Anikuy

[arthurianmotifs]

[valtsv]

concept: angels but they look like stingray skeletons

[valtsv]

[sadbugbois]

wow good concept???

[underfell-crystal]

holy shit

[2soulscollide]

WEBSITES FOR WRITERS {masterpost}

E.A. Deverell - FREE worksheets (characters, world building, narrator, etc.) and paid courses;

Hiveword - Helps to research any topic to write about (has other resources, too);

BetaBooks - Share your draft with your beta reader (can be more than one), and see where they stopped reading, their comments, etc.;

Charlotte Dillon - Research links;

Writing realistic injuries - The title is pretty self-explanatory: while writing about an injury, take a look at this useful website;

One Stop for Writers - You guys... this website has literally everything we need: a) Description thesaurus collection, b) Character builder, c) Story maps, d) Scene maps & timelines, e) World building surveys, f) Worksheets, f) Tutorials, and much more! Although it has a paid plan ($90/year | $50/6 months | $9/month), you can still get a 2-week FREE trial;

One Stop for Writers Roadmap - It has many tips for you, divided into three different topics: a) How to plan a story, b) How to write a story, c) How to revise a story. The best thing about this? It's FREE!

Story Structure Database - The Story Structure Database is an archive of books and movies, recording all their major plot points;

National Centre for Writing - FREE worksheets and writing courses. Has also paid courses;

Penguin Random House - Has some writing contests and great opportunities;

Crime Reads - Get inspired before writing a crime scene;

The Creative Academy for Writers - "Writers helping writers along every step of the path to publication." It's FREE and has ZOOM writing rooms;

Reedsy - "A trusted place to learn how to successfully publish your book" It has many tips, and tools (generators), contests, prompts lists, etc. FREE;

QueryTracker - Find agents for your books (personally, I've never used this before, but I thought I should feature it here);

Pacemaker - Track your goals (example: Write 50K words - then, everytime you write, you track the number of the words, and it will make a graphic for you with your progress). It's FREE but has a paid plan;

Save the Cat! - The blog of the most known storytelling method. You can find posts, sheets, a software (student discount - 70%), and other things;

I hope this is helpful for you!

(Also, check my blog if you want to!)

[cottoncanyon-deactivated2018012]

Reblog if it’s ok for people to give you $599.99

[anarchismwillwin]

We are forced to live in a system that steals from us daily, Kill snitch culture.

[oppressionisntrad-blog]

Important things to keep in mind!

- never take from ‘mom and pop’ type store. Its likely you’ll actually harm them, whereas taking from a walmart wont effect much.

- never take items that a worker is assigned to monitor (usually super expensive items), theyll be in trouble for it. and its usually a minimum wage worker and usually they lose hours or pay, or they even get fired.

- similar to the above, never take things that are usually locked up for the above reason

- if its a store you know gives their near-expiration products to workers/charity, try to avoid taking the near expiration products.

- if youre taking clothing, avoid leaving hangers. it sounds weird, but itll make it seem like it was more likely an error in the computer than a theft, since the empty hanger sitting there will seem suspicious. 

- also for clothing, try not to take more than one item at once, as it will look suspicious if theres 10 medium shirts missing, and it won’t be written off as just a stocking error. and it will lead to workers being penalized

- basically just always consider ‘will this harm a worker’ and if the answer is yes then dont do it

like i was homeless for a while when i was younger and i tried to follow those guidelines to avoid doing harm to people who were probably not much better off than me while trying to get food for myself.

[tattoosfade]

Holy crap, is there like an unspoken thieves code or something?!

[admthrawn]

it’s a thing. I won’t even lie. I watched someone slip a nursing exam book in their bag at the store I worked at. She made eye contact with me and the blood drained from her face. I simply gave her a sympathetic nod and walked away.

I live in a small town and I knew she was a waitress at a hotel my sister works at, and people at that hotel don’t tip well during off season. Nursing exam books are 50+ bucks. Being a med student myself, I didn’t even breathe a word, and when inventory came up later and the book was missing, I suggested it was likely a mislabel, and the manager wrote it off.

