#someone: *reblogs one of my icons with a compliment in the tags/compliments me in inbox*

[bfdipride]

bfb leafy w/ the orange lesbian flag please? these are super nice btw!!

posted!! and thamk u :]

[aximili]

drafted this from @dominocity ages ago and forgot abt it until i was procrastinating just now :0

check in tag game ✅

1. why did you choose your url?

went by axx for a very long time (incredibly this actually had nothing to do with aximili-esgarrouth-isthill even tho i did grow up loving animorphs. i had an OC who used the online handle axolotl.... something... i cant remember.... and i thought it sounded cool so i started using it. wow i had actually forgotten this info until just now! lore!) anyway someone on tumlr reminded me how much i loved animorphs and i wanted a new url at the time. someone just had it saved and wasnt using it so i was like fuck it, why not ask. politely messaged the blog and they were like oh ya i forgot abt this and freed it up

2. any side blogs? if you have them name and them and why you have them.

i have like 6 but i no longer use any of them & havent for years lmaoooo

3. how long have you been on tumblr?

i think its a decade this year. and ive never changed blogs once. im like a fungal infection here they cant get rid of me

4. do you have a queue tag?

i have never queued and i never will. you get my posts when you get em.

5. why did you start your blog in the first place?

a lot of my friends on deviantart (yes dear god) were becoming more active here and i started checking some humour blogs daily until i was eventually like why not just make an account

6. why did you choose your icon/pfp?

Him. (from the cover of #8 the alien, the first ax pov book, which i found in a 2nd hand bookshop as a kid and was soooo excited bc i could normally only read animorphs at the library, they were never in shops. still a treasured possession.)

7. why did you choose your header?

it just really describes my emotional state at any given time

8. what’s your post with the most notes?

unfortunately i believe it's this, which is not even my original content nor even the OP's original content, as it turned out. but "online job application form" dnd joke is probably second

9. how many mutuals do you have?

who the got damn hell is keeping track of this?

10. how many followers do you have?

1439. its been around this number for like 2 years i really just stagnated at a certain point but idm

11. how many people do you follow?

968. to paraphrase lydia, i suppose i should follow 1 more. (im sure that at least half of those are inactive. i have been here for a decade.)

12. have you ever made a shitpost?

by no means. none of my posts are shit

13. how often do you use tumblr each day?

uhhhhhhhh i probably open it and glance at activity/briefly glance at my dash llike 5 times a day? a lot less now that i use locked twitter for socialisation

14. did you have a fight/argument with a blog once? who won?

god no i am incredibly nonconfrontational. a couple times in my younger and more vulnerable years id post some stupid uninformed take and someone would rightfully disagree, and occasionally vice versa, but i honestly can't recall a "fight"

15. how do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this’ posts?

it's good to only follow adults the dashboard becomes a peaceful place

16. do you like tag games?

yes i like talking about myself 😊 but i never tag anyone bc im lazy oops.

17. do you like ask games?

i rarely do them bc i would usually not get any lmao, but they can be fun

18. which of your tumblr mutuals do you think is famous?

alma my friend alma seems to get a lot of nonsense in their inbox even tho they only post abt yugioh. eliza was definitely my most famous mutual but she freed herself from this place to become a real author, godspeed. and logan really blew up with "your dad looks gnc af" most recently

i think i have some more well known mutuals (again. been here 10 years.) but i cant think of them rn lmao sorry if ur a famo and i excluded u.

generally people think i have a lot more followers than i actually have? it's hard to gauge whether that's a compliment or not, but i take it as one.

19. do you have a crush on a mutual?

i have crushes on like everyone i meet it's called being bisexual </3

20. tags?

i tag...... YOU yes you. if u want!

[the-prophet-lemonade]

do you have any advice on getting a story to be seen? i made an ao3 account not too long ago so no one has seen my fic at the moment but i was wondering if you had any tips on that, or would i just have to wait?

hello! i can’t claim to know what makes a fic popular as it’s 99% luck, but i can speak for the remaining 1% that has worked ~reasonably~ well for me in the past. 

i think there are three key elements to getting a fic “seen”: marketing, branding, and presentation, and they’re all very important. this post got very long, so please find everything under the cut! i hope it helps :-) 

i. marketing

fic marketing may seem a bit narcissistic if you haven’t done it before, but trust me on this: it’s the best way to attract readers and you deserve to promoted your story as something you worked hard upon!

