two very different sorts of cool things

[asakiyume]

The first is something that Wakanomori saw on Twitter and decided to try making himself: speakers for a smartphone, made from a paper towel tube and paper cups. It was very easy to make, and it really works! The sound becomes much more rich and deep!



The second is a pencil drawing a friend of mine did, inspired by Lagoonfire. I was amazed and delighted. (In an unbelievable, but in fact true, piece of irony, she showed it to me directly after I'd been having a conversation with osprey_archer about how much self-promo is too much.

I love how expressive it is, how much motion there is in it, how undulating. And she liked the story!

Comments

[anna_wing]

I can't get Twitter at the moment, I want to try that! How are the cups attached to the tube? Do you have to cut holes in either cups or tube?

[asakiyume]

Yes, both! You cut a lozenge shape parallel to the length of the tube, big enough to slide your phone into [ETA: fit *snugly* into], and you cut a circular hole into one side of each of the cups, of diameters that will let the tube slide in snugly. Then you attach the cups to the tube so that their mouths face out in the same direction, as here. And then you slide the phone into the slot along the top of the tube, and you're good to go!

[anna_wing]

Thanks! Will try it!

[wayfaringwordhack]

That speaker set-up needs to be in my future. I like to listen to podcasts while I garden, but a) I don't like carrying the phone around (having it on my person for one, but also all the inadvertent button-pushing that goes on in my pocket), and b) my phone's sound is not that great.

What a fabulous vision of Lagoonfire!. It brings back sweet memories of Goblet and Laloran-morna. Thank you, asakiyume's friend, for making and gifting it to her so we could all enjoy it, too. :D

[asakiyume]

I will let my friend know what you said ^_^

And yes, this would really work for your situation--I think. We only tested it in the kitchen; not sure how it would do in an open space, competing with natural sounds. But if you set it up on a crate or rock next to you as you weeded, for instance, I think it could be great.

[sovay]

a conversation with osprey_archer about how much self-promo is too much

Any. Any self-promotion is too much.

I love your fanart, though.

[asakiyume]

She was close to the same opinion as you, but speaking as a fan rather than as a creator, I disagree! Especially when I'm in the position of being a fan of people who are lesser known or who are on the rise, I delight in being made aware of good news about their work, of hearing that someone has loved it the way I've loved it, or maybe has a whole new, interesting take on it. I'm unlikely to stumble across such things on my own (unless the person is Neil Gaiman levels of famous and being talked about on NPR or something--in which case I would agree: such a person needn't do self-promotion; the world is taking care of promotion for them), so if the creator doesn't alert me to them, I might never know, and I want to know, because I'm Team That-Creator, and I want to cheer for their successes.

And as a creator, I guess I approach it in part remembering how I feel as a fan, but also thinking that I am talking primarily to friends (because I am so unknown as a writer that who follows me other than friends?), and friends will probably be happy for me if I have good news to share.

But as I said to her, this is one of those questions on which people most definitely have different opinions, and I understand and respect that.

(I love the art too!)

[sovay]

But as I said to her, this is one of those questions on which people most definitely have different opinions, and I understand and respect that.

I am fine with announcing acceptances and publications. Anything that requires me to arrange my own publicity, reviews, interviews, awards consideration, generally keeping myself on people's radar, reminding them about publishers' sales, advertisements, giveaways, signal-boosting, etc. is exhausting and it has been my experience that even if I self-promote way past my own comfort levels, it still isn't enough to make a meaningful or monetary difference, perhaps simply because I'm not on the right social media and never will be, so I might as well not. [edit] I still have to do a certain amount, because no one else will, but I might as well not wreck myself over it. It doesn't pay off. I did a ton of promotion for The Deadlands and it was worth it, but there were also multiple other editors on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram for all I know; I suspect that had much more of an impact.

[asakiyume]

I still have to do a certain amount, because no one else will, but I might as well not wreck myself over it. It doesn't pay off. <--the most sensible approach, imo.

I had to get comfortable with cold calling and self promotion for Pen Pal. It was, and continues to be, my impression that between any one of us small fry and "the public" is a huge, heavy, blanket, smothering our attempts to be heard, like the atmosphere on the speck in Horton Hears a Who. You can yell and yell, and... it barely causes the blanket to lift a little. It almost never--never, in my experience--breaks through.

We tend always to be speaking just to people who already know us, or to people at one remove from that (friends of friends). That's why having groups of people--like you did for Deadlands--works best for promotion: because people have different niches and different styles and strengths, and they do what is comfortable (or only mildly uncomfortable) for them, and in the aggregate, it had have a big effect.

[mallorys_camera]

Drawing is lovely. And I want to make that speaker set up for my smartphone! 😊

[asakiyume]

I love the drawing. My friend usually does landscapes and still lifes, so this was really new and free; I like it for what it is, but also as a new avenue for her.

It's easy to make! Wakanomori did it in five minutes or so. Take that Boze!

[osprey_archer]

It's not self promotion if someone else did the fanart! Then it is promotion of your friend/fan's beautiful fanart skills.

Plus the fact that someone cared enough to do an Art sort of takes care of the promoting part. If someone was so moved that they actually made a picture, you the author don't need to tell readers that the story is moving and emotionally intense; they can see for themselves how it moved someone.

[asakiyume]

She has great skills, right?

But isn't it also self-promotion if I'm saying to the world, "Hey, look what someone did for MAH BÜÜK"?

I feel like not only do people have different levels of comfort/annoyance with self-promotion (both their own and other people's); we/they also have different feelings at different points in time (I am much more tolerant of other people's self-promotion when I'm feeling successful or at least happy myself, and much more likely to feel impatient with it if I'm not). And then there are pragmatics: a person may hate self-promotion but do it anyway out of necessity, or a person may not mind self-promotion but never have to do it, etc. etc.

[ladyherenya]

Those speakers are clever! My brother and I used to hold our phone just inside a drinking glass to amplify the sound -- I remember experimenting with various bits of crockery to see what produced the best sound, but it's a while ago now and I don't remember what our results were.

[asakiyume]

Now you're making me want to experiment with cups and bowls, myself (but of course, now that I'm in possession of this awesome homemade sound system, I don't need to!)

[sartorias]

Oh wow a fix it that I think I could actually manage. Maybe. Or it might be beyond my "skills."

That illo is really wonderful! I love the elements, the stained glass feel, and how the overall really *got* the story.

[asakiyume]

I think you could do this! Or you could press into service someone whose hands don't pain them so much. I think it's do-able even just with scissors, provided you have some paper cups (Dixie cup-type cups).

Yeah, I love the flow of the picture--the sense of the seaweed and mussel shells and stones.