Sometimes, thievery is a necessity. Don’t send people to jail over petty things.

[boychic-deactivated20230922]

theft for many is survival in this system and taking away from multi-billion dollar companies that are a part of the oppressive capitalist system

[vegan-lavellan-deactivated20210]

I love this post so much. Like, an unbelievable amount. 

[liamgalgey]

And they say there’s no honour among thieves.

[modernsuperhero]

There’s honour among honourable thieves. A thief is still a person, with the capability for good and bad, just like everyone else. The moment someone assumes either good or bad of someone, they perpetuate that belief into reality. 

[bluemoonlove518]

Never been a big part of this myself but I approve and shall pass it on

[justcatposts]

“I would like some please.”

(via)

[stream]

Dua Lipa - Swan Song (From Alita: Battle Angel)

[nicostiel]

“I think something’s wrong with me. I make friends, then suddenly I can’t bear to be with any of them. Seems like that other me, the cheerful and honest one, went away somewhere.”

— Kiki’s Delivery Service 魔女の宅急便

[duotheism]

by Madison Calley 

[witcheshaven]

She has a Spotify, IG, and YouTube account!

[ogihci]

You’ve never done anything wrong.

[princess-anikuy]

@maelstrom95s

[keybladesoras]

Look, I don’t know if I’m going to have a career after this but fuck that! - John Boyega

[hiswitchcraft]