drumming up hype for a fic is great. you can do this by posting on social media, providing sneak peaks on your twitter, involving yourself in the fandom community and discussing your wips with other fans, and just generally being excited about what you’re creating. engaging with other people’s writing is also a great method to help boost your own stats … get involved with reading other work and leaving comments for other people, because they will be more likely to return the favour! when someone comments on my fics, i often go and check out their profile and see what they’ve written, as it’s highly likely we enjoy the same things! 

making promos is one of my favourite ways to engage with people about fics. once i post a fic/new chapter to ao3, i also crosspost promo posts with links and graphics to my twitter and tumblr. you will need a good hook to get people interested, but also an eye-catching image that summarises the story pictorially can be a great asset (you don’t even need photoshop, just a nice moodboard will do!). when using images however, it’s always important to think how the image size will appear in tumblr’s dimensions and on your own blog … make sure it’s not stretched or the resolution too low, and create something with a good visual flow i.e. the title appears first, then the necessary information, then any teasers or extracts. you need to make your fic post stand out on someone else’s timeline, which may already be filled with a bunch of other fic posts, jostling for attention. make it neat, clean, informative, and professional.

make sure to use the tagging systems efficiently for your chosen social media platforms: only the first five tags count on a tumblr post, so choose them wisely (i.e. use the key fandom tags first and save your personal blog tags for after), and only two hashtags count on twitter before it’s marked as spam, so go for the ship tag!

creating your own fic tag on twitter can also be fun, and i’ve seen a lot more people doing it lately too. you can encourage people to tweet along with a specialised hashtag and then you can find their reaction and engage with them later, which once again expands your fandom circle and will increase engagement on tweets associated with your fic.  

another trick i’ve learned is utilising time zones and understanding the demographics of the audience you’re trying to reach. i am very careful to post my fics at certain times of day in order to reach key people e.g. i will try to hit either europeans or americans during the evening, as this is when most people are home from work and wanting to read fic. as a european myself, especially involved in fandoms with high levels of european fans, i usually post during the early evening for CET time zones i.e. 7 or 8 pm and i tend to find this works for me. 

with tumblr, i often delay my promo posts so that i post when it’s likely to get maximum interaction (you can see when your blog is most active using your tumblr analytics) … use your queue if need be! 

i also take care in reblogging/retweeting my promo posts at certain times of day too. i will usually bump the post just before i go to bed, so as to grab americans in their early evening, and then i will bump it again in the morning when i wake up, to catch australians and west coast americans still awake. i then usually keep bumping my promos once a day for two or three days on my social media to cast a wide enough net to catch as many people who might be interested, as not everyone checks their timeline every day and social media swallows up posts so quickly, especially tumblr which is not built for original content creators to do well (lol). i will usually bump a promo post 5 - 7 times before retiring it and this is a model that’s worked well for me in the past, especially for droplets, which would get 500+ notes per chapter!  if you’re anxious about this, know that most people will only see your post once or twice because tumblr moves fast and swallows posts up very quickly, and sometimes people need reminders to read if they decide to save things for later when they have more time

ii. branding

the benefits of branding mainly come from experience, so it’s a tricky thing to utilise if you haven’t published fic before … but there are still tricks worth trying! 

certain fic writers will attract readers to new fics just because their name is attached to it, and people know the sort of story they’re getting, they know how it’ll be written, the sort of tropes that will appear, that sort of thing. obviously, building up this sort of brand requires publishing a lot of work, and so it must be said that practice makes perfect: the more you write and publish, the more your fics will be seen and your audience will grow. people will regularly see your username in the tags on ao3 and be more inclined to click on you as someone who reliably produces good content. it’s important to remember that everyone starts from the same place and works hard to improve their craft; success doesn’t just come overnight (unless you’re in the right place at the right time) and any creator will tell you that compliments to their talent aren’t what matters, but instead, it’s compliments to their dedication and hard graft. 

another key thing about branding is how you present yourself online. the most important thing in my opinion is cohesion across your social media platforms e.g. having the same username on ao3 as you do on tumblr/twitter/wherever you promote your fic. having an easily navigatable blog with working hyperlinks and archiving of your fic work is also great. basically, building a clean interface for people to engage with your work is vital! having the same icon and username across all your social media makes it so much easier for readers to navigate between your fics and your promo posts … basically, the easier you can spell something out, the better

branding is mostly to do with how you advertise yourself, rather than the particular fic, although much of it overlaps. get your name out there by engaging with other writers and making friends and appreciating their work! this is often the best way to get inspired, plus you get to meet some amazing people. i recommend trying out for zines and big bangs and writing challenges, as these are good ways to show your work to already-established audiences. also, make yourself available by interacting with commentors or by opening up your inbox on tumblr to anons. try linking your social media and your inbox as hyperlinks in the authors note of your fic

iii. presentation

this is really fundamental and is often the main reason people will close out of your fic and not read to the end. people want to read fics that are easy to digest and have had care put into them. this includes a lot of things:

correct tagging i.e. are the tags coherent and not just rambling? are there appropriate trigger warnings in place? have you unnecessarily tagged every side pairing under the sun, rather than just the main relationship?

