destielonfire:

wanderingcas:

castiel-left-his-mark-on-me:

You know, someone usually says this once every couple of years and it always takes me by surprise … because this kind of thing is what Tumblr is all about. There are two types of people on this site: those who create content and those who reblog it. I create.

Now some of the people who create things are lucky and gain a quick and wide following, so they don’t really need to promote themselves too much, but the rest of us do– and I know I’m not the only one who does.

The content I create for this site is something that I’m proud of, especially the writing. I work very hard on each of my pieces and I treat the feedback I get on each story as fuel to keep on writing the next. If I don’t get feedback, I stop writing, and writing is the only thing in this world that makes me feel accomplished. So yeah, I self promote and I self reblog, and I get depressed when no one seems to like the work that I’ve poured my soul into. It’s tough, and it may seem like I’m begging for attention but really, I’m begging for purpose, and I’m not going to be shy or ashamed about that.

And putting all that aside, I asked for honesty on my one particular story, because I wanted to make sure that it was good enough for you guys. So you can say that you didn’t intend for this comment to “hurt me” all you want, but it seems like that was really it’s only goal, and it succeeded.

This site is all about self-promotion and exposure. I don’t understand why people get so surprised that I utilize it.

No see ok this attitude has really been bothering me for a while, i gotta say something.

As a musician, and a writer (psh, if I can even call myself that), I have to somehow advertise myself or self promote so that I stick in the minds of others. If I don’t shamelessly put myself out there, then my work and my musical playing doesn’t get recognized or noticed. It was freaking hard at first, and made me feel selfish and awkward, but I realized that if I didn’t do that, I would literally go unnoticed. 

Anon, you’re looking at Ary’s self-promotion as something that’s negative because it’s perceived as ‘just trying to get attention’. It’s not negative. She’s not being selfish or self-centered - she’s self promoting! Any artist has to do this or their work literally goes unnoticed. That’s true for real life too, not just Tumblr! The fact that her self-promotion on her personal blog is preventing you from enjoying her work, then just subscribe to her ao3. If you don’t want to see her personal griefs with writing or her self promotion of her fics, fine. But don’t go crying to her about it. She’s a creator and that’s what creators do - they advertise themselves! 

I absolutely hate this attitude, because other artists or writers or musicians will read things like this anon’s comments and think “Wow I really shouldn’t self promote, it’s going to deter people.” Self promoting is not bad. Only a few people will get turned off by it, and those are the people that don’t understand it anyway. People need to quit this attitude right now.

I am so sick and tired of fan artists and fanfic authors being SHAMED for self-promotion. As @wanderingcas and @almaasi have pointed out, people/companies who EARN MONEY with their (creative) output because they actually get to sell their products/services HAVE to do self-promo or they will go bankrupt. How else are you supposed to be able to reach your (potential) customer base?

But for some reason they’re not shamed about this, even though I’ve seen about a gazillion sexist, racist and otherwise problematic commercials/advertisements (full disclosure: I’m in marketing so I spend most of my time promoting my company’s services!). Whereas the self-promotion happening on this site by fan artists and fanfic authors is generally totally unobtrusive, benign and (most importantly) very easily avoidable! It’s not like it’s shoved in your face! You can so easily avoid it by blacklisting, unfollowing etc., which isn’t the case at all with billboards, magazine/tv ads and stuff like that. 

And as @castiel-left-his-mark-on-me is rightly pointed out in their original response, that is the exact point of this goddamn website! To promote your creations and share them with others. Where would the blogs who do nothing but reblog/like stuff (aka the majority) be without the creators, anyway? Fucking nowhere, that’s what.

Sorry but I’ve been seeing this more and more and it HAS to stop. Just blacklist stuff if you don’t want to see it, okay? Or unfollow? Don’t go shaming creators for wanting to promote the stuff they spent blood, sweat and tears on.

My dear writer/artists friends: please continue to promo the everloving shit out of your work, okay? Reblog it 100 times if you want (even though nobody ever does this, it would still be your right because it’s YOUR blog). You deserve the chance to give your work exposure. NEVER feel shame for promoting it!

/rant out

anyone seeing this who is a creator: please don’t let these kinds of anons (or non-anons, or real life people) dissuade you from sharing your work. you are not being rude or annoying by sharing what you made. there’s no reason to be ashamed of your efforts, or hide them, or say “it’s probably not that good” just to appease lurkers who don’t like to see other people having confidence or taking pride in their work.