Here it is! The inaugural post on a new platform.
I kept hearing about Substack and the success a lot a creators and writers are having on such a platform and so I decided to look into it. Sure, the possible money to be made by such a platform sounds enticing but I understand you don’t get paid unless you have an audience. And that’s what I’m interested in doing, growing an audience.
For the last 10 years, I’ve held onto and regularly updated a blogspot blogger as my main website. The perks I found that worked for me is that code is already worked up; all I have to do is write up a post, toss in some flicks and hit post. Viola! Website updated. This was coming off a few years scrambling and screwing around with HTML code and Dreamweaver to keep the site updated. So, logging in, typing some shit, updating a widget or two was a breeze compared to all that other stuff. And I still maintain it. The goal is a post a month, and sure enough I find something post worthy every month, sometimes two or three things.
Mundane and perhaps even basic, sure. But I want my website to be something that’s dynamic and updated regularly with pieces of my thoughts as well as art. All those static websites set up portfolio style as you click through art pieces are cool, but I just want to worry about one site, as opposed to updating a blog and a portfolio site. I’ve been striving to strike a balance between the two, and as I went along in that direction I’ve found that I don’t really have a way to track who’s reading or who’s even looking. Sure, there’s blogger analytics and what-not but I never bothered to set up an email address collecting system so I can hit you in the inbox when something new drops.
And the more I thought about it, the more I feared I was missing out (FOMO). Seriously, cuz the thing I like to push, especially in the last few years, is the importance of having a platform away from all these social media platforms. I’m trying to stay away from Facebook and not depend so much on Instagram. Places like that can get shut down with the quickness, and then where ya gonna go? I’m a fan of the ancient art of internet surfing. You know, clicking from one website to another, and NOT this logging in to one site to have your whole internet experience funneled thru, where it’s not only controlled and curated by unknown entities and AIs but it’s also monetized.
So when it comes to an online presence that’s my thing. I’m trying out Substack simply because of this subscribe button and emailed updates that go to you right after I hit post. I mean, Blogspot has all that too, but I never understood how that worked or how you were notified. On top of all that, they actually discontinued an email collecting widget this year, causing me to search and eventually land here. And here YOU are.
I make a lot of comics and art and other such things, but what I’m missing is the audience. I need more of y’all to see what I can make, what I can do. I’ve been at this too long (self-publishing damn near 20 years) to still be languishing for an audience, I gotta make a change! And I’m not one to Go Live and stream to audiences all the time, or even go back and forth in the comments in real time. Still I gotta be proactive. I’ll give this a shot, and who knows, maybe this will be the next step in my online internet interactive presence!
Here’s my main website: toonzday.com