#support your indie artists

[bluemonkwrites]

It is "Bandcamp Friday," which means any sales today go directly to artists without usual fees being kept by Bandcamp. Most albums are set to "pay what you want," so I hope you will find something for your collection.

[trashworldblog]

also... hot take... but i think expecting to get entertainment for free is actually bad for artists

[tellnotalespod]

List: Queer creatives to spend your money on instead half-arsed pride merch from Target 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

We're all aware by now that when you buy pride merch from one of Those Companies, your money is just going to a CEO who half-heartedly told someone to slap a rainbow on it and call it a day. So why not use that money to support an actual queer person who’s working hard to make art?

I've collected a(n incomplete) list of queer creatives who would benefit from your support this Pride Month - this is fairly limited in scope, as it only includes creators who responded to my call for links (or whose links were sent by friends & fans). It is also, for that reason, fairly audio-drama-heavy, but not exclusively so! It includes sections for crowdfunds, online stores, ttrpgs, and ko-fis and patreons for creators of a variety of different art forms.

The list is long, but worth a look through. Have a browse, see if anything appeals, and if you'd like to add any links, please do! Share the list around, shout out your friends and peers, boost your favourite artist, and vitally, self-promo is strongly encouraged!

Crowdfund campaigns:

Starting off strong with Forged Bonds @forgedbondspod ��� A queer, myth-bending audio drama retelling of Aphrodite and Hephaestus's love story.

This one takes pride of place as the inspiration for this post. Pine is working SO hard to make sure their cast gets paid regardless of crowdfunding outcomes, even if that means paying out-of-pocket. Help them avoid having to do that by supporting a truly kind and wonderful creator. (Crowdfund ends in a little over two weeks!)

We've also got a tight time-sensitive crowdfund for Waiting For October @monkeymanproductions — an upcoming queer supernatural audio drama series from the creators of Moonbase Theta, Out.

At the time of posting, they only have 13 hours left on their crowdfund, but they're 93% there! Help them cross the threshold and tell what I'm sure will be another gorgeous and wild story.

And for the horror lovers, a new crowdfund from The Morbid Forest — a deep dive into all things grusesome!

They are hoping to fund their fifth season, and it's looking to be their biggest yet. A lot of what they're asking for will be used to pay guest authors they're bringing in for the new season, allowing platforms for up-and-coming writers. Help them make this a reality!

All three of these creators also have Patreons you can subscribe to instead of (or in addition to!) their crowdfund: Pine Tree Pods, Monkeyman Productions, Morbid Forest

Buy yourself a little treat:

Saph the Something creates ethically handmade clothes made with vintage materials by a non-binary queer individual, with an emphasis on non-default clothes for non-default people.

You can find Saph's physical goods on xaer ko-fi (including a GORGEOUS loose-knit subtle trans flag tee)! Or support xem on Patreon for early access to content, behind-the-scenes updates, and more

For prints and pins of some truly stunning art, visit Survival of the Artist's ko-fi!

If you love gorgeous, unsettling underwater horror, you're going to absolutely love these prints

Eeler's Choice @eelerschoice is offering their season 1 soundtrack on Bandcamp!

Eeler’s Choice is a maritime horror fantasy podcast that serves as a reminder that the ocean never gives back what it takes unchanged. The music is GORGEOUS and if you love sea shanties, folk music, and eerie ambient instrumentals, you'll love this album.

They also have merch on sale, the logo sweatshirt is one of the best things I own

Pyon is an afro-latino freelance artist, writer, designer, and indie game developer

He is currently working on a visual novel magical girl project, @magicalwarriordiamondheart and you can buy prints, plushies, apparrel, charms and more from their store (or support him on Ko-fi!)

Xan Larson is an Illustrator, Comic Artist and Content Creator with a specialty and marked enthusiasm for mythological creatures of all kinds and all cultures.

