Yeah, hence need reactivating Instagram, it's not working but it's something

I've never added the free drawings on the web shop as a feature because it really just happens when he's got the time - he usually posts a little announcement on his own Instagram and just tucks some lovely drawings into the boxes when it's sunny

I'm catching up with marketing... This is what happens when I'm running social media accounts but Chris is running fulfilment. Seriously though, here's your opportunity to get a free Chris Riddell sketch with your rather nice indie card game, while he's in the mood

illustration of what might be some kind of fantasy funeral rite. The illustration is two colors and stylized, in the foreground is a group of robed priestess holding hands over a long sword. In the background a bandaged corpse lays on an altar among arches shelves of bottles and detritus.

Thanks so much to @portablecity.bsky.social for being a great AD, here's one of two of the illustrations I did for Swords Without Master and you guys have no idea what cool shit you're in for. People have been cranking out the most gorgeous work for that thing

A very simple colour illustration of Ragwort

Hello, my favourite thing that grows everywhere

www.sonnyross.com/shop/ragwort
#illustration #botany #decor

Painting of hare on pale lime background.

🖼️ Whyn Lewis

Haha... Arrr I even like some of that. I'm hiding from the "I met you when you worked in a bookshop, why isn't the cat smiling, I would prefer that" chaos

I want to, too, and I feel like I'm giving the slop machine material to fake me more convincingly. If I post a photo of my cool new bedspread what will it put on it? I hate it

Yeah. I go back to London sometimes for work and people are like "ooh you got a new thing out? I never saw that??"

Anyway it's marketing day, I'll spend it with my friend checking over three static websites and probably making a to do list that makes me cry. My own web shop is still closed but you can buy card games I've designed at Cycling Fish, and buy my books anywhere, and if you recommend them that helps

a brightly-coloured tarot card spread - French Cross

little reminder that I have made a (very well reviewed) tarot deck using linoprinting and ✨absolutely zero A/I✨, & I'm moving house soon, so if you could buy some decks I'll have fewer boxes to move! #tarot

shop.frankduffy.co.uk/franks-slow-...

I dream of the white clown

"So few want to be rebels any more. And out of those few, most, like myself, scare easily. Can you dance faster than the White Clown, shout louder than ‘Mr. Gimmick’ and the parlour ‘families’? If you can, you'll win your way, Montag. In any event, you're a fool. People are having fun."

The main quote that's stuck in my head since school from Fahrenheit 451 is "Can you dance faster than the white clown" referring to their weird social media obsession distracting from everything that matters and honestly, what a prediction that one was.

I'm really tired of this. Please make a thing where I don't have to be pretty and engaging for a living when my job is making books and games, please.

I kind of want to delete my old posts but what's the point. Clearly even after scrubbing the entire thing, meta retained all the info anyway. Might as well have the pretty pictures there to advertise my existence to people who might buy books and such.

Okay I'm back on Instagram so you can follow me there if you want to, but it'll be business only: @vivschwarz
Very much appreciating any boosts of my books and such. I'm also @betonmond, publishing beautiful card games there.

Uæhrgh. Yes

That used to be the platform to stay in touch with some friends and post pretty pictures of my breakfast, then suddenly it was my work place, now it's where anyone can get way too personal with total deniability because it's totally confused signalling

It also feels exactly like being back working in retail with everyone thinking this is a great opportunity to get my attention and have conversations that don't belong in the workplace, while I have to be nice and attentive

I feel like we need to rebuild the entire structure in a better way. Meanwhile I'm reactivating my Instagram at @vivschwarz because I need to sell my books and there's no alternative yet, but I'm not installing that on my mobile again. It needs containing on the work computer. This needs to improve.

I hope so. I just deactivated my Instagram account and instantly felt sick, I want to be able to block the onslaught of unwanted communication on it but I'm just going to see it as a job.

I left Instagram a while ago because it served me endless bonesmashing content, hid the stuff I was interested in... I know I'm still supposed to be on there because it's the last desperate vestige of potential engagement

Exactly. I think it showed that people are really keen to share recommendations and to feel that connection to help them navigate the market.

They're still operating as if things were working.

We need a new thing, I would be happy to pay some money for it, too, but if it's monetised then people with more money can simply be louder unless someone seriously solves some serious basic problems with this entire concept, and that needs to be someone who actually cares about independent artists.

I believe we need a new thing, I don't know what kind of thing, but it can't be the existing social networks because they'll always throttle a working communication system to extract money, and the audience doesn't expect to pay to be advertised to, or have unwanted paid advertising shoved at them.

I'm not even talking book tours, gigs and such. Just the very basic thing of letting an interested audience know that something even exists, so they can look it up. We had a working system with Twitter, we leaned on it, it disappeared.

This confusion if "who should be doing the advertising" doesn't help. Audiences have come to expect to get all this information for free and in an entertaining, interactive format. It's so hard to produce for an individual, and that work is unpaid, and the platforms want money now.

I get my recommendations via friends on discord now, mostly. I still go to book shops, the library. But I know I'm missing so much of what I would love to read, listen to, watch. And I got my own books and games to advertise. It's so frustrating.