#so whole grain it be ig

[zan-77]

Can't eat raw flour anymore ::(

[nicorobinphd]

btw am i the only person that hates the fandom conception of sabo as like crazy & unhinged irt violence? like not only are there ableist undertones, more specifically as it pertains to his head injury & potential brain trauma, but it also just seems to function as a way to ignore the fact that sabo isn’t just a part of a militant anti-establishment resistance group with the aim of revolution because it’s en vogue. like, he is not regularly partaking in violent direct action against the world government because he thinks it’s # edgy. he’s partaking in it because he has specific political aims that will be furthered by such acts, with the hope of bettering society on the whole. tbh it comes off as very like “oh of course we don’t need to think about the fact that he’s presented as having a very thoughtful & coherent system of beliefs regarding the nature of freedom, the right people have to autonomy & self determination, the corruption innate to capitalist structures & the function of state apparatuses, etc. that is rooted in personal experience as well as compassion & understanding granted to the experience of others. we don’t gotta reflect on what that could say about the narrative or how it interacts with the themes of the main plot or anything, there is no genuine political commentary or espousal to be found here. he’s just a cuckoo bird who’s in it for the kicks lol!”

maybe i’m being overly serious, but like. okay it’s not necessarily that i don’t expect characters depicting an ideology that is radically against the status quo of the modern era on a foundational level to be entirely sanitized of their beliefs in audience discussion as a means of making them more palatable while allowing the audience to remain intellectually complacent to the aforementioned status quo, but does fandom have to partake so wholeheartedly? & do so without a hint of irony? can’t we do better? & like, again, to be clear- i am aware that this is generally what happens to revolutionary characters on the whole, it is just disappointing to see in the op fandom particularly when considering how integral the politics reflected by both the revolutionary army & the straw hats are to the source material.

[spotlightstudios]

Idk if this is just me, but most (art) tutorials make me want to gnaw on drywall. However, watching artists create in their natural environment is like drinking from a cool natural spring.

[xenondrawz]

Me, takes a break from arting for 3 days to focus on my finals: Man, I am going to be so rusty for this doodle I had in mind...

Also me:

[duskrelyk]

got my blood test back!! shortly literally nothing i do matters

[spacemancharisma]

most of the malevolent fandom presence online is the worlds most insufferable chronically online queer teens and I know this entirely from y’all’s depictions of kayne

[holyblankbatman]

using the date on the flying graysons photo, (tue, july 16) i’ve decided if dick was 9 at the final flying graysons’ performance, he’d be born in 1993

(recent july 16ths being a tuesday: 1991, 1996, 2002, 2013 — i’m choosing 2002)

and for some reason i’m thinking gotham knights takes place in 2020 (correct me if i’m wrong), and therefore he’d be 27 in the game

[milksnake-tea]

hey all !! normally i wouldn't engage in something like this on my blog, but considering that it's happening to a friend of mine, i felt i had an obligation to speak out. sorry for clogging up the tags/interrupting your scrolling 😭

tldr: @/hxveneru has stolen the works of my good friend @lowkeyren not once, but twice and is deleting any comments calling them out.

edit: they've changed their user to @/yneri; if you've blocked them already, this doesn't really matter bc they're still blocked :) reminder to not engage with them, they're just looking for attention. block and ignore!

i know. fun stuff. proof is under the cut.

please note that i'm doing this of my own accord, and the only involvement ren has had in this post is me asking for permission to post it since, well, it's an issue mainly affecting her.

also i should say beforehand but. don't ??? send them death threats please 😭 we are better than that. i'm mainly making this to spread awareness about the issue :)

reblogs are appreciated to spread awareness.

first stolen work is ren's oneshot "drunk words, sober thoughts!" for aventurine here.

as you can see, it was posted on June 15th, a little over two months before hxveneru posted their own oneshot.

for reference. hxveneru is a new blog and all of their posts are in the month of september, proven here via their archive.

and here's the two oneshots side by side, with ren's on the left and the stolen one on the right.

notice how the oneshots are exactly word-for-word except for the title and synopsis? even the author's note is exactly the same. obviously i can't fit the whole thing here, but this should be enough.

