#please reblog to reach a bigger audience :3

[storiesoflilies]

goooood morning dash!!!

i have a super duper important question for you guys :3

[koobratzy]

The Jewel of the North

Just a little fanfic idea I had. No one writes for Cregan, so now I take it upon myself to deliver what we've all been waiting for. Let me know what you think, and please reblog if you like what I wrote so far. It will help me reach a bigger audience <3 I love you all. Remember to take care of yourself!

Y/N Valaryon always knew she was a bastard. Her silver hair and violet eyes protected her from such rumors, making the court believe that she was the only trueborn child of Leanor, but she knew the truth. She was as much out of wedlock as her younger brothers.

The princess could see how Daemon Targaryen looked at her. He tried to be discreet, but his eyes always followed her like a shadow, no matter where she went. The prince was like a ghost. Hovering over her at all times but invisible to the naked eye. When Y/N managed to catch his gaze, there was longing inside. Desire to be near, to show his devotion for what it was. Love for his firstborn child. But he couldn't openly do that. The court was too watchful of Rhaenyra anyway, even without his involvement in the young princess's life.

Her own personality convinced her even further. She was full of fire. The veins inside her body transported heat with every breath, her heart burning with so much anger that even the princess got scared sometimes. From a young age, Y/N trained with a sword, just like her brothers did, and the abilities she presented could put many young lordlings to shame. It only became more apparent when the dragonless princess was found by Cannibal. Rhaenyra was terrified, her only daughter standing so close to the ferocious beast capable of swallowing her whole. And yet, it never happened. The dangerous monstrosity picked her. Of all dragons, she was chosen by him. The only beast that could match her inner flame and rage.

Young Valaryon knew that she was his. They could pretend all they wanted, but she knew the truth.

When Laenor Valaryon died, the curtains of the theatre of life they played so long finally fell, and Daemon got what he always wanted. His firstborn daughter. He could finally be the father he always wanted to be and help her reach full potential. Show not only how to control her rage but also how to use it to achieve whatever she dreamed of. His daughter would always be protected, either by him or her own strength.

Their life on Dragonstone was perfect. Cheerful, free of any worries, luxurious. Peaceful without the constant unsettling presence of her uncles. But dark clouds were gathering over the clear skies. A storm more dangerous than any in history was coming way quicker than anyone expected, and it was ready to devour House Targaryen with its jaws, throwing the realm into chaos.

What will become of Y/N's life? Will her entire world burn? Or is a bit of ice and snow enough to extinguish it before it turns into ashes?

[arvandus]

Fun fact about me: I missed the whole Wattpad era and all that because I had a literal 10 year hiatus on fanfiction writing (and overall anime consumption).  I missed the Naruto era and all else that went down during that time between 2006-2016.

So I went from the Sailor Moon/Gundam Wing days on ff.net to tumblr years later, starting out with Loki and then shifting to BNHA (and the rest is history).

So when I think of fan interaction with my writing content, I’m coming from a place where on FF.net I had 15 devoted readers for my one multichapter Gundam Wing fanfic, and I was happy with that.  It’s just interesting to see the shift in fandom culture now, and it’s why I’ve never really worried much about numbers and all that.  The popularity of a post depends a LOT on the popularity of that character/fandom, so there are some writers out there that are making phenomenal content that doesn’t ever really take off because the target audience is so small compared to other, much bigger fandoms/characters.

In short, if you feel like your tumblr numbers are low, or you’re not getting enough notes or whatnot, try not to stress it too much. At its core, fandom is more about interaction/bonding over shared niche interests than it should be a popularity contest. I’d rather have 3-4 people that interact with my content consistently, providing comments in the reblogs and/or the comments section, than I’d rather have X number of likes/reblogs whatever. That may not be the case for others, but this is what works for me. Quality over quantity; and quantity doesn’t always equal quality. On the flip side, if you’re a consumer of fan-created content (e.g., a reader), then PLEASE interact with us. Scream in the tags, key smash in the comments.  We just want to know that we’re not alone in our obsession, and when we share our writings and crazy thoughts on here, that’s us extending the olive branch to connect.  By the simple nature of posting we are already saying that yes, it’s okay to interact with us. Not in an egocentric “I need attention” sort of way, but as someone looking for equals, a safe space to nerd out without judgement or guilt.

Also, don’t misunderstand my statement that numbers aren’t important = reblogs aren’t important.  That’s not the case at all. The very nature of Tumblr requires reblogs to be a part of the fandom experience to allow for maximum connection, maximum quality.  If you choose not to reblog, understand that you’re essentially inhibiting the reach of that content that you love so much, and therefore limiting the level of connection that creator is able to have/develop with others. And THAT is what makes creators want to leave the platform, because no one wants to scream into a void.  If creators didn’t care about interactions, then we wouldn’t even bother posting in these online communities.

[urwendii]

🔆Please support a Tolkien artblog

hey folks I need your help to help me promote my artblog @auurea

Last drawing i did only has 3 notes and that includes my own self reblog and my bestfriend's. I understand art is subjective to one's taste but tumblr is not like twitter, you need to actively share (reblog) the post in order for it to gain visibility. I like drawing but it is a bit heartbreaking to have so little notes on something I enjoy sharing in a fandom that is made of many. When I decided to post art on tumblr once more following the Big Migration I was hopeful. Apparently nothing have changed much.

