A Source of Shame, Part 2
Dec. 23rd, 2021 09:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingWhile I’m on the subject, another major obstacle is online deplatforming.
As much as I used to complain about Tumblr, its decline as a platform has been a major blow to creative people at the beginning of their careers. Because of its (mostly) functional tagging system, it used to be possible to start from scratch on Tumblr and do fairly well for yourself. I mean, technically it’s still possible, but no one really uses Tumblr anymore. Meanwhile, Twitter and Instagram are so saturated with “content” that it’s almost impossible to gain a foothold if you don’t already have an established following.
In addition, a lot of small presses and comic publishing collectives have decided to boycott Kickstarter for various (totally valid) reasons involving NFTs and cryptocurrency. I don’t think this means Kickstarter is dead, but I do think it’s going to become a whole lot douchier and will no longer be a good environment to launch an indie art project.
Live event deplatforming is a real issue too. Even super indie comic conventions and zine festivals have gotten insanely competitive these days, and restrictions imposed by the pandemic haven’t helped.
I’m not really sure that I have a conclusion, except to say that it didn’t used to be this difficult. And now everything seems impossible, and it sucks.
I think the best way to move forward would be to commission a pitch and then send the pitch to an established small press or comics collective like Hiveworks, which will handle the publishing and marketing and so on. But that’s a big commitment for an artist to make with a writer, and... yeah.
As much as I used to complain about Tumblr, its decline as a platform has been a major blow to creative people at the beginning of their careers. Because of its (mostly) functional tagging system, it used to be possible to start from scratch on Tumblr and do fairly well for yourself. I mean, technically it’s still possible, but no one really uses Tumblr anymore. Meanwhile, Twitter and Instagram are so saturated with “content” that it’s almost impossible to gain a foothold if you don’t already have an established following.
In addition, a lot of small presses and comic publishing collectives have decided to boycott Kickstarter for various (totally valid) reasons involving NFTs and cryptocurrency. I don’t think this means Kickstarter is dead, but I do think it’s going to become a whole lot douchier and will no longer be a good environment to launch an indie art project.
Live event deplatforming is a real issue too. Even super indie comic conventions and zine festivals have gotten insanely competitive these days, and restrictions imposed by the pandemic haven’t helped.
I’m not really sure that I have a conclusion, except to say that it didn’t used to be this difficult. And now everything seems impossible, and it sucks.
I think the best way to move forward would be to commission a pitch and then send the pitch to an established small press or comics collective like Hiveworks, which will handle the publishing and marketing and so on. But that’s a big commitment for an artist to make with a writer, and... yeah.