A Baby Witch’s Dictionary 📖

Disclaimer: This is all based on my opinion. It is not perfectly alphabetized. Altar • A place for all of your witch supplies, tools, a place to meditate and worship your deities. It is the center of your practice. Astrology • You’ve probably heard of astrology, in witchcraft it is used as a form of divination.  Astral projection • Astral projection is a purposeful out-of-body experience where you, well, project a version of your consciousness (also known as an astral body) to a location that is separate from your physical body.  Athame • A ritualistic dagger used as a tool in witchcraft. Aura • An energetic field that surrounds a living creature, usually people are referring to humans when this term is used. Baby witch • A witch who is new to the world of witching and the community.  Beltane • A sabbat that celebrates fertility and the coming of summer. Besom • A broom used as a tool in witchcraft to cleanse.  Binding • A type of spell or magick used to bind something, as in keep it from continuing behavior or causing harm. Boline • A dagger or knife used as a tool in witchcraft to cut and harvest herbs. Banishing • A type of spell or magick used to get rid of something or someone. Book of shadows • A book or journal used by a witch to store information.  Candle magick  • The usage of candles in magick, usually in combination with color or sigil magick.  Cartomancy • A type of divination that involves cards (Can be oracle or tarot cards) Cauldron • A metal pot, used to mix herbs, or potions, or really anything you might want to mix in your practice.  Chalice • A fancy cup used to keep water in as a representation of the West when casting circles or to drink from during your practice. It can also be used to give offerings of liquid to any deities you work with. Chant • A type of spell or magick that includes speaking or singing aloud. The words can rhyme and often correspond with your intent. Clairovoyance • A type of divination where you see or perceive events in the future. Cleansing • One of the foundations of witchcraft, it has many methods. It is the act of ridding a space, person, or object of negative, stagnant, or previous energies. Circle • A circle is a type of spell you cast in magick, it enhances your powers and protects you. Closed culture/religion  • A closed culture, or religion is something that is closed off to people outside of it and does not condone taking (appropriating) anything from it. Color magick • A type of magick based around color, the idea is you use certain colors that you associate with certain things to make a spell more powerful. Ex: Using pink in a love spell.  Correspondence • A connection or association with something, you could use the example I stated above. If pink corresponds with love, you use it in a love spell. This usually refers to the usage/picking of ingredients for a spell. Coven • A group of witches that often socialize, or gather. Crystal magick • The usage of crystals for magick. Ex: Using clear quartz to cleanse something. Curse • A negative spell that has permanent, sometimes deadly effects on someone. Divination • Seeking information or guidance by supernatural means. Dream Interpretation • A form of divination where the events/symbols/scenery/actions ect in a dream are interpreted.  Empath • A person with a heightened level of empathy for others mental or emotional state. Enchant • A type of magick or spell that gives something a certain property, typically permanently. Esbat • A gathering of witches that does not take place on a Sabbat. Fae/Fair folk • Another word or term for fairies. These terms are more preferred by them, especially the term “Fair folk.”  Familiar • An animal, sometimes described as possessed by a spirit or entity that assists a witch in their craft. Glamour • A type of magick or spell that changes someones appearance or energy. Grimoire • Another word for a Book Of Shadows, a book or journal used by a witch to store information and experiences. Grounding • Like cleansing, this is a foundation of witchcraft. It is like meditation, the goal is to focus yourself and afterwards to feel more connected to this world and moment. Hellenism • A Pagan religion that worships the Greek deities you most likely know from mythology, such as Zeus, or Aphrodite. It is based around the 12 Olympians.  Hex • A negative spell, like a curse but less powerful, unlike a curse it’s usually not permanent.  Imbolc • One of the sabbats, it celebrates the coming of Spring.  Intent • Another common word that makes up the foundation of witchcraft, intent is that purpose or desire you have when you cast a spell. Ex: My intent is to banish a toxic person from my life with this spell. In other words, you have to really want it to get it.  Intuition • A supernatural or unexplainable feeling that warns, guides, or helps you. Evocation • To call or summon a spirit/entity/deity. Jinx • This falls under the category of curses and hexes, as in it is a negative spell. Jinxes are the least powerful of the three, they usually last a few hours or days and don’t cause any permanent or irreversible harm.  Lammas • Another Sabbat, it is the first harvest, a representation of a time to relax and appreciate your hard work.  Litha • A sabbat that celebrates Summer and the sun.  Mabon • One of the Sabbats, this one celebrates Autumn.  Magick • It’s as you’d imagine, magic. The only difference is the spelling which is used to differentiate between stage magic and what we do.  Medium • A person who has supernatural or clairovoyant abilities that they use to relay information or messages from the spirit world.  Moon (sign) • Your moon sign is the planet in your personal natal chart that represents your innermost emotions.  Moon water • A magickal water this infused with the moons power. Numerology • A type of divination based around numbers. Oracle/oracle cards • Similar to tarot cards but less common, these are a type of cards used for cartomancy or divination. The different between them and tarot cards is they are more modern and do not follow the same major/minor arcana system that tarot does. Often they do not follow any common system at all. Ostara • A Sabbats celebrating spring and the coming of fertility and well being. Rising (sign) • Your rising sign is the planet in your personal natal chart that represents how you appear upon first impressions, your outermost self. Runes • Nordic in origin, runes are symbols used for divination. Sabbat • A neo-pagan holiday. There are 8 Sabbats. They follow the wheel of the year and are based on the changing of the seasons and nature.  Samhain • A Sabbat that celebrates the last harvest, the veil between worlds is thinnest at this time.  Scrying • A form of divination where one peers into a reflective surface. Traditionally a crystal ball is used, but there are many ways of doing it.  Sigil • A type of magick or spell, a sigil is a symbol you create, the intent of the sigil is embedded into the symbol. (If you look into making sigils, it makes a bit more sense.)  Spell jar • Any spell that is made in a jar, usually you’d mix common ingredients like magick waters, oils, and herbs that correspond with your intent. Sun (sign) • Your sun sign is the planet in your personal natal chart that represents your personality as a whole.  Taglock • A representation of someone in magick, it connects your magick and intent to this person. The term and usage of taglocks is typically used when you hex/curse someone. A taglock can be hair, spit, blood, nail clippings, you get the idea. Tarot/tarot cards • A type of cards used for cartomancy, or divination. There are 78 cards in a set, which are categorized as the major and minor arcana. The minor arcana are separated into 4 suits. Tarot spread • A way you lay out tarot cards when you do a reading, each card represents a question. Ex: A tarot spread for love. Tasseomancy • A form of divination where tea leaves are used. Theban Alphabet/Script • An ancient alphabet used by modern witches. It’s Latin based and centuries old. Its origins are unknown. Because of its modern use among witches and Wiccans, it is also known as the witches alphabet.  Paganism • An umbrella term that refers to many religions practiced by witches, including Wicca & Hellenism, the commonality between all Pagan based religions is they are based on nature and or multiple deities. Palmistry • A form of divination where you inspect someones hands and the lines present on them. Pentagram • A symbol that contrary to popular belief is not Satanic in nature, but actually represents the 4 elements and the spirit. Pendulum • A form of divination where a pointed object hung from a chain/string is used. The way the pendulum swings is what determines the results of a reading. Warding • A magickal barrier that protects you from energetic/magickal threats, such as bad spirits or curses even. One such barrier can be formed in many ways. Wicca • A Pagan religion based on nature and the divine Masculine and Feminine. Wheel of the year • A witchy calendar used to track the Sabbats, holidays based on the changing of the seasons.  Yule • One of the sabbats, this one is based on celebrating winter but also the coming of spring. This is also when the dark half of the year ends and the light half begins. Let me know if you have any corrections or additions and I might add them. I hope this helps someone. Enjoy! Have a lovely day 💖