honestly it's. i have to laugh at the audacity to just copy and paste like hello???

and here's the second work that was copied, with hxveneru's "diff scenarios w hsr men" taking from drabbles from two of ren's works.

these are the two fics that were stolen from, with their dates attached. both are posted far before september. links are here and here if you want to double check..

now let's look at the drabbles that were - once again, copy and pasted. first is blade's, again with ren on the left and the stolen one on the right (ren's is circled bc they didn't take the hcs part).

and here is the sunday drabble that was stolen.

so far, those are the only works posted on their blog. i was also informed that they had apparently stolen from @/exuvianen's post here but deleted it, but since said post is deleted, we don't have evidence for that so take it with a grain of salt.

but yeah! just wanted to let yall know out there, especially since the plagiarized works have already gained some traction and have 100+ notes on them. i've talked about them vaguely on my blog before, so if this sounds familiar, yeah this is them.

plagiarism is shitty, i shouldn't have to say that. it is not that hard to just write your own stuff. i know validation and publicity make you feel good, but stealing someone else's hard work is not the way to go. writers already have enough to deal with. just don't do it. what's the point of getting validation if it's not even your work?

again, don't send death threats, please. that's a bit far, and they likely won't even do anything since the plagiarizer has already been called out before and this was their response.

not a single ounce of remorse or shame. people have gotten way too comfortable on here.

also "who the hell is ren anyway" bestie you blocked her 😭😭 and ignored her ask to you. that's why ren can't dm her to sort it out privately btw, in case you were wondering.

anyways! that's all i have to say, thanks for sticking around this long and have a great rest of your day. hxveneru if you see this. hi ig ?? id say smth to you but i doubt you'd take it seriously so i won't <3

[miwiheroes]

Light = Truth

So this whole Byler post is literally just based off something that my friend who has a studies film at school said to me about lighting. Me and my friends do a presentation night like every few months and obviously my hyperfixation atm is byler so I did '10 reasons why I think byler could be canon'. My friends were convinced by the end btw, which is fun (and they kept pointing out yellow and blue things afterwards i loved life), but they also contributed so many things that I have never even considered or seen on byler tumblr before.

For example, my friend who studies film (btw we aren't just kids who like movies or smth, we are adults studying film lmao), stopped me during my presentation because I wasn't talking about lighting choices that were super clear.

I guess you can take what they said with a grain of salt because they aren't like, a professional ig, but they said that so many times during film, light is symbolic to mean truth. And it's like... oh my god. Suddenly, after they said that, everything made sense. Of course, light means truth in all these scenes! So I just want to point out two Byler/ Mike is gay moments that I think are related to this:

Light in the Closet tm

Hello??? Why is there a light in the closet here, not just to draw ur attention towards it, but also to symbolise something. Who tf has a light in their closet unless its massive, and why would it even be on in this scene?

The truth is, you're in the closet, Michael. We've all seen these images before and how he has his eyes open, yada yada, but the light literally means truth here, and its framed on his head, like he's thinking of the truth.

In literally the first scene in season 4 with Mike, as we know, we see a closet. That's almost comical. Not only that, but the light is on. Meaning, the truth is, Mike's still in the closet, again it's framed near his head. (Pair this with the one way sign, it's very obvious what they're trying to say here)

Let's talk about this image right here:

First of all, the light is literally shining out of the closet, not just in a blurry fashion, but it's literally a ray of light pointing at Mike who's standing in front of it. This being in the very first scene with Mike in it sets up the sort of arc he has in season 4, the fact that the truth is he's in the closet, but the one way sign shows he's still in it.

I showed this image to my friends during the presentation and the one I mentioned earlier also said that the set designers put the lamp where it is for a reason as well. The lamp in Mike's room is, of course, lighting up Will's drawings on his notice board as well as the buff guy posters. So, his true feelings are that... he likes men. Yah

2. Lights on Will

In the Van scene, everyone knows about how they spent a reallyyyy long time getting the lighting just correct, and if it was meant to mean truth, it all makes sense. (Also to get that heart in Will's eye lmao)

In this shot, (not particularly this frame but yknow) Will is literally bathed in sunlight, and it could just mean that Mike's seeing him in this light because he's pretty to him or something, or it could mean that Will's literally telling the truth/ Will is Mike's truth. Playing D&D and Nintendo for the rest of their lives is really what he wants, as established in season 3.

