Dave2112
Level of Cherry Feather
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2001
- Messages
- 10,294
- Points
- 0
Feed a Starving Artist
Hi all, It’s your friendly neighborhood dark closet here, stopping by to do a soap-box thing for a moment, so I beg your indulgence. Let me start by saying that this post is in NO WAY directed at ANY particular persons or groups, but the Tickling Community as a whole. This is not to flame anyone, but simply to share some information with anyone who may not know. This is meant with the deepest respect of the entire community.
Anyway.
There have been a few strings of post recently touching upon this topic, and with the recent release of Yenny’s E-Comic and the Fiendish Intent E-Zine from MTJ Publications, I thought it an appropriate time.
The topic is cost of new Material.
We, the Artists, Writers and Publishers of Tickling Entertainment love nothing more than sharing our arts with you. This is a tight-knit community and in many ways we are all here for each other. Back before the days of the Internet, us older guys remember looking EVERYWHERE for any tickling stuff. You’d spend, like 8 bucks for a copy of Penthouse to read one small tickling article, and if it had a picture you were lucky. Yeah, we all had our stashes of Tickling Mags and those old vids, but we were always afraid of someone finding them, right?
Now with the Internet, you can get pretty much get anything you want, anytime you want. And this is because of all of us sharing what we’ve got.
Dig Dug Dog asked me once in a reply… “Where do you find the time?” The truth is, I don’t.
I, like all of you, have a regular job and other things to contend with. I speak now not only for myself, but for all the artists and writers. When you read a story you like, think of the guy who stayed up until 1 am pounding it out to share it. Or when you see a cool comic, remember that there was probably someone putting the finishing touches on it in between school, the job at the Kwiki-Mart and trying to get laid once in awhile.
None of us are making anything off of this. Yes, sometimes it seems hard to part with cash for the stuff we love, but in order to keep it flowing we need to occasionally support our fellow artists.
12 bucks is a lot for an E-Zine, a lot would think. Well, yeah, in a way. But understand that Fiendish Intent is not just a collection of Tickling stories. Writers were literally challenged to come up with the Best Story they’ve written so far. Long, detailed stories. I’d say from my experience, multiplied by four other writers and the time MTJ put into it…about 100 or so hours were devoted to putting this together. We’ve sold Seven. Now none of us expected to make thousands on this thing, it was fun….but seven?
Now, this DOES NOT mean that we don’t like doing free stuff. Hey, I love it. I like to share with other like-minded people. But some ARE trying to maybe make a small profit or company out of their fetish. Think of it this way…..
We all talk about how we’d like to see Tickling become more mainstream, and in order for that to happen we need companies like MTJ, Magic Touch, Realtickling, Yaqi and countless others I’m leaving out. (Sorry, just making a point.) These are companies that are getting high-quality stuff out there. Yaqi himself has gotten exposure on MTV, which is sure to raise awareness a notch. It can only keep going.
But these things DO take money. Plus, to be completely honest, we all like to make a few bucks here and there for our efforts, whatever they may be. Even the forum you are reading this on, impossible 10 years ago, needs funds to keep going.
You may ask if I’m just blatantly advertising stuff. Well, yes. That’s what you do when you’re trying to get things started. You advertise. You start with people you know. That’s you guys.
All we’re asking is that you understand why things aren’t always free.
Case in point. I have done a few Custom Fiction pieces for people. I LOVE doing them. But I once got asked to do one that was so intricate in detail, that I literally had to follow links around the Internet to get the stuff right. Research. I had to take notes on paper to keep everything, even about a dozen names, straight. Development. This takes a lot more time than just thinking things up, which on its own isn’t easy sometimes. To be honest, I wouldn’t mind getting a few bucks for all that work. Sorry.
In closing, let me also say that I’ve not forgotten what you DO give back to us. Response. Enjoyment. Satisfaction. Friendship. Appreciation. Even a fan base for some of the more popular ones.
Thank You. I mean that.