[luvrie-deactivated20210224]

Mt. Calvary Catholic Cemetery, Portland.

[ijustdragon]

Introduction to Sigils

What is a Sigil

A sigil is a symbol that is drawn for a specific magical purpose; to represent the intent of the drawer or to represent a specific entity.

In Medieval systems of ceremonial magick systems, a sigil was the symbol of a specific entity, an angel or a demon which allowed a magician to summon and control the entity. In modern magical systems, a sigil is often used in magical work to represent a specific intention or to give shape to a thought form. In Chaos magic, a word or a statement may be reduced to symbolic form to create a sigil for ritual use using Spare’s technique. Sigils may also be created using someone’s name and used as a target for sympathetic magical practice.

A sigil may be drawn, carved or wood burned using any medium you like, but a pen and paper is usual. When the sigil is no longer needed, it can then easily be destroyed by tearing it up and/or burning it. While rituals surrounding drawing and activating sigils vary, the most important thing is to keep your mind on the goal while drawing the sigil. It can then be carried, hidden nearby or hung up where people can see it as is appropriate.

The word sigil derives from the Latin sigillum meaning “seal” and is likely also related to the Hebrew segula meaning “word, action, talisman”. The plural of sigil may be sigilla or sigils.

Spare’s Technique

Spare’s Technique is a method for creating sigils that was developed by Austin Osman Spare right around the turn of the 20th century. It involves creating a sigil using the letters in a written statement of intent.

First, the statement of intent is written on a piece of paper.

Traditionally, the statement begins with “This is my will…” or “This is my wish…” Though I’ve seen modern practitioners use “MY Will = …” etc. Or dispense with this part altogether.

Most modern practitioners who have dispensed with the “MY WILL” statement, avoid any statement indicating “wishing” or “hoping”, lest one continue wishing and hoping.

The statement must be a positive statement, that is, the words “no”, “not”, “never”, etc. should not appear in the statement. Instead of saying “This is my will that I will never get in a plane crash” you would write “This is my will; I travel safely by plane.” Instead of “This is my will; That the floodwaters do not reach my house.” you would write “This is my Will, that my house is safe from the floodwaters”.

It is also important that the statement be very specific to avoid any situations that could involve your Will coming to pass in a way that is unacceptable to you. The statement “I have a new home.” Could be brought about by a serious accident that put you in a nursing home, or the death of a family member resulting in your inheritance or a transfer in your job that causes you to move out of necessity. Best to state “I have purchased a three-bedroom home in Birmingham.” or “It is my Will to purchase a three-bedroom home in Birmingham.” – but try not to use any extra words, be concise.

