#i posted on Twitter saying i wanted to give a £15/month discount i was getting on therapy

[thedreadvampy]

in the nicest possible way. absolutely fuck off every post on this website that's like 'why are you spending your relatively small amount of money on a thing you think is fun instead of Giving It To The Needy how dare you do things I don't like instead of Giving To The Needy here is my cashapp here's my PayPal if you can buy a nice hat you can give strangers money if you can buy yourself a burger you can buy another person dinner if you can pay £10 to blaze a shitty meme you can give me £10 if you can buy a book I don't like for £15 you could instead give £15 to a person I do like if you can lean you can clean stop spending your money Wrong'

giving mutual aid and money to others is a good thing. mutual aid is needed to survive the Bullshit we live in. I have 0 problem with donation posts. HOWEVER. people are allowed little pleasures without being guilted about it. yes, even if other people are in need. yes, even if you don't like the way they spend it.

because like. I know SO many people who are fucking. stone broke and still feel awful about any penny they spend on Unnecessary Selfish Things such as: eat burger when there is food in the house. buy fun £5 socks for no reason but that you want them. bc we've all been fed this stupid fucking message that anything you do for yourself just to make yourself happy above survival level is an Unnecessary Indulgence, and an evil thing to do ipso facto while people are starving who could use your money.

shut the fuck up for real. It's one thing to complain about people spending thousands on Rich People Bullshit while millions starve. but buying a Taylor Swift album or whatever is not the same thing as buying a £1500 t-shirt. even if you HATE the thing someone's spending £10 on criticise that thing separate from criticising someone's Selfishness For Spending Their Money Unaltruistically jesus fucking christ. many people who don't have much have £10 to spend on an occasional indulgence, you're not raging against the selfish capitalist machine you're just. being a bit of a dick.

the problem with someone spending £10 on Harry Potter merch is not that they're spending money on non-essential things for themself. it's that they're lining the pockets of a fascist. would it be preferable for them to give you money? perhaps. would it be preferable for them to buy Different Fandom Merch not from a fascist? also yes. even if you think it's cringe. people are allowed to spend their money on things for their own reasons.

idk it's just. fucking wearing.

[swiftllama]

Anthony Complimenting Ian ☀️🔍

“I think that’s a big difference in us reuniting, is I am so willing to praise you and mention your strengths.”

Hey guys! Been working on this post for a while and so happy to finally share!

Before we knew of their reunion, there was this window of time where Anthony kept complimenting Ian on social media. That stood out to me then, especially after having very little interaction between them in so long. But now having the context that they were actually hanging out again behind the scenes, and that Anthony now makes a conscious effort to compliment/praise Ian makes it all the more sweeter. The said compliments I mentioned were posted at the time but the fandom wasn’t as active as it now is again so I wanted to compile a list of all the moments of Anthony complimenting Ian from their reunion to present for anyone who might’ve missed it. Enjoy!

Pre-Reunion

Okay so this first post is actually from before they reconnected. We know from the Smosh Reunion t-shirt that they reconnected in November 2022 and this post is from July 2022.

I like to think Anthony was in a better place with his emotions towards Smosh/Ian by this point, and that Ian had been on his mind and so a nice little compliment was to be had.

Post-Reunion

April 2023

5 months post-reunion and Anthony’s feeling more confident to joke around whilst still complimenting Ian. You love to see it! And Ian’s reply, him getting all embarrassed is cute 🤭

It also reminded me of these tweets from back in September 2017 :-

Confirmed: Anthony has a thing for calling Ian ‘daddy’. Noted. 👀

May 2023

Less than a month later and Anthony was back at it again with the compliments

Ian looks good and Anthony is determined to tell him at every opportunity!

And then…

June 2023

THE (PUBLIC) REUNION

And so ensued an abundance of compliments.

Anthony’s Interview

First lot of praise we saw from Anthony to Ian was in his interview with him. Tumblr sadly doesn’t allow you to add more than one video to a post so these are all quotes from said interview.

Like the tweet above of Ian getting his first chain necklace, they reference it once again. Ian is talking about how even though they’ve grown as people they haven’t changed that much, he references the fact Anthony has “more bling and tattoos” now, Anthony then interjects with :-

“Hey, you got a little bling too, let’s not discount it.”

Ian then shows the jewellery off and Anthony comes in saying “Baby’s first chain.” I like to think he was the first one to say that when Ian got the chain and where Ian got the inspo for his Twitter caption. Anthony then finishes this topic of conversation off by adding on that Ian also got “face bling too” in reference to his glasses. I know this isn’t really a full-out compliment and they’re just kinda messing about, but I think it still stands with Anthony saying that’s something that’s changed between them now is that he’s willing to compliment him, and I love how when Ian tries to downplay something about himself, Anthony jumps straight in there to lift him up too.

Another complimentary moment from the interview was when Anthony was talking about when he was 15 and came down with an autoimmune disease resulting in him missing half a year of school and Ian got a bunch of people to sign a ‘Get Well Soon’ card to give to Anthony to make him feel better.

“There is one moment, one thing that you did for me, when we were younger that really stood out to me that I never mentioned to you and I never thanked you for. I’ve been holding it in and I have never expressed it…. I don’t know how you got it to me, but somehow you got a ‘get well soon’ card that you gave to me - Okay, I don’t know if it was you who came up with the idea or your mom, or if like your mom told you, you had to do it. And a whole a bunch of people signed it and you wrote a message like ‘get well soon, we can’t wait to see you again’. And that, it really meant a lot to me, and yeah, it kinda kept me motivated and focused, and I don’t know why but for some reason it motived me to learn how to program a website, program a game, and I feel like because of that in some ways I was able to channel all my energy into creating the things that eventually culminated in what the foundation of Smosh was.”

I really love this moment, and I think it really shows Anthony’s growth. As was revealed in his letter to Ian, there was a period of time in which he felt he had more of a hand in creating Smosh in the early days, but the fact he can now acknowledge and recognise Ian’s input in it all, even before Smosh was a thing, and thank him for it really shows how far Anthony has come.

The last lot of praise from the interview is actually something Anthony has mentioned multiple times as you will see later on in this post and that is about their dynamic and how they work together.

“I think the fact we work in such different ways, like I’m able to really hyper-focus on something and put all my energy, just like back-to-back constantly in one chunk, I think that works really well when compared against the way that you work, where you are super creative and..”

Ian interjects by saying his head is “up in the clouds” when he works. Anthony continues by saying that Ian needs to be there to come up with the ideas that he does and then praises him once more :-

“I could never come up with most of the ideas that you come up with, but I feel I know how to formulate it and put it together.”

Next lot of praise for the month was this tweet :-

Anthony praising Ian, along with everyone else who had a hand in keeping Smosh going all these years. Similar to something he said at Vidcon when he interviewed Ian once again :-

“I just want to say huge, huge respect to you for staying with Smosh. For having that faith in it that it could continue to grow and be something bigger…” [audience cheers and Anthony points to Ian] “So huge, huge respect to Ian. That took a lot of tenacity - the tenacity you said I had, that’s where you really showed up. And Ian had to learn how to be a leader, Ian had to learn how to do all these things where he was just thrown into that because I made the decision to leave because Smosh, what it had become, was eating a hole in me and I felt I needed to walk away to figure myself out, to just grow on my own and I’m so thankful that you stuck around to keep it going so that we could do this [own Smosh again].”

And there was more where that came from and leads me onto the next lot of compliments :-

Vidcon 2023

“When Ian came over to my place to write… I remember I was sitting on the coffee table writing these jokes and you would say something and it would totally catch me off guard just like you used to do.”

Anthony said this so fondly to Ian, the “just like you used to do.” It goes back to what he said during his interview with Ian, which he got emotional about, that during the lunch where they reconnected properly for the first time, he saw his childhood friend in that moment. That despite how much they had both changed, the Ian he knew, the only one who can make him laugh like he does, was and is still there.

Anthony goes on to bring up their working dynamic again as he did in his interview :-

“While we were writing that sketch, while we were shooting it, there was this feeling - I didn’t realise it, but there was something missing from my creative process. Especially in creating comedy, that Ian just perfectly… I don’t know if I want to say yin and yang - I don’t know what I want to say about it. But it was just this perfect balance, that feels like in order for us to reach our fullest potential creatively, us working together is, in my heart, the only way for that to really reach its fullest capacity.”

Ian then responds in his usual way, trying to downplay his efforts by agreeing that their dynamic works well that way because he’s, in his own words, “kind of lazy.”

Anthony is quick to jump in though :-

“I think that’s a misconception, you’re not lazy.”

I love how he just outright refuses to let Ian talk down about himself nowadays. He will absolutely not have it!

Ian continues on and compliments Anthony in return by saying he is very ‘tenacious’ and ‘focused’, and ‘particular about things.’ Whereas Ian’s way of working, as Anthony goes on to say, is “throwing stuff out” and Anthony likes to pick out the best of the best from those ideas. And this is when we got the first of the ☀️🔍 analogies :-

“It feels almost like Ian is the sun radiating all these ideas in every direction, and then I’m the magnifying glass that’s like ‘let’s focus on this one, let’s make this one fire. This one’s amazing.’ And something about just the way that we work together just meshes so perfectly, and I think that’s how we became best friends in sixth grade, that’s how we established our sense of humour and why the Smosh videos that we created resonated with so many people, is because there is that perfect dichotomy between us.”

Do you think Anthony thinks their dynamic is perfect? I don’t know 🤔 I don’t think he mentioned it enough.

Jokes aside, it is very sweet. And I love how much he loves their connection.

The next lot of compliments come straight after the quote of Anthony praising Ian for sticking with Smosh whilst he was gone :-

“I’m super thankful - you know for the past six years it just felt like there was a hole in there [in his heart]. You know I’ve been creating my own interview series and it’s felt like this is a great way for me to be able to express a part of me, but not all of me. And that other part of me that wasn’t being expressed is that part of me that I now get to experience with you, and working with you, my childhood best friend, in creating something and being able to capture that magic and express it, and be able to present it for all of you [the audience], it’s a really, really great feeling.”

Ian then responds with another little compliment of his own :-

“I think on my side, you know when you left I was still making sketch comedy, I was still writing, but I never found the same kind of writing partner that I did after you. It was never the same. The way that we work together, I never quite found that kind of person to easily bounce ideas off to, so I kind of stepped back a little bit from the writing.”

It also reminds me of something Ian said during Anthony’s interview, about how they have this level of ‘trust’ between them, that Ian never found again with anyone else after Anthony left. Makes me so soft, they feel so lucky to have each other again. No one quite gets them like the other does and they can never replace what they have. Their connection truly is special.

This is more of a silly one and just them joking around but I’m including it anyways! They had a Q&A session with the audience after the interview and the person asking the question starts off by introducing themselves and saying how they met Ian the other day and apologises for calling him “old.”

They both laugh and Ian pretends to begin to walk off stage. And then, you guessed it, Anthony swoops in with a retort :-

“Hey! He’s 35 years young.”

Moving on to later the same day, after playing a live version of TNTL with the cast, they all had a sit-down Q&A :-

Q: “What inspires you? What made you who you are?”

And of course, as if he hadn’t already killed us enough, Anthony has to go and say this :-

“I’m about to say something totally whack. I’d say, Ian and my friendship when we first started really connecting. I feel like Ian taught me to not take myself too seriously and his sense of humour is just all over the place and I eat that shit up, I think it’s so funny.”

Like wtf. WHAT THE FUCK.

Ian’s reaction to him saying that pretty much sums up my emotions.

And that was it for Vidcon!

Except if you count this little cherry on top and the perfect closing to June as the picture is from Vidcon :-

Anthony being obsessed with Ian on main! You love to see it!

July 2023

Started off July with a bang and the ☀️🔍 article :-

Never getting over this! Anthony just loves the sun and magnifying glass analogy and I couldn’t be more here for it. Ian is the sun in his life 💛🖤

Ian Reads Anthony’s Angry Letter

And then came the infamous letter video. Which even though there were a few hurtful things revealed, there still managed to be a few nods of acknowledgment towards Ian even in that hurt Anthony felt.

As mentioned earlier in this post, in part of the letter Anthony writes that in the early days of Smosh he wanted it to be something ‘he’ made with Ian’s help, and that he considered Ian to only be “tagging along”. He goes on to apologise [in the letter] for if he ever made Ian feel like he didn’t deserve as much credit as he did.

“You may not have done some of the heavy lifting I did in the early days, but definitely encouraged us to keep going and you kept things light and full of laughs as we did it. We accomplished so much and I am just now realising how important you were in making that happen.”

Anthony then brings up something that happened recently between them :-

“But that thing that you read there - you did, and this was actually really nice for me to hear from you. It was a few days after we had confirmation that we had bought Smosh, you came over to my place, we had a little celebratory hang; very luxurious. We chilled with cigars and some whiskey, and we just bro-ed it up, and you said that to me. That exact thing - you said, “hey, I don’t think I ever really acknowledged the heavy lifting that you did in the early days” and you said that you “felt really lucky to be there at that time and that I included you in that.” And that was really nice to hear, even though I know.”

So I know technically this compliment/praise/acknowledgment isn’t new as the letter was written in 2017, but it’s ‘new’ to us. But I’m glad to hear that Anthony does acknowledge Ian’s involvement in Smosh’s success, even in the early days when Anthony was doing more of the technical things. He acknowledges that Ian still had a role to play in it all being what it was.

Ian agrees with what Anthony is saying, and that he always felt ‘guilt’ over the fact Anthony had to do the things he didn’t have the skillset to do, but recognises that he didn’t acknowledge or thank Anthony enough for it because he was ‘afraid’ that he might have to do more when their whole thing was about doing “equal work” because they felt as a duo they had to, and that if the other felt they were doing more work then there was some resentment there. Ian tries to downplay himself by joking “In most cases you were doing more work than me…” but Anthony is quick to jump in again and not allow it.

“I was doing more hours, but I think you were doing more of the creative heavy-lifting which is more taxing in many ways. So I think that you needed your time to recoup your energy, cause you’re coming up with funny stuff, and at that time I was like ‘I’m doing so much work’.”

Also another mention of Ian’s creativity and humour when it comes to writing, that Anthony acknowledges he wouldn’t be able come up with. But you can see where the ‘resentment’ they talked of came from, and why Anthony felt he was doing more. When in reality it’s just that’s their strengths lie in different areas, but that doesn’t make the work they both do individually any less important. So I am happy they can see that now and praise each other for the unique ways in which they shine which compliments their own strengths in their own special ways.

WE WERE ROBBED! Watch Party

It happened again. Anthony calling Ian ‘daddy’. Can we just all agree that he has a thing for it? Okay. Good.

They’re discussing how everyone in chat is poking fun at Ian for saying “you guys are a fun bunch” to the rest of the group during the ‘Do Men Know Reproductive Anatomy?’ Smosh Pit video and how it was a ‘dad’ comment. Ian reads out a comment talking about how Arasha called him ‘dad’ and he says “[she] can because she’s my son”. And then Mr ‘Ian is Daddy’ Padilla jumps in with the correction once again :-

Anthony: “I think you’re becoming ‘daddy’.”

Ian: [asks if it’s when he puts his glasses on]

Anthony: “Especially.”

Ian: [puts glasses on]

Anthony: “Oh damn, daddy.”

Like why is this Anthony’s thing now? Whatever the reason - I’m here for it.

Also, Ian doesn’t like to be referred to as ‘pops’ but Anthony’s into it. So, Daddy and Pops. It’s settled. Love our parents 👨‍👨‍👧‍👦

Smosh Mouth

And just like we started July, we ended it the same - with a bang!

I urge you if you haven’t seen it yet (or even if you have), to go watch this video. It may as well have been named ‘Praise Ian Hour’. Not only have we got Anthony, but also Shayne and Amanda coming in to add to the many compliments.

I know all these compliments the others were giving Ian were probably making Anthony’s heart swell with pride. To know that not only himself, but everyone else also recognises Ian’s strengths. To know that these things he loves about Ian, others see in him too.

So a lot of the video was the others complimenting Ian rather than from Anthony himself, but he agreed with everything they were saying and added a few little tidbits. So this next lot of compliments will be what Shayne and Amanda said, along with Anthony’s comments :-

Amanda: [talking about when she first auditioned for Smosh] “And I’ll never forget after I did that [read the script], it was really fun - they asked me a question, and I was in a really interesting place in my life… And they were like “If you could have one superpower, what would it be?” and I just said “Vulnerability.”… And I’ll never forget, Ian stood up and went “Do you write comedy also?” and I said “Yeah!”, and he went [nods] and he shook my hand.”

Anthony: [grinning ear to ear] “He knew. He knew.”

Happy boy loving hearing people praise his bff 🥰

“I think honestly that statement alone is exactly why you’re doing a podcast. I think Ian was able, if he really did know in that moment, I think it probably was seeing that there was more to you than just the comedy, there’s more depth there, there’s multiple layers, and you can build on that a lot more than just somebody who can only do one type of thing.”

A very sweet comment. How Ian recognised the talent in Amanda from that one thing she said, and also cute how well Anthony knows Ian so can see exactly where he was coming from in seeing that talent in her and why she ended up at Smosh.

Shayne: “…I’m curious how you [Anthony] think things were going in the years you were gone? It’s been fun to see this arc of Ian. And being honest I’ve gotten to know Ian so well over the course of 6 years and that’s what’s so interesting about you coming back. You know Ian better than any of us-”

Anthony: “But I don’t know the Ian from the past 6 years as well as well as you guys do.”

Shayne: “…But you haven’t seen president Ian.” [talks about how when Anthony was still there both him and Ian were so busy under Defy that they weren’t around much to act as leaders]

Anthony: “Yeah, there was no leadership really coming from Ian and I, except that I think we showed excitement and passion… We showed that, and I think that’s where we kinda led, but it wasn’t really ‘we’re the leaders’ and when I left, and especially when Defy collapsed and Ian was left there making a lot of those decisions, he had to be the leader that had to lead by example and get everyone onboard with his ideas, and that was a really unique role for him because he was kinda forced into that position, and he was forced to get really good at it. And I think, over the 6 year time period that I was gone, I’ve seen him, observing from the outside, I’ve seen him get better and better at that role. Even though I know he doesn’t ‘love’ it, he’s not like ‘I can’t wait to go and be a leader when I go to work’, and he’s told me that he feels like he thrives most when we have the dynamic between us where I can pick up when he’s not really-”

“observing from the outside” 🥺 the fact he was still checking up on Ian even when they weren’t close anymore, it shows that the care was still there despite the strain on the relationship. It also reminds me of what Ian said during Anthony’s interview, that he could tell Anthony was floundering when he first left :-

Ian: “I could see very clearly what you were doing and what was going on. It was very clear that you were trying to find your individual creative voice. And with the types of videos you were putting out it felt very much like you’d throw this out and see if that would stick, you’d throw that out and see if that would stick. You’d get excited about something - I could tell there was a time when I think you were watching Nathan For You, and you were getting excited about this one kind of style.”

Anthony: “Damn, you read me like a book.”

It’s just like Shayne said - they know each other better than anyone. And that extends to even when they weren’t speaking, they still knew the other inside and out.

Amanda: “He’s glowing right now.”

Shayne: “He’s been so happy.”

Anthony: “It’s really, really cool to see because you know watching from the outside, I was able to observe his mannerisms and kind of get a general idea of where his headspace was at, but even then I wasn’t able to fully understand him because I didn’t fully understand him for so many years leading up to it, so I was just an outside observer trying to just keep tabs. But I do notice a stark difference, ever since Ian and I had that discussion, and were like ‘you know what, let’s buy Smosh and anything we can do to make that happen, let’s do it’. And after that conversation I’ve been keeping up-to-date with the content a lot more and I’ve seen Ian shine in such an interesting way, where I don’t even know if you guys felt it - like before the announcement, you felt something good was coming?”

Is everyone sufficiently in tears? Good, because me too. This isn’t even the end of this convo, I just had the pause to go over all of what was just said. Both Amanda and Shayne saying how happy Ian is now, I don’t know how Anthony didn’t cry on the spot! I did and it’s not even about me! Like hearing that, knowing it’s because of him that Ian is so happy 😭 and I think the same can be said for Anthony. They’re both so happy to have each other again ❤️

Shayne: “I did start to notice a change these past few months. I started to notice - this dude, there’s something about him, like the ‘cool’ factor started to change. He started wearing a chain! He started tucking shirts in.”

Amanda: “Oh yeah! He tucked in every shirt. He wore a chain. He was glowing. And our conversations were about life and joy and not really what he was reading on the internet.”

Shayne: “His confidence level has changed this year. When you guys announced the whole thing [buying Smosh], you walked into the building and I was like ‘Okay this makes sense!’ He’s feeling a lot more confident because things are feeling more certain and this place is going to turn into more of what he wants.”

Anthony: [agrees, and talks about how he thinks the confidence comes from a place of Ian now knowing the future of Smosh is secure under them after not knowing for a long time] “And I think for some reason, just naturally his confidence started growing as - I don’t know if this is related, but he is so good at writing and coming up with jokes, and I think for a long time he got the impression in his head that he wasn’t good at that anymore. And I think the Smosh channel moving away from written stuff, which I feel like he just really shines at - these absurd ideas, and when they come to life on screen maybe I’m able to help keep them a little bit more focused. But I really love that, cause he has so many great ideas and I started noticing just how many good ideas - he would throw out like 30 ideas and 20 of them were brilliant. But I feel like he started to gain confidence too in our writing sessions where he realised, ‘oh this isn’t a fluke, I wasn’t just funny in the past’ - I don’t know if this was the worry that was going on in his head, but it certainly was in mine. I was like, ‘was I only good at this in the past? can I be good at this now?’ and we both discovered together that what we were good at in the past, was more of a representation of our innate abilities and personality on our own but also the dynamic between us, and it seems like his confidence was growing there, and on camera when I would watch him from the outside, even hosting ‘Let’s Do This’ - when I saw him hosting these things it seemed like he was much more confident and he was able to take initiative.”

I love how much Anthony talks about how good Ian is at writing and coming up with jokes, and how much he reiterates that nowadays. I love that he recognises that talent in him and acknowledges how his own abilities complement Ian’s so well and why their dynamic is so special and works so well.

Shayne: “Ian is so much funnier than he realises. And maybe he’s realising it now-“

Anthony: “Yeah, I hope so.”

Aw Anthony 🥺 well if he doesn’t, you’re there to remind him tenfold.

Shayne: “But over these past years, I think the thing that has always frustrated me is - as you said [Anthony], he’ll throw out ideas but he’ll be like ‘oh this one’s dumb’ and I’m like ‘no that’s really funny, man’…. But whenever he goes 100% and he commits fully it’s always great.”

Anthony: “Always great.”

Shayne: “And I think he really does that in your guy’s sketches, there’s no doubt - the Ian that people know and love is that guy. And I think when he’s able to write and know what it is, he goes full force. But I will say even with the improvised stuff he held himself back - he’s so good, but he just needs to allow himself go full force.”

Anthony: “I think he would second guess.”

Shayne: “He second guesses. And I feel bad talking about him without him here, but it’s all good things. Cause reality is he’s really, really talented.”

Anthony: “The truth is he was doubting himself, but the less he’s doubting himself [he’s able to go full force].”

Shayne: [talks about how Ian has said 2019 was one of the hardest years after Defy collapsed and he had to step up as a leader and figure things out on his own] “So suddenly one day Smosh is gone and all these people are just gone, they don’t care. And I remember talking to Ian and being like “hey, so what are we gonna do?” and I remember this look of just - it’s still Ian where everything’s very casual and just kinda shrugged off almost, but I remember him just being like “We’re gonna figure it out. I’m gonna get this together”, and I was just like “That’s the most confident you’ve ever sounded about anything.”

Amanda: “It’s cause he was a single dad, he had to figure it out.”

Shayne: “But Ian’s always like ‘yeah, I dunno’ but this was the first time he was like ‘we’re gonna - I’m gonna - we’re gonna have it.’

