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2023 Year in Review
Books Read: 125
Graphic Novels Read: 52
Japanese Manga Read: 45
Video Games Finished: 33
Zines Reviewed on Etsy: 84
Illustrations and Comics Posted: 48
Illustrations and Comics Commissioned: 27
Posts on Gingko Books: 49
Posts on Digital Fantasy Diary: 68
2023 was a difficult year bookended and punctuated by painful rejections.
Everything that I could do on my own, I did with flying colors. I’m proud of what I accomplished, from publishing my first full-length short story collection to publishing my first minicomic zine. Despite the gradual collapse of various social media platforms, I still experienced small gains in followers and engagement. I sold almost four hundred copies of my zines on Etsy this year, as well as another hundred copies at various in-person small press events. Hundreds of copies were downloaded from my new page on Itchio as well. I published a good two dozen articles and reviews on various websites, almost all of which were linked to and promoted by larger websites. I’ve enjoyed some really positive and successful collaborations with artists, and I’ve seen gradual but substantial improvements in my own writing and art.
Every time I needed support or acceptance from a gatekeeper, however, the door was slammed in my face. The social anxiety I’ve experienced as a result has been painful and debilitating. I’m not sure how to handle this moving forward, but I guess there’s nothing to do except to keep trying. Best of luck to all of us in the coming year!
Graphic Novels Read: 52
Japanese Manga Read: 45
Video Games Finished: 33
Zines Reviewed on Etsy: 84
Illustrations and Comics Posted: 48
Illustrations and Comics Commissioned: 27
Posts on Gingko Books: 49
Posts on Digital Fantasy Diary: 68
2023 was a difficult year bookended and punctuated by painful rejections.
Everything that I could do on my own, I did with flying colors. I’m proud of what I accomplished, from publishing my first full-length short story collection to publishing my first minicomic zine. Despite the gradual collapse of various social media platforms, I still experienced small gains in followers and engagement. I sold almost four hundred copies of my zines on Etsy this year, as well as another hundred copies at various in-person small press events. Hundreds of copies were downloaded from my new page on Itchio as well. I published a good two dozen articles and reviews on various websites, almost all of which were linked to and promoted by larger websites. I’ve enjoyed some really positive and successful collaborations with artists, and I’ve seen gradual but substantial improvements in my own writing and art.
Every time I needed support or acceptance from a gatekeeper, however, the door was slammed in my face. The social anxiety I’ve experienced as a result has been painful and debilitating. I’m not sure how to handle this moving forward, but I guess there’s nothing to do except to keep trying. Best of luck to all of us in the coming year!
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+flips off gatekeepers casually+
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Professionally speaking, I guess I'm in the privileged position of being in a place that has enough resources to go around. We do our best to accept everyone we can for anything they apply for, unless there's something seriously wrong with the application or the applicant themself. The idea is that we exist to help connect people to opportunities to the best of our abilities.
Academia is extremely competitive in its own way, of course, but it's a culture shock to be faced with so much rejection. I guess workshops and editors and publishers are just overwhelmed with submissions.
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Publishing is basically a case of far fewer resources to go around and a lot of people grabbing at them. The advent of self publishing via internet has dome *something* to democratize the process (we can all be stars on WattPad! [I have never posted to WattPad in my life and didn't know it existed until a couple years ago]), but there's still a lot fewer "slots" to go around.