Tag: artist blog

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I’m Leaving Instagram, Here’s Why

I'm leaving instagram! Shown here is an artist-rendered selfie gesturing to a balloon. The balloon reads "find me instead on YouTube, youtube.com/@kelcidcomics." Below are the words "thank you for your support! You. Are. Awesome."

I’m making it official. I am leaving Instagram, and here are my reasons why.

I know. Shocker. It’s yet another declarative blog post, YouTube video, or what have you declaring that yet another person is leaving Instagram. How original.

But I want to list my reasons. I feel that these are different enough from the reasons other folks have cited.

Does this mean I’m encouraging you to leave Instagram? I’m going to leave that up to you. These are just the reasons and arguments that I have for leaving. What you do with this information is up to you.

Reason One: Instagram is designed to keep you on the platform. It does not encourage sales or outward links to other work. There are no hyperlinks unless you make Stories, and Stories only last for 24 hours. There is also the dreaded, “Link in bio,” but doing that adds so many steps that it is not audience- or user-friendly.

Reason Two: my old Instagram account already got stolen. I was able to make a new account and recover a lot of my old followers. But Instagram is still a hotbed for scammers and bad actors.

Are scammers and bad actors exclusive to Instagram? No. But there’s an awful lot more of them lately. It’s gotten so bad that I had to leave a message in my Instagram bio saying, “Do not DM me.” And I know that strangers who send DM’s my direction are more than likely scammers.

Reason Three: I keep in touch with all of my work opportunities, colleagues, and friends outside of Instagram. All of my connections are either on outside platforms or directly with the people that I need to talk to.

Reason Four: I did a social media experiment back in October. In it, I realized that Instagram was the worst-performing platform that I posted to regularly. So if I leave Instagram, I won’t suffer for it.

Reason Five: I’m finding artistic inspiration in places outside of Instagram. To be honest, I’m finding inspiration on YouTube and through indie creator’s email newsletters.

Reason Six: nobody makes money on Instagram. Anybody who says they are is either already rich by other means or is trying to sell you something. And frankly, it is wild to me that some people still use Instagram saying that “it gets them work.” I have never found this to be the case, even since 2018.

And you might ask, “But what if somebody rejects me because I don’t have an Instagram account? Or don’t have enough Instagram followers?”

  1. Any work opportunity that demands you have X amount of Instagram followers is not going to pay you well. It is more than likely a scam. Do not engage.
  2. Every opportunity I applied for an art opportunity asks for your portfolio website first, then any social media handles after. It is more important for you to have a portfolio site than to have a social media account.

Reason Seven: Instagram operates on Skinner box logic. If you are unfamiliar, here’s a link to the Wikipedia article about Skinner boxes. But the short version is that Skinner boxes are designed to randomize results every time you push a button. The endgame is that users who push the buttons try to find reasons why the Skinner box rewards them. The fact that these platforms are randomized and act like slot machines is peak gambling behavior. It WILL warp your brain in bad ways. 

I wrote an entire anti-attention economy manifesto calling this out. Here’s a link where you can read that manifesto.

Reason Eight: I am not paying Instagram in the form of my attention and labor anymore. This ties into my anti-attention economy manifesto, but it also ties into an argument from Yanis Varoufakis. He argues that platforms like Meta, Google, and Amazon have turned into techno-fiefdoms, extracting rent from their users. And that includes attention and data. Honestly, just give this interview from Adam Conover a watch. It completely changed my outlook on how I interact with the internet at large.

So what’s next?

I will let folks know on Instagram with official announcements. I will still maintain my email newsletter, this blog, and my YouTube and TikTok accounts. That said, TikTok will not see as much activity from me.

Any art that would have gone up on Instagram will instead go up on this website. Having said that though, I don’t have to update it as frequently as Instagram would demand that I do.

