love people who have no idea what dropout is going "well why don't the watcher guys just join dropout then" that's not how dropout works, you're thinking of Nebula

[mr-laveau]

Meeting with Magical Vigilantes || [M4A] [Audio RP] ft. @bansheeaudios & @silverspoonva

It's been a while, hasn't it? I'm so glad to be back with another NeXus audio and this time around we're following Joseph and Rascal as we meet more members of the Wild Hunt! I was glad to officially work with @silverspoonva and @bansheeaudios again for this particular audio and they did so well! Kudos to them! Check it out here!

[uinferno]

"Character moments that live rent free in my head for 22 minutes (compilation)"

>posted by official account

[flippantfoe]

additionally - when it comes to respecting boundaries, especially with the things that follow a sudden explosion of popularity and fandom for one person's works. if you're going to be disrespectful to content creators and directly try to breach their privacy; i suggest minding your own business and listening to what a creator says regarding their projects.

you're not entitled to do whatever you'd like with characters you don't own or demand a rapid downpour of content.

you're not entitled to a creator's identity.

you're not entitled to anything.

clown is one person and not a goddamn corporation. welcome home is their project and these are his characters. nobody here is entitled to a goddamned thing they're creating and you sure as hell shouldn't be horny about their characters in public.

not to mention: the rampant reposting of other peoples' fan-art (and uncredited, too) in the tags. can people stop doing that? i've noticed the resurgence of fan-art reposters in various tags ever since the tiktok and twitter folks migrated here & it's also quite disrespectful.

[binch-i-might-be]

okay so. watcher leaving youtube huh

I've been watching Shane and Ryan since like 2016 and everything they are involved in is an absolute comfort to me. I rewatch everything of theirs regularly.

that said, I completely understand all the points they made in their goodbye video. and at this point I've been consuming their content for free for eight years so to me it's really not that much of a big deal to start paying for it now. what's six bucks a month? I've paid more for stupider stuff lol

BUT with the general reaction of the fanbase and every single comment under that video, I really am worried if this is the right decision to make.

I want to see them succeed! I want more content from them for ever and always! but a decision this drastic could really make the company crash and burn.

for the moment I'll just look forward to seeing where they'll take their shows on a real ad free streaming service and hope it all works out for them I suppose.

[doujinshi]

THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH FOR ALMOST 1K ON TIKTOK

you can find my tiktok here

[wormturned]

I am gnelty clawing at my favorite Pieces of Independent Media and begging them to Update while also saying Take Care Of Yourself You Are More Important Than Your Creations

[mr-laveau]

Nik and Aster got some redesigns for the seconf arc of the AMP storyline and I must say I cooked with these. I was especially proud of Asteroth's design for his true form, given the depictions of his demonic inspiration