Tumblr sucks at discovery.
You're just supposed to spend all your time scrolling endlessly through the dashboard, finding things you like, from blogs that are already similar enough to your interests that theirs will mostly be the same as yours, and then spend the rest of your time communally wireheaded to the perspectives of your most non-distinctive peers. Literally, standing out is bad. The platform rewards a constant stream of unthinking aesthetic and can only emerge complex dialogue in the event of a running joke that everyone can feel like they're a part of. For fandoms, this is great. For anyone who values original works and stepping away from mass marketing, Tumblr has no features for making those communities able to find each other.
Unless there's already a community formed, and the platform panders to the habits of those users, you will be not ignored, but simply unknown. Friends you could have made, time you could have shared, things you never even dreamed of, so close (in the sense of being on Tumblr) and yet so far. I don't really like to complain without providing a solution... But would my feedback even be heard? If I can at least formalize the problem then someone can at least start trying to move us toward a solution.