(my fave byler scene yes pls) When I showed this photo to my friends in my presentation, my film studies friend literally laughed. Yes, it is very very clear what they are trying to tell viewers here. The light is purposefully shining perfectly on Will only. Mike is completely cut off from the light and is in the dark. Some think that it's because he's 'in the dark about Will's feelings' (and yeah he is) but I think it's because by the end of season 4, Will has kind of admitted the truth to himself. He loves Mike, but Mike hasn't admitted his truth, that he loves Will.

However, we get clear foreshadowing for the next season in this scene because:

Mike reaches into the light, for the truth. It also foreshadows him supporting Will more in season 5 perhaps, but the fact that the next shot is this:

kind of just makes it super duper obvious that he's going to (very cheesy but) 'find his truth' or true feelings with Will/ in the next season.

Okay thanks for listening to me ramble about how light = truth, i would love to hear any other moments that could also mean the same thing :) Anyways, byler endgame.

[mjshortformcjesus]

OK LOOOONG POST (i ranked all the saw traps except for the spiral ones)

starting with the worst and i’ll work my way up :3

74. lawnmower trap (saw 3d) because its boring and stupid

73. edgar munsen’s trap (jigsaw). this whole movie sucks ass but. the lack of filter on like this whole scene pisses me the fuck off

72. shotgun chair (saw v) idek it just sucks

71. hangman’s noose (saw 3d i believe) its really boring and basicccc

70. cyanide box (saw 3d) boring as hell im afraid

69. sentry gun (saw 3d) its kinda funny i suppose???

68. hoffmans ugly fucking rbt (saw vi) its fucking ugly

67. suspended cage (saw 3d) i would survive this no problem

66. chain hangers (jigsaw) i dont care for it and the needles and i hate it

65. spike trap (saw iv) its good i think its just like the one trap i cant watch :/

64. scalping chair (saw iv) idkkkk its justs like boring and yawn (really funny on 2x speed though)

63. grain silo (jigsaw) lordddd its badddd

62. electrified staircase (saw ii) i think this would fix my knees but like. the way its filmed lowkey sucks

61. public execution (saw 3d) good golly this one ugh. i think it couldve been good if it werent a stupid reason to get put in a trap

60. drill chair (saw i) lost points for being named jeff

59. shotgun keys (jigsaw) funny. i suppose

58. shotgun hallway (saw i) i liked sing ;-;

57. freezer room (saw iii) slow ass fucking jeff

56. cycle trap (jigsaw) not a personal fav but the corpse is really funny

55. brazen bull (saw 3d) diy top surgery ig but the wife didnt deserve that

54. ceiling jars (saw v) they couldve all fIT IN THERE

53. antidote safe room (saw ii) i hate xavier and i dont really enjoy when he cut the back of his neck off :/

52. electric bathtub (saw v) i liked the lady that got zapped ;-;

51. razor box (saw ii) its good but also akdjdjosjeoskdo

50. disembowelment (saw x) wooble wooble wooble

49. gas chamber (saw x) i hate cecilia so sos os os so much

48. oxygen crusher (saw vi) its a wee bit fucked up ngl

47. buckets room (jigsaw) personally i dont like it very much but @w3bcu1t does and i love her

46. neck tie trap (saw v) LMAO THE DECAPITATION

45. pipe bomb (saw x) ughhh its good but ughhhh

44. zep’s test (saw i) idek yall

43. magnum eyehole (saw ii) yea

42. spine cutters (saw iv) i liked art…

41. bedroom trap (saw iv) its icky but well done

40. horsepower trap (saw 3d) all i wrote for this was “lur lur lur” idk what that means