That’s another reason that I’m leaving: Instagram demands that you post multiple times a day or multiple times a week. With no breaks. Again, the platform is trying to extract rent from you as much as possible. It’s what it’s designed to do, no matter how much it advertises its timer feature or its “wellness” features.

In short, I am leaving Instagram to engage with other platforms in healthier ways. With boundaries that I set for myself. 

I hope you stay tuned, and that you stick around to check out my art and other updates.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.

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For the Friends and Family on Facebook…

This post is for friends and family who are on Facebook.

First of all: WHY?

Second of all: you may have noticed posts coming from my account. That is, in fact, me. I’ve been sharing links to my Ko-fi shop stuff.

If you’re still on Facebook – for some god-forsaken reason – I’m going to keep sharing links from outside platforms, like Ko-Fi, KickStarter, and my webcomics and blogs.

That said, DO NOT expect me to reply to any comments you leave on those posts.

If you have feedback for me, you’re more than welcome to comment here on this blog…or email me, at kelci@kelcidcrawford.com.

I’m choosing how I use Facebook, and here’s what I’ve decided on:
  1. I’m not downloading the app.
  2. I’m ONLY using the web browser version.
  3. I’m ONLY using Facebook to post links to my work on my personal profile.
  4. I will check notifications ONLY once every few days or so.

I refuse to scroll on the site, I refuse to look at other people’s posts, and I refuse to post pictures there. I will not start a separate page for my business, because one of the reasons I LEFT Facebook years ago was because Facebook stopped supporting small businesses.

Also – DO NOT TAG ME IN ANYTHING ON FACEBOOK. Tagging people is a form of data and I want my data to be kept to a minimum on that platform.

So why am I even posting on Facebook again?

Because a lot of friends and family – FOR SOME REASON – continue to use it, and I want them to know I’m alive and working.

I’m also low-key hoping that those friends and family will choose to support my work if they see I’m still at it.

Still, the best place to find me online is here on this blog, or on my webcomic sites, like The Legend of Jamie Roberts, Vanita and the Demon King, or Validation on Webtoons. (More Webtoons will be coming soon, by the way.)

That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.

P.S. Any and all Crowdfunding updates can be found on Fantasyville Productions’ official website.

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My Next Campaign is on Crowdfundr. Here’s Why

I’m here to announce that my next campaign is happening on Crowdfundr – not KickStarter. Here’s why.

First, it’s not that KickStarter is bad. It’s just that Crowdfundr is friendlier to comics creators.

I wrote an entire blog post with a breakdown between KickStarter vs Crowdfundr. It goes into everything, from fee set-ups to add-ons to promotions. Go read it if you haven’t yet. Since I wrote that piece, Crowdfundr has been improving its promotions. Hooray for that!

Second, I found a new printer.

For those of you who backed The Legend of Jamie Roberts, Volume 1, this will sound familiar. For those not around for this, here’s what happened: the book printer I worked with botched the first print run. This meant I had to get the books re-printed, and that delayed reward fulfillment.

I did NOT want a repeat of this mistake, so I shopped around for printers. I worked with Mixam for The Stars of Fantasyville: A Sketchbook. However, while their quality is great, they cost more per book to print.

Enter: Comix Well Spring.

The folks at Comix Well Spring sent me a sample packet featuring the options they have in stock. I’m posting a video on YouTube reviewing the samples very soon. But I liked their quality!

Then, when I went to their site, two things happened:

  1. Their customer assistance reached back out to me less than 5 minutes after I emailed them.
  2. When I got a quote for The Legend of Jamie Roberts, volume 2, the price turned out BETTER than with my current book printer OR Mixam.

Add on to this…

Third, Comix Well Spring is partnered with Crowdfundr.

They have a special for small presses (like me!). If a Crowdfundr campaign is successfully funded – with Comix Well Spring fulfilling the print order – then Comix Well Spring will give a discount on the order. It’s on their website!

And finally – Comix Well Spring is domestic.