Next, Reduce the Statement to an Image

Remove all the vowels and write down the consonants, but only write down each consonant one time. You can convert numbers written as words into numerals if you like. At this time, you may also wish to convert the English letters into another language, an ancient or magical alphabet or whatever suits you. Or leave them in English as Spare did. Combine the remaining letters into a single image. Use the lines from one letter to make the lines for another letter, put letters within letters until you get the simplest image you can manage.

Voila, you have a sigil.

Spare was not the first person to use this method. It is reminiscent of sigils used by Agrippa and sigils found throughout the world in various languages, including bindrunes. The technique has been further refined since Spare’s time as well. Grant Morrison is credited with the most modern variant of this technique.

Using the Sigil You can use this sigil in a variety of ways. While the act of creating the sigil itself is a magical act that naturally causes you to focus your energy on the desired result, some prefer to use the sigil as a part of a larger spell. You may wish to use it for a petition or add it to a container spell or dress it and focus on it while raising energy- direct the energy into the sigil. You may choose to light a candle and chant over it or put it within your field of vision while raising energy in a  more physical way. You can then hide it somewhere around your house or carry it on your person to bring the desired effect. Some schools of thought suggest you hide the sigil and forget all about it while others prefer to display it prominently.

[amberstarlights]

Why do people listen to the advice of those wannabe ‘writers’. I mean they are not even published? 

[skeleskeeller]

Excuse you? People can still give out valuable writing advice even if they are not published. Besides, not being published does not mean someone is a bad writer.

[amberstarlights]

Explain?

[skeleskeeller]

I assume by being “published” you mean through a publisher and not through self-publishing. Most publishers are for-profit. Meaning they want to make money. However, they don’t like taking chances and spend money on publishing a book that might not sell well. No matter how good of a writer you are, the chances of hearing “Sorry, there is no market for your book”, are extremely high unless you have something to show for it:

Followers on social media, success of your self-published book, email subscribers, website traffic, etc. Anything that shows the publisher that your book will sell increases your chances of being published dramatically. Many times, writers are approached by the publisher!

I have had this conversation with many of my writer friends, and some of them think this is unfair. What you often see is famous people writing a mediocre book and using their fame to have it become a best-seller. Except I don’t think it’s unfair. It’s business. As a writer, you are your own business. Many writers seem to forget this fact!

Let’s take Lang Leav as an example. You might have heard of her as she was dominating the poetry section on Tumblr in ‘13 and ‘14. She amassed many followers on Tumblr by sharing her poetry. She then self-published her book ‘Love & Misadventure” and promoted it on Tumblr.

“How did you get published?

​I self-published my first book, Love & Misadventure. As soon as it was listed for sale, my book began to top best-seller charts and caught the attention of two literary agents in New York. I signed up with Writers House and was promptly offered a publishing deal by Andrews McMeel.” (source)

My honest opinion about her work is that it’s poetry for the masses and that she is not necessarily an astounding or great poet. However, her first book has 38,943 ratings on Goodreads (source)

Key to success? Posting her work online, good branding, nice poetry, building a loyal following.

Let’s take fifty shades for example. (YES)

E.L. James used to write twilight fanfiction. Many people loved her Twilight fanfiction so a publisher called The Writer’s Coffee House contacted her, they changed all the names in her work, and the rest is history.

I hope this explains it a little. Publishers mitigate the risk of their investment not being profitable by publishing books that have a high chance of being successful. There are many great, unpublished writers out there sharing valuable advice. Those people not being published has more to do with them not knowing how to increase their chances of being published, rather than being a bad writer.

[skeleskeeller]

Currently on a bus from Nice to Paris. It’s a 13 hour drive so I am going to dump a lot of information for people who want to sell a book right now or ten years from now. The sooner you start using this strategy, the more successful you will be.