39. leg wires (jigsaw) ://////

38. wisdom teeth combo (saw 3d) the peanuts :3

37. jeff’s final test (saw iii) kajsisjslkaksndkd

36. razor wire maze (saw i) man oh man its a classic

35. the furnace (saw ii) :3

34. steam maze (saw vi) yea

33. exploding puppet (saw iv) OWAGHH lindseyyy

32. pig vat (saw iii) juice

31. flammable jelly (saw i) ngl its just for the name

30. knife chair (saw iv) hehe ha

29. eyeball vaccuum (saw x) slurrrppppp

28. silence circle (saw 3d) i wont explain myself

27. nerve gas house (saw ii) lowkey this trap fucks hard. easily the best group trap

26. laser collars (jigsaw) listen. i know it sucks. idc

25. the cubeeee (saw v) in my cube. straight up breathing it. and by “it” well haha lets justr say. neck air

24. classroom trap (saw iii) again. my notes just say “lur lur lur”

23. brain surgery (saw x) pabdodjeokeow

22. impalement circle (saw 3d) i…have no idea

21. radiation (saw x) gabrielaaaaa

20. bloodboarding (saw x) ITS SO AINSOEMEPW

19. pendulum (saw v) he-he got cut in half lmao

18. acid room (saw vi) tghe fucking body melting??? PEAK

17. bathroom trap (saw i) gay people

16. ice block trap (saw iv) fuck eric amiright

15. venus fly trap (saw ii) i loveee this one but poor michael probably didnt deserve that

14. shotgun collar (saw iii) live. laugh. lesbian.

13. pound of flesh (saw vi) this is a classic and i love it sm

12. the gallows (saw vi) AMERICAN HELATHCARE

11. shotgun carousel (saw vi) USA 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🦅🦅🦅🦅!!!!!

10. 10 pints of sacrifice (saw v) when- when the hands do the flappy i lose my shit

9. amanda’s test (saw iii) ANSOSJOSJknosjoskijsi&/918Jwboajaosj

8. needle pit (saw ii) isjsisjsoajaoanoak

7. reverse bear trap (saw i and 3d) amajda ambda andbaa mandy ambda amanda (and jill i suppose)

6. mausoleum (saw iv) mmmmmmmmmm

5. eric’s test (saw ii) oh goodness. i fucking hate eric matthews.

4. bone marrow (saw x) i really like this one

3. glass coffin (saw v) silly haha

2. the rack (saw iii) THE PRACTICAL EFFECTS RAHHHHH

angel trap (saw iii) i loveee kerry i loveee the effects i loveee the rats on her in saw iv i loveee amanda appearing as kerry’s ribs get ripped open

yayayaya i did it. yall can ask if you have questions :3

[majaloveschris]

About that girl, I think it was revealed that those messages were faked anyway. Doesn't really matter now, considering it was so long ago though. I also think it was way to random to have been real anyway. I mean, her "story" and those "screenshots" just popped up out of nowhere. Also, look at when it happened. It happened when a lot of fake stuff was coming out after he was tied to A and this situation. The whole thing just seemed faked, like a lot of stuff that's happened.

Also, and this is just my opinion, and I know people would disagree, but I don't think he goes around DMing a bunch of random women on Instagram the way a lot of people think and have said. I think, like other things people have said about him, it's something that just became exaggerated and people took it and ran with it, like they do a lot of things, especially with a lot of lies that have come out pertaining to this situation he's in now. I also think it's tied to this "extreme sexual man whore" image a lot of people have sprouted about him, which I also think isn't true. I think it comes from a place of hate, so people make up things or hear a rumour online with no substantial evidence that it could be true and run with it like its gospel. Or people go around reading tarot blogs and taking the readings as 100% truth. It's like when someone on another gossip was spouting how he had slept with this younger actress and had apparently treated her bad (yelled at her, etc.) and it came out that the person who kept spouting that was someone who was actually stalking him and quite possibly had a mental health problem. See what I mean. You can't take everything people say to be the truth.