Anthony: “And I feel like we see that [confidence] a lot more from him now.”

Shayne: “Yeah, and that was the first time that I was like ‘Dude, this Ian’s crazy. This guy’s not fucking around.’ and he had to do so much behind the scenes that I didn’t see, but he was making business deals and he was working all day, every day to get that shit together. And you know people say Rhett and Link saved Smosh, it’s like Ian saved Smosh. Rhett and Link were there to make that deal happen, but Ian was the one who put that shit together.”

Anthony: “For sure.”

Loved this from Shayne! Because it’s so true, yes R&L were there when Smosh needed a home, but Ian was the one who put in the hard work to make that happen. None of it could have happened without him. And I’m glad Anthony agrees, and as his comments at Vidcon suggest, he’s very thankful that Ian was there to save Smosh so he could come back and they could rightfully own what is their’s, doing what they love, together again.

Shayne: [talking about how Ian and Anthony going their separate ways needed to happen] “You started this thing forever ago when you were kids and it’s completely overshadowed your own lives and your friendship. To be able to take a step away and figure out who you guys are on your own and then come back - you guys at a certain point were forced to be best friends on camera and that’s tough and it becomes a product more than an actual friendship, so to be able to walk away and leave that alone and then choose to be best friends again.”

Not so much a compliment, just loved this. It’s the choice to be best friends again that gets me. Something they’re actively choosing and put above everything else, they’re never going to let anything get in the way of their friendship again and that is so special.

The famous quote comes to mind :-

“If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it’s yours.”

Shayne: “I said it to Ian when he was on the podcast - I really respect both of you for your both individual journeys in all this. Like your choice to leave the thing you made forever ago as a kid, that meant everything to you, that’s an insane choice. And you made it for your own good, and you recognised your own happiness and that was gigantic. And Ian, I think really was scared to be a leader here, he was scared to be on his own, like president, and he really did it and he’s stuck with it through crazy [times] - not only the shutdown where he stepped up, but the pandemic as well, where we were all filming stuff on our own by ourselves, and he stuck with it, man. That dude, he’s had some endurance with all of this and so to see you guys back together, I know for him there’s pressure taken off because he has you, and I can see there’s so many aspects of the job that he questions himself - I think he’s great at it, but he questions himself and I think you can fill in that part for him where he’s like ‘oh sweet, I know I can rely on you’.”

Anthony looks like he’s about ready to cry when Shayne said that and I don’t blame him because I could too.

Knowing just how important he is to Ian. That he is the only person Ian can rely on when it comes the leadership side of the business, an area where he’s been alone in for so long, doubting himself, I’m sure it makes Anthony want to hype him up and reassure him even more that he’s doing a good job.

Shayne: “And I said this to you, I think the day you first came back, but I’m like - you both together is one of the greatest YouTubers ever.”

Anthony: “I appreciate that.”

Shayne: “You individually - super successful. Like you went and you were successful on your own. Ian maintained Smosh on his own. That’s really cool to see that there was success from both of you individually, but together - I mean when we’re at Vidcon and we’re talking to other YouTubers, Smosh has, there’s something to it right? Like other YouTubers go ‘Oh! Smosh!’ that’s a big deal.”

It’s so emotional how this thing that Ian and Anthony created together as teenagers is what it is now 🥲 and it’s so true - together, they’re something special.

Anthony: [discussing how he discovered his interview format for his videos after trying lots of different kinds of content after leaving Smosh] “I thought that my lane was making sketch comedy so I was writing out some stuff. But I realised that on my own, without Ian, I am not a very strong writer. I do not have the funniest jokes.”

Again, Anthony recognising Ian’s talent when it comes to writing and the Yin and Yang of their dynamic, and how they need each other to really be at their best.

[Amanda says how Anthony seems like an extrovert in his interviews. He says it’s an illusion and that he’s really introverted - Shayne agrees that he is]

Shayne: “I mean I’m just now hanging out with you again recently, but I always got the sense, and I get the sense still, that Ian is the outgoing one.”

Anthony: “Yeah.”

Shayne: “Ian’s super outgoing, and people maybe don’t clock that… At parties, Ian will walk up to any group of people and he’ll just join the conversation.”

Anthony: “For sure.”

Amanda: “You’re right, he does.”

Shayne: “It is shocking to me. And he’s so chill about it.”

I know this was mainly just Anthony agreeing, but I found it interesting and it made me wonder if that is another reason their dynamic works so well and if it’s maybe also a comfort for Anthony? As a fellow introvert, I know how much easier it makes things when you have an extroverted person with you in social situations that you feel uncomfortable with. So I wonder if it’s the same for Anthony with Ian, that he has him there to lean on, knowing he’ll take the forefront in those types of situations if he needs it.

And that was it for the podcast and for the month of July.

And so draws to a close the first instalment of this compliments series. I plan to continue this month to month, or every few depending on how much content there is - you’ll be able to find all parts in the Compliments Masterlist.

Thank you for reading and catching up with the world of the Anthony Padilla Ian Hecox Fanclub with me. Hope you enjoyed and I shall see you next time!

[hauntedbythefanficsofmypast]

Daminette Rough Layout AU #1

Warning- This is a Salt AU, it contains Lila salt, Adrien Salt, Alya Salt and Class Salt. Some of the Salt is dramatized, pkease read at your own digression.

Note- Changing things up a bit-they are in high school now-Damian 16 and Marinette 15 and juniors, obviously things are different from canon. Gabriel gave up both miraculous after Adrien dies in one of the akuma fights, he has Nooroo and Duusu bring them to the guardian. Marinette helps heal Duusu so that if he is ever used again the holder will not start to die. Soon after Master Fu takes back Adrien's miraculous and names Marinette the guardian.

He doesnt lose his memories but he does pass away a week later. Marinette also deletes her original website and makes and entire new one under MDC designs after Lila threatens to leave bad reviews.(This happens before she meets Damian, right when they are entering high school.)

They met online after Damian got tired of his brothers making fun of him for talking like an old man. He found Marinette on Twitter, (She has a very popular Twitter blog where she Tweets in English and is considered a meme god.) and after reading her tweets decided that she'd be a good teacher.

After reaching out they agreed on how much she'll be paid and a time that works best for both of them. Every Monday & Wednesday the video chat when Damian has his lunch and study period. For Damian it is 12 to 1 pm, and for Marinette it is 7 to 8 pm. After two months Marinette has successfully made Damian her friend, and he has began opening up to her more. Meanwhile Damian begins to mess with his brothers using memes.

Tim to Jason- I will die if I don't get coffee soon.

Damian passing by the kitchen on his phone- Then perish.

Jason-...Did he just?

Tim- Impossible.

_____________

Dick over the coms while on patrol-I really want candy right now.

Damian drops down next to him and pulls a tidepod of of his belt giving it to Dick before continuing on.

Dick-What the fuck...

Tim having seen from a distance-What did Damian give you candy?

Dick- He gave me a tidepod.

Jason-Your shitting me Goldie.

______________

Jason-What are you eating Damian?

Damian taking a bite of a pop tart- Ravioli...

Jason-Im going fucking crazy.

Alfred-Language Master Jason.

They now text each other durning their free time, Marinette loves receiving pictures of Damian's pets and silly pictures of Damian's friend Jon. Damian loves seeing pictures of her newest designs and Paris at night.

Jon is the only person who knows about Marinette and thats because he crashed one of Damian's classes. He gushes over the fact that Damian is talking to his favorite person on Twitter, then full on fanboys a second later when she follows him back on Twitter. Soon after she becomes friends with Jon too, Lila comes back. After two weeks of fighting her she stops after both Damian and Jon point out that if her classmates were really her friends they wouldnt believe someone they just met over her. Marinette stops doing extra things for the class no more free pastries, banners, clothes or anything. She spends majority of her time on school work, her comissions and talking with Damian and Jon.

Madame Bustier at one point asks her to stay after class. She tells her she is disappointed that Marinette is distancing herself form the class so much. Marinette just tells her that she is done, that if she wants a perfect role model then she should use Lila instead and leaves. The next day she tells Madame Bustier she is stepping down as class president, everyone in the class except for Chloe and Marinette vote for Lila. Marinette has had more free time then she has had in a while and is thriving. She is able to take more and more commissions and even allows Jagged and Clara to give other celebrities access to her website. With a push from Jon she also sets up a Twitter and Instagram account under MDC Designs. With in no time everyone is trying to get an MDC original.

At one point she gets a call from Jon asking her how much it would cost for a MDC original for his mom. Marinette smiles softly telling him to just get his moms measurements for her. When he argues she finally agrees to accept payment but gives him a family discount. Jon agrees with a huff, a month later Jon sends her a video of his mom opening his gift.

Lois-Oh Jon love you know you didnt have to get me anything.

Jon-And let Connor out do me this year? No way.

Connor laughing-Oh shut it Jon!

Jon-cone on open it already mom!

Lois lauging before unwrapping the box- Is this? Jon is this a MDC box?

Connor looking at him with wide eyes.

Jon-open it and see!

Clark-So thats why you asked me for her measurements.

Lois pulls a beautiful knee length navy blue pencil dress. It had a classy V neck and flounce bell sleeves Jon is this and MDC original?

Jon-weeell if you look at the inside of the right sleeve your see her signature marking. Thats not all though mom theres another box!

Lois grabs the other box and unwraps it opening it quickly to find a pair of white lace up Oxford pumps with matching navy laces, MDC hand stitched on the back in navy.

Lois-How did you-how did you get MDC originals?

Jon laughing-I'll never tell!

Marinette saves the video on her phone and tells him he wants a photo of her in it for her website. A week later he send her pictures of his mom in the outfit posing with his dad and the next day he send pictures of her posing with Bruce Wayne on the red carpet. She quickly posts them on Instagram and Twitter tagging Lois, Clark, Bruce and Daily Planet.

'I knew Mrs. Lane would make this one of a kind outfit look beautiful! I was happy to make the dress and shoes as a surprise from her son! Mrs. Lane your son has my number, if you ever want another original talk to him! 💋'

Lois immediately responds to her tweet thank her for the amazing gift, while also asking how her son got in contact with MDC.

Marinette- ' 🤫🤫😘😘💋'

Jon-'You'll never know!!'

Lois, with her bosses approval, writes an article joking about the mystery that is MDC at also an interview where she grills her son on how he knows MDC.

Its a blows up and part of Jon's interview becomes a meme. This part;

Jon-Superman, please come save me from my mom!

Marinette being the meme godess she is decides to quote it on Twitter, but she messes up and posts it on MDC desgins.

MDC-Superman, please come save me from these deadlines!

Half an hour later

MDC-That was meant for my personal Twitter...

Now everyone is also talking about MDC memeing.

After talking with the Kwami Marinette decides to tell Damian and Jon about her time as Ladybug, and how she still goes out and patrols to stop muggers. In return one day Damian and Jon flies him and Damian to paris and they finally meet in person and they tell her their own identities. They leave Gotham at 7 am in Gotham and make it to Paris at 3 pm and wait for her outside of her parents bakery. Marinette flips out and practically tackles the both if them in a hug. She pulls them inside happily introducing her parents to her American friends. After they tell her they decide to spend the rest of the day together. Marinette also takes their measurements telling them its for a surprise. Damian tells her that his brothers are obsessed with MDC and how the wouldnt stop hounding Jon when they found out he had gotten in contact with her.

They go out and Marinette shows them Paris while Jon is slowly pushing them together. He is ecstatic when Marinette wraps one of her fingers around Damien's finger and he respond by grabbing and holding her hand. They are all immensly happy until they are passing by a park and notices her class having a party. At first she doesnt care and just shrugs it off, until the class notices them. Alya accuses Marinette of trying to start drama, she rolls her eyes telling Alya she didnt even know about the party and was just showing her friends around. Damian frowns glaring at the class when he feels Marinette hand start to shake and releases her hand wrapping an arm around her waist in support. Jon is also frowning but simply reminds Marinette that they were going out to eat. Marinette nods and begins telling them about the restaurant they were going to while leaning into Damian's side.

They turn leaving the class behind only for Adrien to hurry after them. Adrien tries to convince Marinette to return and spend time with the class saying he missed his friend. Marinette tells him that they arent friends anymore, that friends dont allow lies to be spread about their friends. She takes the boys and they finally make it to the restaurant.

Damian pays refusing to let Marinette or Jon touch the check. They spend the rest of their time at Marinette's house watching movies until they leave at 9pm wishing Marinette goodnight and making it back to Gotham at 3 pm. When they get back to the manor Bruce confronts Damian asking why he got notified that Damian's card had been used in Paris. Thats how Bruce finds out about Marinette.

Bruce- shes been teaching you memes?

Damian-yes.

Bruce-...well at least your making friends.

Damian-dont tell the others, they'll want to meet her and Id rather not be embarrassed

Bruce-I wont say anything until they catch you then.

Around the end of Marinette's junior year Lila accuses Marinette of theft and she is once again expelled. Only this time Marinette gets the school board involved and she is quickly cleared of charges. once again. However she decides not to return to the school tired of their treatment. Instead with the help of Jagged and her parents permission she enrolls at Gotham Academy and doesnt tell Damian to surprise him. Jon does know that way he could help her.

Within the week Marinette is in Gotham in her new penthouse apartment with her new gaurdian, a maid/nanny that Penny had recommended. Her name is Margaery she is in her 60s. The next day Marinette is dropped of at school by Margaery, Jon is already there early and helps her get his schedule and everything. Then they wait for Damian to arrive hiding until the see him open his locker Jon distracts him while Marinette hides behind the locker door. The school is very surprised whe. Damian smiles brightly at seeing her. Within the day she is known around the school as both Sunshine and Gotham's new Goddess.

Soon enough Damian Marinette and Jon are never seen withiut tge other except in classes. Many teachers see Marinette as a blessing classes have been calmer shes always willing to volunteer and shes even started tutoring some of the students. Even though she entered late in the year she starts to help the student council and things were more organized and running smoother. What everyone is really happy about is how she seems to bring out the teen in Damian and encourage him to act his age. The only reason they havent posted about her and Damian's relationship is because Damian made it clear he didnt want his family to know.

He starts calling her Angel and Red Bird. Marinette starts calling him Dove and Birdie. They slowly start going on dates while also making sure to hang out with Jon so he didnt feel left behind. Its the beginning of summer when Marinette gets invited to a Wayne gala by Bruce himself with a little note.

'Miss Dupain-Cheng, I would like to meet the girl that has stolen my youngest's attention. Please do not inform him I invited you, I think it will be quite the surprise for him. -Bruce Wayne

She tells Damian to wear a seafoam green tie because it will bring out his eyes, in a sly way so that they will be matching. She then makes a seafoam green Asymmetrical A-line off the shoulders dress adding layers of tulle that forms teirs and finishes with horsehair hemlines. The MDC signature is stictched on to the second layer of tulle.

The night of the Gala she is dropped off by Margaery and Jon leaves his parents to meet her. She tells him that Damian didnt know either and Bruce wanted to surprise him. Jon starts laughing causing Marinette to dissolve into giggles. This catches Jon's parents eyes and they walk over. Jon wuickly introduces her as one of his best friends. Lois and Marinette quickly hit it off and enter the gala together with Jon and Clark following behind them. After 5 minutes Damian spots them, and discreetly hurries over to them.

Damian-Angel!

Lois and Clark are surprised at the nickname and that Damian is smiling even more surprised when he hugs her and holds her hand gently. They stare into each others eyes for a moment until Lois coughs catching boths attention. Damian greets them as he lets go of Marinette's hand wrapping an arm around her waist as she does the same. They stand talking with each other until Lois spots someone she wants to interview and hurries off with Clark. The three of them share a look before all saying food at once. Jon walks ahead of them as Marinette and Damian follow talking to themselves.

M-'Your father wanted to meet me so Im afraid I will no longer be a secret.'

D-'Of course he did, I was hoping to keep those embarrassments known as my brothers away.'

This causes Marinette to laugh leaning her head on his shoulder.

M-'I am sure they arent that bad.'

They spend a good half hour talking with Jon and eating before Bruce finds them and introduces himself to Marinette. Five minutes later she notices Damian's brothers starring at them in shock. She starts giggling and points it out to Damian who groans. Soon after the boys rush over to interrogate their brother dragging him away from Marinette Jon and Bruce.

While Damian is dealing with them Jagged and Penny both find Marinette. Eventually the boys force Damian to introduce them to Marinette. She hits it off with all of them promising to visit the mansion. Jon convinces Damian to ask Marinette to be his girlfriend. He asks her to dance with him and asks while they are dancing. That night Marinette Damian and Jon leave together for an impromptu sleepover at Marinette's. Margaery picks them up greeting both parents and assuring them that there kids will be safe, and they will be camping out in the living room.

Marinette surprises the boys with handmade pjs once they get to her house and Margaery surprises them with cookies. The next day she goes to the mansion with Damian and gets to know his brothers more piecing together who is who of the Batfamily. At one point Jason insinuates that Marinette couldnt fight so she challenges his to a spar. Jason being cocky holds back and gets his butt kicked, he asks for a rematch and doesnt hold back this time, still gets his butt kicked.

While Damian and Marinette are saying goodbye she jokes about how long its going to take his siblings to realize shes a hero not a civilian. Damian finds it hilarious. When Marinette gets home she tells Margaery that she was going up to the roof to look at the stars for inspiration. Margaery allows her making her take a blanket, hor chocolate and some cookies with her. That night Nightwing lands on her roof and 'startles' causing her to throw her cup at him hitting him in the gut

Robin chuckling-That bitch empty,

Mari and Robin together-Yeet!

Marinette laughs offering him a cookie as Nightwing gets up

Nightwing-Nice throw.

Marinette laughs harder her eyes twinkling.

Mari-Sorry you startled me I must have lost track of time I should head back home now. Have a safe patrol Birdies!

She says before passing other of them leaving the plate of cookies behind for them. Over the summer Marinette and Damian visit her parents for two weeks before returning to Gotham. The rest of the summer is filled with dates between her and Damian the Gotham Gazette is having a field day with them.

They're referred to as the Goddess and the Prince and every date is talked about the next day. When summer is over Marinette Damian and Jon are back for their senior year. Marinette decides to run for student body president and Jon runs as her vice president, they both tease Damian about being the trophy boyfriend and he responds that he is fine with it as long as hes the trophy boyfriend to Marinette. Marinette and Jon win with an almost unanimous vote. It is half way through their senior year when Damian's brothers realize she knows. Bruce and Babs already know. Jason teasingly jokes about Damian outing them to a civilian and Marinette jist goes

Marinette-Jayby(This is her nickname for him), I have beaten you in spars 9 out of 10 times and you still think Im a civilian.

Tim-What?

Marinette sighs before calling Tiki out and transforming. (She has a different outfit. Period. Her hair is pulled into a high ponytail, held by a red ribbon. It has a completely black mask, her top was sleeveless and was a deep red. She had gloves that stopped at her elbows the same deep red but with black poka-dots. Her pants were completely black with a red belt holding her yoyo. Her outfit was finished with red combat boots with black soles.) Everyone is silent as they taken in her outfit.

Damian-God your so beautiful.

Marinette-Aw Dove

Que a sweet kiss where Jason gags jokingly before Tim flips out about her being Ladybug. Marinette jokingly says that he didnt react that way to her being MDC.

Tim-what?

Dick-This time your oulling my leg.

Marinette-You didnt know? I was always giving you guys family discounts.

Tim-Your MDC...my favorite fashion designer is my future sister-in-law. Thats why your commissions always seemed cheaper than others. Im chalant right now.

This causes Dick to burst out laughing.

Dick-Really becuase Im whelmed!

Bruce smiles slightly remembering when his eldest would use to his 'Unwords' all the time.

That night Marinette patrols with them and Gotham gains a new hero LadyBird. With a little shove from Damian and begging from Tim, Marinette begins to grow MDC even more by partnering with Wayne Enterprises. Marinette and Damian are the power couple of the school, they have majority of their classes together both being in AP and Honors classes. As the school president Marinette is notified that during the last quarter of second semester a French class is doing an exchange program at Gotham Academy.

Her and Jon have to escort them around the school the first week. Marinette argues a bit at first.

Mari-I understand that it is important but Jon and I are still heavily working on Prom, Senior's Last Peprally, Senior Awards, Senior vs Freshman Football, Prom King and Queen vote and The Senior trip.

Jon-Mari is right is there anyway we could pick someone else to show them around. There are a few other people in student council that speak French.

They both convince the Principal to allow the Secretary of the Student Council, Candy St.Cloud, to show them around. Marinette, Jon and Damian avoid them, none of Marinette's old class knows Marinette is there until votes for Prom King and Queen pops up and Marinette's name is on the ballet.

Lila bursts into tears claiming her Dami promised her she'd be on the ballet since he goes to that school. They all try to hunt her down and give her shit for booting Lila off. However majority of Gotham academy has noticed their attitude towards Gotham's Goddess and everyone makes sure Marinette is unreachable.

They pretty much only see glimpses of her until Senior's Last Peprally when she and Damian are announced Prom King and Queen. Their boos are covered up by the school's cheers. Marinette and Damian share a quick kiss which causes more cheers as the teachers roll their eyes calling out Pda. Then both her and Jon announce whats going to be happening at the peprally.

At the end of it all the seniors get together for one last class photo in the front is Jon Marinette and Damian. Damian and Marinette are wearing the sashes and crowns and Marinette is in the middle of them. Bustier's class is upset they cant be a part of the picture because they arent actually seniors at the school. The next night is Senior awards the class doesnt go but the trio does.

Marinette and Damian get best couple.

Damian gets the award for best grades.

Jon gets the award for most likely to secede in life.

That night all three are on the news and trending on Twitter when they go out to celebrate at Bat Burger, videos and pictures are posted off Marinette and Jon dying of laughter as Damian cuts his burger with a knife and fork. At the hotel Lila is crying claiming that Damian is cheating in her with Marinette. The class continuously message Marinette even when they get a response saying that the person is not Marinette amd that they've had the number for two months.

The next day at lunch they confront Marinette, they followed Jon to the room the Student council eat lunch in. Que them berating Marinette infront of everyone including the teachers. Marinette just rolls her eyes not wanting to give them the time of day.

Alya-I cant believe you tricked Lila's boyfriend into dating a bully like you!

This causes Jon to launch to her defense, he steps in front of Marinette glaring at the class.

Jon-Lila's boyfriend?? You mean Damian, so Lila was dating Damian first?

Lila-Yes! And Marinette purposely seduced him!

Jon-Really tell me when did you firat meet Damian?

Lila-oh he was so sweet! It was when we were 6 and we met at a gala here in Gotham! A older women was being incredibly mean to me and he stood up for me telling me that he'd have his dad kick her out. We were always meeting up over the summer and started dating at the beginning of senior year!

Jon-Oh so you know Arabic?

Lila-What?

Jon smirking-Well Damian didnt learn English until he was 8, his first language is English. Also you couldn't possibly have met Damian here when he was 6 because Damian didn't come to Gotham until he was 10. When his dad was informed that he had a son. On top of that Damian spends every summer with his family and closest friends. Actually he usually spends a few weeks on my family's farm, this summer he didnt because he went to Paris with Marinette. Also at the beginning of senior year? St. Cloud, when did Damian ask Marinette out.

St. Cloud- Beginning of the summer at Mr. Wayne's first charity gala of the summer, he asked her while they were dancing. It was really cute and Marinette looked amazing in her MDC dress!

Mari-Thank you St. Cloud, I could give you her number if you'd like a dress

Lila runs away embarrassed the class starring at Jon and Marinette in shock.

Alya-who-who do you think you are?!

Mari-Alya do you really not recognize your idols son?

Marinette is disappointed as she introduces them to Jon Kent, after that the teacher finally forces the French class out, while also telling them how kuch trouble they'll be in.

