Why you need to start reblogging fics:
Okay, saw a post about this, thought I would make a post explaining further. And this may make me sound like a bitch or ungrateful and that is not my intention. This is a conversation we, as a content consuming community, need to have—need to keep having.
And if you think we don’t need to have it, these are screenshots of notes on some of my fics—fics that have been posted for 7 months to 3 years. (And please keep in mind, I’ve been in the tumblr writing community for a while, so these numbers don’t even begin to correlate with new up-and-coming writers)
Does this seem right to you??? (the difference between likes and reblogs)
If you are saying ‘why yes, you are doing great. you have so many notes.’ you are not getting the point of this post—so let’s talk about it.
I appreciate the likes, believe me I do, but please understand: likes do nothing for content creators.
1. Let’s first talk about why reblogging is so important:
- Tumblr works on the reblog system (it’s not like Instagram, twitter or tiktok). In order for content to spread and appear on people’s dashs, it needs to be reblogged. That is the only way for content to be seen.
2. Let’s also do a quick take on why people don’t reblog (this is just what I have come across/seen people say):
- “I commented, isn’t that enough?” — comments are fantastic! I LOVE to hear what you have so say, but like…you can also comment on a reblog. A comment + reblog = a marriage proposal from me, I swear. Cuz just comments tend to say: liked it but it wasn’t good enough for me to share with others (-̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥᷄_-̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥᷅ )
- “I don’t want people seeing what I read” — unless your conservative grandma is on here and you really don’t want her seeing you reblog gay smut, I’m sorry that’s a stupid excuse.
- “I don’t want to clutter up my blog” — I’m sorry, what??? This is tumblr. We are not influencers on here. And if you’re tying to be, I gotta tell ya something, buddy: you’re on the wrong platform. But if it REALLY bothers you that much—I’ve seen some people make a sideblog where they reblog fics. Of course, this doesn’t give the same traction because those blogs tend to have less followers, but at least it’s something.
- “It’s too much to scroll through” — bruh, that’s why writers put the ‘keep reading’ line break in their posts. And if they don’t, well, that’s a whole separate issue.
- “Tags are enough for content to get spread” — this is simply just not true. People don’t always search through tags and the tag they look under might not be one that the fic has. And, even if people do stalk the tags, the content that is at the top is content that has the most engagement. This doesn’t help creators that don’t already have some traction and it doesn’t do much even for those who do. And before you say, ‘go under recently posted’ - not many people do that and, even when they do, they still miss content because ✮ tumblr algorithm ✮ (◔_◔)
- Most of the reblogs and feedback I receive comes from other writers that I have befriended.
- “Support writers” doesn’t just mean “writers support writers” it means “content consumers, support writers.”
- Other platforms like AO3, Wattpad, and/or FF.NET — buddy, it ain’t better over there. trust me, I’m on em’ all.
Why do you think so many writers disappear from writing community? Why do you think so many of them stop creating? Why do you think we rarely get new ones?
It’s because they put hours upon hours of their sweat, blood, and tears into motherfucking masterpieces and those masterpieces just end up at the bottom of the void.
Yes, yes writers should write for themselves, ultimately, but it’s nice to get some validation—to get someone saying ‘hey, yeah I’m here. I’m seeing you.”
And that is why I try my VERY hardest to reblog with a large comment!
So, please, content consumers, support your content creators.
