i don't do bad sauce passes
almost home
祝日 / Permanent Vacation
JBB: An Artblog!
Love Begins
Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
Origami Around
$LAYYYTER
taylor price
#extradirty
Keni
ojovivo
art blog(derogatory)
🪼
One Nice Bug Per Day
Product Placement
DEAR READER
Jules of Nature
cherry valley forever
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@sabreelectra
FINALLY A FUCKING MAP THANK YOU NERDS IN WARSAW
???? there have been maps of the continent for ages and ages now. what makes this one different?
For me what makes this one good is that it's laid out SO well, and includes stuff like more specific river names, lakes etc, AND a little distance measure in the bottom right which means you can work out how far places are supposed to be from each other (and then how long it'd take to go that far)
I’ll break from the weight of my mind But your ghost I will gladly bear
I’ve seen five different authors take down, or prepare to take down, their posted works on Ao3 this week. At the same time, I’ve seen several people wishing there was more new content to read. I’ve also seen countless posts by authors begging for people to leave comments and kudos.
People tell me I am a big name fan in my chosen fandom. I don’t quite get that but for the purposes of this post, let’s roll with it. On my latest one shot, less than 18% of the people who read it bothered to hit the kudos button. Sure, okay, maybe that one sort of sucked. Let’s look at the one shot posted before that - less than 16% left kudos. Before that - 10%, and then 16%. I’m not even going to get into the comments. Let’s just say the numbers drop a lot. I’m just looking at one shots here so we don’t have to worry about multiple hits from multiple chapters, people reading previous chapters over, etc. And if I am a BNF, that means other people are getting significantly less kudos and comments.
Fandom is withering away because it feels like people don’t care about the works that are posted. Why should I go to the trouble of posting my stories if no one reads them, and of the people who do read them, less than a fifth like them? Even if you are not a huge fan of the story, if it kept your attention long enough for you to get to the bottom, go ahead and mash that kudos button. It’s a drop of encouragement in a big desert.
TL;DR: Passively devouring content is killing fandom.
Reblogging again
So much this
You know, kudos and comments are much beloved by all esp. yrs truly, but I have to say: I’ve been posting fic for 20 years, and I have never in my entire life had a story stay above a 1:9 kudos to hits ratio (or comments to hits, back when kudo wasn’t an option). Usually they don’t stay above 1:10, once they’ve been around for a few weeks.
I also have a working background in online marketing. In social media 1:10 is what you would call a solid engagement score, when people actually care about your product (as opposed to “liking” your Facebook page so they could join a contest or whatever). If BNFs are getting 1:5 - and I do sometimes see it - that is sky-high engagement. Take any celebrity; take Harry Styles, who has just under 30M followers and doesn’t tweet all that often. He regularly gets 3-400K likes, 1-200K retweets. I’ve seen him get up to just under 1M likes on a tweet. That’s a 1:30 engagement ratio, for Harry Styles, and though some of you guys enjoy my fics and have said so, I don’t think you have as lasting a relationship with my stories as Harry Styles’s fans do with him. XD;
Again, this is not to say we, as readers, should all go home and not bother to kudo or comment or engage with fic writers. That definitely is a recipe for discouraging what you want to see in future. But this is not the first post I’ve seen that suggests a 20% kudo ratio is the equivalent of yelling into the void, and I’m worried that we as writers are discouraging ourselves because our expectations are out of whack.
I think about this a lot, because it’s important to know what a realistic goal to expect from an audience is, even though I admit it definitely is kind of depressing when you look at the numbers. I was doing reading on what sort of money you can expect to make from a successful webcomic, and the general rule of thumb seems to be that if your merchandising is meshing well with your audience, about 1% will give you merch. I imagine ‘subscribe to patreon’ also falls in this general range.
Stuff that is ONLY available for dollars are obviously going to have a different way of measuring this, but when it comes to ‘If people can consume something without engaging back in any fashion (hitting a like button, buying something, leaving a comment)’ the vast majority will.
And as a creator that is frustrating but as a consumer it’s pretty easy to see how it happens. I have gotten steadily worse at even liking posts, much less leaving comments on ones I enjoy, since I started using tumblr. It’s very difficult to engage consistently. I always kudo on any fanfic I read and comment on the vast majority, but then again I don’t read a lot of fanfic, if you are someone who browses AO3 constantly/regularly for months or years, I could see how it’s easy to stop engaging. I don’t remember to like every YT video or tumblr fanart I see, much less comment on them.
When we are constantly consuming free content it’s hard to remember to engage with it or what that engagement means to the creators. And lol, honestly that sucks. Certainly as consumers we should be better about it. But also like, as a creator be kinder to yourself by setting a realistic bar of what you can achieve.