So if you could spare one little reblog of this post to help me reach a bigger audience that would be awesome 🥺

[confessionsofa-roleplayer]

I'm so jealous of people who get asks about their character and get notes on their posts that aren't self reblogs. I feel like I've tried everything I can think of but still, I get little to no interactions and it sucks. I might have to do another follow purge but I just did one and I don't know if having an even smaller audience would help. Everyone else seems to have a much bigger audience but me and idk how to fix this. And please spare me the "you need to reach out more" I. HAVE. I've commented on ooc posts / posts in general, I've pushed myself to send people ask memes, I've liked starter calls and plotting calls. And say out of 10 people I do some or all of this to only like 3 maybe 4 reach out / comment back. I'm starting to realize why so many people leave the rpc on here. Pretty sure people want to see posts, ic or ooc, from you multiple times a day or else they forget about you

[chococolte]

Hey, Sophie!!! Are there any tips you have for writing or starting a new blog? You really inspired me to start a writing blog <33

i'm so happy i inspired you!!!! 💗 below the read more are just what came to mind, but if u have any other questions pls let me know!

blog wise 🧾 —

one: stylization. choose a theme and/or color palette (2-3 colors) and stick to it. stylize your [writing] posts to look nice and pleasing to the eye. aesthetic is important. you want people to want to click on your writing. if your post is just the title, warnings, and then the writing, with no header or divider (esp with no read more), you're likely to get less interaction. if you're the kind to get quickly bored of a theme, then stylize your posts in a way which will look good with any palette.

two: fandom. be aware of what fandom you're writing in. if you're writing for a smaller fandom, then the audience your going to reach is smaller, and vice versa. if you want to get popular/for your writing to reach a bigger audience, i recommend writing for a popular fandom. you can reach out to smaller stuff once you have a sizable amount of people that will read whatever you put out. of course, it's all up to you— write whatever you like, and for whatever you like! don't be disheartened by lack of interaction. what's most important is that you're happy with your work.

three: navigation. making your blog easy to navigate is important. tag the writing with a writing tag, tag your misc text posts, tag readers gender, tag reblogs, tag discourse (though i recommend keeping discourse entirely separate from your writing blog, as fanfic is mostly used as an escape), everything— this is important for your blogs navigability. i only tagged my text posts in the beginning and now i have to go back and add tags to my older posts so people can have an easier time going through my writing. it sucks. so much so that i've been putting it off and only have like, 10 writing posts tagged properly rn. save yourself the trouble and do it from the start!

writing wise ✒️ —

one: readability. you do not want your work to be hard to read or to understand. it's important to be concise, and to simplify sentences when they become too jumbled. note: i am not saying to dumb down your writing, but accessibility is necessary if you want your work to reach a bigger audience. just keep this in mind when rereading your work. i elaborate further on what i mean by 'readability' below.

two: word-usage. it's important to note that there's a fine line between showcasing your vocabulary, and using words you don't fully understand to impress an audience that truly does not care for it. call it black, not stygian. say it was dark out, not "the tenebrous clouds loomed over the crepuscular sky".

i'm not saying to completely remove words that may challenge your readers vocabulary. no, most people actually like learning new words. but it's important to know the distinction between learning a new word, and being overwhelmed by them to the point you can't fully understand what's being described.

there is a time and place. there will be a time where calling the color black stygian or pale green glaucous feels right. that is not going to be when you just learned of the words existence. these moments should feel and be natural, not forced.

three: word-choice. you can tell a lot of things just be using a specific word. if a character is meant to be seen as strong and mighty, you can paint how weak the reader makes them (this is under the assumption u want to write fanfic but this applies everywhere dsbxjdbd) by calling their blushing 'delicate' or 'fragile' in direct juxtaposition to their persona. readers r gonna understand the subtext.

four: familiar phrasing. familiar phrasing are phrases, or certain words strung together, that are familiar to the reader— to a detriment. phrases such as "a shiver ran down his spine", or describing a storm as "raging", are all familiar phrasing. They aren't unique descriptions, and while every sentence doesn't need to be perfect, this is still something you can work on on your own pace.

what's most important is what you're invoking for the reader. you could describe a sun's reflection on the sea as just that, the sun's reflection— or you could describe it as a second sun dipping beneath the horizon, gold and glittery, honey dipped in water... whether those descriptions resonant with the reader is unknown, but at least they evoke something that is unfamiliar. they paint a picture that is distinct from simply a sun's reflection. keep it in mind! ^^ i think that's all i have to say for now... sorry if my wording was a little wonky in places, it's 1 am for me rn... but i still hope this helps nonnie, and feel free to msg me again if u want me to elaborate further on any of these or if u want my advice/tips on something more specific..!!! <3

[creepinginyourheartbabecomeonnow]

I got another job so now I have 3 :) 2 full time and 3 part time and YET still not enough to sustain our needs :)

Idk what to beg for first lol funds for our rent so we don't end up homeless again, funds for food so we don't die of hunger or funds for our electricity bill debt from the bank so we don't go to jail :)

Either way we still really need help! Every amount and every reblog HELPS US please, I'm the only abled person who can work in a 6 people family so please please please, no matter how much I hate bothering everyone on here please I really need help

Please please help me boost this as much as we can so it reaches a bigger audience :(

[thelasttime]

i’m sorry to bother you with this but i thought you might have some perspective on this. i’ve had my blog for about one and a half years and i’m just not gaining followers. as in i have like 350. as far as i can tell i’m doing the same type of stuff that everyone else is - creating substantive texts posts, reliving gifs or other visual stuff, interacting with people. it’s just kind of discouraging when i want people to interact with me but no one ever does. i also feel like it’s really hard for me to grow my blog when none of my posts, even analysis ones that i think are really unique and thoughtful, ever reach a significant audience bc no one ever sees them. idk sometimes i just feel sad about it

first of all, don’t apologize about talking to me about this because my inbox and my messages are always open and i will always respond if someone wants to talk. i’m here to listen if you want to talk 💕

i do have a bit of perspective on this, it took me 2-3 years to reach 1000 followers on tumblr and i was pretty discouraged about making posts that weren’t gaining traction. i found that it was a lot easier to make friends with people who also didn’t have big audiences but we would always interact with each other posts even if we were the only ones laughing.

that’s just a small tidbit of advice i have for you and i don’t think it’s that helpful in terms of growing your actual blog because i honestly don’t know if there’s any perfect formula to do so but i do encourage you to make posts that you laugh and make posts that you’re proud of. 