The class starts trying to get on Marinette's good side for the rest of the year but she ignores them. Prom comes and goes and when its finally time for graduation Damian is valedictorian. He gives a fairly inspirational speech and at the end he smirks finishing it with.

Dami-And lastly I would like to thank my eldest brother, without him Id never be able to give this sappy inspirational speech, he is really good at them.

When they throw their caps in the air Damian finds Marinette and dips her pulling her into a deep kiss.

That night while they are all celebrating at the Wayne Mansion Marinette finally lets go of Paris, she decides that her place is in Gotham with Damian.

Lets do a time skip!

Marinette is the top name in Fashion, Damian is Co-Ceo of Wayne enterprises with Tim. They are both married and living in Marinette's penthouse together with Margaery, I am to emotionally invested to kill off her or Alfred even if it is do to age. They visit the mansion almost every day, and family dinners are common.

Jon started going out with St. Cloud and are engaged, he has also taken up the mantle of Superman.

Damian has taken up the mantle of Batman with his Robin, Johnn'i Thomas Grayson-Wayne, Richard and Koriand'r's second child that did not inherit his mothers powers, and his partner Ladybird. That is until Marinette discovers she is pregnant. She surprises the family while they are getting their family portrait redone, with only Kori and the photographer knowing.

All the girls are in chairs with the boys behind them. Seating goes.

Babs, Kate, Selina, Marinette, Kori, Stephanie, and Cass. For a few of the pictures Marinette holds up a sign saying, "Another Wayne is on the way!" Then they hide the sign so they have a regular family portrait.

A few days later when the entire family is gathered to see the photos they are surprised when Bruce stars at them in shock. Alfred and Margaery merly smile offering congratulations, everyone is confused until Bruce turns the picture around.

Damian is looking at the pictures in shock until he jumps up and picks up Marinette spinning her around. Soon everyone is screaming and cheering offering congratulations. While Damian and Marinette hold each other close crying softly.

Mari-Your gonna be a Daddy Dove.

Damian-I love you so much Marinette. So much.

[copper-wasp]

Even a Devil May Drabble: Smutty Alphabet for Vergil (Part 15/?)

Hi readers! I’m back! Taking a few months off was truly beneficial for my mental health, but good golly gosh I really did miss writing. I hope this lil’ ditty makes up for my absence!

Title: Smutty Alphabet for Vergil, Son of Sparda, The Alpha and the Omega

Rating: E

Words: 1,678

Tag List: @exsultry​ @drusoona​ @xalmasyx​ @blindedstarlight​ @synchronmurmurs​ & any other Vergil lovers out there ~~~

(If you want to be added to the tag list, let me know 💕 )

Also posted to AO3 ~~~

A - Aftercare (What they’re like after sex)

Vergil worships you both during and after sex; he’ll stroke your hair and pepper soft kisses over your flushed cheeks before cleaning you up. If you try to get out of bed, he scolds you, demanding that you stay put and let him take care of you.

B - Body Part (Their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s) His arms; lithe and strong, lean muscle wrapped around bone - they can cause so much destruction and hurt, but they can also hold you, pull you close to him if you wake up gasping, still in the grip of a nightmare. He loves feeling your palms trace up them, your fingers curling over his shoulders as you stand on tiptoe to kiss him.

Vergil loves his partner’s eyes. He loves looking into them, seeing how they squint when you smile, narrow when you challenge him, water when he spills his emotions to you, and of course, roll back when he drives you to your release.  

C - Cum (Anything to do with cum) Vergil definitely prefers to leave himself inside you, thick release coating your warm cunt. He was the most excited when you said he didn’t have to wear a condom anymore, the mere thought of being able to come inside enough to make him ravenous for you.

D - Dirty Secret He’s a bit of a voyeur; he loves to watch you dress after sex, watching your hands pull your clothing down over your body.

He’s nervous to bring it up, but he’d love to watch you pleasure yourself, delicate fingers stroking the places that make you moan, lost in bliss as he stood there, unaware of his presence.  

E - Experience (How experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?) Vergil’s experience level is low, but the man is a natural at making love. He’s also very good with taking direction, and the things he remembers you like, regardless of how seemingly insignificant, always sends you in the best way.

F - Favorite Position Missionary, for sure. He loves being able to envelop you, let his weight settle atop your body, overloading your every sense with him. He also likes that he can see your face, watch it contort in pleasure, your pupils blown out when you squeeze around him, taking every bit of pleasure you can.  

Though he also doesn’t discount a good ride, fascinated with your bouncing breasts as you grind yourself against him, thighs gripping his hips to kept yourself upright.  

G - Goofy (Are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous, etc?) Serious boy is serious. Even Vergil’s dirty talk is serious - but that doesn’t stop it from being the goddamn hottest thing you’ve ever heard.  

H - Hot Spots (A place that drives them crazy when touched) His neck, for sure. Feeling the soft pads of your fingers trace over the most vulnerable part of his body makes his heart beat so much faster. And then faster still knowing you can feel it thumping beneath your touch.

I - Intimacy (How are they in the moment, romantically?) Vergil always makes sure you know how loved you are. He sings your praises so often you almost flush, turning your head away, unable to hold his gaze when he says such things. But he’ll gently turn your head back to face him, continuing to whisper words of love against your lips, punctuating each sentiment with a soft kiss.  

J - Jack Off (Masturbation Headcanon) Vergil doesn’t jerk off too often. He’d much rather wait the extra ten minutes for him to get to your place so he can fuck you silly. After all, why would he touch himself when he knows you’d so willingly take on the task?

K - Kink (One or more of their kinks) One word - bondage. Vergil loves having you trussed up like a present, ready for him to unwrap, or tease. He was pleasantly surprised with how quickly you agreed to his ask, and the reason for your eagerness became clear when he tore the most sinful noises from your throat, interspersed with pleas for more. He’d never exercised as much self control as he did that night, wanting to take you over and over, but resisting, preferring to edge and tease and have you beg for him so much more.  

L - Location (Favorite places to do the do) Vergil feels the most comfortable in a bed with you; there are no limits to the positions you can try, no one to interrupt, nothing that could change the charged atmosphere between you. Now, that one night in the backseat of your car when you’d pulled over to wait for a snow squall to pass, that was quite an interesting change of scenery. Or when you’d convinced him to take you from behind while you were bent over Dante’s desk, that was something he’d never forget.

M - Motivation (What turns them on, gets them going?) Vergil prefers the chase. Especially when you initiate it with sly touches and dirty quips whispered in his ear in public. He loves when you rile him up, even when you understand the punishment you’ll receive when he finally has you in his grasp.

N - No (Something they won’t do, turn offs) Anything you don’t want to do. He knows that “no” is non-negotiable, and he respects you too much to do anything other than stop.

O - Oral (Preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc) Giving, giving, giving. Your taste, your scent, the way your thighs tense against his head and your fingers weave into his hair, all of it drives him wild.

P - Pace (Are they fast and rough? Slow and sensual?) Vergil will do either; he’s good at reading your mood, or if you tell him what you’d like, he will gladly comply. It doesn’t matter if it’s slow and steady or he’s fucking you into the mattress, he’s honored every time you choose him.  

Q - Quickie (Their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc) Not his thing. When he has you, he wants to take his time.

R - Risk (Are they game to experiment? Do they take risks, etc?) Vergil is absolutely game to experiment. He’s pretty nonjudgmental when it comes to matters of sex, and would definitely be up for anything new within reason. He might also have some ideas of his own that he’d like to try, and they might involve a blindfold, a crop, and some absolutely filthy dirty talk.

S - Stamina (How many rounds can they go for? How long do they last?) Vergil can literally go for hours. Be careful not to tease him about his stamina, else you may also find yourself going for hours. There’s something he loves about hearing your breathy, overstimulated moans as he pulls orgasm after orgasm out of you and filling you up with his own release.  

T - Toys (Do they own toys? Do they use them? On a partner or on themselves?) He will often use toys as an enhancement to your lovemaking. Vergil prefers to be the one using them on you, watching you squirm under a vibrator or how your back arches when he pushes a smooth, silicone plug into your ass. But he also loves when it’s just him, his hands... and his mouth.  

U - Unfair (How much do they like to tease?) Vergil enjoys teasing, no doubt about it. Particularly when he’s got you at his mercy, toying with you until you beg; he loves the sound of your voice when you’re desperate, but even more so when he gives you what you desire. The buildup culminating into something that encompasses the both of you, peaking with a beautiful, breathless moan, that he’ll more often than not swallow right from your lips.

V - Volume (How loud are they? What sounds do they make?) Vergil is usually quiet as he prefers to hear your lovely noises, but you like the challenge of getting him to groan and curse and have his voice join yours in a satisfied chorus.

W - Wild Card (Random headcanon for the character of your choice) While Vergil does love being in charge, there is also a desire to be submissive. Once he got over himself enough to ask you to dominate him, you had him calling you ‘mistress’ in no time flat, begging you to let him come.

X - X-Ray (What’s going on under those clothes) Vergil is slim, but his body is roped with lean muscle, and you love tracing over the soft dips between them. His long, lithe legs drive you absolutely wild, and it’s always a treat when he lets you wantonly rut yourself against his thigh.

His cock matches the rest of him; long enough to reach your deepest spots, not too thick, and with a gentle upward curve, perfectly engineered to fit your body. The head is a bit wider than the shaft, a satisfying ‘pop’ when he pushes it past your entrance.

Y - Yearning (How high is their sex drive?) Average, but can always be convinced if you’d like him more often. Not that he doesn’t have spells where he craves you like no other, and ignores any other responsibilities to stay in bed with you for days.

Z - ZZZ (How quickly do they fall asleep afterwards?) Vergil will never fall asleep before you do. He will bundle you in his arms, making his chest your pillow, and gently stroke your hair until he feels your breathing even out and your heartbeat slow. He’ll trace his gaze over your face, your eyelashes resting against your cheeks, lips parted just a little to allow your warm breath to escape. Having you fall asleep first also gives him time to think about how lucky he is to have you, how he nearly can’t believe that you chose him.

-:- -:- -:-

Thank you for reading!

AO3: copper_wasp

Twitter: copper_wasp_ Discord: copper_wasp#1545

[aonrivers]

Pregnancy, Birth, Postpartum, and Baby Time! (TMI warning) - Part 01

Recently I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. For nine months I read articles and expectations of things to happen and to come, but honestly nothing prepared me for the truth of it all. Sure my friends told me some stuff, but nothing like what I experienced.

I’ve decided to write the nitty gritty of it all along with tips for new moms that I wish I had too. This is going to be major TMI, but when you've given birth, nothing seems like TMI anymore - especially because in the labor room you've got about ten people you've never met before (yes, even your doctor) staring at your asshole and your crotch. With introductions out of the way, are you ready? Here we go!

Part 1 of IDK how many...

Truths about being pregnant:

1) First and foremost... Officially remove negative people in your life the moment that stick says positive. This is Tip #1. I planned on doing this for months before I got pregnant but being pregnant pushed me to do it sooner. I was tired of being stressed out and having negative things told me by certain people in my life and I wasn't going to have it continue during one of the most stressful and most beautiful times of my life. I closed the door on many friendships during my first few weeks and even though it still bugs me that I had to do it, I'm glad I did and recommend others to do the same (even when you aren't pregnant). 2) Tip #2 I can offer is either before or during your pregnancy, plan a vacation. I was on vacation when I got pregnant and planned a trip with my best friend when I hit mid third trimester (would've been sooner but 2020 was a hellish year for the world). 3) I bought a belly book after a few weeks of finding out I was pregnant. My friend recommended it and it was really cool to document every week and my thoughts and post my belly bump pictures, but then second trimester hit and the book was wrong... I ignored it until the third trimester hit and it was wrong again. What was wrong with it? They claimed my trimesters started in certain weeks that were 2-3 weeks off. I Googled my trimesters and checked multiple sites - the book was wrong. So I finally said screw it and created my own. I bought a scrapbook (use a Michael's coupon, that shit is expensive) and I began to craft my own book. 4) A huge suggestion: take those belly bump pictures!! It sounds silly but it's super cool to have. Not only do you get to see your belly growing, but you can put those pictures in your scrapbook like I did. I took the same pose in the same place every Friday. Then I found a really cool app that you could put words on your images and ended up doing that for my Instagram posts. 5) My 3rd tip is make sure you have a really good relationship with your doctor and they believe in the same things you do. I think this is important because I wasn't happy with the thought of being pregnant with my normal doctor then I ended up not being happy half the time with the doctors I went to while pregnant. I wish I had that doctor patient relationship you think every pregnant lady has. I kind of had that with my crazy, beady-eyed doctor I had seen for thirteen years, but when it came time to have a child, she just didn't align with me. She was pro everything I'm not and became a little too radical for me. Be who you wanna be, believe and think what you wanna believe and think, but don't push that shit on me - and that's the direction she started going. So in the end, I left her and went with my friend's doctor... Who happened to have 5+ doctors and a midwife.... Midwife was cool and maybe two of the doctors, but the rest I wasn't a fan of. I didn't even know the doctor who I gave birth with and it was very impersonal with the doctors I saw during the checkups. For example: one doctor would come in, glance at me, talk to me while staring at the computer screen, then leave. I also didn't get ultrasounds done with them, only heartbeat checks. It just wasn't a journey with them like I thought it would be and should've had. Now speaking of those sweet black and white first photos... 6) Sonograms are beautiful things to have. I got a nice picture frame for my second trimester image and have it on my dresser with a cute doll and my childhood music box. Treasure these little pictures. Take pictures of them to keep and reprint because the ink will fade on the ones the tech gives you, but for the love of God, hide your personal information when you post them. Sonograms say your name and birthdate, along with where you got the picture taken then more information on your child. It irks me to no end when people post this online. Especially on Twitter, which is a public forum. Shit. I didn't even post that on my private Instagram. 7) Next Tip: Call insurance to confirm multiple things, such as: what's covered during pregnancy/hospital stay/postpartum, if the hospital is covered, and if your Pediatrician is in network. Just because the office says "yes we take Aetna/UHC" doesn't mean they're in network. 8) Something that I will be telling everyone I know who is pregnant (which honestly isn't many) is scourge the internet for those pregnancy sites. Most sites and stores offer sample boxes. If you start a registry, they send you one too. Try: Amazon, Babylist, BuyBuyBaby, Walmart, Target... The list goes on. Check What To Expect's website for a list of all the sample box sites. I got about ten boxes that all had great stuff inside: bottles, pacifiers, breast milk pouches, diapers, lotion/shampoo samples, wipes, pads, and a few other smaller things. I honestly haven't used any of it, but plan to soon. 9) A great tip my friend told me was to go on those breast pump sites and check to see if your insurance is covered. My insurance ended up covering up to $300 for a breast pump. Of course I went with a $300 breast pump and paid an extra $30 out of pocket to have a few more parts included in my purchase. It was a great idea and is highly recommended for new moms to take advantage of! (I went with Spectra for a few reasons... It's definitely quieter than the Medela pump (the hospital had this one), and there's a nifty nightlight on the pump handle with two settings. It's super useful and I actually use the nightlight feature every night...) 10) Another great tip is to make that baby registry and share it!! People you don't expect will buy stuff. I used Amazon and got a bunch of perks. After my shower, I bought the rest of my stuff with the discounts Amazon offers. It was 2 bulk orders where both had 15% off entire order. I also get discounts on diapers for a year or, I think, the equivalent of $600 spent. Both perks were extremely helpful. 11) FYI, pregnancy is ten months, not nine. They tell you this in articles on The Bump and What To Expect, but I figured I'd say it anyways. 12) You won't miss your period during this time. I sure don't. 21 years so far is long enough for me. 13) The nausea is real and it sucks. It gets to the point where you don't wanna try for baby number two because you're just so over it after being sick for three months straight. 14) Nausea doesn't mean you're hanging over the toilet bowl throwing up the only food that doesn't make you sick. You can just have that knot in your throat all day that's teasing you about having to throw up. Not fun. 15) Being tired is also real and I have no idea how working moms-to-be do it. I work from home, so taking power naps was easy to do. Most of the time, I couldn't keep my eyes open. And it took about three months to find out why... (see next number) 16) YOU'RE NOT ONLY GROWING A HUMAN INSIDE YOU BUT A FREAKING ORGAN TOO!! That's right folks. The placenta isn't just chilling inside you waiting for the day you get pregnant. It's growing right alongside your little baby, taking your nutrients and energy so it can form and power up your little embryo/fetus. 17) If you're a vivid dreamer like me, the dreams are definitely weird. They tell you this, but for me, my dream self becomes pregnant too. I literally went through my dreamworlds pregnant. 18) Boobs hurting is an understatement. My boobs hurt so badly from the hormones and getting ready for milk that I didn't even wanna touch them when I was showering. 19) Your boobs become hideous. I have small breast - a nearly A has been my measurement in the past, but becoming pregnant, I became a large B - probably going into a small C cup. And not only did the boob itself get bigger and veinier, but the nipples got bigger and darker (confirmed by my friends, doctor, and websites that women experience this change). I honestly don't recognize my boobs anymore. I also don't even know why I wanted bigger boobs growing up. They suck. It's not the backaches (I didn't have any while pregnant, surprisingly), it's the fact that when you sleep on your side, that boob gets crushed and goes numb. 20) Boobs leak as they start forming that first collection of milk aka colostrum. So be aware. Being braless is great but those milk stains aren't cute. And it's not like a normal wet spot either where your nipples are. It's a wet stain with a milky ring around it making it totally unattractive. 21) Your nipples will become numb aka no stimulation. At least for me. My nipples are still numb but I guess it goes without saying why (think about it). 22) On websites, they will tell you that your cervix swells and some women enjoy sex more with their new closed off vagina, but not for me. It hurt to do anything down there. My husband and I had one position available and when the bump got bigger, we became celibate. And boy does the guilt take over... So expect this to happen - you're not alone if it does. 23) Your sex drive may be gone. As I said above, I swelled up down there and it was very painful having sex. With that, the sex drive was killed. My poor hubby suffered through these nine months and continued to suffer after birth because- well I'll get to why suffering continues after birth later. 24) Craving food may not happen for you. I didn't crave anything unusual. The only thing I ate on a daily basis were two English muffins with butter. On weekly basis I had three scrambled eggs on those two English muffins. This occurred maybe 2-3 times a week. Other than that, my "cravings" were the same. I wanted Taco Bell and all the other normal stuff I ate when not pregnant. 25) Paranoia for what you're eating will definitely hit you. Guilt will too. Paranoia because you're checking Google to see if you were allowed to eat that pasta with garlic sauce; and guilt because you're eating crappy junk food and feel like you're depriving your baby of nutrients. But like my friend told me, your body provides the baby what it needs and to stop being paranoid. Also those prenatals pack a punch in vitamins. 26) This isn't really nitty gritty or a tip... it's just something I personally did while pregnant and that was - I stayed away from the foods they tell you to like the high mercury fish and cold cuts, but I ate hot dogs and medium cooked beef. But those meats were cooked 170°+ which they recommend if you wanna eat your normal foods. You can also eat cold cuts but it's highly recommended they're warmed up. These meats contain listeria which is something we can defeat by ourselves but our little babies in the womb have difficulty in doing. Another thing I did in regards to food was I stayed away from foods I was allowed to eat but made me sick when I wasn't pregnant. I just didn't want to deal with the sickness. 27) Sleep however tf you want to sleep and that's exactly what I did. Sleeping on my side is not something I do when not pregnant and certainly didn't happen while pregnant. That is, not until the last month or two. I'll elaborate... I'm a back sleeper. I slept on my back and felt my baby every night tucking into one side of my belly because it was comfortable for her. It wasn't until those last months where the weight of my baby was actually pushing on my spine and yes you can feel it. It's a heavy pain that forces you to side sleep. 28) Those pregnancy pillows are shit. Seriously. They're bulky and annoying. My friend bought me a super nice one that went under the head, down the back, and cupped between the legs and I used it for five minutes. I'll find use for it one of these days - maybe gift it to my friend who is due in April - but right now it's just taking up space downstairs. I tried the slanted pillow for my belly. That lasted a month. What did it for me was that silly "As Seen On TV" pillow. It's that white, guitar pick looking pillow you shove between your knees to keep your legs leveled and your spine straight. That's literally the only pillow that helped me when my belly got huge. My bed worked out in my favor cupping my bump. 29) Being pregnant in the summer isn't that bad. Granted I had AC/Central Air the entire time. But seriously... You know why it also wasn't so bad? I could wear tank tops and dresses. Those were my maternity clothes. I bought maternity leggings for $4 when Kohl's had them on sale. They sucked. The belly piece went over the belly nicely, but the back road my back fat in a very uncomfortable way (and I don't really have back fat). Also, flip flops were my Godsend. When my feet swelled, flip flops were all I wore. Can't do that in the colder months! 30) I basically became a heater. Probably because I gained 4lbs of blood and water and a baby and whatever else was going on in my body. I normally sleep with a fleece blanket and a comforter; even in the summer. I could only use my fleece blanket while pregnant. I was surprisingly warm enough. Which leads me to the next sleeping factor... 31) Sleeping naked was a must. Here's why... Besides being hot all the time, waistbands hurt me and shirts bugged the crap outta my body. 32) Being commando all the time was a must. It was super nice being commando. I didn't have to worry about a period making a grand entrance and the waistband and around my thighs weren't hurting. 33) A nice buying tip: the baby grows super fast. And if your baby is born in the fall or winter, chances are the stores only have summer clothes. So make sure you get those larger outfits for the months to come! 34) Ask for larger clothes for that baby shower. It'll help down the road. 35) Shaving stops when you can no longer see down there and when you can no longer bend comfortably to shave your legs. Of course that didn't stop me before I went to the hospital. I cleaned up the best I could from the belly button down, but still managed to miss that one spot on my damn kneecap! 36) Back to baby... Flutters start being felt really early. Feels like gas but it's the baby. They say 16 weeks but I was feeling the flutters at 12 weeks. After the flutters came the kicks and jabs, and the constant wondering if I had a mini Mike Tyson in my belly. Especially when my belly would convulse like she was using my organs as a punching bag. I came across only one random article that explained what that was... Hiccups. Yes, the baby gets hiccups in utero and if your baby is like mine, the damn things continue outside the womb annoying your little bundle of joy like your own hiccups annoy you. 37) Sometimes you'll panic when you don't feel the baby moving much. Babies in the womb still need sleep I was told. If you get no movement at all within 24 hours no matter what you do then definitely call your doctor. (Your doctor should tell you this during a visit.) 38) I was told this: babies hear you and mostly everything around you outside the womb. This is true. My baby would move from her comfy right side to the left just to get closer to where my husband was talking to her. 39) Third trimester is when everything starts getting real, possibly painful, and definitely the feeling of "I'm over this". They mention this on those websites and they're not joking. 40) Every night I popped two tums just to keep the acid reflux down and the heartburn away. They say major heartburn means you've got a hairy baby and they weren't kidding (more on this later). 41) Waddling actually does occur. At first I felt like I was just doing it because I'm pregnant and subconsciously I'm making fun of pregnant ladies you see in movies. But you really do waddle and wonder if your walk will ever be the same again. (Spoiler: it does.) 42) My feet and legs swelled by my 8th month. They were slowly swelling into the third trimester but it was super noticeable towards the end. But I also ran into a health issue which I'll get to later... The swelling actually hurts. It feels like you're walking on water bags and on top of that, the bottom of your feet feel like you walked all of Disney World nonstop for a week straight. Do yourself a favor and put your feet up and rest. I hardly did this. I just had so much stuff I wanted to get done and I don't like asking for help, so I did everything myself until it got to the point where my husband or mother-in-law were yelling at me. 43) Getting a cold while pregnant sucks. Coughing and blowing your nose is kind of hard because you start to worry that your upsetting your baby. Plus, now you gotta think about medicine. What's safe and should you even bother... Luckily your doctor gives a list of safe medications. 44) Swelling in the feet could be something completely different than just the normal "things to expect in your third trimester" so be aware and prepared for problems that can arise that you weren't expecting. Like what happened to me. Even though those monthly appointments turned weekly get annoying, especially when you gotta drive thirty minutes to your appointments, they're not pointless. In week 38 I had protein in my urine and my blood pressure was high. The protein was not a UTI like what I got when I conceived back in December. That protein was a glimpse into something pretty scary if not caught early during pregnancy. It's called pre-eclampsia. Luckily I was two weeks out from my due date so inducing me wasn't too big of an issue. My baby was fully grown. Only way to get rid of pre-eclampsia is to remove the placenta - hence the early birth of my baby. But some mom's aren't this lucky and lemme tell you something. This was something that was never brought up to me during my doctor visits or on the websites I visited. They don't tell you that pre-eclampsia can happen at any point or that it could come back, and possibly worse, in your next pregnancies until you've been tested positive for it. I was in the hospital for five days after giving birth. My kidneys, heart, and platelets were all affected. Thank God I'm cleared now, but knowing about this ahead of time would've been nice. I could've looked for signs which were massive swelling in legs and feet (luckily I had no headaches or blurry vision). But like I said, I was tested positive late in the game. Some mother's aren't. Part 02 will go into labor and the TMI things that go on when you're admitted into the hospital.

