#$400 a month

[thebibliosphere]

I’ve talked about this with some friends, but the whole Spotify/audiobook drama legitimately makes me want to cry.

If you are unaware, earlier in the month, Spotify, who now owns FindawayVoices -- an audiobook distributor and one of the only major rivals to Audible on the creator end -- announced that their ToS would be updating.

The ToS updates were horrendous and basically allowed Spotify to make royalty-free translations of our works, as well as create derivatives, and basically just fuck us all over and feed all of our hard work into AI.

The backlash was so swift that less than 12 hours later, Spotify sent out a panicked “Sorry our wording wasn’t clear!” email with a promised update. Less than 24 hours later they issued a statement walking back the changes to the ToS, and have since been pulling a “we never said that, you misread our unclear verbiage” when in reality the verbiage was very clear (Not Spotify trying to pull a “gaslight gatekeep girl boss ✌️”), they just didn't expect to get dragged out into the metaphorical court of social media and get publicly annihilated with authors withdrawing their work from the platform and customers canceling their subscriptions left right and center.

Anyway, the walk back was acceptable enough for me to not feel the need to remove my work entirely from FindAway -- which is good because I would have lost access to the global audiobook market if I had, not to mention global library access. Which, again, is good. A significant chunk of my audiobook earnings comes from Libby, and I’d honestly be lost without that $20 every month. (we get paid quarterly but it breaks out to about $20 a month.)

What the walk back was not good enough for, was for me to trust them to keep streaming Hunger Pangs on their Spotify streaming service. Because quite frankly, I don't trust them not to pull some more ToS bullshit, and this is the part making me want to cry.

Why? Because I’m going through my royalty reports, and for the single month of December 2023 alone, Hunger Pangs was streamed so often it earned $400.

In one month.

That's more than I earn from Audible in a year.

That's more than I earn from kobo, b&n, libby, libro.fm and several author distributors combined in a year.

I’m going to scream.

#spotify #spotifygate #audiogate #when I saw that I almost put it back up on Spotify because Jesus Christ #$400 a month #That’d be my medical shit for the month covered #i’m so fucking angry it’s making me cry #*my extra medical shit #i should say #currently not in physical therapy and I reaaaaally should be

[chubbychiquita]

i am almost 40 lbs up since the beginning of september 😩

#38.8 to be precise #i just need to spend the next 3 months doing that again and i'll be 400 lbs holy shit #oh my goooooooooooooooood #that's like.......... seriously fat..... 🥴

[almightaylor]

RWRB TEXT POSTS: PART 40

#okay that’s 400 textposts hehe #happy 6 months of rwrb!!! #here’s another set of tp to celebrate 😄 #red white and royal blue #rwrb #firstprince #rwrb movie #alex claremont diaz #henry fox mountchristen windsor #taylor zakhar perez #nicholas galitzine #rwrb memes #rwrb shitposting #rwrb textposts #almightaylor #rwrbsource #rwrbedit

[e-turn]

That moment from Chapter 7 of IMBI

Oh it has my heart in its claws

hey @dandylovesturtles sorry it's me again

Do I express how much I love IMBI enough? Anyway, I love it with my whole heart.

#cw blood #fic: i may be invisible but i still look good #rottmnt #riseofthetmnt #rise of the tmnt #rottmnt mikey #rottmnt leo #rottmnt donnie #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #save rottmnt #save rise of the tmnt #unpause rise of the tmnt #new signature yaaay #also thank you guys for 400+ followers!!! #it's been almost three months since last upd im going a little insane here dont mind me

[deoidesign]

Just some thoughts about recent WEBTOON discourse from an originals creator. I recognize my inherent bias in this situation.

But please recognize that saying "fuck you" to a company means supporting the workers, not making them out to be unfortunate suckers... "would have/could have/should have's" don't get people out of situations.

"I never would have signed with them" is an incredibly tone-deaf thing to say. "this is why you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket" is true, but it doesn't help people who are contractually obligated into exclusivity.

Most of us are making merch, running patreons, trying to get book deals, etc... and most of us aren't able to stop working and still pay our bills. we're trying. we'd all love to, but we can't.