AND when you do make posts that you want a bigger audience, i will always be happy to reblog them! i really do mean this, please don’t feel awkward or uncomfortable about sending me posts to reblog because i will ALWAYS reblog posts that people send to me. i’m happy to reblog and i want to see what analysis you have 💕💕

[brechtian]

A Guide to Drawing String Players

So I’ve noticed there’s a lot of art of string players that have some issues. I get why; most reference photos off Google someone might use are garbage and a lot of people don’t want to watch videos of actual soloists, or don’t pick up on small details. So here’s a comprehensive list of things to remember when drawing (especially classical) string players. (I spent like two hours on this please read/reblog it)

Violin/Viola:

So one of the biggest issues is drawing correct violin/viola posture. A violin/viola is always resting on the player’s Left shoulder (or the audience’s right). Yes, no matter what their dominant hand is. Also, please no more floating violins; they firmly rest on the shoulder (most players have shoulder rests attached to their instrument to help keep it in place). All violinists/violists also have chinrests. That’s the curved piece of wood the man in the photo is resting his face on. Despite the name, players don’t literally put the end of their chin on the rest, more like the left side of their jaw. These are very important! It’s almost impossible to shift without a chinrest; your instrument will slide everywhere!

The next thing is the wrist. The player’s left hand (the one holding the neck of the violin) should Never have its wrist pressed against the neck or violin. It’s a little hard to see in the picture because of the violin’s shadow, but if you look closely you can clearly see the gap between his wrist and the violin. (Many violin/viola teachers will tell beginners to imagine a small/cute animal (in my teacher’s case a chick) between their wrist and the instrument, and to never “crush the chick”)

Next is bow hold. This is where my knowledge is a bit limited, since I don’t play violin but.. basically just look at this image. The pinky should rest on top, the fingers should be relaxed but not over the bow’s frog, and be sure to notice that the thumb wraps around and supports the inside of the bow.

The main thing to keep in mind about the left hand (other than the wrist) is that in the case of violins/violas (Not cello/bass) is that the thumb wraps around and helps grip the neck of the violin between the index finger and thumb. Also (and this is true for all instruments) fingers should not be flat, but curved in a slight claw-like shape. If someone’s fingers are flat, the sound will come out very poorly. 

Another things to remember is that the bow hair (the not wooden part) should always be tilted at least slightly towards the bridge/player. (See how the white part of his bow is facing him?). 

Finally, sitting posture. This is true for violin, viola, and cello. Players should never sit on the edge of their chairs, but their backs should be completely straight and not touching the back of the chair. Look at the man completely to the left in this photo, he’s only an inch or two from the back of the chair, but he is not slouching at all and as such is not touching the back of the chair. Also, both feet are constantly planted on the ground. There is No crossing legs or ankles, hence why female players always wear pants or long skirts/dresses (I am Tired of yall drawing female string players performing in Sexy or short dresses)

Viola

The only difference drawing wise between violin & viola players is the physical appearance of the instruments. Compare the ratio of instrument to player here to the first photo I used as reference. The bottom half of a violin is only a little bit bigger than the top, while the bottom half of a viola is considerable larger than the top. 

Cello

Cellos Always have their endpins (that metal barb at the bottom that’s adjustable) raised considerably, until the player’s first finger first position (abt.. 3 inches down from the top of the strings/scroll) is at about their chin. Even if the player is a child, the endpin is still going to need to be raised. Also, cellos rest in between knees and do not rest on top of one. They are also tilted slightly to the player’s right (audience’s left).

Unlike violin/violas, both cello and bass don’t wrap their thumbs around the neck, but firmly plant it on the back of the neck. You shouldn’t see the thumb if you’re drawing from a front view, but just so you know, the thumb should generally align with the position of the second (middle) finger. Once again, remember fingers/hands are in a claw shape, and that the wrist/arm is Not touching the instrument.

Cellists hold their bows fairly different from violinists/violists. While the thumb does wrap around slightly, the pinky hangs onto the frog (the black rectangle) and the ring and middle finger hang below the bow. Once again, just look at the diagram. 

Bass

This is what I play, so if you want really in depth/detailed answers about this one hmu

The way bass is held is.. interesting and a little difficult to describe. Basically, the instrument rests in the player’s pelvic bone’s left dip. As such, the instrument is always tilted right, as seen in the photo. Also, you’ll notice the bassist has to twist & lean down in order to play (no it is not comfortable) while keeping their right arm straight. Much like with prior instruments, the left arm and wrist are not making any contact with the bass. 

The endpin of a bass is Also always raised, though not as much as a cello. It is generally raised until first finger first position is at eye level to the bassist. Also (this is true of cello & to a slightly lesser degree violin/viola as well I just forgot to write it), the bow is completely perpendicular to the bridge. And just in case you haven’t picked it up from all the ref photos yet, a player always bows in between the fingerboard and bridge (the open string section between the black plastic and the white wood thing in the middle of the instrument). Yes, we have to awkwardly drape ourselves over our instruments to reach high notes like this often. 

So there are actually two types of bows and bow holds for bassists. The first is the French bow, which has basically the same hold as the cello diagram I showed earlier except the bow is much larger (just.. look up refs online I’m getting tired ok). The second type is German, which is in this diagram. German bows r weird and I’ve never played one for an extended period so hopefully these diagrams get the point across. 