Obviously, I'm not saying he hasn't had hookups, or has made arrangements with women he's probably known for a while. But that's the point, I think he's someone who feels more comfortable with women he already knows. And there's nothing wrong with that. But I don't believe he's comfortable just going out there and messaging random women online all the time, even if he may find them physically attractive. Now, we've seen before he's followed some women when he first started his IG, but we have no evidence he actually DM'd anyone. He's a typical male in the sense that when a beautiful woman posts herself openly online, he'll look. But like I said, these are my opinions. He's said himself he gets shy and intimidated when there's a women he finds attractive. And no, I'm not saying he's innocent or holy, but I just don't think he's as extreme as a lot of make him out to be. I think he's just human, like the rest of us. We're freaking complex lol.

Was it proved to be fake? I didn't hear about it. I don't know if I would say it came out at a weird time. Didn't she say something like her boyfriend cheated on her? Anyways, she said something about the boyfriend, so she probably shared those to show him she could've gotten him. Either way, whether it's true or not, it doesn't really mean or prove anything, other than he might've reached out to a girl on Instagram. 

I don't even know why this whole he is texting women on Instagram thing became something. Following someone doesn't mean you immediately reach out to them to bone down. I didn't see anyone saying or stating anything like that up until this girl, and whether this was real or fake, it's only just one girl still. I'm also not saying he's never had a one-night stand or never hooked up with anyone, but I do agree that saying he's had sex with every single woman he's ever interacted with is a reach. 

People definitely shouldn't believe everything they read online about him or believe tarot readers. There are a lot of people who simply don't like him, so they start nasty rumors about him, or people who are way too obsessed with him and have nothing better to do. I always say how important it is to take everything with a huge grain of salt, because you don't know these nameless, faceless people, but some people are lost, and you can't convince them. 

[physalian]

IngramSpark: Good or Nah?

I decided to work with them last minute to set my book up for success, and, in case they screwed me over, I could hate them in a properly informed manner.

So!

IngramSpark (IGS) vs. Amazon (KDP) so far: A detailed comparison.

Spoiler Alert: FUCK INGRAMSPARK

Alrighty these are two proof copies (author copies) of the exact same book made with the exact same PDFs. IGS is on the left in all pics.

Stuff to note:

The IGS copy is slightly greener, the purple is less vibrant. KDP made the exact colors I painted this with in photoshop.

The KDP book is slightly thicker and while the spine print is slightly off center, the front cover is perfectly centered. Compare both of the lower moons on the right side and it's very obvious that IGS cut theirs incorrectly. It's cut incorrectly because their paper is thinner, thus needing a slightly narrower print PDF (which isn't something they would tell you).

KDP is slightly thicker because they used thicker paper. Theirs is less polished creme, you can feel more of a grain of the pages, but because they're thicker, they're less transparent. I can read straight through to not only the back of the title page, but straight onto the next piece of paper for the IGS copy, and theirs cost more to print.

KDP shipped in lighter packaging, which meant my copy got a little banged up as opposed to the cardboard coffin the IGS book was in. Pick your poison.

KDP

PROS

A breeze to work with in most areas. I did not need to use customer service, so I can’t comment on that, but I’ve heard it’s superior to IGS in every way. They do have a community chat that I have used when confused (more below) and pages upon pages of how-to resources.

Simple user interface, very easy to click through all the set-up menus and not once did it freeze or crash on me (more below).

Did not use their formatter or cover generator, I used Adobe and did my own so I can’t comment on their quality.

Their “print previewer” was fantastic. I could click through the whole book and they explained very thoroughly where some issues were and what I should look out for and they let me use my own files without issue instead of having to build them in the platform.

Their royalty rate is the best you can get in this industry, because they’re not selling to anyone but themselves so there’s no middle man taking a cut of the profit.

Print quality of the book itself is fantastic. Only thing I miss is the ability to emboss, but no print-on-demand company does that as far as I’m aware. The colors were an exact match to my design in Adobe, I have no complaints.

Instant reports and near-live report refreshes for ebooks. Print copies don’t register on reports until the book ships, but Amazon prints and ships within ~2 days.

Because it’s Amazon, even though proof copies aren’t applicable with Prime, my copy still got here in 5 days including print time. My print copy totaled the print cost plus $3 in standard shipping that I could have rushed.

It did get a little banged up on the bottom but I think that was during shipping not at the printing press.