grammar and spelling. goes without saying … people are more likely to read things that look professional and have had care poured into their preparation. make sure you know how to use speech punctuation. revise how to use commas. avoid epithets (especially racially-aggravated ones). get yourself a beta if you’re worried, because betas are godsends!

paragraphing. so many people will close out of a fic if it isn’t correctly spaced. double spaced paragraphs look best on ao3 and i often won’t read a fic if the paragraphs are too long because it hurts my eyes to read. make sure you’re starting new speakers in new paragraphs. new ideas deserve new paragraphs. basically, every time the “camera” changes, you should be starting a new paragraph. not just a new line. 

summaries. i see so many fics on ao3 with summaries that are either apologising for being bad at summaries or apologising for a fic being bad/being a first fic, and like … stop this! own what you have written, no-one else will have written it the way you have and you should be proud of it. if you’re saying in your summary that it’s a bad fic, i’m not going to click on it as a reader. instead, utilise your summary to get people hooked … good hooks can be written a load of different ways, but the best ones i see often involved a snippet from the fic as a taster, and then a couple lines of blurb. get people excited! 

titles: i’m personally more likely to click on a fic where the title is either (a) correctly capitalised or (b) is clearly chosen for its aesthetic or meaning (i love long lower case titles with parentheses lol). choosing a memorable title is really helpful, especially one that can be shortened or abbreviated for social media (e.g. for hashtags)!

all this being said, traffic on ao3 is a crytpid at best and obeys little in the way of rhyme or reason. you can put blood, sweat and tears into marketing your fic, but sometimes, just being in the right place at the right time (writing for the right niche) is what does it, so being a fic writer requires a lot of patience. first and foremost, write for yourself. write what you want to read and enjoy doing it, because if you get sucked into obsessively checking stats, it’s only going to disappoint when you don’t achieve what you want to achieve. 

just keep persevering and keep writing and appreciating each and every person who takes time in interact with your fic and its promos … because ultimately, all it takes it that one reader to fall head over heels in love with your fic for everything to change. for now, just be proud of your work and keep writing!

[studyfeather]

I just wanted to say I love your bullet journal and ask if you have any tips for starting a tumblr in general. I've seen your studyblr intro/advice post and it was so helpful to me, but I'm just starting my studyblr and already a bit lost as to how to navigate everything. Thanks in advance!

Hey there! (and omg you’re so sweet lskdjflk) I’m not the greatest when it comes to tumblr, but hopefully I can still help you out! I’ll share some navigation tips and some starting tumblr advice!

➸ Starting a Tumblr

Make a memorable username

The more memorable and simple your username, the better! 

Alongside this, a lot of people may associate you with your icon! So it can be disconcerting to some if your icon changes frequently. 

It’s also best if you stick to one username. You are able to change your username, but if anyone takes your previous username, they may think it is you. (But if you do change your username, make sure your followers know about it!)

Find/make a desktop theme that is user friendly, and pleasant to look at.

There’s nothing more frustrating (to me) to come across a blog that, no matter how much I try, I can’t seem to navigate it well. Or, if a blog has a displeasing color combination.

Usually I like to see a search bar, a navigation bar, a clean theme, and a place where I can easily see how to go to the next page.

It’s even better if your theme matches what type of blog you’re running, or some of your big interests.

As you’re running a studyblr, I’ve found that lights, whites, and pastels with a minimal layout tend to be the norm.

Remain active

The best way for anyone to get the most out of their tumblr experience is to remain active. Reach out to others with similar interests, add comments to a thread, post original content, etc. 

People WANT to follow other people who will be active. See it this way - it may be better to follow 5 active people, than 10 inactive people. 

Interact with your followers. Host giveaways (if you can afford it), do blog compliments or blog rates. Ask questions or something to get some sort of feedback.

Maintain some sort of vibe that people know you are approachable! And kind! 

Be sure to tag your posts

The best way for your blog and your content to be noticed, is to tag your posts with relevant search terms.

Quite a bit of people won’t use tags by way of people to find their posts. Instead, it will also be a place to add additional information, personal feelings, rants, if it’s a tangent to what the post is about, etc. Sometimes it can be important to read what others have to say in the tags.