Many bass players, especially in concert settings, sit on stools when playing. Note, if a bassist is playing on a stool, their endpin will be raised significantly less or sometimes not at all. Again, it is raised however much for first finger first position to be at eye level while sitting down. 

cello/bassists generally use either rock stops or endpin balls/stops to keep their endpin from sliding around and scraping the floor. (Note: endpin stops (photo 2) are more commonly used than rock stops (photo 1) since they can be screwed on & stay instead of having to be carried everywhere as a separate accessory)

Extras

Don’t draw the bow hairs touching the wood of the bow when someone is playing; that means their bow is Way too loose and probably not making any actual sound. 

Please watch videos of soloists guys! It’ll give you a better idea for how players hold themselves, move, and breathe. 

Also, look up finger charts for whatever instrument you’re drawing to make sure the player looks like they’re actually hitting a note (ex. a bassist rarely uses third finger unless they’re shifting down slightly to do third finger vibrato) 

I know I forgot some things, so other classical musicians feel free to add!

[plaguedocboi]

It’s my pleco son’s birthday! As Snapchat conveniently reminded me, I bought James Pond 3 years ago today! I’d like to take this opportunity to talk about plecos a little bit.

This is James 3 years ago. He’s pretty teeny tiny, and I have the measurements to prove it!

This is the tank he was in when that picture was taken. It currently belongs to Sweet Pea, my pea puffer (please excuse the fact that it looks terrible, it’s a work in progress). It’s a standard 10 gallon tank, the kind that you can buy at Walmart. It’s the “basic” tank people get when they first start fishkeeping. Based on the measurements, we can estimate that Baby James was about 3.5-4 inches long. Adorable! So baby!

This is James Pond now.

The measuring stick isn’t lined up perfectly, it’s just there to give you a visual of him compared to his old tank. I recently gave him a good, accurate measurement and he’s roughly 10 inches long from snoot to tail tip.

James Pond is not full grown yet. The average length of a sailfin pleco is 11-13 inches long, but this data is likely skewed because many plecos are stunted from being kept in too-small tanks. The maximum length of a sailfin pleco is 19 inches. James Pond could almost double in size before he’s done growing.

So my point with all this is that sailfin plecos should not (and cannot) be kept in small tanks. I know they’re cute as babies, but they will grow into huge monster fish. Currently, I have James in a 55 gallon tank. And that’s not even big enough. By the time he’s full grown, he’ll need, at the bare minimum, a 75 gallon tank. Keep in mind, a 55 gallon tank is 4 feet long and weighs 600 pounds, and that’s too small for James. I have every intention of either buying a bigger tank or giving him away in the next few years.

I didn’t know what species James Pond was when I bought him. He was from Walmart (back when they still sold fish) and just labeled “Pleco”. Do not ever buy a pleco (or any fish, really) if you don’t know exactly what species it is. It could easily grow into a huge animal that you don’t have the resources to house. And never keep a pleco in a 10 gallon tank! Even the small species will get 6 inches long and need 20-30 gallons of space.

Anyway, happy birthday James Pond!

@pet-of-subs You reach a larger fishkeeping audience than me, so I’d appreciate if you reblogged this!)

[dark-mori]

Do you own a small business/shop that embodies strega/goth/witchy/dark/dystopian/occult themes?

Are you open for cooperation?

Would you want to reach a bigger audience and more sales?

If the answer is yes, I would be delighted to work with you. :) I have over 10k followers, so if you send me 1-3 items from you shop to review...

I will create a post (with tags, pictures, and link to your shop) 

and review your product and recommend it to my followers. 

I will also reblog the post a couple of more times throughout a month to reach more people.

Message me if interested, and please attach the link to your shop! :)

[bcnoist]

hey dilan! how are you, sweetie? I wanna ask you something a bit weird, hope you don’t mind :) What do you think make people reblogging your resources? I was seeing and most of your gif icons packs have 50/100+ notes and mine usually don’t pass 30 :/ I’m doing doing my resources for notes (please, don’t think that!), it’s just that i spend hours doing those things so I wanted a little bit of recognition :P Anyway, thank you for your time, you’re the cutest

    gfdghf pls you’re the cutest !! and ok so i rarely check/keep up w my notes so i genuinely don’t know what exactly makes them get reblogged but i’ll let you know about my assumptions, i hope they help at least a lil !! ( also pls i definitely don’t think that, i mean after all one of the reasons you make them is to help other people but you can’t help them without them seeing your resources ! i get it, promise )- i sometimes see that popular-ish rph blogs reblog my resources first & sometimes it helps people to see them more since their blogs reach to bigger audiences. idk how to help you with this but ?? that’s probably one of the biggest reasons why my resources get notes so i figured i’d list it- tagging is very important ?? for gif icons my tags are “ #celeb name , #celeb name gif icons , #celeb name gif hunt , # gif icons ” i try not to tag “ #rph ” a lot ( only when the fc i’m making resources for is underused or stuff like that ig ) since i don’t like categorizing my blog as a part of the rpc/rph community ( even tho i sometimes do rph stuff since i enjoy making gif icons/packs i just ??? don’t want to /officially/ be a part of it if this makes sense ?? ) bUT if things are different with you i’d say definitely tag your resources as #rph as well since a lot of people check that tag. for gif packs i usually tag “ #celeb name #celeb name gif hunt #celeb name gif pack #celeb name gifs #gif pack ”- i don’t really do this but ik it helps a lot       you can always self reblog your resources when more of your mutuals are online ?? it’d help them to see it if they didn’t before !!- also i’d say maybe try following/being mutuals with more rph blogs since rph blogs reblog each other's resources a lot !!these are all that comes to my mind, i’m sorry if they don’t really help !! feel free to come back tho !

[inky-thoughts]

How to Organize a Zine 101 #3

Hello~

I already talked about figuring out your zine and the zine’s schedule as well as what you should bring with you to successfully manage a zine.