She offers a huge range of treats on her website, including art prints (& original paintings), resin art, and books

Dylan Birtolo is a writer, a gamer, and a professional sword-swinger

Dylan has a huge number of books on offer, primarily fantasy, including anthologies, novellas, and novels.

TTRPGs galore:

(these also fall under the little treat category, but there were so many that I felt they needed their own section)

Sunken Rust are a game company run by married couple Dave Eisinger and Jazz Eisinger, and they offer a range of absolutely delightful TTRPGs, ranging from a wholesome GBBO-inspired micro RPG, to a solo journaling game about exploring an abandoned mansion.

Tea Witch Games is run by Anna Landin, a queer Swedish illustrator, comic artist and game designer. She offers games that run the gamut from sweet and cozy to weird, sad and spooky.

K. Petker offers games from wonderfully unique perspecitves including heroines of the princess council, children facing the apocalypse, and cats protecting their humans from the supernatural.

Christine Prevas is a writer, designer, PhD student & erstwhile librarian offering TTRPGs that range from two-player steamy horror to theatrical tragedy, and more.

Unseeliejess is a game designer and social worker, and my personal favourites from her offerings include Oops! All Draculas! and multiple sapphic-focused TTRPGs

Thoughty is run by Beau Jágr Sheldon, including innovative TTRPGs in a range of formats, as well as some games that break away from the table entirely.

Riverhouse Games includes a ton of fun concepts, including a micro-game about cleaning your kitchen and a game about telling your hot gay (dragon) boyfriend you love him. They also offer a guide to writing your own RPG!

E. Chris Garrison is the proprietor of Chris's Compendium of Free RPGs, one of the oldest game repositories on the web. They are also the designer of Saving People / Hunting Things, a TTRPG inspired by monster-of-the-week style television shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Supernatural. They also have a ton of fantasy, supernatural, and sci-fi books on offer

Handsofblue offers a campy horror game about awful people and a serial killer, and a solo knitting game

Drazillion is an award-winning narrative designer, writer, and artist, offering a huge portfolio of games with a strong focus on queer narratives and themes. You can also support her on Patreon

Patreons & Ko-Fis:

Finally we have some ways to directly support the creators you love or their ongoing projects!

Soul Operator @souloperatorpod is a multi-genre fiction podcast, created to highlight solo ttrpgs.

If you haven't listened yet, you absolutely should - this show will rip out your heart and you'll be grateful for it. Support them for behind-the-scenes content, exclusive short stories, and more

Divine Rodentia Studios @divinerodentiastudios is releasing a new fiction anthology audio drama, Sixth Door to the Left

This is some truly intriguing and wonderful storytelling, and you can support them through the development of their upcoming project, The Loser's Game.

YamiKakyuu @yamikakyuu is a writer, photographer, amateur digital artist, and horror podcast enthusiast.

Supporting them will help an up-and-coming voice actor invest in decent equipment (a huge barrier to so many incredibly talented VAs breaking into the industry!)

Daisy McNamara is an *incredibly prolific* podcaster, the co-creator of Eeler's Choice and Waterlogged, and has contributed his talents to so many more

Daisy has made such a huge contribution to the audio drama world, so if you've listened to any podcasts to speak of, you've probably enjoyed some of her work. Your support can help him make ends meet and continue creating!

And finally (because I fave a few pals who'd kill me dead if I didn't do a bit of self-promo), I'm Leanne Egan, the creator of Tell No Tales, an audio drama about ghosts and the people who refuse to hunt them. While there is currently no way to support the show financially, my debut novel, Lover Birds, releases soon!

As a bonus, if you're in the UK, you can pre-order it from a North-West-based queer indie bookshop too!

[kathanglangit]

Gubat Banwa is FULLY FUNDED!

In less than A DAY, we've hit our goal of $40,000! Thank you all so much! Your continued support made this massive achievement for SEA representation in TTRPGs possible. 🔥🔥

Revel in glory, Kadungganan! This victory belongs to us all!

The campaign will continue to run for the next 29 days. There are a few stretch goals still waiting up ahead, so if any of these catch your interest, do continue to spread the word about the project.