First of all, if you have a lot of reach (audience), meaning that you have a few thousands of followers on social media, and a publisher contacts you, you always want to ask them if you can self-publish first! Always! If they refuse, you really want to think twice about signing their contract. Why? Because publishers are using your followers to sell your own book to. Self-publishing gives you around ~70% profits. Publishers often offer you a contract giving you 20%. Shady af. I don’t like that shit and I so often see small authors being used like that. Yes, publishers do help with editing etc., but depending on your reach, it’s up to you to decide if hiring an editor yourself isn’t a much better option. So, always SELL to your own fans first self-published if you can. THEN, if the publisher thinks your book has potential beyond your followers, work with them and sign the contract. Don’t let them profit off your fanbase and then leave you hanging. 

If you are going to write a book, you need to talk about it! A lot. At least 6 months in advance. Preferably two years. You need to build up some anticipation among your followers. You need people to be aware of it and WANT it. It’s like a book. You don’t just tell your readers the plot in 5 sentences and that’s the book. You need to build up the story. And then BOOM, Karen just turned page 170 and she doesn’t know what’s coming for her, but she’s gonna be shook and love it. Same with promoting your book. Nobody is gonna give a shit if you say: “oh hi, you didn’t know but I wrote a book. You can buy it here”. You gotta talk about it long before you publish it.

Chances are, you don’t have a following at all. In this day and age, social media is all the hype. There is this misconception that you need millions of followers to make a living online. Not true. Let me introduce you to 1,000 True Fans, an article written by Kevin Kelly in 2008. Read it. It’s eye-opening and practical!

“A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author – in other words, anyone producing works of art – needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.”

How to get 1000 fans as a writer (also works for artists)

Your main focus should be on creating content and growing your reach (audience). Focus on building an email list and a simple website. Why an email list? For the same reasons everyone else always asks for your email when you sign up for something: so they can reach you.

Many content creators struggle with two things: algorithms and platforms dying. Instagram’s algorithm makes it so that if someone doesn’t hit ‘like’ on your content for a while, your content gets pushed all the way to the bottom of their feed. Why? Because IG wants you to stay on their app as long as possible and thus shows people the content they interact with the most first. The second reason is, at some point people are not going to use their Myspace, Tumblr, Wattpad, or Instagram account anymore. Someone might have a million followers on Myspace, but right now, if they update their profile, maybe a thousand people will see it if they are lucky. So, how do you keep reaching the people who followed you in the first place? EMAIL.

Email is fantastic for two reasons:

There are no algorithms. People see your email based on the time you sent it.

People do not change their email as much as they do social media.

So, if you ever shoutout your book or art store, you are guaranteed that everyone on your email list sees it.

I recommend MailChimp for sending batch emails. It’s free for up to 1,200 email subscribers, and that’s plenty for small businesses.

But how do you get people to sign up for your email list? Well, there are a million ways to that, but first, we need our website and we need to actually reach people!

Let’s first focus on reaching people

Create a social media account on each platform that makes sense to you. Opt for the same username everywhere to strengthen your brand. Then post your content to each and every single one of these platforms, but add in a call to action. Write a personal caption on Instagram, or write things in the tags on Tumblr. The best advice I can give to writers on Tumblr is to reblog writing prompts and write a story and include a ‘READ MORE’.

Many people don’t like to make the commitment to read something long without knowing what it’s about. A writing prompt is the perfect intro and increases the number of people reading your story.

By including a ‘read more’ people have to visit your Tumblr blog. Have a nice bio, and end your story with something personal and a call to action, this skyrockets the number of followers you will get.

Now the problem is: getting people to reblog your story. You could try DMing bigger blogs, but chances of them reblogging your story are slim. DM your followers instead and ask them to reblog your story if they want. If you don’t have followers, go through a tag of your choosing. Filter on ‘recent’ and DM those. You need to hustle a bit. It doesn’t matter if you wrote the story today or two years ago. If you think it’s good content, then you can self-promote it until it gains traction.