I think the next step should be building up

Web Presence

I already talked a wee lil bit about it in Part 1 but I think I should elaborate a bit more on it as it’s basically the backbone of almost every fanzine nowadays.

A small disclaimer: Please take everything with a certain grain of salt as I am not a professional when it comes to social media managment. These are just some pointers I consider useful/helpful as they worked for me or other zines I had a brief overview of.

Where to post?

First of all, think about what platforms you want to use, and get familiar with them if you aren’t already. Learn “the way” of it to know which rules/guidelines to follow, because not every platform is the same in tonality or which kind of content spreads fastest.

The most common platforms that I’ve found to work with zines pretty well are Twitter and Tumblr. As both are available as apps for practically almost every phone, it’s also easy to check and keep updated with when you’re on your way.

Tumblr is quite interesting because it’s bascially like a website (and yes, you should keep in mind that the mobile version doesn’t support tumblr sites) and you can conveniently store all info to your zine, answer questions in public, and reblog post e.g. previews of zine entries. It’s easy to spread information quickly if you use the correct tags and post them in the best time frames for your audience.

Twitter is kind of like a news ticker, or gets used by many like this. It’s easier to engage with people and “spread the word” by tagging people who might be interested in the zine.

Also, think about where you as a manager have the bigger following so you can forward e.g. tweets or posts or make your own announcements about the zine to your following and potential customers.

What to post?

Obvious things are announcements like schedules, FAQ, details on the zine, application progress, previews, contributor lists, links to online shops, etc. This is kind of basic together with updates like if important e-mails to the contributors went out etc.

However, this isn’t everything at all. What I found great in other zines (which we completely ignored for our zine and I think that’s a very sad thing actually) was having specific dates (in fandoms stuff like characters’ birthdays, anniversaries etc.) or more general things like widespread holidays, or “event dates” (? - like world women’s day, labour day, you get the twist) that somehow correlate to your zine. For example, one zine I participated in was about the girls of a certain fandom, so they chose the Day of the Girl to start previews to kickstart the preorder phase - and I really loved that! It brings everything in another perspective because it’s not just a zine for a few little nerds to enjoy, but it conveys a much more pronounced message that way. Including those kind of dates, whether it’s just a small post like “Happy New Year” with a small update on the zine progress, or a special sale because it’s xy character’s birthday and it happens to also fall perfectly into your schedule, it just makes your zine feel more honest and considerate of their passion for the zine’s content. It isn’t mendatory, but it definitely has a more lasting impression.

Also, you might want to think about what medium you want to choose - photos/pictures generally get more attention as it is highly visual (plus it’s easier to find on a twitter accound for example) and can be a nice addition to your text. This is where you definitely should think about some kind of corporate design for your zine that is eye-catching enough to get attention from a lot of people and still matches tone and intention of the zine. Gifs may give a post a bit more animated, funny, or simply emotional expression, so having a few sets of gifs/images (perhaps from the source material if it’s a fan zine) handy isn’t such a bad idea. It’s something we didn’t have and I basically have only regret about it.

How?

You also might think about the tonality of how you appear on the zine’s social media. Generally, fandoms are a rather friendly and casual place to be, so you can slip a small joke or something like that into your posts, however, you shouldn’t go all “LOLZ dat boi xDDDDDD” because you still want people to take you seriously and (if it’s a for-buy zine) pay real money for your zine. Keep a certain level of professionalism but don’t have a complete stick up your butt is all I’m saying as you don’t want to alienate people because of one thing or the other.

If you’re modding the zine with several mods (which I highly recommend!), also add signatures at the end of each post (we did it with -Mod [our name]) so it’s easier to clear up misunderstandings etc. as people know who they’re talking to and maybe one mod just didn’t read the memo or something. With tweets it’s just wasting precious characters but on tumblr you aren’t limited at all.

Also remember tagging: It feels like a science itself, and partly it is. First, tag what it’s about. You need to reach the fans, so if it’s about a certain ship or characters, tag those. Tag the fandom, and, very important, tag that it’s a zine. having those covered at first makes you pop up in e.g. tumblr search more as tumblr had changed that only the first 5 tags will be where you’ll appear. Some blogs which collect zine posts have a specific tag they’re tracking, so including some of these comes in quite handy. The rest is mainly to maintain a system on your blog, which everyone needs to figure out themselves. Tagging on twitter is kind of different as you have a limit, I would always go with ships/content first, then perhaps fandom, and zine only if you’ve got some characters to kill. Also please don’t use completely unrelated tags only because they’re currently trending - this is just plain annoying and it’s more likely that people will ignore you instead of gaining some interest in your project.

When?

Do your research on what times are the best to post your content to get your target audience, especially as shipping can be very expensive so you want to have national interest in first place. Every social media has their own specific timeframes where content goes viral the fastest. There is no 100% correct formular, but some tendencies at least, so you can help your luck out a little bit.

Grooming Your Media

To most social media, the key to success is consistency, so you definitely shouldn’t sleep on this. Luckily, social media are (except for most forums but then again your phone usually also has a web browser) usually available as app version, meaning you’re quick to responst or check in. - That’s what you usually think but truth be told, apps also don’t always work perfectly, and especially the tumblr app is known to be rather wonky. I also (this is a personal preference, though) find it easier to compose posts and pick the right pictures on my computer, so if you’re the same way as I, I would advise you to calculate half an hour up to maybe 3 per day/every two days to check in on all your zine’s accounts. It depends a bit on how active the current phase is and how many questions/inquiries people are sending your way.

Tumblr luckily has the queue option, and it definitely saves you a lot of time when you need to bring up an important post regularly. Through the queue, the blog also stays more active, thus has likely more traffic or is simply more noticible as it stays fresh in mind.