The Gubat Banwa Kickstarter was fully funded in 1 day! (But we've still got some neat surprises in the stretch goals...) Check them out here:

We cannot overstate how deeply we appreciate your support, it truly means the world to this small team from the Philippines. Now, let us see this campaign through to the end of the far horizons, shields abreast and blades gleaming and heads held high with pride.

Until glory!

[rotisseries]

I'm so tired of that girl on tiktok saying her song sounds like it belongs in an 80s slasher film it literally doesn't it literally fucking doesn't it literally fucking does not it literally does not fucking sound like it could ever be in an 80s slasher film it doesn't sound like it could be an 80s song AT ALL much less one from a slasher film it sounds like very modern synthwave which is a 2010s 80s nostalgia music genre it does not actually sound 80s at all it sounds like you've never been near an 80s song in your life quite frankly but oh you saw an aesthetic board on pinterest and you know the stranger things soundtrack has synths!! go die

[sunshineandlyrics]

This is Louis' support act for FITFWT San Juan on 5 May 2024 is Coqui (4 May 2024) x

[cosmogyros]

Me, logging onto ReverbNation and seeing this: "Uh-huh. Sure. I know how these music-promotion websites work. I somehow doubt this is as impressive as it sounds..."

I click "View My Chart Rank" and see...

...so I'm the top of the charts for the "Americana" genre, in Berlin. A genre-and-location combo in which there are apparently only two artists competing. What did I tell you?

/laughs in jaded, world-weary indie music artist

[cassimothwin]

Hey! Just wanna say Tangled Blessings is an INCREDIBLE table top game, and works so well with 2 players (I'm excited to try a solo run!) The second I found out you were doing a crowd fund you know I had to snag the physical copies of the og and the expansion! Keep up the awesome work!!

AHH. Thank you for the kind words. 😭💕

Crowdfunding is always nerve-wracking, but I'm glad this round is going well! I'm so glad you had a good time!

[withered-rose-unbreakable-lotus]

Ahhh ok see now this makes sense. So those biased against writers who don't read aren't only mad cause you are insulting the art in itself, they are also mad because they think that means you refuse to support other writers but expect massive support in return. Well personally, even when I was in the community, I was trying to support writers who had stories I liked. I was pushing myself cause their stories were interesting to me AND because i wanted to return the support. I did the support for support thing too in my first run and frankly that gave me a few readers too besides followers, but when I focused more on following stories I actually enjoyed on my second run, I got no new readers. Followers don't necessarily mean people will read your story unfortunately.

But that experiment aside, just liking and reblogging stuff but know nth about your work when they are asked about it shows me most people support back only to return the favor. And this is a big reason I got tired of trying and putting so much energy into this. Cause sure we can talk about our wips all day, but it saddens me when I take my time to remember parts of your story or your chars and you don't remember shit from mine so, at the end of the day, my being tired of trying to read more when I am personally not into reading just in order to belong and people to give a chance to my work doesn't look selfish at all to me.

To this day people still buy books of people they never met or talked to, so I aspire to be this type of author that got readers because they liked my story, not because they knew me in person or because they wished to return the favor for the times I supported them. I want to be judged based on what I write, not whether or not I support someone back enough for them to give me a chance.

[mothermagnoliaband]

Something in the sky - Mother Magnolia

This is our animated music video animated by our vocalist, pianist, sometimes guitarist and drummer Ellie. We are a fairly new band and trying to spread the word of Mother Magnolia!

A little about us. We are two artists, Ellie and Jake, trying to make a name for ourselves and a difference in this world through music and art. Highlighting the non conventional beauty that's in this world. And hoping to inspire everyone to live with their "flaws" with confidence and try to be a version of themselves that they love to see. If two naive fools can follow their dreams with odds stacked against them then you can too! Make your dreams come true, we believe in you! We love you! Thank you if you took the time to watch our video and read this! If you liked the song it is available on all music streaming platforms! Like we said we are fairly new artists so any love and support really means the world to us! We are going to be posting more updates, more just about us on here so feel free to follow along the journey! Thank you!

