Look, here’s the deal with tumblr: it moves fast. A lot of people follow enough blogs that scrolling through one’s entire dash is impossible. I remember the days when I could wake up in the morning and scroll back to the last post I saw before bed. Sweet, summer child.
Here’s the other deal with tumblr: I see so much anxiety about reblogging one’s own stuff, be it art; analysis; fanfiction; hell, personal posts and replies. I have (and continue to feel deeply) that anxiety. Every time, my inner critic and I go through the same song and dance.
Critic: You look like you’re begging for notes/replies/reblogs. People will think you’re needy/full of yourself/have to be the center of attention. You already have a few notes, why do you need more? Other people have it worst than you. Ugh, you’re just clogging the dashes of your followers. If they wanted to read it, they’d have read it already.
Me: *ball of anxiety* You’re right. Wait, no you’re not. Wait, maybe you are. Wait, no—
I’d say it’s 50/50, even now, that I’ll reblog myself.
And you know what? Fuck that.
- Not everyone can get through their dash in a sitting.
- Timezones are a thing.
- Work hours are a thing, also affected by timezones.
- Life away from tumblr is a thing (what??? I know).
There are so many reasons a person might not see your fic/art/stuff the first time. Reblog it the next day. Reblog it a week from now. Hell, set up a schedule or a queue and have it reblog itself three months from now. Go back through old fics and reblog the ones you really liked; I guarantee you have followers who are new enough to have never seen it or who would like to reread it.
Be proud of the work you do.
Oh yeah, I felt that resistance from here.
Say it again. Out loud. Write it on a post-it note and stick it where you’ll see it.
Be proud of the work you do.
You wrote/made it for a reason. And yeah, part of that reason was probably to share it with other fans. Otherwise, why post at all? I know. Man, I get it. I’m cringing even writing that. The fucked-up “don’t show off” mentality runs deep, right?
Fuck that, too.
If you have followers who unfollow you because you’re reposting your stuff (and this is hard to prove, remember; maybe they quit tumblr, maybe their interests diverged from yours, whatever), who cares? Let them go. For everyone who leaves you, many will stay. And many will be happy to see that thing they missed because of work, life, sleeping. Especially if you follow a few points of tumblr/dash etiquette:
- Use cuts/read mores for anything longer than a few hundred words (I tend to cut at about 400-500 words, though if something’s under about 700 I might leave it).
- Reblog at reasonable intervals (day/evening, next day reblog, etc. Hourly might be a bit much ;D).
- Use tags so people can filter appropriately.
Be proud of the work you do.
(Write it down. Yes, you. <3)
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