Hey everybody,
For my subscribers, sorry I haven’t made announcements. I find myself getting busy and not always in the best ways. I have a day job that helps pay for Adobe stuff like a present I’m making for my sister’s Christmas present. I have enough digital comics in backing to wonder if they’re NFT worthy. I watch shows friends were talking about and wanted to get caught up on. I watch movies that fly under the radar. I read comics to post reviews on Edelweiss, Netgalley, Monkeys Fighting Robots, and Gutternaut. And I like to watch YouTube videoes. So I need a break from all the awkwardness and go out for drives in my part of Pennsylvania. Yeah… with all the content I’ve got, including games I wanted to play but never got the free time for, I might be going through a quarter-life crisis.
How Do I Spend My Free Time
I gotta admit, I would rather do the easier things like play Contra Reloaded on my phone. I also spent money on that game (thankfully I avoided the gambling features after some small exposure), and on Steam games that were real cheap. Plus I got my library card so that I can read comics without needing to hand over so much money with Hoopla; but I also learned that libraries are bureaucracies which come with too many problems to list. But I watch YouTube videos most of the time because they’re entertaining and I learn more stuff there than in school.
That’s despite how some content leaves me wondering what I’m doing with my life. All of the content at my fingertips, sometimes with pages, other times on my TV and I have no time to indulge. While I can now save money on some stuff, I feel like I have to sustain everything to keep what I do afloat. I mean one video led me to making a post on some indie comics.
How Can I Focus On Writing?
Not to mention I like to read comics in general but I gave myself choice paralysis. I have so many ways to read comics and some of them with deadlines that I have trouble focusing. It helps if I can write about it, but I often don’t give myself the time to do it. Half of the time I’m on MFR I’m just writing quickie reviews for Twitter posts on DC comics where I was starting to get sick of DC’s Batman oversaturation. Add to that, every editor is usually up to their eyeballs at their day job. So I stopped doing the Op-Eds I liked on there. It’s not all bad, I mean I got some physical publishing experience for my portfolio.
In addition to the writing on MFR, I try to put content on Gutternaut. Only problem is, I have so many ideas I usually just leave drafts and need more motivation to finish them. Because I keep finding ways to distract myself including NetGalley, Edelweiss, and more. But those always take a backseat to direct requests to review comics. Some are good with Plainer Jane, Day and Age, and Death Sentence London getting posts in the two months I made a Substack post. But some other stuff comes up as well, including what content goes on Gutternaut and what goes on MFR.
Money To Support Hobbies
I like to think I’ve got a good work ethic since I prioritize direct requests. I feel like I get acknowledgement. But I also feel like I have a responsibility to help other people, especially if they feel as overshadowed as I do. But it’s becoming a burden since I have to worry about small stuff because some people have trouble advertising their content. I have no room to judge because I can barely get my content out to a few people in the general public. And this is someone who has dreams of being a monetized storyteller.
That’s the other problem, I have Affiliate Links to try and make some extra cash without selling out. While I’ve more or less have Amazon not as a big threat looming over me, I’m also trying to keep my Books-A-Million affiliate up in under a month. Plus I just got My Comic Shop as an affiliate. So imagine how hard it is, when I am both impressed and disappointed that my viewers on average aren’t impulse buyers. Or how conditional my offers are through those links.
Not to mention because I can’t seem to get people interested… I don’t know how to market on Patreon, Ko-Fi, or here on Substack. I always seem to get attention but I can’t access what subscribers I have because of some bureaucratic nonsense with WordPress.org, WordPress.com, and Bluehost. All I’m saying is, I’m flying by the seat of my pants because management is not something I can excel at. Because I don’t wanna be that kind of person who sells people junk they don’t want.
What Can I Do To Make Stuff More Engaging?
So I ask audience, what can I do to make things more engaging. For people to leave messages? Because so far, I’ve found that the number of followers mean very little. From what my pessimistic brain suggests, you have way better things to do with your time so how can I make what I do more like that stuff?