[chrisstevenson]

The Lows of High Book Prices

A thousand pardons if I come off like a rant. I'm a mashup between J.A. Konrath and Harlan Ellison. I'm a writer advocate and defender of the written word. I also watch the industry like a stealthy Sasquatch. These articles are always meant for Guerrilla Warfare for Writers, my down and dirty blog. There is no BS here. Maybe some inaccuracies. I don't even like posting these articles to my YA website--no one reads me there anyway. I hope you suffer me well.  

First and foremost, if you are a celebrity author you don't need to be reading this. If you are an A-list author, pass on by. If you are a very popular author with a huge reader fan base and have a enormous mailing list that draws purchasing customers in like flies, audios. If you have a break-out or bestseller, you can kindly leave by through back door. There will also be some outlier exceptions. This article is not a call to arms for you. You are profitable, consistent and probably comfortably set in the mighty realm of book sales.

If you are new to writing with a minimum number of releases, an old-time mid-lister like me with a ton of books out there, or a new writer launching your first book, I think you better read this and make some grave determinations. It's unlikely a publisher is going to read this, but I've been with and seen too many that need to know what is working and what is not as far as ad pricing. This warning goes double for authors who just don't care that their e-book prices are going to be placed high regardless. It goes triple (as of this writing) because of the corona virus and the financially stressed atmosphere it has created.  People are buying essentials. As far as entertainment, they are streaming movies and playing games. Who started the the rumor that they were buying books hand over fist? Do you remember when this news was sent out on the wings of doves at the very beginning of the pandemic spread?

I would like you to read three paragraphs (below) which come straight from the keys of most of the advertisers I know and have dealt with. The wording might not be the same but the implications all point to the same conclusion. They don't want your high-priced book. They want rock-bottom cover prices and freebies. The reason is twofold; Shoppers want bargains, plain and simple. That's why W-Mart and Amazon rule the nest. Yet the second reason is that the company itself doesn't want to lose a potential customer. That means you won't be coming back for seconds if there are flat sales. They are also competing with other promotion and marketing sites that have the same mindset policies.

Here's my statistics for two YA fantasy/thrillers that had excellent covers and blurbs. Both of these ads were run before and during a Halloween special (the horror factor was quite evident).. Both books were priced at $2.99.

Book one ran for 15 days on a $45 budget. It received 5,391 impressions; total clicks--5--and a CTR of 0.09%

Book two ran for seven days on a $100 budget. It received 10,195 impressions; total clicks --13 and a CTR of  0.13%.

I don't think I have to do the math for you. Except for the takeaway, which was $145.00 from me and some wide-eyed experience. I later changed companies, dropped the e-book price to .99 cents, and still fell flat--no sales. We could argue all day long about what I did wrong with these two companies. I did not stop there. I enlisted in seven of the companies listed below, with very low, rock-bottom prices. Please excuse my spelling on the names.

Just Kindle Books

Fiverr--bkknights

Fussy Librarian

FreeBooksie

E-book Hounds

Robin Reads

Kindlebook Review

Book Barbarian

Booksends

BookDealio

Ebookdiscovery

Ereader IQ

Ent

Book Reader Magazine

Pretty Hot books.

Out of my promotions, I received three apologies and full refunds. I think I sold two books from Ent. That was it. I won't go into which seven, but I did do my research beforehand. They were my best picks.  

Have you ever heard that it wasn't the gold miners who made money off their digs, but the merchants who sold them the supplies, tools, products and other services? We basically have the same thing going on here, with grandiose claims of the promotion and marketing companies talking about going to the top of the sales charts, breakouts, unlimited exposure and guaranteed results. Results. Not sales. Impressions and clicks are a normal state of business and you'll see them. What you won't see are voluminous click-throughs--buys, sales, mullah.

There are many Indie writers who are exceptions to this rule because they have targeted outfits that payoff for them. Might be some trade published out there too. This comes from a lot of trial and error--R & D--and it NEVER ends because the books can go through an insufferable amount of tweaking to fine-tune the results. This happens when an author watches his/her ups, downs and in betweens--the stats that govern peak sales. Self-published authors also get a larger percentage cut of the royalties than the small trade-house authors. Many of the elite Indie authors pay thousands for ads a months, but they reaps thousands plus in return. So it is a revolving door for them--huge investments that garner huge profits. You want to make money, you have to spend it. That's not my quote, lol.

Look, all I'm saying is be wise and careful with your expenditures. You are going to see, if you already haven't, self-proclaimed experts that can do all forms of editing, covers, formatting, book tours, pod-casts, trailers, page ads, listings, book-to-movie deals, screenwriting, agent introductions, publisher submissions, blurbs, illustrations, writing courses, query letters, one-on-one instruction, translations, ghostwriting, expedited (paid) reviews, synopsis's, proof reading, evaluations and all other manner of Internet blasting services. Can you pay for some of these services without losing your shirt or blouse? Sure you can! It's up to you. But be aware, unless you really need and believe in any of them, you'll lose out every time.

I often wonder if we are just giving our books away because the sea is awash with them. So many tens of thousands of books are published each year that the numbers keeps compounding and burying the authors under tons of pixels. Nobody can find you, lest you post on FB that you will commit suicide if somebody, anybody doesn't buy one of your books before you take that leap. Well, if it goes viral and you were bluffing, it would work. I think you get the idea. Dear gawd, I've often entertained the idea.

1. Your deal price should be as competitive as possible (This is a company motto BTW).

"We promise our subscribers the best deals available. The better the deal, the more appealing it is to our subscribers, and therefore the more likely it is to be selected by our editors/readers. We rarely feature books priced above $2.99, and even $2.99 is an unusually high price for many of our categories.(I JUST LOVE IT WHEN THEY SAY $2.99 IS UNUSUALLY HIGH).

"While your deal price should be based on your book marketing goals, pricing as low as possible will entice more readers to download your book. The lower the price, the higher the conversion rate of a Deal. Knowing this, our editors prefer books that are competitively priced, since those will drive a higher volume of reader engagement. They’re also able to select a higher percentage of discounted books. If you’re not selected for a deal between $0.99 and $3.99, consider resubmitting your book for a free promotion, as this can be a really effective way to increase your chances of getting selected.

"Keep in mind that the competitiveness of your price depends on your category. While it’s normal to see a higher priced book in Cooking, for example, prices are usually lower in the Mysteries or Romance categories (THOSE TWO ARE THE BEST-SELLING GENRES, BTW).. Browse through books in your category to see what’s competitive in your own genre. Again, if your book is not selected at one price, try resubmitting at a lower price or for free. Your chances of being selected will be higher."

Note the last sentence. They are going to select you in accordance with how profitable they think you can be.Sounds to me if you don't go low enough to suit them, they'll politely blow you off.

I've heard some positive news about AMS, BookBub featured ads, and in a blue moon, FB and Twitter boosters. I've used all but the grand daddy feature ad. While these might still show some profit, they certainly aren't working like they used to. Profit has measurably declined, and I mean this in a general sense.

What does my crystal ball tell me for the future? I can only take a wild stab at it and say that the heavy visual sites like Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr and others are driving a wedge between the other competitors. They could be the wave for future book exposure. I know their swords are drawn against Amazon

Anybody have any solutions or ideas about gaining some profitability in this industry? I'd love to hear it. Or any promo/marketing site that has fulfilled your dreams. BTW, just like FB put the whammy on My Space, do you see another FB type site in the future? I dooooo,

Blessed wishes, please stay safe and healthy.

Chris and Christy.  

[moontaeilll]

ALL ABOUT SM GLOBAL PACKAGE & NEO CITY: SEOUL EXPERIENCE

by twitter user @sugnsook​ // @yudotaeil 

Hello~ so i am not that good at explaining/vlogging or writing stuffs but in this thread? or blogpost or wherever u guys reading this, i will try to describe my experience as much as I can. Also for now, I am dividing this post, FAQ-style  according to several topics, and I will put a separate detailed post on my own Neo City: SEOUL experience. I hope this will help for u guys deciding to splurge a bit on concert/global package!

Disclaimer: In the past, I got a few ccs complaining about my fangirl related-expensive expenses, I just want to note earlier here that as the whole prior to the actual concert, I was a part time student & working 30+ hours a week, working every chances I get. It was also my last semester of undergrad studies & I have been wanting to attend NCT’s first ever concert since 2017 and been really saved up since then, so I consider the large expenses is pretty much a treat for myself.

Tl;dr: if you worked hard enough and really wanted to attend your faves event, just go for it, as it was really worth it.

— General

What is included in Global Package?

Concert ticket (depending on days u wanna go), a good quality hotel for your stay, return transportation to & from the concert venue - hotel, preorder access to official merchandises, NCT 127 theme global package-special merchandises, NCT 127 theme snack boxes (after the concert), One themed lunch, a half day tour with tour guide before the concert, special event (varies according to what concert) - for NCT127’s we got a photoshoot session with NCT127’s life-size standee in SM’s infamous practice room itself.

How much does Global Package cost?

All i can say first thing first is….it IS costly. The ones I am paying is $949USD for Superior Single (Course C) as shown below:

The difference between the prices & packages are it depends on which hotel they will locate you & your seating in the concert. They also have Course A, Course B & Course C which depends on the concert days you are attending. Because I am flying out to Seoul just for the purpose of concert so why not just buy the two days ticket? And yeah that is why I chose Course C.

When does the ticketing open?

Usually the global package ticketing will only open at least one month prior to the actual concert, just like the concert announcement itself.  Basically right after SM announce the concert, just be prepared as the ticketing will be shortly after it, right before the general ticketing starts. My advice is just, save up save up and save up as it is really well-known super costly.

How competitive the tickets are?

It is less competitive than general ticketing for sure, but pretty competitive in between ifans itself. When I bought mine, I initially planned for just economy ones but the ticket sold out WHEN i clicked “payment”. So, be quick or you might need to wait a bit more. I’m the type to be anxious if I dont have my ticket yet so I really want my ticketing matters to be settled up as soon as possible so-- when I figured out the economy package got sold out I quickly clicked on superior option - impulsively hehs.

During that ticketing, SM allows you to hold your payment up to 2 hours, as for twin package buyers can split payment. So if the tickets sold out, you might be able to get it after 2 hours. NOTE THAT: SM changed the policy from 2 hours to 30 mins now.

Eventually SM will release more packages and you CANNOT change your options once you have buy it. The packages will be available up until a week/or two before the concert, but the type of packages is really depends. I would say, Course C - Economy package sold out pretty quickly because that is what most people aiming for.  

*also, keep refreshing the page if you are buying at the exact ticketing open time! The ticketing for mine opened 3 mins before the actual time so yeah….

How is the payment made?

Paypal only. Just be sure you have signed up to smtown travel account, and link you cards or have paypal balance to get your payment completed smoothly. Your package will only be confirmed once you get the payment confirmation so, having a working payment method is important. SM’s cancellation policy is ridiculous so I recommend everyone who is interested to join GP to do a thorough research beforehand.

Can international fans join general ticketing?

Yes, but not really feasible, as Yes24 sites require verification, unless you have connections with korean verifications or buy from 3rd party. The downside of 3rd party is you might get even more expensive ticket collectively compared to what Global Package has offered.

How good the seats are?

It depends on your luck as you will only draw your ticket basically the day before the concert. The more you paid for the package, the better the seats. For standing you might get a better queue number and in korea concerts you strictly go in by queue number. I chose seating, so for luckily one of my seat was right next to extended stage, and another seat was on the other side but center view. Also i luckily got both sides of seating so I can enjoy the concert with both views.

It is possible to trade your ticket between other global package holders tho - bcs i saw people did this at my hotel lol but you cannot ask sm to change your ticket. The concert ticket will be written as “해외팬투어” (intl fans tour), instead of your name.

My seat on the first day

My seat on the second day, center view

My seat on the second day, side view

Is there a customer service page i can rely to?

Yes. If there is one thing i would applaud SMtown travel for, it is for their customer service. I used a lot of their “Q&A” page and they typically will reply you within one business day. If you ask on weekend, they will respond to you as quick as on Monday. So if you have any like literally, ANY question about your package, just send a question to them and they will reply personally as soon as they can. And it is in english.

— Logistics

After you have bought your package, SM will update the logistics & schedule 2 WEEKS before the concert. So don’t worry if they ghosted you out before that 2 weeks lol.

Technically, they will divide the hotels according to the package type (dlx/superior/econ), then they will divide you into bus numbers, according whether you are seating/standing. Also your schedule will depends on the bus number you get. And this is non-exchangeable, as they prepared everything according to the list that they grouped you out.

How is the hotel?

For me, i got located at Ibis Styles Ambassador Hotel in Gangnam. Because I got single package, i got the whole hotel room for myself, lol what a new experience, as for my solo travels i only go for budget hostels 🤣. The hotel location is only 15~20mins subway away from the venue, and it is walking distance from COEX. There are a bunch cafes & convenience store nearby so it is pretty easy to get something. The only thing is SM’s booth opens at 8pm, so because I arrived early, I just roamed around until the booth opens. At SM’s booth, it is where you pick up your preordered merchs, sm’s merchs and most importantly draw your tickets. Also I took the chance when gathering with fellow global package goers to trade anything i needed to exchange while everyone is there.

I dont know where to put this under, but for GP, We were given a greeting card from the boys, bunch of stickers, a letter set (with colour pencil), L-holders, bunch of posters and nct127’s moodlight. For the letter set, you can decorate and write fanletter to the members and hand it to your tour guide at the time they ask you. I bought some masking tape and stickers beforehand to decorate my letter, u can prepare it ahead too and transfer it to the letter they give as the time frame is really short.

Can I go to the concert by my own?

Yes you can~ Be sure to tell your tour guide so that they dont waste time waiting. You also have to tell them whether u want to go back to hotel with them or not, as that is when they will hand you the snack boxes. If you are not certain of travelling alone in Seoul, i recommend to travel by the bus they provide, because the tour guide will bring you right until the concert entrance. For me, I wanted to join fan-events and roam around the venue more, so I decided to go on my own. (Best thing about it was when you’re in a train with fellow NCTzens they just airdrop you a lot of nct related stuffs — including the selfies they airdropped at the venue!).

— Itinerary

How tight the schedules are?

It kinda not as tight as I thought? Except for pretty early schedule on the first day, also Maybe because I got a seating ticket so I dont go to venue after the tours right away (standing fans had to queue right away after the tour)

And for me, this was my schedule —

25th 8pm: pick up merchs, ticket etc from SM booth 26th 10am - gather at hotel lobby 10:30am - depart for lunch (at Bulgogi Brothers), it was NCT127-theme and they play nct’s songs! 11:50am - depart to COEX artium - u get 1 hr to roam around there, I chose to roam around smtown museum 1pm - depart to SM C&C building in cheongdam, for special event Around 2~ish - depart back to hotel

U get free time in between and gather back at 4:30pm to depart to concert venue as concert starts at 6. As concert ends around 8:30pm, they give you about 45mins~ to get back to the bus if you wanna go back with them. 27th Bus departs at around 2 pm if i recall, as concert starts at 4pm. I went out at 10am lols (also tell your tour guide!) and bus departs around 7:30pm after the concert. 28th - check out around 12pm.

Detailed itinerary will be updated in my experience post.

The best thing about the concert period was they give you discount on some SM-related stuffs. For example, they give 30% off (?) for beverages at sm cafe for ticket/GP holders, and also discounted smtown museum admission. There were also new merchs got released that time, and some other promotions going on.

Snack box after the concert!

Merchs I collected from kfans giveaways at the venue

The best part was NCTZens spreading out the fanproject - sing Paradise during Encore; using Airdrop. NEO indeed 😎

The amount of memes & stuffs being airdropped - lol 

— Budgeting

General budgeting for my trip:

Flight - around 1.6K MYR return trip with 20kg luggage & meal (AirAsia)

Hotel - i only went during my GP stay period so it was all inclusive (hotel + concert ticket) with that $949 USD

Other expenses (tmoney, food, additional merchs) - about $250 usd is enough for me for 4 days, considering I spent on buying cosmetics & merchs a lot. My own preordered merchs was separate amt too, it depends on what u do/willing to spend around that period.

— For Muslim Fans

Do they provide halal meals?

They dont provide halal meat, but you can request for vegetarian option or seafood. During lunch, I got vegetarian bibimbap set. And for the snack boxes, too bad SM provided ham/bacon in the sandwiches, which I am not confident in removing it so I decided to not eat, just eat the cookies. Also they offer late-night meals after the concert (separate pay), but I didnt opt for that one and only went to eat at nearby places.

Can I pray before the concert?

Yes~ as I mentioned earlier, there are a few hours gap before you depart to concert so you can pray at your hotel beforehand. Or if you dont mind, like I did as I went to venue early on the 2nd day, I went to pray at Olympic Park area itself, there are a lot of benches or u can walk a bit further to isolated places to pray. I just sat down at some bench and pray while sitting down.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

These are what I can think of, and as I said earlier I do have another separate post regarding my own NEO CITY: Seoul experience, and I will update under a thread. If you have any questions feel free to contact me via twitter (@sugnsook/@yudotaeil) or  curiouscat.me/6sungjae.  Also for neo city fancams/random pics about my trip, it will be updated eventually under the main thread where this entry is posted :) Hope it helps!

[kingofthenorth49]

Potholes on the information superhighway, and other things to miss

So as I sit hear listening to the sound of the wave gently caressing the soft sandy soiled walls of the eroding bank in front of our COVID driven overly expensive waterfront view, I’m staring at two words blinking at me from the screen of my laptop that are causing me to smile, that deep internally satisfying smile we only get when something so perfect touches our souls.

No internet.

Now that may send shivers down the spine of even the most hardened 15-year old gamer as they sit in front of their Xbox One for the 100th time as it does a 12 gig regular update, but not me, it brings a sense of inner peace. See I’m a gen X’er, born during Canada’s centennial and raised on skinned knees, streetlight hide and seek, and the best music generation of all times, if you discount the renaissance. Love me some Mozart.

But why would the lack of access to the internet of things, an absence of bit transfer, make me so happy?

Because we have become enslaved by technology, and we are indebted to a few technocrats who now control almost every aspect of our lives. Don’t believe me? Leave your phone at home for a day. Let me know how that works out for you.

Think about how easy it is to unperson someone now. They unpersoned the President of the United States in under a day, so think about how easy it would be to make you disappear from society. If you’ve ever read Orwell’s 1984 you’d understand how immensely easy Winston Smith’s job would be in 2021, how quickly you could scrub the very existence of a person from society should a bad actor, say like a government bureaucrat who didn’t like a post you made on twitter criticizing their political candidate. They can shut off your access to your bank account with a keystroke, no cash for you and speaking of cash, once our current paper/plastic currency goes away that control gets even tighter as you won’t make a single transaction without the government knowing about it, and eventually approving it.

Approving it you say? The government can’t tell me what I can and cannot buy! Really? C’mon Prole, you have a short memory. It was only a few weeks ago Walmart had to caution tape off clothing aisles in their stores across Canada so the unwashed masses couldn’t buy new clothes because they aren’t essential goods.

Well I’m glad to hear that, that mandate will fit well into my retirement plans, but I digress....

China has had a social credit system for some time; it’s a way the ruling class keeps the Proles in line. You write blogs like this that criticize the government; they turn off your access to things like travel. Miss too many days at work this month? No access to smokes or liquor for 60 days. Click. Unpaid parking tickets? Forget about booking that cruise Winston.

Do you think I’m making this up like some dude in 1948 writing about Ministries of Truth? Do you think this isn’t coming? It’s coming at us like a drug infused Charlie Sheen at dollar night at Baby Dolls.

Think vaccine passports. Seems innocuous (pun intended) enough doesn’t it. I mean countries have always required vaccinations to travel into them right? But here’s what you aren’t thinking about. If I wanted to travel to Mozambique I’d need a malaria vaccination, maybe a few others, but it’d be my choice to get vaccinated to do the travel. If I didn’t want to be vaccinated, I’d just not travel to Africa in the first place. No biggie.

But they are pushing to vaccinate the world population all at once, all for a bad flu (yes, I know people died, but people die every single day from the same family of viruses, some years more than others) and at the same time some countries are trying to mandate vaccination passports, like Canada for example. I bet most of you didn’t know that the Government of the right dishonourable sock puppet, the crime Minister of Canada, the son of Fidel himself has issues a request for proposal to tech companies to develop and operate a biometric identification system to imprint Canadian subjects’ identities to vaccination status.

That’s right, if you live in Canada soon you will be required to give up your biometric information to the government in exchange for a few beans, that is as long as you follow the mandated vaccination schedule and eat all your veggies. Think my tinfoil hat is on too tight? I’d challenge you to sit down and do some research on some of the bills Trudopes minions are tabling right now. They literally aren’t hiding their agenda any longer they’ve become that bold.

Combine that with the mass buying of single family homes buy large equity funds like Blackrock. There’s no conspiracy theory, both CBC and the National Post have reported on this, and it’s not new, large corporations have for a long time controlled the majority of the residential rental market but now they’ve changed strategy and have started buying homes in suburbia.

Why?

Control.

By 2030 you will own nothing and you’ll be happy. This is the agenda of the progressives, to even the playing field for everyone, equality is the end goal to ensure everyone is equal. Except them. Someone has to live in the farmhouse and drink the milk, you know, for brains and stuff.

Within the next decade those who stare at goats will control every aspect of our lives through the use of technology. Gone will be the days of individual freedoms and opportunity. It’s not a far stretch from where we already are if you think about it, we can easily be cancelled nowadays for simply sending the wrong 128 character combination across the IoT. Remember Jim? Oh yeah, he was a pot stirrer right up until the time he posted that tweet about JT’s wife liking chocolate better than vanilla then POOF he was gone. Whatever happened to him?

Holy squirrel’s batman, it’s hard to focus this morning. Sorry.

We give children iPhones and then can’t understand why they become introverted and troll their friends on social media by the time they are 12 or spend their nights locked in their bedrooms talking to strangers or conducting cam shows for magic tokens they can trade for new possessions.

This pandemic just helped that little model move up the greatest hits chart just a wee bit faster now didn’t it. I heard the word “Cave syndrome” for the first time yesterday, a connotation that some people will have a hard time re-integrating into society once things “open up”, and by “open up” I mean our tormentors allowing us by virtue of some untold regulation to resume our lives in a new normal.

A new normal of more control.

The allegory of the cave is a good one (double points right there folks!). Yes, I was going all Socrates/Plato on that one. Most people do not grasp the enormity of the reality of where we are going, nor do I think they even care because they have been facing the blank wall for way too long and have developed Stockholm syndrome as a result. If you don’t know that the water temperature is increasing, and you are enjoying what you think is a hot tub fiesta, well then all of this will be lost on you anyway so you might as well embrace the bubbles. Technology is a double edged sword that we’ve swallowed whole, damn the torpedoes. We have become so dependent I fear there’s no escape what’s next.