Twitter, however, doesn’t have this function (or I’m definitely not aware of it), and, truth be told, also isn’t concipated for this kind of thing. There aren’t really many updates you can post during certain phases of the zine, but there might help the above mentioned dates you might want to keep in mind. Tweeting about the occassion and connecting it with your zine might raise interest and more traffic on your account. And yes, then there are the really busy phases where you simply can’t keep up with social media as the zine demands all your attention. However, sometimes people just want to know how busy you are, so tweet it! A sentence or two are probably enough, and then you’re basically good to go for the day. Just remember to retweet your tweet during your breaks.

And, again, checking on your media should be a regular thing because waiting for an answer for 1-2 days is a different thing than a month or so later (this accidentally happened to us because we didn’t get a notification), so don’t just check “does the system signal me that there are new messages” but actually go into all possible messaging systems directly to check because sometimes tech is a bit wonky. (Also check the message requests!!!)

To maintain a certain level of activity can be a pretty tough job and by now I’m actually inclined to believe that one of the mods should be responsible solely for the social media management while the others work on the actual zine. However, I can’t say I’ve had experience with handling stuff like this that way. It definitely would have gotten a lot of pressure off my shoulders (I mean there’s a reason why companies have a special department handling all this stuff.)

Also, when I say “post regularly,” you can determine what is regular. This can be 24/7, every other day, or once a week, maybe also every two weeks but I suppose no less than that or people might forget you even exist. It’s just important to keep that schedule up so people can build a habit of expecting and getting to see a new post at a certain time.

It feels a bit hypocritic for me to talk about this topic because I think I’m not doing a very great job at it myseld simply because I easily neglect stuff like this, but again this small series is about learning from our/my mistakes so you don’t have to make them with your zines.

Thank you for reading, I hope I’ll find the time to write the next installment soon!

<< last | next >>

Masterpost

[vt-scribbles]

Listen. While it is true that people can do whatever they want with their blogs, that isn’t the problem here. Feel called out if you must, but this is a bigger problem than ‘telling people they owe you a reblog.’

Buy-and-large, the proportion of Likes-to-reblogs or retweets if you’re on twitter, is astoundingly low compared to what it was 5-7 years ago. And, people are less chatty in their tags and such than they used to be.

There’s lots of small reasons for this like exhaustion or people’s interests changing, but a huge reason is the rise of Purity Culture and this self-given ‘eye of judgement’ many people now have over their shoulder. Things get shared less to people’s blogs because they’re afraid of judgement, getting ‘cancelled,’ having people explode on them over stupid things. So they just silently like and move along. This became a problem over the past 5ish years, and has severely worsened in the past 2-3.

Content creators have EVERY RIGHT to complain about this, because we’re often harassed for new content or asked why we haven’t posted a Thing recently, and the answer is often a lack of motivation, feeling appreciated, or hell, simply feeling like no-one cares.

If you have a gallery stand at a convention, and 100 people just pass by and glance at your work without a word or maybe more than a smile, you start to kinda feel like shit. Like your work isn’t worth more than a passing glance. But then those few people that stop and comment on it, or take time to engage with you? You remember those ones. They stick out, they mean so much more.

And in the online circle, those people sharing or reblogging/tweeting are what spread your content around. It’s what grows your audience. Unfortunately, not everyone has the luxury of creating art PURELY for the joy of it. For many of us, it’s our job. And for those people, sharing is the most important. We have to reach wider audiences for our income.

Content creators rely on their audiences being proactive and wanting to share their work. But more often than not nowadays... if someone ‘shares’ something, it’s a copy-pasted version of the art with no source, link, or credit. It gets tossed around on telegram or discord, and then forgotten. It never goes anywhere.

Please, people. Reblog things you care about. Reblog things you WANT to see MORE OF. Engagement is how artists gauge what their audience wants to see.

If you never engage with anything... artists are going to assume that you want nothing.

since y’all didn’t respond to my well thought out post. have some memes calling y’all out, as well as a link to my other well thought out and written post. i’m tired of seeing people complain about their dash being dead, when they only like shit. reblog or shut up - LINK

for reference -

[guksthighs]

Shoulder Rides

Pairing: JIN X READER

Excerpt: ‘ “I thought you couldn’t see, have you suddenly grown a few inches?” you tried to suppress a groan at the remembrance of sacrificing the amazing view just because Jin was showing you some public affection. ’

Genre: fluff, smut

Length: 1k

A/N: @dalchild this was the purest request and i made it kinda dirty and im so sorry my mind has been in the gutter recently. thank you for this request i loved it sm

The crowd was bigger than you had anticipated, and you were forced to latch onto your boyfriend’s hand as you were dragged back by the flow of people, you had started to panic, hand squeezing Jin’s and in response, he tugged you into his chest, “What’s wrong princess?”

You shook your head, instantly calming down as you listen to the rhythmic beating of his heart that echoed the beat from the concert. When you had finally calmed down you turned to continue watching the concert but found you could barely make out the screens from over the heads of the people in front of you.

“Jinnie,” you raised your voice to try and get him to hear you and after the third shout of his name, he tore his eyes away from the bright lights and dancing figures to you with a broad smile, “can I sit on your shoulders?”

Jin grinned, kneeling down so you could swing your legs over his shoulders and climb on. It was normal position for both of you in a concert; Jin’s broad shoulders were the perfect seat and Jin had a thing for your thighs and was always happy to have you clenching them around his neck so you wouldn’t fall off.

Usually, Jin would be careful teasing you in public, he knew you would laugh at his jokes, but as he bounced to the music and your fingers wove into his hair to grip tightly, he knew today there was no holding back when you were massaging his scalp in such a delicious way.

