As time passes and the end of the lockdown seems like it will never come, you may be wondering how you can help your favorite artists and writers out when you are also struggling to make ends meet. I feel ya.
Normally, I purchase things when my artsy friends are selling in the various venues before we went into lockdown. Now, I can't provide the support I used to be able to. I hit a wall and it sucks. I fell into a spiral of annoying thoughts.
So I sat down and took the time to really untangle this knot of chaotic brain trails. How do I help others? How do I help myself? What is the best way to support the artist community when I don't have the ability to dish out the cash like I used to? Well, here is what I came up with...
How to Help When You Are Broke and Can't Buy Art Stuff
Promote Your Artist Friends
Twitter: Tweet your friend's website, blog, ko-fi or Patreon
Instagram: Share a post with a Tag on your story
Tiktok: Brag about an artist
Tumblr: Reblog and/or Tag. You can also make a blog dedicated to sharing art from a single fandom (I do this for my artist friends)
Facebook: Share, Invite and basically brag
Reddit: Do you have a Reddit group that would love your friends' work? Share it!
Testimonial/Recommend
Most websites offer testimonials. You can add one to your favorite artist's page. You can also ask them if they have a specific space that can help. (i.e. Facebook page, or LinkedIn)
Comment and Review
This is very important for fan artists and fanfiction writers. We thrive on reviews and comments. They are life. They are what feeds a hungry artist... not literally but you get the idea.
If you have a blog. Make a post about them.
If you have a YT channel, review them.
Assist in Networking
I don't know about you but I get tired trying to network all day long and find that I am getting nowhere. Think about your favorite artists and writers. I'm sure they feel the same way so why not give them a boost by hitting up your contacts to see if anyone has any need for creative assistance? Maybe you have a job that needs something that the artist in question can provide. Pass on the contact information. You may have held open the door your art friend needed.
Now that we talked a little about what we can do to help OTHER artists, let's talk about good ways to boost yourself when broke AF and don't want to do the same thing over and over again.
Just a Few Broke Ways To Promote Yourself
(But first, check up on your donation links)
Set Up Paypal:
Make sure before you start asking for assistance to update your donation links. If you need examples you can check out the top page of this blog and the top page of my podcast page. Both of those are PayPal links with independent codes so I can tell where the support is going.
Set Up Ko Fi Shop:
These new features is totally badass. Try selling digital downloads to your crew or maybe you make assets as I do.
Update your Patreon:
Make sure you get in there and set up a few automated features. For example, a private discord server can be an automatic perk for your peeps.
Now for the Tips - Some may be well known to you but not to others. These are just some simple tidbits to boost when you are struggling.
Facebook:
Try setting up a group over there to help boost each other up. Invite your friends and your artist buddies and talk. Community is key.
Participate in #writerslift or #followfriday
RT other artists and blogs
Pin your information (I.e: Donation link, Website, etc...)
Here is a list of tags for artists (use for Instagram too)
Youtube
Download Tubebuddy for free (It really helps with SEO)
Tumblr
Use the new pin a post feature to save your important links.
Comment on anything and everything to find new friends
Try to avoid long stretching posts unless they provide hilarious entertainment
If all else fails, make a comic about the struggles of being an artist or writer
Anyway, I hope this helps. See you guys soon. I will have to tell you all about what Artistic Depression and Anxiety shinanigans pulled on me over the last few weeks and what forced me to get back into writing my blog entries. Laters all.
- July 2020 Note for Tumblr Users: Something is up with the new update that Xkit seems to have gone bye-bye. Stick around for news on this by following me on Twitter