But not here.

Blink. Blink. No Internet.

I’m going to ensure there’s always a Barchetta stored here, you know, for the future, it just likely won’t be red. Red cars always attract attention.

For now I’ll enjoy the sound of the surf, the wind through the trees, and the feel of the cover of a good book in my hands as society races to obliterate itself at an alarming rate, one I’ll never understand. And I know one thing, i’ll use my phone to access the ‘net when needed, then shut it off when not. That’s freedom folks, that’s what I was promised, and that’s what I’m living.

Namaste.

[anthonymanly]

1. Match your social strategy to your customer

Is your customer a teenager? A single mum who is looking for a great cookie recipe? Maybe a thought leader.

Each of these descriptions matches with a particular social networking platform – LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter and can inform which may be the best for your business.

Start listening for problems you can solve, and share meaningful advice.

2. Create the right content

A good social strategy requires content that’s original and engaging.  Depending on who your customer is, you’ll have to find a balance for frequency and formats.

Too little or too much can be damaging to the objective.  If you constantly comment, you run the risk of putting potential customers off.  Different social networks serve different functions.  A thoughtful tutorial may be the way to capture customers’ hearts on LinkedIn but posting a time-limited discount code may be the better call in the Twitter environment.

3. Build your network

You will need to take on the work of building your network.  Create daily, weekly and monthly goals so that you are committed to a schedule of engagement from the outset.

Search the relevant social sites to find people who are talking about your industry or using related keywords. Then, retweet them, and respond to questions they ask that you find to be intriguing. By contributing to your prospects’ conversations, you build them up and add value to their network.

4. Connect it back to your business

None of this really matters if there’s no bump in sales, and that comes from serving purposeful calls to action to potential customers.

Relationships are much more important than leads when you are selling via social. People share a lot of information, and if you take the time to listen to what they are saying, you will be in the best possible position to have meaningful conversations with the right people and offer “just the thing” they want or need at that moment.

Imagine that you have identified your customer, found where he or she spends time online socially, created meaningful content to increase awareness and engagement with those customers, and then served up a buyable experience at the very moment they discover a need for your product.

At that moment, you have at-once delighted your customer, increased sales, and proven the value of all of that hard work.

P.S. Whenever you’re ready… here are 4 ways I can help you and your coaching business right now:

Join our FREE Facebook™ group, the Scalable Business Dojo, and connect with coaches who are growing too – it’s our Facebook™ community where the sharpest business coaches on the planet learn to get more money, deliver more impact, and get more freedom, CLICK HERE and join now!

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Schedule a FREE 15-minute Game Plan Call with me we’ll map out a personalized plan of your next steps to grow your coaching business.  Please leave your credit card at home too – there’s no pitch on this call.  Just great conversation with an expert to help you figure out what’s next for you in your business. CLICK HERE to book a call now!

[ultratesterthings]

18 Work From Home Jobs That Bring in the Cash

Getty ImagesObradovic

The Job: Virtual Travel Agent

What It Pays: $12.50 to $50 an hour, according to Indeed listings.

Perfect For: Those looking to travel as much as the clients they'll be making travel plans for.

What It Is: What better way to alleviate your travel bug than to work as a remote travel agent or consultant? Whether part- or full-time, spend your working hours dreaming up itineraries, flight plans, hotels, and activities for clients looking to travel far and wide. Then, take advantage of your discounts (hey, perks of the job) and go wherever your heart desires, whenever your heart desires.

How to Get It: Do a search for remote travel agent or consultant jobs using a typical job listing platform like Indeed, Zip Recruiter, and Glassdoor.

Getty ImagesAlexander Spatari

The Job: Remote Social Media Manager

What It Pays: $48,964 on average per year for a full-time position, according to Indeed. Contract and part-time make about $13 to $14 an hour.

Perfect For: The Instagram influencer with a creative eye for curating content to increase brand awareness and social growth.

What It Is: Social media managers create, manage, and grow brands through content creation and advertising campaigns on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, and more. Skills such as photography, writing and editing, research, marketing, and data collection are key.

How to Get It: You can apply directly to companies if you see a job posting, or visit hubs like Indeed, Glassdoor, and ZipRecruiter and search "remote social media manager jobs." Working Nomads also has a lengthy list of remote social media manager job listings.

Getty ImagesPeopleImages

The Job: Online Writer or Editor

What It Pays: Though it's completely subjective to the company, you'll likely be paid per post or hourly. Factors that could increase or decrease the pay scale include word count, research, interviewing an expert, and more. Many freelancers are full-time, but if you're looking for a side-hustle to make some weekend money, this is a great option too. According to Pay Scale, the average salary for a freelance writer is about $24/hr.

Perfect For: A person who's creative with their words and has a passion for content.

What It Is: Write, copy edit, fact-check, update, and organize content in a way that's compelling to readers.

How to Get It: If you've worked in media, try reaching out to your former colleagues to see if they have any opportunities to freelance. You can also connect with editors of your favorite brand on LinkedIn or use platforms like Upwork.com or MediaBistro.com to connect with listings.

Getty ImagesGary Houlder

The Job: Virtual Graphic Designer

What It Pays: $18.20 an hour, according to Indeed.

Perfect For: Designers in the graphics arts industry who produce their most creative work in the comfort of their homes.

What It Is: Create virtual displays of art and graphics by assembling images, typographies, and motion graphics for published, printed, or digital media. This may include drafting logos, packaging, labels, and advertisements for brands. Top candidates will have skills in creativity, typography, software, web design, Adobe Photoshop, technology, and more.

How to Get It: Do a search on Indeed, Glassdoor, and ZipRecruiter for "remote graphic design jobs," and you'll find listings that you can filter for part- or full-time, contract, temporary, etc. LinkedIn also has a few (hundred) options!

The Job: Airbnb Host

Perfect For: Someone with enough space to share, who loves meeting new people, and who knows all the hot spots in town.

What It Is: Short-term rental sites allow you to list your property for guests vacationing in your area to book. If you keep a clean house and love to host, consider putting your guest room (or guest house!) up on the site.

The Job: Pet Sitter

Perfect For: Dog lovers with plenty of love (and snuggles) to give.

What It Is: Watch people's pups — and get paid for it. Easier than babysitting, petsitting for out-of-town dog owners can be a fun, therapeutic way to make money on the side. Set your own rates and choose whether they come to your house or you go to theirs. Plus, you'll get a workout chasing your new four-legged friends around.

How to Get It: Sign up to become a sitter atDogVacay and Rover or a dog-walker at Wag.

The Job: Consultant or Salesperson

What It Pays: It depends on the company, as some will offer a base salary plus commission, while others will offer full-time salaries or pay by the hour, according to ZipRecruiter.

Perfect For: Someone with an entrepreneurial spirit, loads of energy, and a love for meeting new people.

What It Is: Think Mary Kay (cosmetics), Pampered Chef (kitchenware), or Rodan + Fields (skincare) — over time, you build a base of clients to whom you sell a company's wares. "There are several reasons why I decided to become a consultant," says Rodan + Fields independent consultant Debbie Royer. "I had seen how much of a blessing the business had been to a friend of mine and my sister-in-law. Plus, everything can be done from my phone, and being a mom to a preschooler and an infant I don't have a lot of extra time to be sitting at a computer."

How to Get It: You can apply directly through companies, such as Stella & Dot, a jewelry company that had over $100 million in sales in 2010, who is always in need of stylists. A few others include Avon (household and personal care), The Cocoa Exchange (chocolates and more), and Alice's Table (flowers). You can also visit the Direct Selling Association website — all the companies listed there agree to abide by a code of ethics, so they only offer legitimate opportunities. Typically reps make a small investment to get started (this is a legitimate and standard practice), and sometimes pay a fee for the merchandise being sold. After that you can work as much or as little as you want, and see profit based on how much you sell.

The Job: Virtual Assistant

What It Pays: Around $15 an hour, according to Pay Scale.

Perfect for: Someone who is very organized with the ability to multitask.

What It Is: Many companies hire self-employed virtual assistants to save employment costs. You will perform typical office duties from home such as replying to emails, managing calendars, entering data, and assisting with social media.

The Job: Transcriptionist

What It Pays: $59,243 a year on average, according to ZipRecruiter.

Perfect For: Someone looking for a flexible job that requires little to no prior experience.

What It Is: Transcription essentially involves you listening to audio files and typing out what you hear. Easy enough, right? Companies usually hire transcriptionists without much experience, so some job postings might only require you to have a computer and keyboard to get started. Transcription jobs can vary from transcribing a college lecture to a doctor's medical dictation, while most companies allow you to make your own schedule.

How to Get It: As a beginner, you can find entry-level transcription jobs on TranscribeAnywhere.com, TranscribeMe.com, and Quicktate.com. Most employers give out a short writing test to measure your typing accuracy and attention to detail before you receive any official tasks.

The Job: Survey Taker

What It Pays: $1 to $50 per survey, depending on how much time is required to complete the survey.

Perfect For: The person who always has an opinion.

What It Is: You might take an opinion poll, answer questions about shopping habits or review a product. You're generally paid in cash (PayPal or mailed check) or with points that can be redeemed for gift cards.

How to Get It: Visit companies such as DarwinsData.com, PineconeResearch.com and PaidViewpoint.com. (Search "surveys" on RealWaystoEarnMoneyOnline.com for more options.) Then sign up with as many sites as you can. The sites will contact you when surveys that fit your demographic pop up, and you take them right away. A word to the wise: Do not register anywhere that has a membership fee, asks for your Social Security number or bank information, or is vague about payment. There are many survey services out there that are fraudulent.

The Job: Website Tester

Perfect For: The detail-oriented web-surfer.

What It Is: Many companies pay online testers to make sure websites are intuitive and easy to navigate. "You basically follow the instructions you're given to check out the website," says Anna Thurman, founder of RealWaysToEarnMoneyOnline.com, a site that has reviewed more than 500 online work opportunities. "It usually only takes about 15 minutes per test." Thurman recommends registering with 10 to 12 different companies since the opportunities to test these sites are doled out first come, first served. "There are people who make $100 to $200 a month by staying on top of those tests," Thurman says.

How to Get It: Begin with sites like UserTesting.com, YouEye.com and Userlytics.com. Register with multiple companies for opportunities to test as many websites as possible. Once you're in the system, you'll be emailed when testers are needed, and if you're one of the first to respond, expect to spend 15 to 20 minutes completing the test. Many sites require a microphone and/or webcam, which are built into most laptops—but if you need to buy one, they aren't expensive. The tester sites typically pay within a week or two via PayPal.

The Job: Vlogger (Film and Post How-To Videos)

What It Pays: Payment depends on how many people click on your video and how many subscribers. Views on popular YouTube tutorials range from 20,000 to 300,000 and higher. You can also earn money from sponsorships, ranging from $500 to hundred of thousands, according to Slate. In 2017, Daily Star reported that UK vlogger Zoella made £50,000 a month from her videos showing her shopping hauls, though, with over 16 million subscribers, her estimated net worth is £4m net worth.

Perfect For: The self-taught creative genius.

What It Is: Do people ask you your secret to perfect pie crust or how you made that wreath? "Everyone knows how to do something, or has a hobby they enjoy," says Kimberly Lawson, owner of OohLaLuxe.net, who has created fashion and beauty tutorial videos. "These can easily be turned into profits." Simply sign up for a free YouTube account. Then use a smartphone or digital camera to record yourself explaining and demonstrating how you work your magic. (If you're more tech-savvy or have a burgeoning teenage filmmaker in your house, you can use desktop software, such as Windows Movie Maker, to create a slicker video.) "Once you upload the video to YouTube, enroll in its partner program," Lawson says. YouTube will then place ads inside or near your video, and you will earn money from the ads themselves, video views and click-throughs. "The key is to put a unique spin on your video," says Lawson, especially if there are lots of others on the same subject.

How to Get It:If you shot the video with your phone, open the YouTube app and hit "send." If you're uploading from a computer, visit YouTube, and click the "upload" button in the upper right corner of the screen. You'll see a place to drag your video file. To enroll in the partner program, click on YouTube settings, check the circle next to "Allow Advertisements," then click on "View Additional Features." On the YouTube monetization page, opt in. Generally, you must earn a minimum before you get paid, and YouTube pays monthly — if you don't earn enough in one month, the balance rolls over.

The Job: Corporate English Trainer

What It Pays: Around $15 to $20 an hour, according to Zip Recruiter.

Perfect For: Native English speakers with basic computer skills and an interest in other cultures who love chatting online or over the phone. Office experience is very helpful, since most students work in a corporate environment.You also need your own computer and a high-speed Internet connection. If you're bilingual, that's definitely a plus.

What It Is: Students in countries including Japan, Korea, France and Germany are looking for English speakers to practice with. Sessions focus on things like making professional small talk or running a meeting (trainers are provided with specifics on how to teach each topic, and are also trained themselves for two days before starting the job). Lessons take place either over the phone or on a live Internet video service like Skype — sometimes at night, because you're working with students in different time zones. You need to commit to a minimum of 20 hours a week at consistent times, and can work as many as 35 hours.

How to Get It: GoFluent.com is an English training company working with 12 of the world's largest corporations. There are also jobs out there for English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers, which are more structured. Visit ISUS (iSpeakUSpeak.com), a placement and training company. While a degree in education or ESL is ideal, you are encouraged to apply if you are enthusiastic and articulate.

Kristiane Vey/Jump Fotoagentur

The Job: Search Engine Evaluator

What It Pays: Starting at about $13 an hour, according to Glassdoor.

Perfect For: English speakers who are up on movies and music, as well as those familiar with other cultures.

What It Is: Companies like Google and Yahoo give you information to search for, and you tell them how closely their results matched what you were looking for. Does a search for Lady Antebellum turn up sites about the music group or links to pre-Civil War period information? If you are Latina, for example, you might be asked to search the way a Spanish speaker might perform a search in English.

The Job: Customer Service Representative

What It Pays: $9 to $19 an hour, according to Pay Scale.

Perfect For: "People" people with patience to spare who are good at talking on the phone while on the computer.

What It Is: Companies are looking for workers with excellent speaking abilities and solid computer skills to help customers find a correct size, place an order or resolve a conflict. Both full- and part-time positions are available, and you are generally required to devote a four-hour block of time.

How to Get It: Customer service is the biggest work-at-home field, with companies including Spiegel, Hilton, Best Western, HSN, 1-800-FLOWERS and many others using at-home reps. Fill out an application with staffing companies such as Arise, Alpine Access, VIPdesk, LiveOps, and Convergys, all of which vet the companies who are hiring through them. If you need benefits, search through a staffing company that will hire you as an employee (Alpine Access, VIPdesk and Convergys do this) rather than an independent contractor. If you're a contractor, you may be asked to pay a small fee (between $15 and $35) for a background check. While a fee can be a sign of a scam, independent contractors are responsible for their own expenses.

The Job: Telephone Nurse

What It Pays: A registered triage telephone nurse can make an average of $70,302 a year, according to 2017 data from .

Perfect For: Someone with a nursing degree.

What It Is: Health insurers or other health management companies, including Humana, Aetna and UnitedHealth Group, hire nurses remotely to perform duties like case management, treatment authorization and patient education.

The Job: Online Teacher

What It Pays: Though teachers of certain subjects may be paid more than others, Glassdoor shows listings willing to give $7.50 to $17.

Perfect For: Teachers who don't want a typical school schedule.

What It Is: Instead of standing in a classroom, you'll teach via Skype or in a prerecorded session. There's a growing demand for teachers in all subjects, but especially core topics like English, history, and science.

How to Get It: Check out K12 (K12.com) and Connections Academy (ConnectionsAcademy.com). Both organizations offer various benefits — including health insurance, retirement savings accounts and paid time off — depending on where you live. As in any job where you work with kids, there will be a background and reference check as well as interviews. You may also need to be licensed to teach in the state where the students reside.

The Job: Online Tutor

What It Pays: $14 to $25 an hour, according to Glassdoor.

Perfect For: People who only have pockets of time to work and an extensive knowledge of or expertise in a subject, or are fluent in a foreign language.

What It Is: You work with a student who needs extra help, usually for a half-hour over the phone or Skype.

How to Get It: Sylvan Learning (Tutoring.SylvanLearning.com), Tutor.com, TutorVista.com and Tutorzilla (Tutorzilla.com) all offer a good cross section of the kinds of remote-based tutoring jobs out there, and they all have great reputations with students and teachers. Since you will be working with children, you can expect a background check before you are hired.

Scam Alert!

Watch for these red flags when you look for online moneymaking opportunities.

•The website has no contact information. A legitimate business has a way for you to reach them. Look for an "About" page that offers information on the company or CEO, along with a phone number, address, or contact email. (Try calling the number to see if anyone answers.) A website with only a contact form and no other way to get in touch with an actual human is suspicious.

•It sounds too good to be true. The promise that you'll make thousands of dollars a week at home is never the reality.

•There are complaints online. Do a quick Internet search: Type in the website's name and "scam" and see what pops up. If people have been taken for a ride, they'll usually have posted about it.

•There's a fee. Most legitimate sites won't charge you to sign up. There are a few exceptions — such as membership to a legitimate job board, like FlexJobs.com, which posts freelance and telecommuting positions — but if you're not sure why you're paying a fee, look elsewhere.

Sources: Christine Durst, cofounder, RatRaceRebellion.com. Holly Hanna, founder of TheWorkAtHomeWoman.com blog, Amy Robinson, chief marketing officer, Direct Selling Association. Lois Greisman, associate director, division of marketing, FTC

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25 Gifts That Give Back to People Who Are in Need

This content was originally published here.

[clarencenicholsonata]

8 Tested Ways to Use Your eCommerce Blog to Capture Leads

Creating an eCommerce blog is one of the top three most effective ways to expand your brand's reach online, organically drive traffic, and boost SEO.

At Wishpond, we're big believers when it comes to having a blog to capture leads. After al, if you take a closer look, eCommerce blogging is a heavily implemented strategy within the top Shopify stores.

You can use your eCommerce platform to attract new leads and educate customers, but most of all, capture the leads you can remarket to for future sales.

This all sounds good, but how do I use my eCommerce blog to do just that, well, here are eight tested ways to use your eCommerce blog to capture leads and then some:

1. Use Your eCommerce Blog to Increase Your SEO Ranking

First of all, why is SEO important to your eCommerce store? Good Question, that's because SEO (Search Engine Optimization) allows your content and products to be found. Adding specific keywords to your landing pages or product image's alt text can help, but it can only take you so far if your competitors are doing the exact thing.

With an eCommerce blog, you can not only add far more keywords but more SEO based content to increase your chance of ranking on the first page of Google, whether someone types in your brand's name or not. After all, isn't that the holy grail of SEO to be found on the first page of Google.

eCommerce Blog Example: United By Blue

United By Blue capitalized on niched keywords linked to Covid-19 and Sustainably During Covid-19 to help promote their products and SEO ranking.

In the past 12 months, Google has started rewarding fresh content. This isn't to say the most recent article will appear before the one with link building, social shares, or colossal readership, but publishing frequently won't hurt. At all. In fact, it helps to put you ahead of your competitors, especially if you have a solid keyword and SEO strategy for your eCommerce Blog.

If you're new to SEO, feel free to follow these SEO tips below to get you started on the right track:

Set up your website according to Google Webmaster Guidelines and make sure that it's easy to navigate for both users and Google crawl bots.

Start utilizing the potential of SMO or YouTube SEO, both as a way to improve your Google rankings and gain more traffic through YouTube's search engine.

Always strive for quality backlinks that are relevant to your niche, but make sure to get backlinks from a range of sources to make your backlink growth seem more organic.

Don't forget to take a peek at our Ecommerce SEO Checklist: 20 Essential Tactics.

2. Use Your eCommerce Blog to Highlight New Products

Use your eCommerce blog to show off your new products. Show visitors what's to come before or on your launch day, show them in detail why your new product deserves to be in their cart.

Even if a customer sees your eCommerce blog post days or months after it can still help to push sales your way, another option, you can also ask an influencer to publish a blog post about your product. Making it a win-win on both ends.

eCommerce Blog Example: Au Lit Fine Linens

When Au Lit Fine Linens launched their new linen collection, they posted an eCommerce blog post showing off the collection in detail, along with the inspiration for the collection itself.

3. Use Your eCommerce Blog to Show Off Brand Achievements

Use your eCommerce blog to show off big news or brand announcements that you'd like to share with your customers. When customers see that your brand is winning online or offline, it shows them that your brand has products that are in demand and that drive purchases.

Who doesn't want to buy from an eCommerce store whose products are featured in a top magazine or store?

eCommerce Blog Example: BLK & Bold Specialty Beverages

When BLK & Bold Specialty Beverages announced that they'd be selling at Target, it was a big announcement and achievement for their brand.

They added this news to their promotion strategy and added social media sharing icons to help readers promote the news. And they did just that, if you check out "BLK & Bold Specialty Beverages at Target," you'll see numerous shares via their blog and social media post. That's the power of blogging.

BLK & Bold Specialty Beverages Youtube

BLK & Bold Specialty Beverages Twitter

? NEW YEAR, NEW OPPORTUNITIES ? On this journey to where specialty coffee meets community impact, we need to make a Target run. Wanna join? Yes, BLK & Bold whole bean coffees are now available at select Target stores nationwide (and soon on https://t.co/R3CRoPzPXo). ☕? pic.twitter.com/I4mhAYSlhT

— BLK & Bold Specialty Roastery (@BlkandBold) January 2, 2020

4. Use Your eCommerce Blog to Educate Your Customers

Thinkwithgoogle found that 63% of shopping occasions begin online, and 53% of shoppers say they always research before they buy to ensure they are making the best possible choice.

Shoppers today are smart; they want to do their research before making a purchase. Instead of allowing them to find their information all over the net, use your eCommerce blog to create a database of educational content about your brand, products, and how they solve their problems.

eCommerce Blog Example: Press’s Squeeze Magazine

Press's Squeeze "Magazine" is focused on healthy living, not just highlighting their juices but fitness and a healthy lifestyle from all aspects. The magazine offers workout routines, diets, the best healthy places to eat from when traveling, and product suggestions.

This type of content marketing allows customers to stay or return for more content from the Squeeze magazine, and it's not directly selling products but educating and attracting its ideal customers that fit directly into their niche.

5. Use Your eCommerce Blog to Share a Lead Magnet

Based on the type of products you sell on your eCommerce store, you can use your eCommerce blog to share a lead magnet.

What is a lead magnet?

A lead magnet is the bait you offer to your leads to convert on your form and become a lead. A lead magnet can be a discount, email subscription, or free checklist!

If you wish to create a highly effective lead magnet, here are some must-have ingredients:

It should be concise

It should be problem-focused and actionable

It should be useful and specific

It should be easy to follow

You can also check out How to Use Popups to Get More Customers for Your E-Commerce Store.

It should also be something that will instantly grab your reader's attention. Your lead magnet can pop up while readers browse through your blog, yes you'll be interrupting them, but you'll be giving them an offer they can't refuse.

Take a look at Beauty Bakerie's lead magnet to collect more emails below. They host a monthly giveaway to win a product haul worth $500!

eCommerce Blog Example: Beauty Bakerie

Need help with your next giveaway?

Book a free call to learn how our team of contest experts can help you create high converting giveaway leads today.

6. Upsell on Your eCommerce Blog with Product Recommendations

While customers are reading, use your eCommerce blog to upsell products that you offer on your site. Upselling is the art of never letting a customer leave empty-handed or persuading them to buy one more product.

There are tons of upselling apps on Shopify you can use to boost your sales. If you're not ready to invest in those apps, then simply add a product recommendation section in each article to upsell your best selling products or products that relate to the eCommerce blog article.