If you really want things to be better, maybe try not putting down the people who are in the bad situation? it ends up feeling like people using our pain and mistreatment as an outlet to advertise themselves...

Our company is getting worse and worse by the year and we're risking a lot to talk about it! Please listen! The only power we have is complaining about things, and it's risky every time!

#I support people making their own sites #I HAVE my own site #I have a patreon #I sell books #I sell merch #I'm trying to market myself #and I've never made more than $400 in a month on my own on my comics #I cant drive and I cant work most jobs #I needed to leave an emotionally abusive situation #my company is getting worse and worse in ways that were completely unforseeable when I signed #which was YEARS ago #The current situation was NOTHING like it was then #so maybe dont act like you had future sight #its so rude #its so condescending... #this is my JOB #and we're risking a LOT to tell you about these things

[bamsara]

Also why did July become of the most busiest, hottest and most expensive month of my life

I need August to become boring as shit. No more shit happening to me, no more emergencies, no weddings, no birthdays, no health scares, no more heatwave, no more social obligations, no nothing I just want to stay home, make stickers for my life blood aka patreons and write fanfiction in an air-conditioned space PLEASE

#due to multiple things i had to take a large chunk out of savings and there were several social obligations and i am so tired #there were like planned expenses like bills and the $400 monty pin order which im excited for #and then sudden stuff like an emergency health and family thing and friend could not pay for something so $300ish that way #which is FINE im alright and thats what savings are for and i can always rebuild it #but its also like IM TIRED!!! I WANNA STAY HOME #I DIDNT GET TO DO NEARLY AS MANY ARTFIGHTS AS I DID LAST YEAR #also the heat killing my health but like thats kinda universal rn kdlghlsgds #ON THE UP SIDE #MONTY PINS ARE COMING i am so excited im biting the drywall #its not so much as a vent post as just a bitching post btw im happy this month is ending #actaully theres a lot i wanna talk about let me boot up a stream #sara shush

[mirakurutaimu]

all landlords die

#shut up mira #sudden bill for $400 for carpet replacement at the old apartment #due by the end of the month #yay yipee woohoo god i am so fucking sick of money

[stealingpotatoes]

every year i think "there's no way I can draw as much as I did last year" and then then I make myself look like an idiot. ending 2023 with a genuinely disgusting number of arts this year:

anyway call me a tree bc i'm abt to get real sappy: thank you all so much for a genuinely INSANE year in terms of how much i drew, how much i improved, and how much LOVELY support i've gotten!!!!!!! like my followercount more than quadrupled from the start of the year and i just can't believe?? there's this many of u?? that like my art???????? dead on the floor i love you all SO much!!!! thank u!!!!!!!!

#end of year art summary #much like last year this insane number is artfight's fault LOL #bit cringe that 2 months just have weirded out studies as the best of the month LOL. even if theyre nothing like the originals #also i feel like i have a nice balance of all my styles here for once LOL #like 1 3D (ok 2 -- the 1 pixel art is done in 3d); 2 illustration; 3 realism; 2 lineart; 2 ms paint and 1 illineartstration (last one) #god. i think my new years resolution should just be to draw less or smthn #this is 400 more arts than last year #like i UNDERSTAND that u become quicker every year bc practice. but surely not 400 arts quicker #theres still a few hours left of the year but Celebration Times so wont draw til 2024 #ALSO FUNNIEST THING. I DIDNT DO MY FIRST ART OF THE YEAR TIL THE 4TH SO I THOUGHT 'OH THIS'LL BE A SLOW ART YEAR' AND THEN--

[ventique18]

Book 7 Chapter 5

Jamil and Ace Birthday

Master Chef (Leona and Epel)

Glorious Masquerade Rerun (SSR Rollo NEW)

This month is pretty packed and SHOCKING. SSR ROLLO? Well I'm actually not surprised that he'll get a card sooner or later because they hired Kamiya Hiroshi for him, but it's kinda disappointing that there's no GloMas part 2? Since we'll be having a completely new Halloween event based on Pinocchio. I hope his card isn't a FURNITURE CARD like Vil? 😭

When GloMas inevitably comes to EN, I hope they don't run Rollo yet wtf. That'll be 4 SSRs in like, 1 month because Twst EN is insane. I'd try to pull for him if he comes next year, but if it's this year it's gonna be an auto skip since Diaso is my priority. 🥲

On a side note, this probably means the featured non-NRC side characters in the Pinocchio event will have cards at some point! Does this mean... Does this mean there's a glimmer of hope for Crewel SSR??? 🛐 Or even Crowley SSR???