For Instagram: Never use popular tags. Avoid them like the plague. I would even go as far as to not use tags at all. But if you use them, only choose niche tags. Why? Bots. There are so many of them. You NEVER want bots following you on Instagram. Every time you post something new, your post gets ‘tested’ in batches of followers. 20% (this is not proven, but I feel pretty confident about this number) out of the first few people who see your post need to like it, or else Instagram stops pushing your content out to more people. Bots never like your posts. If your post fares well and stays above the 20% it gets pushed out to more people, and it will eventually land on the explore page. I don’t have much experience using tags, but if you use them, make sure bots do not target them.

Post your content everywhere. Writing on Wattpad. Art on DeviantArt etc., and always link to your website! All your socials must link to your website, this is key to build your email list.

Also, quick tip for IG, if you want to grow really fast, make sure your content is well received. Most of your post should have a like/follower rate of 20%. In the beginning, the increase in followers is barely noticeable. But once you have 1k followers, it snowballs! Furthermore, some Instagram pages, often businesses, have a terrible like/follower ratio. Less than 1% of their followers like their content. Why do they even bother with Instagram? Only a small portion of their followers see their content since so few people like it, and so it doesn’t get pushed to the feeds of the rest of their followers. Why do they bother? Email. Many businesses, big or small, use their Instagram account as a funnel to get email subscribers. Email is always more important to a business than followers for email lasts much longer and isn’t subject to algorithms, except the spam filter. However, if you are on Instagram as an artist or writer, strive for both: high engagement and collecting emails.

Now that you are having your email list, website, and your social media accounts are growing, it is time to promote your newsletter (email list) beyond the links to your website on social media. We are striving for 1k email subscribers. It’s not a lot. My advice is to message all your followers. Copy paste the same message asking them if they want to subscribe. Make it personal. I want to know who the artist or writer is. I always enjoy someone’s content more if I know the person behind it. I want to know who you are.

But, at this point, you might be wondering: why would people subscribe to my email list? What to send emails about in the first place? Think long and hard, put yourself in your follower’s shoes. If you asked me:

If you are a writer, I would love to have some bonus material send to my inbox.

Updates about your WIP.

An occasional blog post about your life.

Early bird discount on your book when it comes out.

If you are an artist:

I would love to know about the art process and what inspires you.

Read your blog and learn more about you.

Know when you are open for commissions again.

Get updates about your art store.

Obviously, not everyone is going to sign up for your email list. But try your best to make something special. The goal is to:

Build an email list. You will always reach those people. No algorithms or platforms dying (unless email dies, but not in the foreseeable future)

You can build a relationship with your email subscribers. This is important. By reading about your life, I will become more invested in your writing or art.

You are not selling the cheapest shoes or pens in the world. You sell art and books. Build a relationship with your audience!

I am against using extra incentives that have nothing to do with what you do to have people subscribe to your list. If you do giveaways, then make sure it’s something you sell yourself. Don’t give away a bunch of books you didn’t write or a laptop. You will get people signing up because they want the laptop, not because they are interested in you. Instead, as an artist, do a commission giveaway (people who want your art will sign up) or give a discount for your Esty shop etc., Writers: out of the people who sign up, one person can give you a prompt for a short story, for example. Or give away your book if you have already written one!

(By the way, I see some artists doing amazingly well with commissions on Tumblr already! My advice would be, if you want to keep doing this for a long time, go start your website and email asap. So that ‘if’ Tumblr dies, (at this point I am not sure if it’s even possible for this site to die) you can still reach your audience and keep doing commissions.)

Prioritize your website and email list over your Patreon

Patreon is great. As a creator I love it. However, when does someone become a Patron? For me: first, the rewards need to be good. But second, I need to care about you as a person. You can’t promote everything at the same time. It’s best to focus on one thing for a period of time. I suggest you first build up relationships with your email subscribers, so they get to know you better and give an f, then plug your Patreon.

Email subscribers are more likely to become Patrons compared to the rest of your audience because they already showed you they want to hear more from you by signing up to your newsletter/email list.

You get to collect VALUABLE email addresses first. Those are easier to obtain then having someone become a Patron. People need to pay to become a Patron, your newsletter is free.