And IMO, if numbers matter to you (kudos, comments, etc) be honest about the fact that you CAN improve those things by marketing yourself better. The ‘I just produced my art and put it out there and got insanely popular because it was just so brilliant’ is less than a one a million chance. Lots of amazing content is overlooked every day because there is a lot of good content and a metric fuckton of mediocre to bad content. You can only SORT of judge the quality of your work based on the audience it generates, but if what you WANT is an audience there is way, way, WAY more you can be doing than simply producing whatever you immediately feel like. Marketing yourself is a skill and if you want the benefits of it you have to practice it.
I have a professional background in internet marketing as my day job and a moderate hobby business. My definition for “moderate” is “it pays for itself, keeps me in product, and occasionally buys groceries.” In the day job, which is for an extremely large global company, there are entire teams of people whose entire purpose of employment is to ensure a 3% conversion rate. That’s it. That is for a Fortune 100 company: the success metric is for 3% of all visitors to a marketing web site to click the “send me more info” link. My moderate business that pays for itself has a 0.94% conversion rate of views to orders. Less than 1%, and it’s still worth its time – and this is without me bothering to do any marketing beyond instagram and tumblr posts with new product. I know it feels like no one is paying attention to you and you’re wasting your time if you don’t get everyone clicking kudos or commenting but I promise, I PROMISE, you are doing fantastically, amazingly well with your 10% rate. You probably aren’t going to go viral AND THAT’S FINE. You’re only hurting yourself if you’re expecting a greater return – don’t call yourself a failure, because you’re NOT. You’re just looking at it the wrong way. I promise, you’re lovely just the way you are.
Reblogging this bc it is a take on fan engagement at AO3 that I haven’t seen before, and as a writer I find it helpful to have this reality check. Also I wonder which came first: the overall low engagement rates in internet commerce, or the freaking shit-ton of unwanted spam and advertising we’re constantly bombarded with?
I think as writers our assumption (my assumption anyway) is that the portion of hits that don’t convert to kudos equals the portion of readers who looked at your fic, didn’t like it, and never finished it. But it would seem that is an overly pessimistic assumption.
I should know this, because I ‘like’ very sparingly here and reblog only less sparingly, and yet I read and enjoy a lot of posts I don’t like or reblog.
#also something that is really obvious that none of this points out#(probably someone did somewhere in the notes but I do have a life)#your hit count will go up by virtue of PEOPLE REREADING YOUR FIC#a hit count disproportionate to kudos/comments#which are things that are only really done once #is INEVITABLE#and a GOOD thing #people rereading your fic is a good thing
Top 10 sweetest oofuri moments
local woman relieved and embarrassed to report that the task she had been postponing for two months ended up taking a grand total of 4 minutes to complete
Gerard P Donelan
I love the notes saying this femme knows exactly what she's doing and it's all part of her flirting technique. You get it.
More of his stuff and about him
My absolute favorite of his work
this one as well :]
Gov. Tim Walz has signed an executive order protecting the rights of LGBTQ people from Minnesota and other states to seek and receive gender
"Gov. Tim Walz signed an executive order Wednesday protecting the rights of LGBTQ people from Minnesota and other states to receive gender affirming health care, as he slammed the tide of other states rolling back transgender rights.
“We want every Minnesotan to grow up feeling safe, valued, protected, celebrated, and free to exist as their authentic versions of themselves,” Walz said. “Protecting and supporting access to gender affirming health care is essential to being a welcoming and supportive state.” ...
Walz’s executive order parallels legislation awaiting a floor vote in the state House to make Minnesota a “trans refuge state” by protecting trans people, families and care providers from a range of legal repercussions for traveling to Minnesota for gender affirming care, which includes a wide range of social and medical interventions.
While sponsors said they’re optimistic about passage in the coming weeks, the governor said the accelerating trends against trans rights in other states made it urgent for him to impose protections immediately.
The bill is authored by Democratic Rep. Leigh Finke, of St. Paul, Minnesota’s first openly transgender legislator. It would prohibit the state from enforcing court orders or child protection laws from other states if they interfere with a person’s right to seek gender affirming care in Minnesota.
The importance of the governor’s order to LGBTQ people across the nation can’t be overstated, she said.
“The lives of trans and gender expansive people this nation are under attack,” Finke said. “There is a full-scale movement in this nation against trans, nonbinary, two-spirit and gender expansive adults and children that seeks to make our community disappear.”
A separate bill banning so-called conversion therapy for LGBTQ children and vulnerable adults won approval in the Minnesota House last month and is awaiting a floor vote in the Senate."