#this probably means glomas or book 7 next month for EN server right? #GOOD THING I DIDN'T PULL FOR ANYBODY #400 PULLS FOR MALLEUS #twisted wonderland #ventique rambles

[churbo]

i was paid 30 cents to draw this

#wow i havent uploaded in um. like. 3 months. hi guys #jjba #jojo's bizarre adventure #jojo #gw #va #golden wind #vento aureo #bruno bucciarati #bruno buccellati #leone abbacchio #bruabba #i have been surviving tho. heres like one of the few things I managed to draw during that time #its based on a vocaloid song so if you know it you get a cookie!!!!!!! also ty for 400 followers what da hell #going 2 be drawing again soon tho ehehe it might be mostly oc stuff but I prommy ill do other things too :3

[rammingthestein]

Minni Landers on Paul's instagram 💓 photos by Jens Koch (more than likely) 💕

#rammstein #paul landers #minni landers #paul; #minni; #mine; #miniature pinscher #did i tell you the time i drew a minni fan art and it got posted on the minni landers account lol #it got almost 400 likes so i was thrilled #and i was about only a few months into learning how to use illustrator as well #anyway that was a massive moment in my life

[knowlesian]

we really do not talk enough in the states about the psychological toll of having a chronic illness that makes just existing prohibitively expensive and how it starts to feel like you’re being punished simply for being alive

#having a fuckin day #insurance issues on insurance issues and all of a sudden the meds that cost me sixty bucks last month are $400 #like what the actual fuck so sorry i live and breathe in the world and need medication???? how rude of me

[why-bless-your-heart]

I hate to say it, but I think I have enough art.

#Now all I need to do is get frames. #I spent my discretionary budget for this month already on a 38x24 ready-made so I can get the mat cut in February #and then I have only two more unframed pieces left #but I want those to match one I already have which is a custom job so like. $400 each I think? #bcs museum acrylic #which I wouldn’t normally do but these are pencil drawings on computer paper so I need to give them the best shot at preservation I can

[aisling-saoirse]

Manhattan from Hamilton Park, NJ - August 16th 2015

#okay my brother used to live next to this in a dingy apartment for less than 400 a month in 2015 #oh how times have changed #New York City #Manhattan #njlocal #original photography #photographers on tumblr

[blackbackedjackal]

I hate this new wave of impossibility with shelters

When my cat cookie had her last oops litter we tried to surrender them to the local shelter cause we figured theyd find homes easier that way BUT the shelter wanted $400 per kitten plus several "interviews" with the kittens over the course of like 3 months before they would even think of taking them, and if they decided against taking the kittens you were down $400x however many kittens (in my case it would of been $1200) and the kittens would be like 6 months old and at that point you might as well just keep them all and get them all desexed instead of taking them to the pound to surrender them at all

We ended up rehoming them via facebook and two of them went to the same home a week apart

They...wanted you to pay $400 to surrender animals to them??? That alone is insane but an extended interview period with the kittens as well? Are they applying to work there like what the fuck?

#I'm glad they found good homes in the end #because that's honestly insane #like $400 for intake? #how much would they sell the kittens for?? #the adoption fees should only cover the cost of the vet care put into the animals for adoption #like shelters are all non-profits correct? #they can't charge for services that haven't been provided #the fuck you need 3 months to interview a kitten for???? #it's a fucking kitten??? #their personality is 'i am a baby cat' #ask #i have so many words and questions like #that sounds shady

[ultra-violences]

Quintessa Swindell

#Quintessa Swindell #Quintessa Swindell avatars #avatars #rpg #non binary #400*640 #pride month