This might look a bit counterproductive to some of you. After all, you want to go from A (content) to B ($$$) as fast as possible. But I highly recommend you implement this extra step if Patreon is one of your sources of income. You will end up with more Patrons.

Starting a website and collecting emails

You need a domain name. Preferably a .com. Name it after yourself or your brand/store. There are many ways to go about starting your website.

Here are three:

Bluehost: Bluehost uses WordPress. Take the cheapest package. You don’t need more than that yet. Might be difficult to set up for computer illiterate folks. Though GEN Y and Z should have no problems with it. 

FastComet: Also uses WordPress. They claim to be the fastest. Might be hard to set up but it’s very cheap.

Wix: You probably have heard of this one. I suggest you choose the Combo package. It’s free to use, but you do want to upgrade in order to get rid of the blabla.wixsite.com at the end of your domain name. Also, do not buy straight away. They send you a ‘50% discount’ by email after you created a website within 2-14 days. Easiest to use in my opinion.

There are plenty of others out there, but these I have used and are reputable. Feel free to add your hosts to this post.

For email marketing automatization I recommend MailChimp. There are many options, but MailChimp is by far one of the most used and has therefore many one-click-install website integrations, making it is easy to set up. By the way, sending 2-4 emails a month to your list is more than enough.

Hope this helps some of you out. It’s simple but not easy. Also, give it time. You don’t get 1000 email subscribers overnight. The sooner you start the better. And, yeh, you have to put in some time and energy. In my opinion, it’s worth it. Spend 90% of your time creating, the other 10% doing the less fun stuff. If you want to increase your chances of success, being published etc, this is a good way to start. My advice would be: Don’t rely on being discovered or going viral. Rather, increase your chances of being discovered or going viral by strengthening your foundation for success.  

Reading material

https://optinmonster.com/email-marketing-vs-social-media-performance-2016-2019-statistics/

https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/why-email-marketing/

https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/

https://www.theme-junkie.com/add-read-more-link-tumblr-post/

[elizxa-beth]

I just finished reading the first link of the reading material and what stood out is that email is seven times more likely to convert someone into a customer than social media! That’s insane! Thank you, dear person, for posting this. Going to make a website this weekend!

[creshireneira]

@elizxa-beth you really should! I think your art is amazing. A friend of mine from college does this. She has ~3k followers on Instagram and only ~400 email subcribers. She gets 90% of her comissions through email. About 12 a month! And that’s a lot since she charges anywhere from $75 to $200 for a comission. You could do the same! (:

[elizxa-beth]

I think I will! Thank you <3

[elizxa-beth]

So I created my own website with Wix today and here are some tips for anyone who wants to start a website using Wix:

1. Let Wix build a website for your first with ADI. Play around with it and publish your website. Then edit it again. Go to ‘site’ and select ‘Go to Wix editor.’ Now you have full control over how your website looks.  2. There is a small learning curve. It might be complicated in the very beginning but don’t give up. Get some snacks and work on your website. It’s actually fun. It took me around 3 hours to create mine.

3. Wix has a built-in email sign up form and email marketing tool called ‘Shoutout’. So you don’t need mailchimp. You can still connect mailchimp to Wix if you prefer.

4. Do wait with upgrading your website until they send you the 50% discount coupon to your email.

5. Signing up for Wix is free. If you upgrade you get a free domain as well! 

[moonxchaos]

This is solid advice, but OP forgot to mention the two most important reasons as to why you should have your own website and create an email list. 1) a dot com domain without [.tumblr].com or [.blogger].com in front of it looks professional and conveys trust. 2) You own the website and email list. Tumblr and Instagram accounts are being deleted left and right without warning. Even some creators on Patreon have gotten there accounts banned for no reason at all other than staff messing around. No one can delete your website and email list. You have full ownership.

[cyhyryth-deactivated20190524]

PSA: you are allowed to reblog this super long post to help out artists and writers!

[maureen2musings]

[fullheartedly]