Being a newbie content creator sucks major @#@#s

[titankore]

I have been running a tumblr ask blog for a while and despite having a hundred followers I get like no asks and shit. That is something that is rarely addressed by most people though, how the first few projects you work on are labors of love with little to no support even if you somehow manage to acquire arbitrary numbers of followers or what not.

This is a completely new world for writers and artists, and the problem is that every book I have read on the subject of being an artist is completely out of date. So I guess I have to ask the Escapist community, how should an artist gauge their progress? How do they know if they are being screwed?

 

[GiantRaven]

I gauge my progress by the amount of purchases/downloads of my music.

I can't say the near daily checking of that fills me with any level of joy anymore.

 

[FalloutJack]

Ah, well, while I would love to break into writing for gaming industry, it is my calling to write BOOKS. Books don't have arbitrary deadlines unless they really need to be. And anyone who thinks they really ARE necessary never knew Douglas Adams that well.

 

[Flutterguy]

Art has never been a guaranteed, consistent or easy career choice. You have to be able to market yourself and your product to make it a career. Look at Andy Warhol, guy had pretty terrible art, but he had the personality to make it work.

 

[Scarim Coral]

You clearly need to watch this-


Ok granted it's a parody per say but it is accurate. Maybe you can learn a thing or two from it.

 

[loa]

How are you a content creator if all you have is an ask blog?
I've never seen anyone get anywhere by delivering the content of answers.
You're also kind of limiting your productivity to people actually asking you questions and being prolific plays a big role in attracting an audience.
Mediocre artists can easily dwarf amazing artists traffic by simply being a lot more active.

 

[Esotera]

An artist should gauge progress by whether they enjoy what they produce and whether they can make it any better. It shouldn't really be based on the number of people who view their work as more often than not that will just be pandering to the lowest common denominator.

 

[Ubiquitous Duck]

I hardly think it's rare for things not to explode in popularity - justifiably or not.

One example of trying multiple attempts but on the same outlet - Epic Meal Time! Epic Meal Time was not the first channel that the guys behind it made and they had tried before to 'make it big' on youtube with other types of channels and had limited success.

I suppose you will need to ask yourself what 'YOU' want out of it. Obviously those guys wanted to make their living doing youtube videos and were looking for a viable way to do this - so if one method continued to not work, they would subsequently try something new - my dad refers to the method as 'throwing s*** at a wall until something sticks'. I suppose the thing that 'stuck' for them was Epic Meal Time.

But what do 'YOU' want? If you just want to create what you want to create and if someone likes it then that is just a bi-product, then that's cool to stick with what you are doing. But since you are frustrated, I'm guessing you are not happy with where you are with it and what you are doing. So we need to know your motives are really to be able to help.

I wouldn't say an artist is necessarily 'getting screwed', unless their work has exclusivity rights or ownership of your work lies with someone else, because then you are bound in and potentially susceptible to being 'screwed', as you put it. Another example of this happened on youtube recently, with DailyGrace giving up her channel (which is all her work, her videos), but they were owned by someone else. In order to continue alone she had to forfeit her own channel and video backlist/catalogue and go fresh. I would consider this, and I imagine so would she, to be her getting screwed over.

 

[Eamar]

Yeah, leaving aside the whole ask blog thing for a moment, artists/writers/any creative types very rarely explode in popularity, even if their work is brilliant, and that has always been the case. The internet just amplifies the success of those who do "make it," making success seem more common than it actually is.

Even people who do "make it" rarely make it big. I think something like 1% of published authors are successful enough to be able to make their money exclusively from writing. And that's the ones who manage to get published in the first place.

That being the case, artists have to try and gauge their progress from the art itself. Do they think it's improving? Are they learning from it?

If you're getting into anything creative with the assumption you're going to be a commercial success, you're highly likely to be disappointed and end up becoming disenchanted with the whole thing.

I write, and sure I dream of hitting the big time and making a career from it, and yes I try to do everything I can to make that happen, but I also accept that it's highly unlikely and it's definitely not the main reason I do it.

 

[Tom_green_day]

This isn't aimed at OP since I don't know you but one thing people are neglecting to mention is that sometimes a work doesn't receive popularity because it isn't very good.
Just look at all the film flops from last year.
That doesn't mean it'll stay that way. The Great Gatsby was ignored upon release as people thought it was just an average reality book, but decades later it was picked up and adored.

 

[Lieju]

So I guess I have to ask the Escapist community, how should an artist gauge their progress? How do they know if they are being screwed?

What, like if they're getting paid enough? (Which is not just a problem for artists)

I don't know how you are 'being screwed' just by your blog not being popular?

The best advice I can give is based on the artists I've known and how they 'made it'.
Know people. Form working relationships with other artists, help them, and have them help you in turn.


In Internet-terms, try to get to know other artists, make crossovers and co-operate in projects.

 

[DugMachine]

To strive on Tumblr you have to establish connections with other similar blogs. I'm still not quite sure what content you create or exactly what an "ask blog" is but I learned after a year that the whole website is literally just one giant circlejerk. Unless you know or get friendly with people that already have tons of followers you're going to be obscure.

 

[Nuxxy]

Try try and try again. The Beatles were one of the most prolific bands, and that contributed to their success and much as their talent.

 

[GiantRaven]

An artist should gauge progress by whether they enjoy what they produce and whether they can make it any better. It shouldn't really be based on the number of people who view their work as more often than not that will just be pandering to the lowest common denominator.

There's only so much self-gratification a person can do before they need to constant approval of others.

 

[Kittyhawk]

Follow other artist/writers. Comment on their work and ask for tips. You can learn a lot from a few questions. Keep plugging at it and you'll get where you want to be. Don't give up, don't excuse your work and even if you dislike feedback, stay true to your path.

Remember, a lot of people got a lot of rejection before success came knocking.

 

[Sack of Cheese]

I don't think tumblr is a good environment for starting artists. People tend to leave anonymous comments/reblog/reblog with comments than actually try to connect with you.

DeviantArt would be more of what you search for: people leaves comments more often.

 

[SycoMantis91]

I've had a blog for the better part of 3 years, I have 4 followers and average 20-25 views and no comments per entry, time consuming entries mind you, I'll trade

 

[Zontar]

Content creation on the internet is always a long task and very few can do so on a level which permits them to live on it. In fact, outside of The Escapists, most of the content creators I follow have day jobs (one, for example is a teacher, and another is a student at the collage I go to).

Another thing to remember is that people prefer things which not everyone can do on the spot nor what everyone is already doing. An ask blog on Tumblr is not going to make you popular, people using it is a byproduct of popularity.

 

[Weaver]

When I started youtube in like 2011 I guess it was it was really easy. My first, horrible video got 1k views in like 24 hours. Now a days I get like 10 views a video.

I dunno, it's just a hard gig because everyone is doing it.

 

[chikusho]

I think you need to define what your actual goals are.
Getting asks?