If you’re really strapped for cash, they do offer free ISBNs *but these are KDP only ISBNs, you don’t own them, and they are non transferable between vendors and POD companies. Bite the bullet and just save up for your own ISBNs and buy them in bulk if you can and you plan on publishing at least 2 books in your lifetime (like a paperback and hardcover of the same book, even).

After I submitted my ebook for preorder, I kept finding little details to fix and lines I wasn’t happy with that got nixed at the 11th hour. Updating this was seamless and free and the updated versions were processed within 6 hours or so. Amazon did not lock in the files to the date the preorders were set like IngramSpark would have.

CONS

They still don’t have paperback preorder, but they do have a feature where you can submit for a future release, which is just giving your files over to go live on a set date. Thing is: When you get to the end of the setup, there’s a button that says something like “submit for publication” which does not actually mean “move your publication date to right now” like I thought. So I missed my paperback date by 2 days.

Their proof copy has that annoying grey “Not for Resale” stripe across the cover so it looks wonky in marketing images.

They have a “cover art size calculator” feature, which did not line up with the actual file size I needed come submission time, off by a few millimeters. Which meant resizing in Photoshop and it was incredibly annoying and tedious.

Upon finally hitting the “publish” button Amazon flagged my book and told me to fix the highlighted errors. Well there were no highlighted errors, and said error(s) could be anywhere across four pages of details. I had to consult the community notes to figure out what they were talking about (it was an ISBN issue) which was quite annoying.

IGS

PROS

Well-known as the best print-on-demand (POD) company with the widest reach, including Amazon, for expanded distribution. (NOT IN MY EXPERIENCE)

Also well-known as the highest quality self-publish paperback, that still doesn’t do embossing. (NOT IN MY EXPERIENCE)

They do paperback preorders (which I did not participate in).

Integrates flawlessly with libraries and retailers that Amazon won’t do (which is about its only claim to superiority). My book was searchable on Barnes & Noble within 48 hours.

IGS, like KDP, has free ISBNs (US only), with the exact same non-transferable issue. However, because they integrate across all sellers, Amazon included, if you only intend to work with them, you’ve reached every market anyway.

CONS

Their royalty rate sucks ass. I had to price my book $1 higher through IGS because I was literally at a deficit with all the printing costs and vendor discounts (so if you want my book for slightly cheaper, buy it through Amazon). Through IGS, I think I’m making about $1 in royalties, when all is said and done. And I’ve heard, shockingly, that that’s pretty good.

I didn’t try to use their customer service because I know it’s notoriously terrible. But it would have been helpful when their website crashed.

Their website crashed on me three times when trying to upload my files. Before it crashed, their “submit files” button simply did not work, so I had to go the roundabout way through their formatter and cover wizard (which I didn’t like) which then told me my 300DPI cover art was too small. The exact same file I submitted and had in my hands at perfect resolution to Amazon. It took almost 2 hours of running around in circles on their site to essentially start from scratch to get this up and running—and I did all of this with polished files from the get go because I knew revisions would be tedious. Can’t imagine the hassle if you aren’t ready to go immediately (this is why I didn't do a preorder with them).

I have heard that if you make changes to your files, they don’t go into effect until the next month, meaning if you have typos, and anyone buys your book before the next calendar month despite you fixing them in the system, that person is still buying the old version. I have also heard that generating reports is not seamless. After 60 days, revisions also cost you $25 a pop (KDP is free).

If you submit pre-made PDFs for your manuscript and cover (as in, you don’t format or generate them within their system) they do not have an instant previewer. Mine took 48 hours to deliver a link, when that shit should be automated and instantaneous and should allow me to use my own files.

IGS does not have Amazon’s monopoly on shipping, so to get my book here at all quickly, it cost me almost $20, rush fees applied for only 1 day faster than Amazon did. “Quickly,” being I ordered the proof on the 24th, and it won’t get here until the 28th. Meaning, that if you’re not paying rush fees, you’d have to wait longer.

They can be quite confusing with revisions during the preorder process. Per their website, they can begin printing your book “generally” 30 days before go-live. Which means someone who preordered your book on the 3rd gets the version of the book that was available on the 3rd, even if you update it on the 5th, because they print those immediately, even if the book’s official release date of the 30th hasn’t passed. You’d pretty much have to be completely done with revisions before setting up for preorder with them to be absolutely sure, which means wasted time. I don’t know why they don’t just queue up the books to be printed on a hard deadline a few days before release.