-with love

Mother Magnolia

[devilsskettle]

i feel like i’ve been WAITING for the other shoe to drop wrt people’s opinions about watcher for this very reason. not that i think the reaction is completely not understandable but the greater the parasocial relationship, the greater the fallout as soon as public opinion shifts. you don’t have a relationship with these people they’re just content creators, chill

[therealmackenson10]

If you have the time, please check out my latest track. Now streaming on Spotify.

“Mr. Mack- Echos of Humanity”.

“It’s so beautiful, yet so tragic. The human condition, a tapestry of emotions woven in magic. They say hope is a beggar, but I’d pay her. For in her embrace, we find solace, a beacon for the human race.”

[taffywabbit]

this may come off as just a little bit harsh but i would like to slam a brick against the head of whoever decided soundcloud should not ONLY have 30sec-long ads between songs for non-premium users, but ALSO make them as sonically unpleasant as humanly imaginable.

like yeah you're right i DON'T want to have loud toothbrushing and gargling ASMR blasted directly into my ears at 150% the volume of the song i was just listening to. you may think "great! now pay us for premium and we'll remove the worst audio ads you've ever heard :)" but literally all that makes me want to do is immediately close your app and find whatever alternative methods i can to never give you my money again

[noahhawthorneauthor]

Elochian Adrastus is the pinnacle of demon nobility, and he hates it.

When he’s not leading an aristocracy, in therapy, or rebelling against his birthright by running the most famous bar in Levena, he’s solving a millennia old mystery with his newfound friends. He’s particularly fond of the man he’s only known as an author, learning that there's much more to the human than meets the eye.

For the first time in over a century, Elochian feels tempted by the prospect of finding his own happy ending. He’s also terrified that any feature endeavors will end in death, like they did not so long ago.

Quentin Matsdotter has one goal in life, and that’s to blend in. Unfortunately for him, that’s impossible when you’re a certifiable genius, an author, and are friends with some of the most unique people in the town. He’s got everything a man could want, except for someone to call his own.

Quentin hasn’t been able to trust his heart to anyone again after experiencing an abusive relationship years ago, but there’s no mistaking how he feels for the enigmatic archdemon. As the snow builds, so does their friendship, and it’s only a matter of time before they open their hearts to each other.

If only the past didn’t come back to haunt them.

Be prepared to stand up for what you believe in, reveal the truth, and protect those you love, no matter the cost.

❄️📚✨

He's so PRETTY. Which one? Yes.

Matsdotter and Adrastus is the sequel to Phantom and Rook, and releases on 1/2/24.

Art by @foxglovefaun

[honeyspotpie]

I can't understate how important it is to support independent media in our current time and crippling economy. Like yes! Go rave about that extremely niche podcast even if it lacks a big fandom! Go promote and post about that self published novel you enjoyed reading! Go comment on that person's webcomic even if they only released one chapter thus far! Go share that short less than five minutes animation with your friends! Go and edit Genius lyrics to that song with less than a thousand streams! Go buy that charming Unity game off Steam! Hell, go support your own friend's aspiring stories and projects and pat yourself on the back for your own. These things matter. Trust me. The creators take notice. Any and all support has virtue.

We live in a world where if a media or even a piece of art doesn't have immediate mass appeal in the eyes of the industry, it instantly gets shut down - even if it didn't reach it's max potential. Stories about unique, intimate experiences aren't allowed time in the spotlight. Passion projects now only linger in the shadows. And our world absolutely needs more passion. More tales and thoughts to touch the hearts of people. Or at least one person. Sometimes, even one person is enough.

[gentlelarkspur]

Please look upon these hilarious mockup photos I made for the tshirt/sweater designs I'm selling over on Etsy.

Tag yourself, I'm the "no YOU hang up" vampire XD