➸ Navigating Tumblr

Honestly, as a major tip, making sure you become familiar with how tumblr works. Settings (and how to change your settings), how to make posts, tag usage, themes, etc - and be sure to make use of it. I’ll share some tumblr basics.

Disclaimer: I use Windows 10 for desktop, and have an Android phone, so some things I say might not be cohesive. I’m also no tumblr master (and have googled how to do things more than I’d like to admit OTL) For the most part, I will be describing how to do things on a computer, and not on mobile - unless specified otherwise.

➸ Tumblr on a Computer

Let’s start with the super basics - the bar in the top right hand corner.

Dashboard

This is where you can see the content from the people you follow. What they post and what they reblog. If you follow tags, they will occasionally show up (and will specify somewhere if they are from a tag you follow - and not from a blog you follow). 

The dashboard is what you are defaulted to when you type “tumblr.com” - if you’re logged in, that is. 

There will be a number that pops up above the dashboard icon. This number tells you there’s x amount of posts that people you follow have reblogged/made you haven’t seen yet. You can refresh your dashboard by pressing the icon, and it will bring you to the top.

Explore

The explore will lead you to a separate page. This will give you different options for you to explore a little bit more with posts that are more tailored to you. I haven’t used this tab, but it can be a good way to find more of what’s out there.

Inbox

This is where you will find all of your asks. A number will pop up if you have new asks, but the number will disappear if you have seen it. (So even if you have not answered the ask but have seen it, the number won’t stay - but you can still access the ask, ofc.)

If you have multiple blogs for one account, you can access asks for each blog separately, or all together (option to do so will be on the right).

If you want to add tags to your asks, you can do the following:

Post your answer and later edit the post, adding tags.

Hold alt down - this will turn the “answer privately” option into a “save as draft” option. Go to your drafts (account -> drafts). Edit post, add tags, post. 

Messaging

Tumblr’s way of insant messaging! It keeps track of all the people you’ve messaged, and is a way for you to start a new conversation (messaging -> new message). 

If you have a new message, a number will appear on the message icon, and will disappear once you’ve viewed it.

If you do talk to people on your computer, their icons will show up on the right and will stack up on the right side of your screen. You don’t have to have it up (just click x on the messaging box once it’s pulled up), but it can be a super quick way to frequently message someone!

Activity

This is how you will see all the activity that involves you, what you’ve reblogged (if it’s been reblogged from you, that is), asks, etc. If you click the activity icon, you’ll see a little bit of your activity. 

If you click the “see everything” option at the bottom, you’ll be directed to a different page, where you can scroll down and see more of your activity. You will also see some more information you can mess around with.

You may notice some activity will be highlighted in different colors.

blue = people who you follow

purple = you’ve been tagged/mentioned

You can also see if people have added a caption and what they said. (not sure how to describe it though, but the notification will the thicker, have a bar beside what they’ve said).

You will also see what each activity notice is, and it will show in the user’s icon in the bottom right.

red/heart = like

green/arrows = reblog

blue/+ = follow

blue/speech bubble = comment on a post

purple/@ = tagged/mentioned

black/? = ask received

black/curved arrow = ask answered (you’ll only receive this if you ask publicly. if you ask anonymously, you won’t get a notification)

Account

This is where you can find different information concerning your account and some quick links.

Access your likes

See who you’re following

Settings

Help Center 

See what you’ve posted on your blog (does not take you to your page)

Your followers

Activity

Drafts

Queue

Click here to manage queue options and see what is in your queue.

Edit appearance

Side blogs

Make a Post

It’s just as it says - this is where you go when you want to make a post. You will be given seven different options. You have seven different options to optimize how to share your content.  (I don’t really use any option other than the text/photo - so I apologize if anything I say is incorrect)

Text

You can see different options how to to customize your text. You can have a title, header, bold, italicize, add links, make bullets, etc. If you highlight your intended text, you will find different options that will pop up. You can do that, OR type in the format manually. Here’s a guide that may help you:

@/unwrapping’s text formatting guide

Photo

Use this to add photos from your computer, or add a photo using an image url. 

You can also add a photo (from your device) if you see a + on the side of your post. Click that, and you’ll have even more options, including adding a photo.

To add a photo from the web, you can also copy/paste the image. Where you would like it. 

Quote

This will automatically add quotation marks, and give you a place where to supply the quote’s source.

Link

Share any link. Typically to an external source.

Chat

Uses a different font than a normal text post, meant to mimic a conversation. 

Audio

Share a song via url.