So. While I hate that Amazon has a monopoly, about the only thing IGS has going for it is their expanded distribution when everything about their business, from their platform to their user experience to the actual quality of books is at best dead even with KDP, but in my experience with my best foot forward, IGS annoyingly inferior.

I don’t think they’ll remain the “best POD company” for very much longer. I did not do hardcover for ENNS as of this post so I can’t comment on either service’s print quality, only what I’ve seen in other reviews. Some people like the jacket-less print-on-the-cardboard look (Amazon), some people (me) like the jacket, if only so I can use it as a bookmark.

*I wrote the above paragraphs before getting my proof copy from IGS and fucking hell they're not even competent at printing

It is also a massive waste of paper and shipping resources to have to print multiple versions of proof copies fixing errors outside of my control. My proof copy from KDP is perfect. IGS? Nope! But they wouldn't let me properly preview it so I had no idea this would happen.

Even as a consumer who might hate the idea of giving Amazon more money, there’s an argument to consider: I totally understand the desire to keep brick and mortar stores afloat and I don’t want Amazon’s monopoly on the market to grow even larger. However, Amazon makes sure that you’re making more than pocket change on your book, unless you jack up the prices for readers on the back end so the whole thing costs more all the way down the pipeline. I refused to do this.

That deficit that forced me to price ENNS even $1 higher than Amazon really bothers me with IngramSpark. That deficit exists because of a higher print cost and a 55% discount given to vendors so they can still make their cut of profit from stocking your book. IngramSpark had me sit through a whole video saying “if you don’t do this no one will stock your book” while saying you could go as low as 54% but that might scare off vendors.

In essence, at this time, KDP makes sure that you, the creator, make money. IGS makes sure that they and the businesses selling your book for you make money. I didn’t do any of this for profit, but it does hurt seeing all your hard work, possibly years of effort, have a royalty of $0.87.

So, yeah, is IngramSpark worth it?

I don’t yet know what their reach will amount to. It’s a dream of mine to see my book on a bookstore shelf, but signing up with IGS does not guarantee you sales, it just guarantees you the best chance possible at reaching potential buyers. But at the moment, all it looks like to me is fees, a bad UI, cheap printing, arrogance from perceived superiority in the market, and a business built boldly in favor of its own profits.

Amazon’s a shady-ass corporation, but I’m going to have to say they’re the better bet. At the very least, for your first book when you don’t have an audience and if making a profit is important to you.

—

I did not try to use any other POD like Draft 2 Digital or Barnes & Noble Press, as I already have KDP and IGS is the best platform to integrate with KDP.

See here for the cost breakdown of my debut novel from draft to publication.

[ezlo-x]

So uhhh… thoughts on the new echoes of wisdom big bad?? Tbh I wasn’t expecting a kirby boss in a zelda game.

EoW Major Spoilers! (take what I have to say with a grain of salt...i am very sleepy tired rn...my classes have kinda ruined my sleeping schedule)

I have not seen anything about Null, but I haven't checked youtube yet as I'm watching my friends play it. I;m gonna wait a little to joke about something but I can't believe I was correct on that one post I made about my EoW Ganon predictions. Its a whole new villain where Ganon gets completely sidelined and I am a little sad about that. I wouldn't have minded if Ganon was the generically big bad of the game. Its been SO long since we had good old Classic Ganon in the story. But I guess this series is now allergic to make Ganon/Dorf be interesting in any shape or form. tho tbf i am not completely devastated as I was with totk ganondorf. ig since this time around i wasnt rlly blinded with excitement, i was careful as I was worried to the same thing would happen to me with totk. but it didn't I'm just overall disappointed and shrugging my shoulders. tbh tho maybe if i keep seeing more of the story i would actually forgive them about this, the story so har from what I've seen has been rlly charming

come back to me abt this when my brain isn't spinning 😭

[yourlocaltreesimp]

Official update for the series!