In fact, they’re based in a state next to mine. I try to avoid overseas printers – I’ve seen too many horror stories of fellow comix makers with overseas printers having their book orders held up in customs…Meaning they had nothing to showcase, so they had to bail on conventions. Conventions they paid $1000+ to attend. It’s a horror story I want to avoid. So I work with domestic printers as much as possible.

So With All of That Said…

I will be launching The Legend of Jamie Roberts, volume 2 on Crowdfundr before the end of July! To know when it launches, sign up for the email newsletter. Newsletter peeps get the news when new campaigns launch.

That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.

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Fantasyville Productions Has An Official Website!

fantasyville productions header

Today, I’m introducing Fantasyville Productions’ official website!

Fantasyville Productions is the official name of my business. It’s the name I use when publishing books, releasing prints, and launching KickStarter and Crowdfundr campaigns. Fantasyville focuses primarily on fantasy-themed stories, many with queer characters and/or creators who are LGBTQ+.

The name Fantasyville comes from my first webcomic ever, Johnson & Sir, which took place in the titular town! I named my business endeavor “Productions” to encompass more than just comics.

With this business, I hope to release comics, tabletop games (like Dragon’s Roost and Toe Beans & Broomsticks), pins, keychains (like Be Not Apurred, which recently got successfully funded on KickStarter), and even books by other authors, like Danse Macabre and Other Works by Sean McGavin!

Tune in on the Fantasyville official website for KickStarter news and project updates, as well as appearance and product announcements. Not just from me, but from other creators, as well!

If you would like to see updates from me specifically, like works-in-progress or personal updates, I’ll be posting more on this site and on YouTube. This is especially true since social media is…kind of on fire right now.

That’s all for now. Thank you for your support!

You. Are. Awesome.

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I’m Not Selling Prints Anymore. Here’s Why

This may sound scandalous to my fellow artists out in the convention circuit, but I’m not going to sell prints at my table (or my Ko-Fi shop) anymore.

WHY?

Let’s start at the top.

I made a Forest Spirit print back in 2016, and for the most part, she sold pretty well! She was a big show-stopper at conventions. Like, she would catch your eye and keep your attention there. And she did sell well. So I branched out into other designs.

However, sales of prints have been declining for me since 2018. It’s gotten to the point where prints are not my top 3 selling category anymore (as of June 2023).

Plus, the feedback I get from fans often boils down to, “I don’t have the space to hang any more prints!” It’s hard to sell something when the fans don’t have room for it.

The other problem is that prints are a pain in the ass to transport.

This is especially true now that I live on the top floor of my apartment building, towards the back of my complex. I really do not want to make multiple trips to the third floor in a building with no elevator.

Not to mention that you need print bags or rubber bands to bag up prints when you sell them. And I can’t seem to source print bags that aren’t crap.

All these problems are for selling at conventions. But online? Forget about it. Shipping tubes are tricky enough for me to find. Everything else I sell online can either be delivered digitally or flat in a padded envelope. Prints are more difficult to ship the larger they get. And I can’t ship prints in the same bundle as everything else I offer – thus making me charge more for shipping (which customers and I are NOT psyched about).

I’d rather not deal with the headaches. Especially since prints are not the bestsellers at my table or online.

So, no more prints from me.

IS THERE AN ALTERNATIVE?

Funny enough, art books are the best thing I’ve ever offered! At conventions, my art books sell the most. And the more art books I sell, the more books in general I sell. There’s a reason why my #1 category in sales is Books. And they are the LARGEST sales margin. For me, books make 5 times more than the #2 best-selling category. FIVE TIMES. It’s bonkers.

And honestly, that’s fine with me. I like making art books, and I want to make more of them.

If you are new to selling your work, please remember this: what works for me may not work for you. Some artists are really successful at prints! I’m more successful at books. Each artist’s mix is different. You won’t know what will work until you try it yourself. I just wanted to share what’s been working for me, and what hasn’t, so you can understand my process.

Best of luck to you out there!

That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.