-via PBS Newshour, 3/8/23
There needs to be way, way more of a conversation about how being unable to drive in America means you don’t get to participate in society. That shit is genuinely life ruining. My neuro shit has kept me from driving my whole life and it’s always meant I can’t go do stuff I want to, I can’t get the trade jobs I know I’d be good at, I can’t even see the people I want to. Unless you’re in one of a handful of major cities in the US with decent transit systems, you’re basically expected to drop dead if you can’t drive.
i feel like people forget that homestuck had a lot of talented musicians working on it, not just toby
this bothers me mostly because one of the most iconic songs, Doctor, was composed by a trans person (she/her, her name was George Buzinkai, im not sure how she identified beyond her pronouns) who passed away in 2018. for all of homestuck's many flaws i think it's okay and good to celebrate art like this that came from it
i know i already reblogged this but here's Doctor so you can remind yourself what a great song it is
For those wondering, her name was Usagi Buzinkai! This was the name she went by in many online spaces, so while we don't know if it's the one she used irl it's the closest we have to a name she chose herself, and the most respectful one to remember her by.
I adore him sm 🤲💞💞💞
I feel like at least some jocks are just autistic people with a special interest in sports.
I actually love sports articles about players who the other players describe as “so intense about stats and he can’t really have a normal conversation and he can’t read the room and he doesn’t understand a lot of our jokes and he’s really weird about fabrics, great guy, great teammate”
Witcher warlord au.
Freshly new to the whole Warlord thing, Geralt is tricked into taking a consort via a clause in a treaty that no one had caught before he signed it. He can't get out of it. Not without starting a war with Kerak and Temeria. Probably Redania too because that's just how life enjoys shitting on him.
He's standing in the home of some Count. Pancraps or something. He wasn't listening over the absolute panicked yelling inside his own head. What the fuck is he meant to do with a noble lady?? Who the fuck are they going to force to marry him?? If it's a child he is going to simply burn this manor to the ground. Fuck any treaty. They aren't really prepared to go to war with three countries at once, but he knows no one would fight him on it if this Count tries marrying him to a child.
Yennefer is shooting him sympathetic looks as she skims over his thoughts. She feels guilty that she hadn't caught the trap in their treaty with Kerak. As it is, they're lucky no one knows about Ciri, his wonderful 5 year old who cried for hours when he was getting ready to leave, who the fuck knows what kind of fuckery they would be dealing with then.
His thoughts are interrupted by a loud crash and yelling. Moments later the door is bursting open and two guards march in, each with a hand on an arm of the man between them. The man is young. Maybe mid twenties. He's wearing bright blue clothing that brings out the color of his very pretty eyes. He's dirty from the road and has a lute strapped to his back.
He's also yelling. Demanding to be unhanded. To know who they think they are to abduct the Great Bard Jaskier. He demands to know why they think they can just stuff him through a portal and hand him off to a new spouse without so much as a by-your-leave. He spits out little ditties about the Count and the guards having small pricks and threatens to bite one of the guards. Again.
This is the most feral bard Geralt has ever seen. This also appears to be his future husband.
Julian Alfred Pankratz. As the Count introduces him. A challenging scowl directed at his son.
Jaskier the Bard. As Jaskier introduces himself. A haughty little tilt of his nose towards his father.
Its very clear the two do not like each other.
The bard takes a moment to give Geralt a once over. Then turns to his father and proclaims that the man should have told him he was getting married to the sexiest man on the continent. He wouldn't have protested... Too much... Well he wouldn't have bitten anyone at least.
Thoroughly scandalized and red in the face. The Count orders them all from his fucking Office. They'll be married by tomorrow night and then they can get the fuck out of his house.
Jaskier wastes no time looping an arm through Geralt's and demanding he tell him stories of his many heroic feats so they may be immortalized into song.
Baffled, and pointedly ignoring Yennefer and his brothers laughing, he lets Jaskier drag him away.
Yennefer points out later, once Jaskier has been dragged away to his own rooms, that offering Jaskier as a spouse is probably meant to be an insult. Since he was some unknown Viscount. Not to mention a Viscount that ran off to be a Bard of all things.
He thinks about the fact that Jaskier seemed to not fear him. He was nervous, yes, but not fearful. He also seemed to not mind the fact that Geralt wasn't very verbose. Prattling on enough for them both. Never mind the fact that he thought Geralt was "Actually very handsome. I could write odes to your biceps.".
Geralt can't help but feel this is the best outcome he could have hoped for.
damn cats...
More incorrect quotes! Featuring my take on the bi-conic outfit from the game. Requested by @mia7437
Toss a coin to your artist~
JULIAN ALFRED PANKRATZ, VISCOUNT—
So @spielzeugkaiser and I were talking about a Tangled AU the other day …