To any onlooker, you would seem like a cute couple and yet, Jin had leant his head to the side and was planting small kisses to your inner thigh and with every squirm you only ended pushing your thighs into his reach. Jin loved having you like this, unable to shout at him for embarrassing you and letting him worship your thighs that you would always squeeze in front of the mirror no matter how many times he said he loved you and all of you.

“Jin, put me down.” you groaned and you may not have been able to see his face but you knew he was smirking because that meant he had won, his hand ran up your leg and squeezed thigh as he began to dance to the music again pretending not to have heard you.

You yanked his hair and finally, he gave you a reply, “I thought you couldn’t see, have you suddenly grown a few inches?” you tried to suppress a groan at the remembrance of sacrificing the amazing view just because Jin was showing you some public affection; so despite your best intentions you stayed.

The concert was amazing from where you were, above all the heads you could perfectly make the singers out on stage, the strobe lights that skimmed over the audience had you under a spell and you were so grateful that Jin had somehow managed to secure you both a pair of tickets as you sang along at the top of your lungs, your voice blending in with all those around you.

When the concert finished you were exhausted, your throat was hoarse and as Jin lifted you off and placed you back on the ground, your knees gave out from under you. Somehow Jin grabbed you before you fell on the ground, pulling you into his chest as he stroked your hair waiting for the cramp in your legs to pass, “let’s go home princess.”

He pulled you onto his back, your legs hooked onto his waist and you happily laid your head on his shoulder as he carried you back to the car. Normally you would have let yourself fall asleep but his ear was just in reach, and with a smile, you nipped at it causing him to yelp in alarm before giving your thigh a squeeze.

“Don’t play with fire unless you want to get burnt,” Jin warned, but it didn’t stop you from peppering his neck with kisses and finally where the smell of his cologne was the strongest, you latched your mouth down and bit down earning a groan from Jin who was trying to reach the car as fast as possible now.

You let your tongue flick over the indentation left behind by your bite, and began to suck noisily at the skin trying to rile him up in the same way he had teased you when you had been on his shoulders earlier, “maybe I want to get burnt.”

Your voice was husky as you whispered into his ear, and you felt Jin’s grip tighten on you as his steps quickened as he walked around the parking lot, digging into his pocket and nearly dropping you in the process for the car keys.

The car lights flashed as it unlocked, and Jin opened the boot to let you climb off without hurting your legs further, but as he turned to face you there were other thoughts on your mind. Your hand grabbed him by the collar as you pressed a kiss to his plump lips, “thank you for the concert Jinnie.”

Then you began to get up, so you could climb into the passenger seat, but Jin was having none of that as his arm wrapped around your waist and he pulled you into his chest, “Where’s my thank you kiss?”

“I just gave you one,” you smiled, you knew what he was alluding to but you wanted him to ask you, or better yet beg you and as he looked at you with hooded eyes and licked his lips slowly you found you were the only one coming undone with that stare.

You always were the weakest between you, always the first to drop to your knees and suck him off in the way he wanted you to do now. The adrenaline of the concert was still running through your veins and as you fell silent waiting to see if anyone was coming, you dropped to your knees, your hands coming up to his belt as you looked up at him with a smirk, “let me give you a proper thank you.”

If you enjoyed this, please do not hesitate to like, reblog and comment~

And tell me your thoughts in the comments/ask box <3

For my drabbles: click here

For my fics:  click here

[quiznakchronicle]

Fandom event etiquette

Suggestions for both organizers and participants for a smooth and fun experience

Events are some of the most fun things in fandom. They bring people together for a common project, foster a great sense of community, and produce lots of amazing content for the fandom. As long as they’re run responsibly. As people who are quite active in the fandom events scene for the Voltron fandom a few things have been brought to our attention recently and we’d like to address them. Sheer event volume, poor management, and disorganized events are starting to turn people off from signing up/participating, and it’s really upsetting to see these things that are supposed to be fun turning into sources of stress and anxiety instead

Please know that this isn’t about pointing fingers at any single event or individual, rather this is advice we’d like to share based on our experience as both event organizers and participants. We welcome comments and further discussion, but if you’d like to add to this post please don’t namedrop any people or events. Don’t turn this post into a call-out, that’s not what it’s about. Finally, this post is written specifically about the Voltron fandom, but I’m sure it could apply to pretty much any fandom, so anyone who finds it useful feel free to reblog!

- @ace-pidge​ and @bosstoaster​

Organizers

Check the state of the fandom before starting a new event. This is absolutely crucial. For the Voltron fandom, I maintain an entire set of calendars with the schedules of all ongoing and upcoming events, please take advantage of it. Your idea is probably super cool! But if there are already a couple dozen other projects going on it may be wise to hold off on it. If you’re worried about someone else coming along and stealing your idea, you can make a blog/post to signal your intent to run your event in the future, and wait a while for things to calm down a bit before actually running it. I’ve been getting many messages from people saying they feel burnt out or overwhelmed with the sheer number of events, and that’s not a situation anyone wants. [Edit (14/09): After hearing the thoughts of a Zine mod on this topic I now find this next statement unfair and in poor taste, as it lowkey implies (falsely) that Zine mods don’t know what they’re doing. I’ll leave my original comments in for posterity, but let it be known that really at this point my issue with Zines is more instances of lackluster management rather than Zine volume in itself. This is especially worrying for Zines, because actual money is involved. The market has been flooded with Zines over the summer, which results in fewer people buying them overall. Fandom people aren’t made of money, and it’s important to consider this when planning a Zine]     