You can also add in-line links to your articles to seamlessly upsell your products. This is a less sellsy approach and also helps to boost your SEO efforts for both your blog and products.

eCommerce Blog Example: Sugar Cosmetics

Don't forget to download your FREE eCommerce Checklist. This list will help you to follow this and other important eCommerce tips to optimize your website for sales.

7. Use Your eCommerce Blog to Show Off Influencers

Influencer marketing might be popular on Instagram, but it isn't the only place you can utilize influencers online. Invite influencers as guest writers for your eCommerce blog to drive traffic and sales to your blog.

For example, Made in Cookware provides kitchenware products on their eCommerce store. They use popular chefs and food influencers as guest writers for their blog sharing recipes for readers.

eCommerce Blog Example: Made in Cookware

If you're interested in working with influencers and you're not sure where to start, check out these Wishpond guides on influencer marketing:

How to Write the Perfect Influencer Outreach Email Template

9 Surprising Ways You Can Use YouTube for Influencer Marketing

5 Instagram Influencer Marketing Trends You Need To Track

The Essential Guide to Getting Started with Influencer Marketing

8. Use Your eCommerce Blog Add to Share Your Brand Story

Sharing your brand story allows you to connect with customers and build brand loyalty. Go beyond the about page and start sharing more in-depth stories and events behind the efforts your brand makes to provide the quality and products you provide on your site.

Fourth Source found that storytelling can prove to be an effective tool to improve conversions. As per a research, if people like a brand story, 55% are more likely to buy the product in the future, 44% will share the story, and 15% will buy the product immediately.

The more you share the values and craftsmanship of your brand, the more invested buyers will be when buying a product. Ten Tree is a sustainability and Eco-friendly brand that uses its brand to educate readers on how to maintain the lifestyle their products promote.

eCommerce Blog Example: TenTree

Summary

Creating an eCommerce blog can seem like a hassle, but it's worth the work. In the long run, you'll be able to captivate your audience with your expertise, collect emails, upsell products, and so much more. Here's a quick recap of the eight tested ways to use your eCommerce blog to capture leads:

Use Your eCommerce Blog to Increase Your SEO Ranking

Use Your eCommerce Blog to Highlight New Products

Use Your eCommerce Blog to Show Off Brand Achievements

Use Your eCommerce Blog to Educate Your Customers

Use Your eCommerce Blog to Share a Lead Magnet

Upsell on Your eCommerce Blog with Product Recommendations

Use Your eCommerce Blog to Show Off Influencers

Use Your eCommerce Blog Add to Share Your Brand Story

It all starts with writing content that your audience is interested in while connecting with your brand's overall purpose and value proposition.

One of the best places to start is to create a list of topics that match high-value keywords in your niche. You can also create a blog post from frequently asked questions buyers have when purchasing your products. You have access to a wide variety of topics and post to provide your audience, so dive in!

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[newamsterdame]

What's the fanfic discourse? I'm way out of the loop, I would really appreciate if you could point in some direction (like, I'm not expecting you to explain the entire thing, even though I'm interested in what your opinions were and are on the topic)

okay, so maybe “discourse” is the wrong word to use here (i generally use the word sort of facetiously, so). but basically i guess there’s a general ethos amongst a lot of people who write fic that their work goes un- or under-appreciated, and that the general environment for writing fic can be unwelcoming or thankless one. that is an idea i don’t necessarily disagree with, and i can attest to the fact that there are times when writing fic doesn’t make me happy. and that’s pretty sad, given than fandom exists as a place to enjoy stories and meet people and generally have a good time.

the place where i am beginning to part ways with some people is on the reason why people feel this way. there’s a lot of talk and productive discussion about how to get people to comment on fic more, or to reblog it, or basically to give it attention that fic authors really clearly want and in many cases deserve. i have a whole tag about this stuff. 

basically, right now what i feel is this: no one owes you a comment on your fic. it’s a sad reality that many people (a larger proportion of your audience than you’d like), will read your fic and never acknowledge having done so. they won’t reblog it, comment on it, give it kudos, or tell you that they’ve read it. statistically, this is just a fact. there is no way to police fic so that the price of admission is a comment or kudos. this is really demoralizing, and i’m not discounting that. i have often abandoned works because the feedback i get from them is not worth the time it takes to write them. and i have seen other authors similarly discouraged. i don’t blame them for that. 

but, i don’t think the solution lies in expecting everyone to comment on your fic. i think the real issue here is one of visibility. if 5000 people ready your fic but only 10% of those people comment, you’re still going to get a lot of good feedback and will probably feel pretty good about your story. but if only 50 people read your fic (or click on it, there’s no real way to tell if hits = actual reads), and only 1% of those people comment… that’s a lot less comments, and sometimes equals no feedback or acknowledgment at all. and that’s the sort of deafening silence that can kill motivation very quickly. 

so i think the solution lies not in expecting everyone to comment, but in fostering a better environment for sharing fic so that it’s a more social experience and your story is more likely to find its way to the people who will comment or acknowledge it. i could pull out stats about how often people like my fic posts on tumblr versus how often they reblog them, but suffice to say that most people don’t reblog. but if they did, that story would make its way to a lot more people, and maybe through the people who don’t feel like commenting it could reach people who do. same with twitter, or discord, or any number of other sites people use to share things. 

another solution might be in people being better about how they talk to fic authors. i hate “please update” comments. they kill my soul, two words at a time. if i get a comment that encourages me to update without saying anything about what i’ve already written, my mind processes that as “no one is even reading what’s here, they just want me to keep producing for no benefit.” and there are other ways that comments can be entitled or rude or even mean. so if people got less comments but friendlier or more encouraging ones, that might also help. 

and finally, there’s a problem with the modern fic apparatus, and that is that it is way too easy to compare yourself to other people, and way too easy to get lost in the tags if you’re not the first fic in a fandom or don’t find a big audience quickly enough. everyone sorts ao3 tags by kudos. you do it, i do it, the whole world does it. but this leads to feedback loops that reward the top x fics in any given tag, and let others fall by the wayside. a writer who works really hard but gets to a fandom late, or who doesn’t get enough visibility early on, can see their works completely lost in the shuffle and unacknowledged. and that leads back to the deafening silence problem. 

my problem with the “discourse” is that it’s turned into a writers vs readers problem, which i don’t think is actually the case. i think it’s a problem of the culture around fic. when i was 15 or 16, i wrote all my fics on livejournal. i couldn’t see how many people were clicking on them, so i didn’t know what percentage of people were leaving comments. the comments i did get were nice and encouraging and helpful, and often lead to long conversations and lasting friendships. i didn’t have to worry about whether the same 10000 people who were reading another fic for my ship were also reading my stuff. i got a few good, insulated years to explore and experiment and develop. and i could do so without comparison to people who were much more experienced and much better than me. 

i am, in all likelihood, going to keep complaining about fic stuff. it’s in my blood, at this point. and you better believe that when someone comes to me three months after i’ve abandoned a fic, and asks me why i haven’t updated it, i’m going to feel hurt if they never acknowledged my work before that. i am going to wonder, “where were you when your enthusiasm might have made the difference?” but that’s not me blaming all readers generally for this. i think we need to implement some new systems, encourage some better communication, and above all be kind and respectful to one another. but i’m not in charge of how this dialogue goes. 

[nprinterns]

Intern Guest Post: Rachel Sacks

Development intern Rachel Sacks has composed this blog post for what to do when you’ve been picked as an intern and want to make the best of networking possibilities. Check it out!

MAKING CONNECTIONS AS AN INTERN

I’m not gonna lie—working at NPR Headquarters is exciting. Voices you’ve only heard on the air suddenly become associated with bodies, and Tiny Desk concerts become a regular part of your schedule, and. NPR news is streamed live in the elevators (and bathrooms). The most exciting part of working at NPR, however, is access to the brilliant, knowledgeable, and kind folks all throughout the building.  My strongest recommendation during your time here is to reach out as much as possible and learn from people you might not get to meet otherwise. These are my tips for making the most of creating connections.

BE THE SQUEAKY WHEEL—BUT NOT TOO SQUEAKY Put yourself out there. Seriously, reach out to people that you’ve never met before but want to get to know, and if they don’t respond just stop by their desk or send a follow-up email. I truly believe that respectful persistence is the driving force to achieving goals, and sometimes it really is necessary when the person you want to meet also needs to cover breaking news or has a podcast production deadline or simply isn’t the most timely responder to non-emergency emails. This doesn’t mean get in the way of their work (also known as being too squeaky), but it does mean that it can be very worth your time to gently remind them that you’re interested in their work and getting to know them.

MAKING THE COLD EMAIL WARM With so many emails filling inboxes, it’s important to make your introductory message has some charm. As tempting as it might be to send something along the lines of “HI OMG I LOVE YOU HOW CAN I BE LIKE YOU,” it’s really best to avoid that path—especially because the reality is that this is an office space and not the front row of a Beyoncé concert. First, calmly introduce yourself, and mention what you admire about their work. Then, explain why exactly you want to meet with them, and be as specific and personal as possible. Maybe you want to learn a certain skillset, or they cover specific topics in a field you want to enter. Finally, THANK THEM. Keep it concise, keep it personal, and keep it in your inbox so that when they respond you can save the email chain forever as a souvenir of the amazing connections you made at NPR.  

FAME ISN’T EVERYTHING Make sure not to limit yourself to the big names at NPR. As cool as it might feel to tell your friends that you chatted with some of the most famous names in radio, there are so many interesting folks in a variety of departments that are worth getting to know. When I wanted to learn more about the Hidden Brain podcast, I reached out to Tara Boyle, the supervising producer whose name wasn’t familiar to me. She was wonderful to talk with and taught me so much about Hidden Brain’s production. She even invited me to one of the team meetings so I could get a better idea of what working on a podcast looks like. From finance, to development, to audio, to music, the building is filled with so many folks to learn from. 

WONDROUS WALK-ABOUTS At least once a day, I get up from my desk and walk around the building. I find this especially useful since my department (Development) isn’t in the newsroom, so I take this time to get to know the ins and outs of the various news desks and podcasts downstairs. I get to know where the offices are of people I want to meet and observe the lively conversations happening in every corner of the room. I find this essential to learning more about the structure of NPR and the different jobs at play—giving me a better idea of what skills I want to gain, and who I want to meet with and learn from.  I also take this opportunity to chat with the interns I pass and learn about the work that they’re doing. I’ve made connections that way too! While chatting one day with Dayana Mustak, the How I Built This intern, she introduced me to Guy Raz, former correspondent at NPR and current host of three NPR podcasts. This is a perfect example of when I got to know a fellow intern, learned a bit about her job and the making of a podcast, and got to meet the host too!

NATIONAL PUBLIC HAPPY HOUR My favorite people at NPR are the interns. The interns at NPR are friendly, easygoing, and ambitious, and they make the internship extra fabulous. Spend time with interns. Eat lunch together. Talk about projects and collaborate together. Go to happy hour together—a D.C trend and a great way to get discounted food and drinks while getting to know new friends! It is so fortunate to have a large group of people ready to have fun both at work and in the streets of D.C!

Here are a few examples of when these tips have led to successful connections for fellow NPR interns!

KEVIN GARCIA - diversity intern - After introducing myself in person to Leah Donnella, a news assistant for Code Switch, I followed up with her through email and we made lunch plans for later that week. Over lunch, we bonded over unexpected similarities—Leah went to college in Southern California while I’m from Los Angeles, and we both came to NPR not having a background in journalism. She asked me about what I was hoping to get done during my internship, as well as what I hoped to do after NPR, and gave me tons of support and guidance about how to achieve my goals. I thought it was really cool that she was willing to spend some time with me and help me get my bearings in the newsroom, and it showed me that NPR folks really do want to see interns succeed!

LOUISA LINCOLN, sponsorship intern - As an intern in the sponsorship department (National Public Media), I wanted to get a better understanding of the business and revenue-generating operations happening in the building. I reached out to Alaina Gibbs, who works in the development department, to get a sense of the work that she does with the NPR Foundation Board and with the donor relations team. She responded to my email within a few minutes and was so friendly and willing to chat. We met for coffee at Sound Bites the other day and had a great conversation about working in development for nonprofit journalism organizations and about the work she does here. She even provided some very helpful career guidance suggestions and offered to connect me with other people in the development department to learn what they do. It was definitely scary to send her a cold email, but I'm so glad we were able to connect!

JENNA STERNER, training photography intern - About a month and a half into my internship, I made a personal goal to email one new person each week with the hope of setting up a meeting with them. I came across the name Hannah Bloch, and shamelessly looked her up. Her Twitter bio alone was enough to get me interested, where she had listed her past experience at National Geographic and as a Time correspondent in Pakistan. I wrote up an email essentially telling her that I had researched her and was so fascinated by her experiences. I said I would love to spend 15 or 20 minutes learning more about what brought her to NPR and the work she’s doing now. She immediately responded with “Happy to chat! How about today at 3 pm?” It meant a lot to me for her to take the time and share a piece of her life with me. It also fueled my fire to start emailing people nonstop until I could set up more meetings! This building is packed with cool people who have incredible fascinating stories and it is absolutely worth reaching out and saying hello because you never know who you may meet!

[pixelproductions]

Top 15 Content Planning Tools for Content Marketing

Content marketing is one of the most effective marketing strategies for ROI on money spent, get the content planning tools the pros use to up your game.

Believe it or not, content marketing is still a pretty new form of marketing for many businesses. Research from the Content Marketing Institute indicated that having a content strategy is one of the most crucial factors in deciding whether your business will fail or succeed. And content strategy means content planning!

To start with, one might question what is content? In 1996, nearly two decades ago, Bill Gates declared the statement “CONTENT IS KING” where he stated:

“Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet, just as it was in broadcasting.”

Also, according to a survey from the Custom Content Council, 72% of marketers feel that content marketing offers a better ROI than other advertising, while 69% feel that it’s more powerful than direct mail and PR.

The facts say enough!

Creating a lasting content marketing strategy requires the use of the best content planning tools.

Are you spending your time and money on the best tools for content marketing?

Some marketers are still a bit skeptical about what are the best tools for content marketing. This article will give you a quick overview of the best tools for content planning to keep your business booming.

Let’s get started:

1. ProofHub

ProofHub has everything your marketing team will need in terms of content planning tools. The best friend to collaborate with the team and organize all your social media marketing data. It is a cloud-based tool with powerful features to plan, collaborate, organize, and deliver content much easier and faster.

ProofHub Gantt charts help to keep an eye on how the work is progressing

Track time with timesheets and add multiple timers to get things completed in the specified time frame

Break down content ideas into smaller milestones

Custom roles to work together with people

ProofHub helps marketing teams to drop a lot of weight off their shoulders by organizing tasks, posting, and sharing.

Integrations: ProofHub is integrated with many third-party apps like Freshbooks, Google calendar and iCal, Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, Onedrive, and Outlook.

Price: Essential plan $45 /month, billed annually and ultimate control plan $89 /month (SAVE 41%!). A discount of 20% on monthly billing and 20% + 10% on annual billing on ProofHub’s Essential Plan to nonprofit organizations.

Free trial: Start the free trial with all features. No contracts. No per-user fees. Unlimited users.

2. HubSpot

HubSpot marketing hub has a vast knowledge base around the best practices of content marketing strategy. HubSpot builds a foundation for content marketing plan to create a content strategy that works as per the modern search.

Create personalized landing pages, emails, web pages

Monitor and create effective blog posts

Distribute content via social media

Content creator and editor

Integrations: There are a number of integrations that work with the HubSpot software, typically Salesforce, GoToWebinar, SurveyMonkey, WordPress, Zapier, Eventbrite, G Suite, Shopify, and Slack.

Price: Starter plan at $35/month, Professional at $560/month, and Enterprise at $3,200/month.

Free trial: Start your free 30-day trial. There’s no risk, no obligation, and no credit card required.

3. Pocket

When you find something you want to read later, Pocket is for bookmarking your resources. Definitely, reading can make you a bright writer. With Pocket, you can spend most of your time on stories that matter to you. You find a really interesting piece – simply pop it in your pocket for later. What else?

Follow interesting people to see what they’re recommending

Highlight an excerpt and include that in your share

Options of keeping it public/private

Pocket lets you save interesting articles to view files later on iPhones, iPads, PCs and any mobile device. Available on iPhone, iPad, Android, and Kindle Fire.

Integrations: Pocket is integrated into over 500 applications across many platforms you may already use.

Pricing: Plans from $4.99/month or $44.99/year. Go premium at $44.99/yr.

Free trial: Free version is available.

4. Buzzsumo

Until you know what kind of content is trending in your industry, you cannot have the best results. Buzzsumo is a content performance analysis tool that identifies the influencers who are creating popular, newsworthy content. No tool is as close as Buzzsumo in providing the insights to quickly identify what content is working well in the industry.  Also,

Know the influencers in your industry to market your content

Find what content was most shared across all social networks

Get content alerts to see content that mentions your keyword

Track how your competitor’s content is performing

All-in-all, this tool is perfect for editorial planning and scheduling.

Integrations: Content from BuzzSumo can be shared to a social network or via a social scheduling tool such as Hootsuite or Buffer. You may also connect your Twitter account to BuzzSumo.

Pricing: Pro plan at $79/month and plus plan at $139/month (Recommended).

Free trial: All plans include a free 7-day trial. No credit card needed.

5. Buffer

If you want to be a content marketing expert, use Buffer to plan your data on social media. Manage multiple accounts: Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn from your dashboard.

Schedule posts for your social media at once

Review analytics to see how your posts are performing

Add up to 25 members to give them the appropriate access level

Try Buffer and see how it makes a difference to your social media management.

Integrations: Integrate Buffer with your favorite apps: MailChimp, Pipedrive, Slack, Salesforce, SharePoint, and many more.

Pricing: Pro plan at $15/month billed monthly and Premium plan at $65/month billed monthly.

Free trial: Try the basic free plan: 3 social accounts, 10 scheduled posts, 1 user.

6. Parse.ly

Content analytics is one of the key ways to transform your content strategy into a dynamic business booster. The simple, aesthetically appealing, and informative platform of Parese.ly lets you track the performance of topics, capitalize on web trends, promote in-demand content, and many more.

Analyze data from both inbound and outbound collateral

In one dashboard connect your email marketing, social media, and blog content

Join in on conversations happening around your brand in real-time                                                    

Integrations: Integrates with best-in-class technologies: Cloudflare, Drupal, Looker, Facebook, Segment, and many more.

Pricing: Starter plan at $500 per month.

Free trial: Free 30-day trial. No credit card required.

7. GatherContent

It’s a huge relief to have all your information and ideas in one place to create great content. GatherContent is a tool that streamlines the way you gather and organize your content. Define the editorial schedule from within GatherContent.

One central location for everything

Create folders to hold all your information

Keep content up-to-date and consistent

Integrations: Build your own integrations with GatherContent fully documented API.

Pricing: Starter plan at $83/mo (Save $198!).

Free trial: All plans start with a 30-day free trial. You must try it!

8. Kred

After making enough content strategies, it is equally important to measure how your content marketing strategy actually moves the needle in your industry. Kred is the perfect resource for building credibility and trust that measures influence by the number of mentions, retweets, and replies you receive. Outreach measures the mentions, retweets and replies you send out.

Kred gives two different scores: influence and outreach

Analyze Facebook and Twitter activities

Build your own influencer status to enhance your online presence

You can connect with Facebook, Twitter or email to log in and start measuring your online influence.

Integrations: All you need is an API Key and you’re ready to integrate!

Pricing: Influencer plan at $10/month (100 +KRED), power user at  $100/month (1,000 +KRED) and team plan at $1,000/month (20,000 +KRED).

Free trial: Free trial available. Create up to 10 actionable +Kred Coins.

9. Copyscape

As a content marketer, it’s best to use unique content. By using the best plagiarism checkers, your file will be authentically checked to keep you out of trouble with Google and publishers. The Copyscape is a famous plagiarism tool that shields your content from plagiarism.

Simply put the URL of your post in the URL segment and check

You can access it from any location

The procedure is straightforward and simple

Pricing: Starting from $4.95/month.

Free trial: Free, Subscription.

10. Coschedule Headline Analyser

Your headlines are crucial in content marketing! Headlines draw future prospects in. This tool is ideal for crafting the perfect headline bringing out the ability to result better in social shares, traffic, and SEO ranking. It checks your selected title for the following factors:

Word balance

Headline type

First Three, Last Three Words

Keywords

Google search preview

Email subject line preview

Integrations: Create content using Google Docs. Publish directly to WordPress. Sync your Evernote notes directly in CoSchedule, integrate with all your favorite social media networks, easily connect your MailChimp, Campaign Monitor, and Active Campaign.

Pricing: Starting at $80/month billed annually.

Free trial: 14-day free trial.

11. DivvyHQ

They promise to handle the most challenging part of the content process. DivvyHQ checks off an impressive amount of content strategy, content planning and production workflow for content marketers.  

Get your team organized and aligned

Real-time dashboard to have visibility

Custom content workflows

Track content performance

This is one power planning tool available at an affordable rate.

Integrations: DivvyHQ supports integration with all leading social media platforms.

Pricing: DivvyHQ LITE plan at $25/user/month, DivvyHQ PRO plan at $95/user/month, DivvyHQ enterprise plan at $195/user/month.

Free trial: 14-day free trial. No credit card needed.

12. Content DJ

Content DJ is for content creators on each step of the process including finding, sharing and tracking engagement. It offers a visual calendar with color-coding capability so you can see your content in a single view.

Add keywords relevant to the content you want to share

A set of analytics tools to help you track followers, retweets and mentions

Pricing: Starter plan at $29.00 per user/month.

Free trial: Get started with a free 14-day trial.

13. Sniply

Well, social media is becoming the next big thing. Sniply is one of the successful ways to drive conversion through the content you share on social media. Whatever you share across, add a call-to-action so people can discover you while they read. It’s the best way to promote yourself or your brand while sharing content.

Embed your call-to-actions onto every piece of content

Add custom messages into articles from CNN, TechCrunch, Mashable, BBC, anywhere

Create shortened branded links to share on Twitter etc.

It is simple, easy to use and a very cost-effective way to drive traffic to your website or blog.

Integrations: Sniply integrates with 1,500+ apps to automate your work.

Pricing: Basic plan at  $29 /month (5,000 clicks /mo, 2 brand profiles, 1 team member)

Free trial: All plans include unlimited links. Try any plan for 14 days free!

14. Hootsuite

A content calendar for social media works relatably with your social media content strategy to save you time and effort. You’ll get a good mix of content that supports social media goals and objectives.

Never miss any important dates

Stick to a consistent posting schedule

Share on a cloud platform like Google Sheets or Dropbox

Try Hootsuite to track the success of all your efforts.

Integrations: Connect with 20+ social networks.

Pricing: Professional plan at 18.15 USD/month (10 social profiles, unlimited scheduling, 1 user)

Free trial: Free 30-day trial: 3 social profiles | 30 Scheduled Messages | 1 user.

15. Outbrain.com

This content discovery tool helps connect marketers to their target audience through personalized recommendations. Outbrain.com offers a personalized reader experience and expose your content to engaged readers.

Get what you want to target

Learn your audience patterns

Set goals for your content

Set a content schedule

You can powerfully establish a creative, invaluable, and unique online presence.

Integrations: Outbrain integrates with the following business systems and applications: Shopify, eBay, Amazon, Magento, WooCommerce, Bigcommerce, QuickBooks, Xero, and Inventory Planner.

Pricing: Starting price at $20.00/one-time.

Free trial:  You will be charged for the number of clicks you receive based on the CPC you set.

Each of the content planning tools mentioned above will take your content marketing efforts to the next level! You simply cannot ignore the power of content planning in content marketing to promote yourself/your brand online.

[bigyack-com]

What Happens When You Get Famous Off One Song?