Video

Upload a video, or share a video from online.

Now to the top left - the search bar.

Search Bar

As it says, this is what allows you to search tumblr. 

Tumblr runs on tags. When you add a tag to an original post, this allows for it to be searchable. If anyone searches that tag, your post will end up somewhere. 

To track a tag, enter something in the search bar. There will be an option beside it that says “follow.” Click that.

If you track tags, they will show up once you begin typing. You can easily find your tracked tags this way!

You can also search for tumblr accounts by searching their usernames, and they will appear at the top.

The tumblr logo on the side will lead you to your dashboard.

➸ Give yourself a URL, icon, and theme!

URLs

You can change your url/username at any given time, and how ever many times you want. To change your url:

On desktop: Go to account -> edit apperance -> click your blog on the side (it will be on the right hand side, under the separate settings tabs) -> username. You’ll see a pencil on the right beside your url, and there you can change it. 

Your old url will be locked (meaning no one else can use that url) for 24 hours - but after that, anyone can take it. If you don’t want anyone to use your old url, you can always make a sideblog and leave it unattended. 

If you want to see your blog, simply type (username here).tumblr.com - i.e. mine would be studyfeather.tumblr.com. If you know someone’s tumblr username (their url), you can easily find their blog by using this method. You can also use this method to see if anyone has a username you want.

Icon

To set an icon for yourself (and how to change it) go to account -> edit apperance -> click blog on right side (as described in the url section) -> edit appearance. Click the pencil that’s on top of your icon.

You will also have the option to give your icon a circle or a square shape - whichever you like best!

Theme

Desktop Theme:

In order to give yourself a desktop theme, as far as I’m aware, you’ll need access to a computer. Go to your tumblr page. You’ll see in the top right corner a button that says “edit theme.” OR you can go to account -> edit appearance -> your blog -> website theme -> edit theme.

Here you can browse themes, make a customizable theme, edit your theme, add pages, etc. 

There will be a bunch of themes that you can find by browsing themes (as described above) but … it honestly won’t give you many options you might like (and some you have to purchase). Here’s some other places you can go to to find themes:

@theme-hunter 

@neonbikethemes

Here you can find more free tumblr themes - but be sure to follow their rules/terms of service/guidelines/etc.

You can also find themes (or blogs that share themes) by searching tumblr.

If you want to learn how to code tumblr themes, @buildthemes​ helps teach how. 

Mobile Theme:

Your mobile theme and desktop theme are two separate things. One is what will be seen on mobile, the other on desktop. To change your mobile theme (on desktop) go to:

account -> edit appearance -> select blog -> edit appearance. 

Here you can change your banner image, icon image, background color, and choose an accent color. This will be what other’s will see when they come across your 

➸ Settings

Go through your settings and be thorough in doing so. Find settings by clicking account -> settings. You have settings for: your account, dashboard, notifications, apps, labs, your blogs. Make sure everything is how you see fit.

➸ Finding your way around other people’s blogs

You’re wanting to send an ask but … you can’t find their ask page?

Type in the following: username.tumblr.com/ask . If their asks are closed, nothing may show up. 

You’re wanting to search something but … there’s no search bar?

You can search their blog using a url instead! For instance, if you wanted to search for my original content on my blog, you can find it by typing studyfeather.tumblr.com/tagged/featherpost ! the /tagged allows for you to earch for a tag. 

If you are searching for something with a space, a “_” (an underscore) serves as a space. For example: studyfeather.tumblr.com/tagged/monthly_spread

Want a quicker way to look at a blog?

Type username.tumblr.com/archive . This will show you all that user has posted and reblogged with some sort of image or cropped text, posts being separated by months. Can be pretty convenient when trying to find something you only remember distantly. 

➸ Become familiar with ways you can access tumblr, and how each device works best for you

Once you become familiar with tumblr on one device, make sure you know how to access everything you need on other devices as well. (imo) Each device has its pros and cons - but if I had to choose, I would say a desktop/laptop as my #1 choice.

Laptop

I use my laptop mainly to make posts (I’ve found making posts elsewhere can be screwy), access posts I’ve been mentioned in, or posts to comment on. I also prefer answering any messages here!

Phone

I use my phone when I’m on the go, and, for the most part, reblog everything using my phone (add tags, and add to my queue, and check my tracked tags). 

Other Devices

I don’t have any other devices, but that shouldn’t limit you either. Work with whatever suits you best!

Hope this helps? Honestly, it takes a little bit of roaming and messing around to get the hang of things, in my opinion. But best of luck Meg, you’re going to do great! ^7