You are the reason we do this. All we ask is that you sometimes help Feed a Starving Artist.
Hi all, It’s your friendly neighborhood dark closet here, stopping by to do a soap-box thing for a moment, so I beg your indulgence. Let me start by saying that this post is in NO WAY directed at ANY particular persons or groups, but the Tickling Community as a whole. This is not to flame anyone, but simply to share some information with anyone who may not know. This is meant with the deepest respect of the entire community.
Anyway.
There have been a few strings of post recently touching upon this topic, and with the recent release of Yenny’s E-Comic and the Fiendish Intent E-Zine from MTJ Publications, I thought it an appropriate time.
The topic is cost of new Material.
We, the Artists, Writers and Publishers of Tickling Entertainment love nothing more than sharing our arts with you. This is a tight-knit community and in many ways we are all here for each other. Back before the days of the Internet, us older guys remember looking EVERYWHERE for any tickling stuff. You’d spend, like 8 bucks for a copy of Penthouse to read one small tickling article, and if it had a picture you were lucky. Yeah, we all had our stashes of Tickling Mags and those old vids, but we were always afraid of someone finding them, right?
Now with the Internet, you can get pretty much get anything you want, anytime you want. And this is because of all of us sharing what we’ve got.
Dig Dug Dog asked me once in a reply… “Where do you find the time?” The truth is, I don’t.
I, like all of you, have a regular job and other things to contend with. I speak now not only for myself, but for all the artists and writers. When you read a story you like, think of the guy who stayed up until 1 am pounding it out to share it. Or when you see a cool comic, remember that there was probably someone putting the finishing touches on it in between school, the job at the Kwiki-Mart and trying to get laid once in awhile.
None of us are making anything off of this. Yes, sometimes it seems hard to part with cash for the stuff we love, but in order to keep it flowing we need to occasionally support our fellow artists.
12 bucks is a lot for an E-Zine, a lot would think. Well, yeah, in a way. But understand that Fiendish Intent is not just a collection of Tickling stories. Writers were literally challenged to come up with the Best Story they’ve written so far. Long, detailed stories. I’d say from my experience, multiplied by four other writers and the time MTJ put into it…about 100 or so hours were devoted to putting this together. We’ve sold Seven. Now none of us expected to make thousands on this thing, it was fun….but seven?
Now, this DOES NOT mean that we don’t like doing free stuff. Hey, I love it. I like to share with other like-minded people. But some ARE trying to maybe make a small profit or company out of their fetish. Think of it this way…..
We all talk about how we’d like to see Tickling become more mainstream, and in order for that to happen we need companies like MTJ, Magic Touch, Realtickling, Yaqi and countless others I’m leaving out. (Sorry, just making a point.) These are companies that are getting high-quality stuff out there. Yaqi himself has gotten exposure on MTV, which is sure to raise awareness a notch. It can only keep going.
But these things DO take money. Plus, to be completely honest, we all like to make a few bucks here and there for our efforts, whatever they may be. Even the forum you are reading this on, impossible 10 years ago, needs funds to keep going.
You may ask if I’m just blatantly advertising stuff. Well, yes. That’s what you do when you’re trying to get things started. You advertise. You start with people you know. That’s you guys.
All we’re asking is that you understand why things aren’t always free.
Case in point. I have done a few Custom Fiction pieces for people. I LOVE doing them. But I once got asked to do one that was so intricate in detail, that I literally had to follow links around the Internet to get the stuff right. Research. I had to take notes on paper to keep everything, even about a dozen names, straight. Development. This takes a lot more time than just thinking things up, which on its own isn’t easy sometimes. To be honest, I wouldn’t mind getting a few bucks for all that work. Sorry.
In closing, let me also say that I’ve not forgotten what you DO give back to us. Response. Enjoyment. Satisfaction. Friendship. Appreciation. Even a fan base for some of the more popular ones.
Thank You. I mean that.
You are the reason we do this. All we ask is that you sometimes help Feed a Starving Artist.