MILTON KEYNES, England — Last summer, a teenager named Tom Austin decided on a whim to record a rap song. He’d never made music before. But even as he was writing down lyrics — picking out references from an iPhone note of random stuff he’d been keeping — he was strangely sure of himself.“I don’t want to sound bigheaded,” he said, “but I knew it would do bits.” (Translation: Mr. Austin knew the song would connect widely.)The result was “Mary Berry,” a delightful, deadpan ode to life in small-town Britain. The title is a nod to the 84-year-old former “Great British Bake Off” co-host. In the song, Mr. Austin says he “needs a girl like” Ms. Berry; he defeats a local man in badminton; pulls out a secret Android cellphone; performs his own circumcision; threatens to fight the TV host Piers Morgan; flexes his discount Slazenger sneakers; and announces, “Top thing on my bucket list is to slide tackle the Queen.” For his rap alter-ego he borrowed the name Niko Bellic, an Eastern European gangster character from the video game Grand Theft Auto IV.As Mr. Austin later wrote on Instagram: “I decided to make a song within like 2 days and then 3 weeks later I signed a deal for it, now it’s 2mil+ streams across 3 platforms CRUUUD.”This success seems both calculated and hilariously accidental. In the intro to the song, he offhandedly shouts out the flashy East London afrobeats group NSG; not long after its release, he was touring Britain as their opening act. He’s taking meetings and other “bits and bobs,” Mr. Austin said, and carefully planning a second single with a record label. He is now 19.In 2016, 13-year-old Billie Eilish posted the song “Ocean Eyes” on her SoundCloud and went to bed. She woke up to see it had accumulated thousands of plays overnight. She is now one of the biggest pop stars alive.The 16-year-old rapper Bhad Bhabie has built her career off a catchphrase-minting “Dr. Phil” appearance. The 13-year-old country singer Mason Ramsey has capitalized well off a recorded Walmart yodeling session. Their sudden, culture-saturating music moments would have been impossible before SoundCloud, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter. Now the music industry, social media and the influence industry at large are racing to adapt for, and borrow from, such overnight success stories.Tom Austin — or Niko B, for that matter, as he’s now calling himself, possibly to avoid litigation — is nowhere near as well known as Bhad Bhabie or Billie Eilish. His success, to date, is very much niche, and contained within Britain. But he’s at a crossroads each saw for themselves. He made a song. It did bits. What’s next?

Getting Down on Friday

A decade ago, instant virality could be a curse. Rebecca Black was 13 in 2011 when her uncanny-valley banger “Friday” — written for her in exchange for $4,000 of her mother’s money — exploded.“It took me years to get healed,” she said in a recent interview. “When you’re 13, nobody can explain to you how mentally extreme everything is.”Back then, she had vague dreams of Broadway, but no real career plan. In the years after “Friday,” she fended off all kinds of cynical business entreaties.Now at 22, she’s built a team around her that she trusts. And she’s back making music: “Sweetheart,” her latest release, is available on all streaming platforms. She’s also talking about her experience, and getting very positive reactions.“I had to figure out the long and hard way that nobody can give you this career,” Ms. Black said. “I had to do it in my own way.”In the years since “Friday,” it’s possible audiences have become less judgmental.While there’s still a bit of stigma associated with sudden virality, especially when it feels easily won, maybe we understand now that tunes can come from anywhere. Maybe we got tired of getting upset.Or maybe the latest generation got better at being ready. In the end, Bhad Bhabie has bangers. Mason Ramsey is a legit country radio presence. And Lil Nas X’s path to success was, on a much grander scale, similar to Tom Austin’s. He used meme knowledge and a social media base to turn “Old Town Road” into the longest-running No. 1 single in Billboard history.Ms. Black, as a pioneer, had no idea what was about to hit her. Teen creators now live knowing that any given thing they post might just change their life.

Crafting the Second Single on the Poets Estate

On a recent weekday on the high street of the tiny old town of Newport Pagnell, near London, Mr. Austin sat in a foofy coffee shop with a Realtree-style coat zipped to the neck. (He only opened it once, briefly, to remove a single key from a Prada fanny pack surreptitiously strapped to his waist.) He grew up, and still lives, in a humdrum subdivision down the road called the Poets Estate. He and his buddies used to skateboard, break into abandoned places, hang out at the kebab shop.And the rest of the time — “deffo, 100 percent” — he was on the internet. At 8 or 9, that meant building Lego animations on YouTube. (“Like, a skeleton horse chasing a guy,” Mr. Austin said.) By 14 or 15, it was prank calls and mock news channel stuff. He managed to build up a bit of a YouTube following, then switched his attention to Instagram, where he first posted cool-guy fit pics before having a revelation.“Mate, if I’m just showing you what I’m wearing, that’s not gonna get me anywhere. This is Instagram. You can’t deep it,” Mr. Austin said, meaning “take it seriously.” So he pivoted and started posting stuff like “me looking in the mirror, and in the mirror is this really buff guy,” he said. “It was the right turn to make.”Around the same time, inspired by the multi-hyphenate talent Tyler, the Creator, he introduced a clothing label called Crowd; he now sells to customers as far as Dubai. He used to work at a Subway, but quit when a Crowd pop-up netted him more money in one weekend than he’d previously made in a month. He even wrote an elaborate resignation letter: “Thanks to everyone even Carlos bye Marisa I hope I can transfer my sandwich making skills to my future day to day life.”As much as anything, “Mary Berry” was a promo for Crowd. (The video is full of Crowd clothes, and a post-video drop was his best-selling to date.) But it was also born of a generational D.I.Y. ethos: Why not do it?Mr. Austin points to Alex From Glasto, a fellow pasty British teen who won viral fame last summer when he was pulled onstage at Glastonbury by the rapper Dave to perform the hit “Thiago Silva.” Since then, Alex From Glasto has released his own single. “I was like, ‘No offense to him, but if this guy can blow up …” Mr. Austin said, trailing off.The making and release of “Mary Berry” was tied — breathlessly, naturally — with Instagram documentation: edited fake DMs from Drake asking to get on the remix, surreal footage of Mr. Austin surrounded by a platoon of life-size Mary Berry cardboard cutouts. “I did a video of me throwing a basketball out a window and then the Lakers being like ‘yo, we need to sign you right now,’” he said. The first Instagram Story tracking the journey is just captioned “about to become a full time rapper.”He also got friends who are big on Instagram, like @GullyGuyLeo, to post a snippet of the song.Then he landed attention of @ImJustBait, an influential British meme account run by a slick operator named Antz. (According to lore that Mr. Austin repeats reverentially, Antz started it without even having a cellphone. “He used his friend’s phone! Now he’s got, like, the most known Instagram page!”) Antz messaged Mr. Austin, saying, “yo, you’re jokes.” Now Mr. Austin is signed to Antz’s imprint, WEAREBLK, an entity created specifically to avoid the pattern of established labels profiting off viral successes they had no hand in creating.So Mr. Austin is now officially, and accidentally but not accidentally, an independent musician. At an appearance at the taste-making Boiler Room Festival, he heard people sing his lyrics back to him for the first time. His tour with NSG took him to London and Birmingham and Manchester alongside “mad big artists.”“I felt so bad because all these artists put in so much time and I’m just like, ‘what is going on,’” he said. The juvenilia-fueled song made the rounds and even got back to his grandma. (He said she texted him about one of the more anatomically graphic lyrics.)Next up, hopefully, is some money. “My dad’s a builder and he doesn’t work right now, which is tough. And my mum’s a teacher in a special needs school. So pay off my parents debt, that’s the very first goal,” Mr. Austin said. “And after that it’s like — whatever. Literally tomorrow I could try beatboxing, and then, a year from now I could be a really famous beatboxer. Anything I wanna do, I’ll just do it. Cause there’s no reason for me not to do it. So I’ll do it.” Read the full article

[packernet]

New Post has been published on https://www.packernet.com/blog/2020/01/18/the-packers-path-to-victory/

The Packers Path to Victory

Check out the latest on the Packernet Podcast as we prepare for the Packers matchup with the 49ers

Transcript

8s – 1m 8s

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome, once again to the back of that podcast. I am your post and Resident panelist has always right and she lifts check it out online packernet.com. Find me on Twitter Pack underscore data. So today we’re going to have to start talking about the 49ers a little bit more because the game is tomorrow also going to be out of town again. So I’ve got the laptop that really just doesn’t even work. So we’ll just have to see how it goes obviously have to put out something but it might just be on my phone. I don’t know so we got to get in as much today as possible because tomorrow just stared there’s no guarantees cuz my laptop is so awesome. It takes like 45 minutes just to turn it on. So I’ve got some other NFL stuff. We’re just going to put off until another day next week, whatever and I do want to try to get into a usually what I do is sort of a deep statistical dive orbital PFF grades or or whatever. I want to do that a little bit, but I’m really I’m really starting to feel I should say starting I’m done. I’m just I’m fully immersed in the emotion of the

1m 8s – 2m 8s

And so I want to try to keep it somewhat cerebral but I’m having a hard time getting into that that had space cuz I am I’m just in full on. I mean it’s a combination between being overwhelmed that we’re even here and in were you know, if in 48 hours we’re going to know whether the Packers are going to the Superbowl less than that, obviously, but it’s more than twenty-four. So I just rounded up cuz it’s easier will call at 36 and say that’s probably closed and so I’m going to try to strike that balance today because we got to get into some kind of substance of thing, but I still feel like I got a lot to get off my chest and any other the other part of it is is that we’re so close but also the amount of trash talk that’s been going on his crazy and end if you been listening, you know, the one thing that’s going to bait me are terrible arguments. If you lay out an argument that says this is why the 49ers going to win. I don’t care at all. I’m going to read it not my head and go yet makes sense and move on cuz I just died. That’s fine. You’re allowed to think.

2m 8s – 3m 8s

Anybody can win and here’s my analysis and all right good good one, but just terrible argument, especially by the I’ll call them the blue checkmark folk just really about that. But supposed authorities people that are supposed to be in the know. They’re supposed to be above us that we’re just fans. They’re professionals. I can’t help myself man. I just can’t help it. So again, that’s my goal. Today is to strike that balance will see how it goes because we got both to talk about. So anyways, just want to say a big thank you to everyone that is now supporting on patreon. We are up to 58 patrons, which is fantastic anywhere. We’re well beyond any amount of support of ever had if you have the ability to support the podcast it would be very greatly appreciate it again as little as a dollar a month really goes a long way for me and I’m assuming for most all of you it did that’s not going to impact you very much the next goal I have set is to get up to a hundred patrons and when we get to that goal, but by the way

3m 8s – 4m 7s

The 18th we can get there by about forty two people that’s like going to 1% of the people listening. Then what I want to do for the giveaway is not only are you going to get whatever t-shirt you want you get to pick whatever design you want has to be Packers related has to be family friendly. Preferably something that can go in the store or not. You know, Jim is awesome. Go pack go like no man, but if you want to like za’darius snub sure, whatever you get to pick the design. I will go pay to have it design. I will put it in the store for sale and you will be getting one of those for free as of right now the giveaway is you go into the store you pick any item because we’re going to have a good day giveaway for everyone who is a patron or donor of any kind some people giving other ways. They are also included my goals and I’m hoping you can jump in and help me with that. Otherwise 5 * iTunes review Stitcher review any kind review would be greatly appreciated and again to make sure you are subscribing to the Packers podcast. Now remember that’s the name of the podcast.

4m 8s – 5m 7s

Ultra confusing thing and I apologize is that the correct podcast the logo says pack daddy the incorrect podcast the logo says packernet again. I apologize. It is what it is. Anyways, why don’t we just hurry up and take a break so we can get into this cuz I have a lot of things I want to say ladies and gents if you’ve got nagging muscle and joint pain, you got to at least check out omax Health. It is a natural breakthrough pain relief solution and it’s called cryofreeze CBD. It’s a role on develop Biomax health does no prescription needed triple-action pain relief and is specifically formulated to block the pain receptors and reduce inflammation. It is 100% natural. It’s CBD powered it works within 10 minutes and it’ll last up to eight hours anyone from professional athletes to Grandma Josie can benefit from the immediate pain relief. If you got pain that won’t go away then you need to know Max cryofreeze.

5m 8s – 6m 8s

Simply rolled over where it hurts me Iced Out the pain you got no messy creams. No horrible fragrances, which is the worst and it’s going to improve your physical training recovery and performance and omax health is offering my listeners 20% off a full bottle of cryo freeze CBD pain relief roll on plus free shipping. This discount also applies for Danny product site-wide just go to omax health.com today and enter code over time. That’s o m a x health.com and enter overtime to get 20% off cryofreeze and anything they’ve got on the site and once you get your joints feeling right, make sure you follow your favorite baseball team to the Arizona Cactus League spring training mother, you’re a fan of the Diamondbacks Cubs Sox Red’s Indians Rockies Royals Angels Dodgers Brewers. Athletic Padres Giants Mariners Rangers. Get out there and go wash your team or better yet. Just go to Cactus League. Calm and tell me it doesn’t look awesome. The great weather giant ice cream cones at the baseball stadium kids getting their stuff signed by

6m 8s – 7m 3s

Baseball players before and after in the great news is once it’s done you’re in Arizona on vacation. If you’re into like quirky art see Ghost Town e stuff. They got it. If you’re looking for a real nice Water Resort in up class high-class haute couture restaurants that got it. Whatever you want to do after you watch some baseball. You can do it. So planner spring training get away at visit arizona.com spring training, you know, you want to call right where to begin? Why don’t we start with a question from the Facebook group? This is from Taylor. Taylor says do you think this is Rogers best chance at another Super Bowl? I know the team is locked up a large part of the defense, but I think the lack of injuries this year is an oddity in with getting home field advantage in a bye last week. I’m not sure if we’ll get a better chance and he has right now also if he doesn’t make it doesn’t really hurt his legacy is being one of the best in the game matter of fact, is he the owner?

7m 4s – 8m 4s

O matter of fact is he’s only been to a single Superbowl got it. So I don’t want to again answer this in some kind of a lazy fashion cuz I know you’re looking for a direct like yes or no answer in terms of you know, like is this going to be the best team or whatever? I don’t know. The point is though the Packers have to act as though this is they’re not just best opportunity. It might be their last opportunity and that’s not a commentary on whether or not I think we’re going to get better. It’s just a fact of the matter of regardless of how we feel about what the potential is. We have to know. There’s a potential that there’s a Russian and there are some good points in terms of is this an oddity in other words. Look I said a lot last year about how the Chicago Bears were likely going to regress because things were performing higher than expectations certain things certain players certain whatever you could make a case of the Packers are in the same boat not obviously you can make it a case of the for example, the biggest lagging thing here is the often which is beginning to click and

8m 4s – 9m 4s

Is about to add a bunch of talent, of course, we can sit here and now they’re going to be much better next year possibly but let’s just for argument’s sake and for the sake of not wanting to be negative at this time of year. Let’s just say they do get better in 2011. The Green Bay Packers were 15 and one they didn’t win the Super Bowl that year. They haven’t won a Super Bowl since they haven’t even been to a Superbowl since 2010. This isn’t even about being better. The Super Bowl really is a different entity. It’s not about earning. It is not about deserving it. It’s not about it in terms of this is the best team there for you get in I would say even the best team has a is unlikely to get in it’s not about that anymore. That’s what everybody’s missing while 49ers better Chiefs or better bone. There you go teams like the Rams and the Chiefs and the 15 one Packers back in 2011 were deserving teams. That did not win a Superbowl at so even if the Packers get better next year that doesn’t mean they’re going to automatically get to the Superbowl, but let me continue to allow.

9m 4s – 10m 4s

This isn’t just an Aaron Rodgers issue because he’s getting up and made this isn’t just a Bryan bulaga tissue Randall Cobb was drafted in 2011 in his rookie year the Packers would 15 + watt Randall. Cobb has never been to a Superbowl Randall Cobb. Got let go by the team that drafted he’s about to become a free agent on his second team. Now, I don’t care if you’re Aaron Rodgers Kevin King or rashan Gary. This might be your last opportunity to have an opportunity to Simply win this game and be to the Super Bowl. I know it feels like a rookie therefore and I know from a Fan’s perspective. This is a young team we can get multiple Super Bowl. I know what it feels like and I know we can look into the future and say well they can just get better. So can everybody else. I’m sure guys like Derek Sherrod and Devon House were also drafted that you’re felt on top of the world. I’m sure there was a feeling of oh, well, we’ll get them next time which by the way if the Packers lose to the 49ers, that’s the mentality we’re all going to take.

10m 4s – 11m 4s

The fact of the matter is that 15 in one season was followed by five playoff losses and Then followed after that like two years of just missing the playoff. Do I think this is our best chance in terms of is this going to be the best team to win the Super bowl over the next 5-6 years? I don’t know. I would guess not I’m assuming they’re going to get better. But my point is it doesn’t matter if they get better. It’s entirely possible that get better and don’t get to the Superbowl you have to take what’s right in front of you right now and assume it’s never going to happen again. And again, it doesn’t matter if you’re 22 or 42 because even if the Packers get better guess what the Saints are still a team. The Seahawks are still a team the Vikings the 49ers the Rams and the Cowboys. They’re all teams that are good teams that have the ability to get better and win the Packers can get better next year and lose some of these clothes game 13 and 3 is is a near impossibility. Even for good team and forget about teams that are good. Now that might also get better. What about teams that are not very good that could have murdered her about the Cardinal the Young

11m 4s – 12m 4s

We’re back in and you know getting that whole system together. They have a good draft. Why can’t they the Eagles? You think they can’t get back on top the Giants? I don’t know about their leadership, but they’ve got a quarterback that got a running back. They started building that offensive line. They’re going to have some really high draft pick who’s to say they can’t get better. What about the Redskins with Haskin and the fact that they’re about to get Chase young similar to how the 49ers just got Nick Bosa and also have a newer better more talented Co there’s 32 teams is my point and being even the best out of 32 doesn’t guarantee you of of a darn thing. So, I don’t know if it’s their best chance, but this has to be everybody’s everybody’s mentality has to be this is it because it might be this is a very big deal and all they’ll be the obvious mentality is look this is just this is this is your what this thing is. Just getting started this only better from here at we have no idea what’s coming. What happened to this team is a Darius and press start the best pass-rush duo in football what happens if siderius just gets like 9

12m 4s – 13m 4s

Next next year or 10 or 11 and in Preston gets 8 that’s still better than we have had but it’s not this freakish Lehigh number even if we had a good wide receiver. I don’t know that that fully balances that out and I’m not trying to be negative. I believe the Packers are going to get better. I trust and Brian gutekunst. I trust and Matt LaFleur, I trust and Aaron Rodgers. I trust in his defense and Mike Pettine. I think they’re going to continue to get better. But again, it doesn’t matter if they get better. You are not guaranteed and NFC Championship game. Just cuz you got better does that mean you’re as good as the Vikings or the Saints or the 49ers do you think maybe they could get better? You think the Cowboys could make it better? Of course, they can’t so yes, everybody needs to act as though we will never get another opportunity again because the fact of the matter is there’s a very good chance if you don’t get there now, there’s a lot of guys on this team who will never ever see you Super Bowl and you can go back through the list of all the players that have come and gone through Greenbay since the last time they were at a Superbowl.

13m 5s – 14m 4s

The list is pretty long. It is not a foregone conclusion that we’re going to be here every year. This is a very very very important moment. This is a very very very important game and I I believe the Packers know what I hope they know it and especially the rookies Jimmy Graham doesn’t need to be reminded that this is probably his last chance marcedes Lewis probably doesn’t need to be reminded at the end the fact that Aaron Rodgers talks in every other interview about how the finality of his career is becoming very clear. He knows this could be his last opportunity. These guys don’t need reminding but guys, like jaire guys, like Darnell Savage and Elton Jenkin they need to recognize that they may never ever get another chance to get into a Super Bowl and win a Super Bowl championship and although it seems weird cuz it’s your rookie year. You got to recognize that. It’s true. So very good question and it took me awhile to think that through but at that that’s the best answer I’ve got I don’t know if this is their best. Yes, it’s their best chance because they’re there he’s all

14m 4s – 15m 4s

What words would you would you trade away this opportunity for the next five years like it if you had to guess or put money down on win the Packers win a Super Bowl. Would you bet on this year when they’re in the NFC Championship or would you look at the next 5 years in bed on that? You can put your money in the next 5 years. It’s not a terrible bet but I’m I’m I’m taking a bird in the hand approach. We’re here now. It seems weird. We shouldn’t be rookie head coach, right? We’re in a rebuilt. We just did a tear down a year ago. You shouldn’t be here this fast, but we are and we might not be here again. And so we’ve got to strike now. So I want to know move on to finish this so much overlap with all this, you know that the weird thing about this is that making a case for how and why the 49ers win is not a hard thing to do. It’s not hard. So what would possess somebody to make ridiculous cases? Why would you need to over exaggerate the case for the 49ers? They don’t need help. There’s no reason.

15m 4s – 16m 4s

July in the favor of the 49ers there a good football team. And so when you see on I believe it was ESPN the graphics going around all over the place talking about which matchups are the best in other words with the best quarterback who is the best wide receiver or receivers. It’s it’s 49ers all the way down the line with the exception of special teams, which is just weird. It’s all so strange that the only group left out. They included defense every unit on offense special teams and coaches, but they left out offensive line and area that’s pretty clearly in the favor of the Packers. What’s the 49ers are bad, but I find it a little strange. But why would you need to lie about the quarterback you actually believe Jimmy Garoppolo is a better quarterback than Aaron Rodgers even in a supposed down here for Aaron Rodgers. Is that your belief how why and based on what first of all you’re saying that the 49ers have better coaches, correct? So he has a better person.

16m 4s – 17m 4s

Getting stuff from his coaches according to you has better receivers. And so you would expect a guy that plays for a better team with better running backs better coaches better play calling better receivers and is a better quarterback would have better stats isn’t is that a reasonable expectation that a better quarterback with better weapons and better coaching wouldn’t would perform better than a not as good quarterback was not as good weapons. Not as good running back not as good coaches not as good play-calling but yet we’ve got Jimmy Garoppolo with 40 100 yards Aaron Rodgers with 4200 yards pretty similar. Aaron Rodgers is a head. But again, why would that be the case for the more they both have 28 touchdown, which is weird. You would expect you to have more cuz he’s better and is better weapons and running back and coaches. But then when you go to interceptions, Aaron Rodgers has for Jimmy G has 14 be on that if we look at Pro Football Focus, which is grading every single snap every single play. Aaron Rodgers has a

17m 4s – 17m 60s

85.3 overall great which is to say very good. Jimmy Garoppolo is a 77.7, which is good. If we look at the quarterbacks when there’s no pressure from a clean pocket who’s better. Jimmy garoppolo’s in 89.5. Basically Elite. Aaron Rodgers is a 91.3 unquestionably Elite. What about Under Pressure though? Aaron Rodgers draft all the way down to a 61.7 joist thrown for a thousand yards six touchdowns in a pig. Jimmy garoppolo’s grade is a 47.65 touchdowns, which is one last and 5 interception and he’s only thrown for 864 yards while Under Pressure. Why why would you say that? Why would you again even if you’re biased even if you’re a 49ers fan, maybe ESPN’s headquarters is out and in San Francisco tomorrow biased in Al Packer hating 49er fans. I don’t know you can still make the case. The 49ers are a better team.

18m 1s – 19m 1s

And keep your integrity by admitting Aaron Rodgers a better quarterback. That’s that’s the baffling thing about this you’re destroying your own credibility on live television for the sake of overstating a case. That doesn’t need to be overstated. You can just say Aaron Rodgers is better than Jimmy although Jimmy still good and you can make a case about the running backs, which is a fairly reasonable case. If you wanted to push that issue you can say they have a better running back group and a pack of fans want to dig in their heels on that. I’m probably not going to argue. Aaron Jones is the best running back of the group. If you want it. He’s the only one with over a thousand yard and he has 10 more touchdowns than anybody in San Francisco. However, he’s got a lot more attempts than anybody else. Also. He’s running for 4.5 yards-per-attempt Raheem mostert is running for five point six, Matt breida 4.9 yard. So unless you just want to say Aaron Jones has more touchdowns than Tevin Coleman and and mostert combined and Matt breida for that man, Matt breida.