Make sure you’re able to commit entirely to the project, both time-wise and mentally/physically. Fandom events are BIG JOBS, especially the ones that span several months like Big Bangs and Zines. But even smaller events like Weeks or Exchanges require a certain amount of work put into them. That’s months of advertising, of making posts, of answering questions, of sorting people out and keeping tabs on them, of troubleshooting. Look at your school/work situation not just in the near future but also several months down the line: will you have the time to dedicate to this. Look at why you’re doing this event: are you just doing it because you want in on the fun. Look at your mental/physical health situation: will you have the capacity to see this through. If you know that given your history there’s a possibility something might happen that will prevent you from keeping on top of the project (like a depressive episode or a hospitalization) make sure to account for that (for example bring on a team of mods who will be able to carry on without you should you need to step back for a while)       

Make sure your fellow mods are up to the task. Smaller events can be comfortably run by a single person, but bigger events like Zines and Big Bangs really should be run by at least 2 people, if not a team of 3-5*. This will ensure the workload is shared and there’s less chance of burning out before the project reaches completion. And they must all be people who are equally invested in the project. Having 1 very enthusiastic mod and 2 wishy-washy tag-along mods is a recipe for a project to fall apart     

If your friend is asking you to co-mod an event with them and you’re not sure you can/want to commit to it, say no! Don’t feel like you have to accept just because it’s your friend asking. It’s better to be upfront and honest than to start something you won’t be able to finish

The above goes DOUBLE if you plan to run more than 1 event at a time. I’m not here to say you can’t run more than 1 event at the same time, but if you plan to do that you better make EXTRA sure you have the time and resources to commit to all of them

Get advice from someone who has run this kind of event in the past, especially if it’s your first time as an organizer. Talking to someone who has gone through this already will likely prove invaluable for running a smooth event and dealing with problems that may arise. Look through the notes on this post if you need to find someone to contact     

Communication is key, be transparent! It is extremely important to stay in contact with your participants. This will both remind them that the event is ongoing (you’d be surprised how often people sign up for something then forget about it entirely) and show that you are responsible and on top of things. Also, don’t forget about your public page. With most events having dedicated Discord servers these days, it’s easy to forget about updating the event blog/Twitter page. Putting up a post every now and then to update the public on the event’s progress lets people know it’s not dead and keeps their interest up while your participants work behind the scenes

Stay on schedule, and if you can’t, let people know. Be clear and upfront about the event’s timeline and the different milestones, and if you can’t keep to the schedule say so. People will generally be very understanding. If you’re dealing with a Real Life situation, or if there are circumstances outside your control like printing/manufacturing delays on a Zine, tell your participants and your audience. This will avoid people getting disgruntled and frustrated and bitter because they feel left in the dark     

If for whatever reason you can no longer see the project through, tell people instead of just disappearing off the face of the Earth. It’s really upsetting from a participant’s perspective to be left with no news for weeks or months on end without a clue what happened to the event. Sometimes things come up or stuff happens, it’s understandable, but if that’s the case you need to let people know. It may be very upsetting to make that post, but trust me, people will appreciate the knowing     

Be VERY CAREFUL if you’re going to be handling money (as with Zines for example). Handling people’s money is a huge responsibility. If you’re going to be taking money you have to make sure you’re able to deliver on what you promised. The absolute worst time for a project to stall out is after preorders and before products are shipped out. If your project stalls at this stage and you don’t keep your buyers appraised of the situation you may get accused of scamming people or people may start demanding refunds, which is a mess no one wants to deal with     

Don’t air your dirty laundry publicly. We get it, sometimes running an event is frustrating. Participants drop out, or disappear and can’t be contacted, or butt heads with you or each other. Don’t complain about it anywhere public; know that stuff you say will reflect on you as an organizer as well as on your event. Vent to friends or on private accounts if you must, but you want to appear professional and in control in public. If you appear messy, your event will also appear messy, and it may make people think twice about staying in it or participating in stuff you do in the future 

Related: Try and keep your tone upbeat and positive and professional in your promo posts and answers to questions, even if you’re answering the same question for the umpteenth time. Giving off a frustrated or negative vibe may turn people off your event    

 If you’re a minor who wants to run an event make sure it’s appropriate for your age. Honestly, kudos to you if you’re 15-17 and running (or helping to run) an event, it’s great that you’re so involved! But for the love of all things good don’t get involved in an event where NSFW content is likely to appear. No amount of “I’m mature enough” or “I act older” constitutes a valid excuse, and you’re putting your (adult) participants in a very dangerous situation if you do that. ESPECIALLY if they don’t know you’re underage

*This isn’t to say you can’t run a bigger event if you’re alone, because people can and have done it and quite successfully at that. But in that case you must be absolutely all in

Participants

When you sign up for something, take the commitment seriously. Only sign up for things you know you’ll have the time/energy to deliver on, and do your best to do it

Stay on task. Keep to the schedule on your own, don’t make the organizers run after you

If you need an extension, ask for it, and don’t wait for the last minute. Sometimes you just need those few extra days or that week to complete your piece. Very often organizers will be understanding if you approach them asking for an extension, but don’t wait till the deadline to do so. Ask for the extension the moment you realize you’ll need extra time. Also ask even if you’re not 100% sure you’ll need it. Better to get the extension but still hand your stuff in on time than to show up the day of the deadline with an incomplete work and asking for more time. In the event that the organizers can’t give you an extension, either sort yourself out to have your stuff done on time or drop out of the event

If you need to drop out, do it sooner rather than later. Sometimes things come up, or your muse goes on vacation, or something else happens that’ll make you unable to participate. That’s ok! It happens to everyone. But in that case, tell the organizers ASAP so they can readjust their plans around you. Don’t just disappear off the face of the Earth without letting them know what your status is

Pace yourself. I know it’s tempting to sign up for everything. But the more you’re in the more strain you put on yourself, and the more likely you are to cause a domino effect if something goes wrong

Don’t air your dirty laundry publicly. If you have an issue with another participant or the organizer(s), or the way the event is being managed, or whatever else, take it up privately first. If it can’t be resolved, maybe just quietly drop out of the event and go on your way