Glad to report the series is coming along well. But I’ve reached the first issue, that of which being the name (always the worst part of writing). I’ve planned out the whole beginning and where I roughly want it to end, so all I need is the stuff in the middle. Even then, I know vaguely I want it to go, i just need to find the details. But for the life of me, I can’t decide on a name. I was thinking ‘All chained up’ because that seems rather befitting of the Yan!Chain and it’s a pun but something about it bugs me. Oh well ig.

As for planning (no spoilers):

Dink headcannons are canon to the series. I’m taking questions and asks about the series if any part of it confuses you guys. And I can say there’s going to be multiple endings… as of now, idk if I’ll have the energy to write them all.

Stuff I like for the series:

4th wall breaks

Self awareness

Religious bullshitery

Royal slander

Slow burning the fuck out of the audience until their retinas are fried

Stuff I don’t like

The canon (this is a joke, partially… Take this with a grain of salt)

[inventedsanity]

hi! wdym when u said that your throne is going downhill? what happened?

sorry for seeing this so late, im rarely active on tumblr :( and about your throne going downhill, it was moslty because i felt like the author butchered medeas character for fanservice (the whole eros and helio love triangle thing ig?). her character just felt so weird at the time? i can't really comment more on it since i have dropped the webtoon and picked at random times so the whole storyline is jumbled up for me and im only reading rn for my pookie psyche cause we finally got the backstory of her parents and her (which im happy and sad at cause omg PSYCHE DESERVES SM BETTER) i just dont think medeas character isnt as well written as it was before and medea is a huge base for the entire plotline and it just was so messy like suddenly romance became the focus? and the whole thing was so weird and the storyline doesnt even make sense at this point. i feel like the author is rushing to finish it since it was said by her that the ending is nearby.

also if u do like the current your throne plot, then thats fine too! i havent read the webtoon properly in a while so take my words with a grain of salt. i just dont like how the author is treating the characters now and its just feels like the writing has gone worse.

[dryemiddi]

Headcanon: Pizza isn’t the thing Raph eats the most of

It's been a head-canon of mine for the past few hours that 50% of Raph's calorie intake, despite the existence of pizza, comes from only one source: rice.

A few reasons for this.

One: Raph's size. 

Starting off with the obvious point, the bigger someone is, the more they gotta eat (not to mention how active he and his brothers are). But why rice specifically? Well, just look at his living situation...

Two: Price. 

Food is expensive. It certainly didn't help that Splinter had to raise his sons in the sewers. In the US, 1kg of rice costs about $4, one of the cheapest sources of grain (not to mention how much 1kg of rice actually is once cooked)...

Three: Convenience. 

Rice is simple to cook, and has a shelf life from months to years. It could be easily stocked up in their home with as few trips to the upper city as possible, lowering risk of both shortages and exposing themselves above... The only issue they would have to deal with is keeping the rice dry while stored (i mean they live in sewers of all places), but that fix is relatively simple. 

 So why the emphasis on Raph and not all the brothers?

Four: now we're diving into Raph's character. 

In Rise, not only is he the eldest, but also the leader of the group. He largely is responsible for setting a good example, and putting the needs of his brothers before his own... This sentiment would bleed over to their meals, especially when they get older and have the means to nicer food: like pizza. While Raph would be perfectly justified to take more than his brothers, it would harm his need to set a good example...  

 But of course, he needs to meet his calorie quota, so while taking an equal share in special meals with his brothers, he can make up the carbs he still needs with the simple, plentiful food at home that most don't bat an eye at: rice. Not to mention having so much of it during childhood would lead to Raph growing up with the taste for it, along with it being an easy meal (if he had to cook when Splinter couldn't and Mikey was too young to be the family cook yet).

... It's probably one of the most boring HC's ever, but I think there's some interesting details to unravel in such a mundane concept. I'm surprised no one talks much about how much larger Raph's diet is with how big he is in Rise, and the implications along-with that. (Plus the image of Raph downing a whole bucket of rice by himself is funny to me I should draw that sometime)

(This was originally a twitter thread but it bombed so hard so I wanna see if the same content does any better on Tumblr-- only one way to find out ig)