19m 1s – 20m 1s

Kevin Coleman Foster combine have 17 touchdowns. Aaron Jones has 18 again. You can make the case if you want to but you don’t have to it’s pretty close. You could even make the argument that they have a better running back then Aaron Jones if you want to look at yards-per-attempt as your main metric, I just don’t understand the need to over exaggerate stuff again. It’s very simple based on lots of different metrics that you would come out with the fact that the 49ers are a better team. Why do you need to lie? There’s also been a lot of talk about the pass rushers. Yeah. The Packers have a couple of guys but the 49ers have just got this Elite front for it’s not even close. The Packers aren’t as good and they come up with these random statistic. And again, there’s no reason to lie. Your team doesn’t have to be the best in every single category in order for you to be right about something. This was a comment made on Twitter to game changers versus for game records. I’ll take the 49ers and that’s that’s that’s just a guy on Twitter, but that’s been

20m 1s – 21m 1s

Heated by a lot of people, so I just laid out the staff and I was even making a case that they’re entirely wrong, but the idea that there’s two guys against for guys is kind of just incorrect. Here are the team pressure percentages, and some people came out with her ear AIDS and all this nonsense to try to twist the numbers. The fact of the matter is pressure percentage is when you’re trying to get to the quarterback, how often do you do with number one on this list is the Darius Smith at 17.87% That is a ridiculous number that is almost never been reached in in PFF era history. Very very rare BOCES number to a 16.7 Ford is number 3 at 14th, then Preston at 13th and Armstead at 12 Kenny at 12 fackrell attend Buckner attend Gary a tent. So, it’s really just you got to elite elite guys into Darius and boat to very good guys in Ford and press then you got the good players in Armstead and Kenny were pretty even across the bull and then you’ve got the not terrible.

21m 1s – 22m 1s

Pass rushers in fackrell Buckner and Gary and I took all the guys with a certain amount of of snaps that are above the 10% Mark. It’s pretty even if it is as I guess the point that depending on the metric the Packers are better depending on you know, this or that the 49ers are better to look at Saks. It’s definitely the Packers best pass-rushers seems to be za’darius most pass rushers above 10 would be the Packers, but I’m sure there’s a lot of other metrics to look at that would say the 49er the birth of the bottom line is though they’re both Elite pass-rusher groups and the media narrative is that the 49ers are just on a different level. The Packers have za’darius was very good. But he’s not as good as Bosa. He’s nowhere near as good as bosun Ford combined with Preston and all that is just the Packers have a couple of improvement but the 49ers are on a different level and that’s just not true any idea that well, do you know they’re they’re much better against the run the Packers which if we want to go to the more well-rounded route, it is true the package of struggled against the run their 23rd in yards allowed 24.

22m 1s – 23m 1s

Open yards-per-attempt. Here’s the thing. The 49ers are 23rd in yards per attempt there one spot higher than a 17th in yards on the ground. They’re not that good men are not bad, but it’s not like this is an elite Defender by the way, all the talk about Elite defense in this and that this is an offensive football team. This is a team that wins with offense not as much defense. The defense has a mass of supporting factor for this is the this this team is number 2 on offense number 8 on defense in terms of points. Allow me to elaborate further. I’ve done a lot as far as correlations looking at statistics. I want to try that once but looking at Pro Football Focus cuz we can do a week-to-week look at position-by-position whether they performed really well or really poorly what the correlations are between winning and losing so if we start with defense obviously a better defensive performance is more largely going to correlate with win. The problem is it’s not as solid or direct of a correlation.

23m 1s – 24m 1s

Point in case case and point the 49ers best defensive performance in this is backed up by d v o l d v o a as well as PFF for all the anti PFF is dvoa and PFF varioline out of my most thing slight variation, but they’re very life best defensive performance by the 49ers all year with week 10 against the Seattle Seahawks. They lost that game worst performance. They had on defense by Favre week 9 against the Arizona Cardinals. They won that game offensively best performance was against Seattle Seahawks in week 17. They won that game worst performance Seattle Seahawks week 10 week 10 was simultaneously their defense is best game their offenses. Worst game guess what happened? Guess what one out there is a much stronger correlation between their offense of success and winning football game. Let me elaborate further looking at offensive grades over all week to week when the offense does not get to a 70 which is quote-unquote good when the offense is not good or was it when they are good?

24m 2s – 25m 1s

The team is 12 and elf when they don’t get to that 70 mark their two and three so this brings up another point and it’s one of the more frustrating things. I’ve seen it again. It goes to the to the point of just being embarrassed for people that call themselves professional. There’s another quote going around and essentially it’s I don’t see any way the Packers win. This is so logically incoherent. It’s unbelievable granted. This was said by a state’s I don’t even want to see the title cuz it’s so embarrassing to use her relatively high up people at NBC Sports. I believe the one of them is a Seattle guy. Maybe he’s just anti Packers. I don’t know maybe it’s just because it’s the 49ers and you got a good look at how good they are, right? You know, I don’t know but then you got the guy that said Mitch trubisky is better than Aaron Rodgers that dolt back this up, but here’s the logical inconsistency with it. It’s not a matter of can they win any team can win On Any Sunday? We know that so to say there’s no way is

25m 2s – 26m 2s

Eyerly self-defeating because you know, there’s a way the question is in every game what are the conditions in which the underdog wins that is a question you can ask and answer every single week for you to come out and admit that I can’t think of any possible way is your attempt to be spiteful. But again, you’re doing it at your own expense. Could you make yourself look dumb? We’re talkin about Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Jones Davante Adams David bakhtiari Bryan. Bulaga za’darius Smith Preston Smith, Kenny Clark King jaire Savage a most this is a talented football team with some of the better talent in the entire NFL in you’re coming out publicly saying I can’t think of a single way that that roster can beat the team that lost to the Falcons a couple weeks ago. I just don’t have that kind of imagination that that’s that’s that is entirely you saying I stink at my job and you’re doing it to be

26m 2s – 27m 1s

I don’t know you’re exaggerating a point. I just I just don’t understand the people that that want to make a a strong point by deliberately saying I’m a dummy. I can’t even fathom that you can’t think of a way you can get this is it this is the San Francisco 49ers team that is lost 3 game. This is a Packers team that is 114 game. You can’t think of the conditions in which a 14 wind team can beat a team that has been beaten this year. So, you know how the 49ers lose you have a very large sample size of how the Packers win and you can’t think of what those conditions might be and then you said it publicly that is shockingly embarrassing and if I was your employer, I would be appalled in the fact that this is like the fifth time that this has happened but we have people that are self-proclaimed intelligent people who walk around with their chest puffed out because of their title and then go on Twitter and demonstrate why they should not have any position of the kind is baffling to me by the way children.

27m 2s – 28m 2s

If you’re listening one of the biggest misconceptions is that adults know what they’re doing. We don’t if you have aspirations to go out and be something and do something the biggest and best piece of advice I can give you is that nobody knows what they’re doing. Everybody’s just Faking It with very rare exception. So if you’re good at something go do it a hundred percent because a lot of people in that industry are not very good at what they’re doing and I don’t mean to be disparaging but that is the exact reason. I started the Packers podcast. It suits my strengths and I’ve also listen to several Packers podcast. There’s some good ones. There’s some really really garbage podcast that’s life in a nutshell go. Look at the managing editor of NBC sports or whatever. Look at how that man’s brain works or doesn’t look at the guy at Terra Kiger from PFF this analytical website who who doubles down on the defense that defense doesn’t matter and that a game in which the Packers

28m 2s – 29m 2s

Defense beat the Seahawks offense was an example of that. If you have aspirations just push real hard and also make a lot of connections because that’s the only way I can think that people like this end up with jobs like those it’s not competence. Sometimes it might be but it doesn’t have to be that you got dreams push real hard you’ll get there if you’re good at something go for it. Cuz everybody else probably isn’t it remarkable to me anytime. You want to bait me into something just say ignorant nonsense like that and I spent 30 seconds this morning trying to find a condition in which the Packers we I come out here and find out that it’s it’s number one. It’s an offensive driven team because I turned off what the media says, which is that this is an elite defense with George Kittle. So it’s George kill and an elite defense. They do have a good defense. They’re their top 10 barely but their top 10 in point anyways, which is the only thing that really matters in football there a switch by the way, the Packers are 9th to the fact that that’s the big like the big thing is that the Packers have a pretty good defense for the 40.

29m 2s – 29m 59s

I was just on a different level but they’re not though beyond that. Let me illuminate something out. The only thing the Packers need to win. This game is an offensive performance. Yes that I mean the defense has to show up but we’re talking about a defense that is not allowed more than 23 points since the last time they play the 49ers which was an anomaly anybody saying this is going to be a repeat which is something that blue check mark people have been saying this is going to be a repeat of week 12 which again wildly ignorant but but the Packers have not allowed a lot of Point by the way, Seattle’s offense is pretty good and although they looked pretty gas by the end of that game. That’s because they had Russell Wilson running around this is not Russell Wilson. This is a static quarterback. And by the way that guy a lot of those pressures and socks came from Russell Wilson holding the ball a lot cuz nobody was open this defense with a very good pass-rush that was getting to Russell Wilson a lot and don’t the only reason they didn’t have 10 sacks is because of his ability to escape

29m 60s – 30m 60s

Table out 23 2010 13 15 and 13 the last few games they play one of those teams, by the way, the lowest of which was the Minnesota Vikings in Minnesota if the Packers defense keeps doing what it’s been doing, which I’ve been saying for a long time the magic numbers 24 and they have not allowed a team above $0.24 San Francisco and it’s only been a handful of teams that have gotten above 24 three to be exact Eagles and charges of the only other teams that have gotten a book 24. By the way those the only three teams that have ever beaten the Green Bay Packers if it is true that this offense is in a rhythm if it is true that they’re starting to get there grew. How can you not come up with a scenario in which the Packers win? Because ultimately I think that’s what this game comes down to on both sides of the ball. The defense is ability to stop the offense and look the 49ers offense has been better than the Packers. So that’s sort of the storyline if you want to make a case for the 49ers. It’s very simple on top of being home. It’s the fact that two very similar defenses are trying to stop two offenses and between the two offenses you have the

30m 60s – 31m 59s

15th ranked Packers offense trying to be stopped by the 49ers defense compared to the second-ranked 49ers offense against the Packers defense. The Packers defense has a more difficult job. That’s the simple case you make but the problem with that narrative is that it’s not that big of a a blowout scenario. It’s it’s more of the 49ers have a slight Edge and nobody wants to say that that you because again, the Packers are frauds Packers are useless 49ers of this Elite Juggernaut, which is a pretty wild exaggeration. The Baltimore Ravens statistically were a much better team than the 49ers. They’re gone. By the way, the Patriots defense was one of the better defense as we’ve seen a very long time the offense did struggle but they’re gone much better defense than the 49ers defense. So I’m not I’m not even going to sit here and try to Des Peres the 49ers cuz that’s silly because I care about my ability to think it’s not so much about reputation. I just don’t want to be dumb for my own sake and it would be dumb to to Discount the 49ers in San Francisco. That’s a tough.

31m 60s – 32m 50s

Matchup, but guess what? It’s the playoff but the point is every team right now. It’s got a tough matchup. The Titans have a tough matchup. The Packers have a tough matchup, but guess what the Chiefs also have a really tough game ahead of them. And so do the 49ers and anybody giving any message beyond that is dumb either they’re dumb on purpose or they don’t know it and I don’t know if this is like trying to grab as much attention as you can while everybody’s looking at the Super Bowl everybody’s looking at the NFL right now because we’re really close to the end. There’s only four teams left. So I got to just say the most ridiculous stuff to get as many retweets as possible doesn’t matter if I get ratioed. It’s just, you know, I just need as much attention as possible right now make myself look important. I don’t know. I really don’t understand why this would ever happen because look going back to the initial thing Packers versus 49ers Pass Run.

32m 51s – 33m 51s

Shrug is Awash. If you want to see the 49ers pass rushers better fine. I don’t care maybe I mean listen, they’re both good enough that if you told me the 49ers had a better day rushing the passer than the Packers did I wouldn’t be shocked in the least neither should anyone be shocked if the Packers have more success rushing the passer than the 49ers because guess what both teams have incredible pass-rush units. It’s not even really debatable and saying the Packers have no path to Victory is lazy. It’s just laziness. Anyways, let’s take a break and I want to zoom in a little bit more on the sort of analytical side of it look a little bit more specifically and what it takes and and what the conditions are for winning and losing because I actually care about learning these things. I actually want to grow as a person who watches football. I want to have actual opinions that matter and I want to give you information that’s actually nourishing as opposed to just walk into a room and just start swinging wildly just a hammer in search of an

33m 51s – 34m 51s

Knowing full well that I’m just going to shatter windows in and you know knockout Grandma, but I don’t care cuz I just want to be wild I don’t I don’t know I can tell you though if I ever get big enough to where I have like a website or anything and there are people making those kinds of arguments on Twitter. We’re going to have a conversation about that because I care much less about cloud and I’ll care much more about reputation and the fact that I hired someone that’s such a dummy that is admitting online that I have no ability. No and no amount of intelligence to come up with a scenario in which the Packers can beat the 49ers and then get out of here with hyperbole make statements that make sense sound intelligent for once in awhile, you know occasionally try your best. Can you do it? Maybe you shouldn’t be here if you can’t put a coherent logical statements and string them together and I’m a little bit more agitated than usual. I’m sorry and I made up a note to myself yesterday trying to be a little less angry. Let’s have fun.

34m 51s – 35m 30s

But I just I’m I’m I’m so I want the Packers to beat the 49ers so badly and it’s not even about the 49ers anymore. I used to really dislike the 49ers. I want all of these people who are saying all of this nonsense to go hide under a rock until August. Will they pop back out make more declarative statements and hope that we forgot cuz this is all nonsense and it’s just it just infuriates me. Everybody’s got their their things that they just can’t tolerate this. Is it for me people walking around with their chest out calling themselves Authority because Twitter says, yes, that’s who he says he is and then saying mindless nonsense and then sticking your nose up at people who give reasonable.

35m 31s – 36m 31s

Arguments about why you’re wrong, but then goes to a fall like you would know just it just makes me crazy but we’re going to take a break. I’m going to get up and walk around splash some cold water on my face when we to try to look at Stats facts and information for a little bit to close this thing out as let’s continue on looking at this offensive thing for the 49er. So for example, looking at points score when the team has scored 26 or more points their undefeated when they get to 24 points or less there three and three remember 24 points is the magic number again. This is all right. I’m not upset point is though if you want an answer to the question, how did the Packers win this game? It’s relatively simple. The defense needs to do what it’s done all year keep the San Francisco 49ers to 24 or less points again. Only three times this entire year has a Teamster past 24 points on this defendant if they can do that again, they put the seat of the 49ers of Sorry For Keeps.

36m 31s – 37m 31s

Seahawks are why I’m confused right now. They put the 49ers in a situation where they’re at about 50% That’s that’s a tough spot to be in because you look at him you said well, this is a team that won a lot of a lot of game 9/14 win team that went on this other games. Okay, but if you divide told you right now or if you told me that this team is only going to get 24 points. This is a 50 fit. This is a coin flip. So this this this is largely been in the the floor is set by the defense, right? So that’s that’s the defense. They look just get above 24 or in this case get 26 or higher Devon four25. So the line is is a couple points thick and typically the way that you gauge it got to kind of think this through for a second. The lower. The line is on your side the better the other portion of the team is so for example that the line that the defense sets for the offense is about 20, 25 points right above it. You win below at your 50/50. So that’s the line that the defense sets for the often does not bad, right? The Packers are a

37m 31s – 38m 30s

The better their line is about 24 or technically, I guess 23 because if you can score at least 24 points were in good good position here on the flip side of this looking at the defendant again, it’s slightly less predict. If I were to send a line it would still be at about 26th. The team would win offensive score more than 26 Point Thayer again 50% there too and to however there is one outlier the defense held the Baltimore Ravens to 20 points and they didn’t win why cuz the offense didn’t hold their end of the bargain again. The point is the offense has been the main driver of this team. And so what you see when that’s the case is that when the main driver doesn’t do its job the team doesn’t the team’s odds of losing go up really high similar to what we’ve seen with Aaron Rodgers in the past. Aaron Rodgers is the main move the offense more broadly is the main move with the offense isn’t doing its job what happened? It didn’t matter if the defense was having a good day. You know this go back two thousand nine 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 18 with the exception of a couple years.

38m 31s – 39m 30s

Defense being okay, you know full well, even if the defense is having a fairly good day at the office just can’t get moving we’re done and so that is largely the case with the 49ers. I’m just drilling at home because that has not really been the narrative. And so I think the biggest goal going into this. Although it’s a mean they’re good on both sides of the ball is that if you want to win you have to find a way to shut down the offense the good news for the Packers is if if if you were to tell me that the Packers are either going to dominate their defense or the defense is going to dominate their offense. Which do you think the Packers would have an easier time do it and I don’t mean to say it easy against second highest scoring offense in football, but could you see a path for example in which the Packers defense is disruptive enough that the 49ers aren’t exactly have in their best and I can remember we’re just saying keep them to 2424 point isn’t a terrible day. So are we saying the Packers at their best can’t keep the 49ers 24-point. It’s happened 6 times already this year the Falcons come from 222 the Rams come from 222.

39m 31s – 40m 30s

Redskins Captain 9 going to be in the 49ers even won that game is cuz they didn’t allow a single point to be scored by the Redskin so that would definitely be an example of the defense carrying that game but it’s it’s an outlier. Let’s look at something else. I talked a little bit about comparing Aaron Rodgers to Jimmy Garoppolo, but let’s take that information and say how do we disrupt this off in again? 24 points doesn’t guarantee a victory but it it drops a 14 went down to AAA 500 team a 50/50 15 similarly if we compare Jimmy Garoppolo with no pressure compared to pressure. It’s night and day in this is true with most teams. But again, we’re trying to figure out how to make this team. Not an elite football team. Let’s let’s look at it again when Jimmy Garoppolo is not under pressure 276 completions an 81.1 completion adjusted completion for 7 that is removing throwaways drops and batted passes. If you don’t want to do that, it’s still 73.2 which is insanely High. He’s thrown for 3245 yards 23

40m 31s – 41m 30s

Touchdowns nine interception 8.6 yards per attempt. He’s very very good contrast that with any time. Jimmy Garoppolo is under pressure 54% completions 864 yards 7.3 yards for a temperature still pretty high five touchdowns 5 interception sacked 38 times. So again a big part of the equation is the quarterback in the question is are we going to face a really good quarterback when I really bad quarterback and I’m telling you there’s a direct line between whether he’s pressured or not Which Wich just logically means the more times we pressure him the more times we get the 47 overall the another words. The bad is Jimmy Garoppolo and the times in which we can’t fresh when we get Elite Jimmy Garoppolo and then the blending of the two ends up being an average as far as how good of a game Jimmy Garoppolo has had meaning fresh air compressor compressor him in this is self-evident the Packers win if we can pressure Jimmy Garoppolo, they suddenly have a bad quarterback.

41m 30s – 42m 30s

All they have to do it if we just look at the grades Jimmy Garoppolo his hat the best game. He played all year and kind of by a lot with week 17 against Seattle the worst game. He played all year was week 10 against Seattle again. This is a big piece. I know he’s not the George Kittle of the often but George Kittle isn’t getting the ball if Jimmy Garoppolo in playing right the best game he played all year in a loss. He got graded out at a 63, which is barely out. The other games was a 44 + a 49 against Baltimore any game in which Jimmy Garoppolo head even a 65 overall gray. They won the game. I’m not saying this is the only key but there’s a massive component because I can’t remember the offense is more the keys in the defense and Jimmy Garoppolo is the main component of the office. He’s not the best player on offense, but he’s the easiest disruption. The Packers can have because taking away George Kittle. It’s probably going to be a lot more complicated than just disrupt.

42m 30s – 43m 30s

Jimmy Garoppolo before he can even get the ball to George Kittle. So I think at the end of the day this comes down to an endless in a lot of the success from the past comes from being able to run the ball successful again. I mentioned Raheem mostert in his ability to run for a lot of yards. And if you remember when we looked at the Detroit Lions, it was a high yards-per-attempt, but really that just came in a couple of game and a relatively small sample size. That’s not the case here last week Raheem had 4.8 yards per carry the week before that 5.7 4.8 3.96 Point 97.7 7.5 since Green Bay, that’s what he’s done prior to that the yard percent wasn’t that good since then pretty solid every single week. There was a 3.9 in there, but there’s also a 75077 us-69 this guy in particular in the 49ers and general have run the ball very, well. You run the ball. Well, it it hurts our ability to rush the passer because we’re not shooting is hard in the backfield. We’re not disrupting the quarterback and then he’s able to destroy

43m 30s – 44m 30s

The ball my thought on that is that the running the ball in order to try to get you to back off so that they can throw because that’s how they win football game. We have to stay committed to rushing the passer if you got a tweet something or just something change something to try to stop the run that doesn’t involve backing off the pass rusher if you want to keep them in Titanfall. It’s a corner. I don’t care how you do it because stopping the run is very important. But if they want to run for a lot of yards and rack up yards and still lose the game, I’m fine with that. It’s like a magic trick Matt don’t watch you know, the flashing object is moving their hand around trying to distract you while all the while. The other hand is the one sneaking into the pocket. They’re trying to distract you with the run or trying to scare you with the Run. They ran for 174 yards fifth-highest. They ran all year against the Baltimore Ravens. They still lost that game hundred 74 yards is a lot of rushing yards. Let him Dazzle you with their ability to run the ball because the fact of the matter is in that same game. He only threw for 157 yards, which is the fourth-lowest all C’s

44m 31s – 45m 30s

Fifth highest rushing yards 4th lowest passing yards. They lost that game. Don’t be scared of them running the ball find a way to stop it. If you can it’s going to help you but keep coming for Jimmy keep going after them the same way you did Russell because the fact of the matter is getting Russell five times as unbelievable because they had them in their sights at least 10 times. The only reason again, they didn’t have 10 sacks is cuz of his ability to scram Jimmy Garoppolo Ain’t That way not going to happen. So Darius Kenny Preston Rashawn fackrell Lake anybody that wants to get in on the corners the safeties the more heat we get on that guy the better our chance of winning this game again, he’s got just as good of a chance when he’s under pressure of throwing a touchdown as he does a Pick 5 touchdowns 5 interception that game against Seattle in week 10 very very close game Seattle. It listened Seattle’s not as good of a football team is the 49ers right that sort of overall broad statistical more statistics are going to line up for the 49ers and the Seahawks.

45m 31s – 46m 30s

Nothing, but the Seahawks found a way to scrap and battle and win again. That was his worst game and it’s not a coincidence. That was the second most amount of sacks. He had all your he was sacked five times in that game. Of course, there’s a million different keys and in things that are going on in any given game but this is the biggest one in that game against San Francisco. Za’darius did not play that terribly but he had five pressures. That’s one of the lowest he’s had all year Preston only had two pressure Kenny Clark had one pressure. There were 10 total pressures in the entire game 10 freshers. There were 30 last week against Seattle 30 Kenny Clark had seven by himself including a sack. He only had one pressure against San Francisco last time Preston Smith had seven pressures za’darius Smith had 11 pressure talking about this past week and interesting enough. The pressure is already. It’s it’s a giant vac the Lions, you know, obviously not that good of a team right almost beat the pack. Is it a coincidence?

46m 31s – 47m 30s

Since the Packers only had 11 pressures in the game to Darius had six Preston and Kenny Clark had zero pressures in the game, even though the Ben Baldwin to the world and what not all the way perfectly agree with the statement that he made he’s pointed out if you look at DV away, it’s the defense that is massively improved over the last year not the often and I disagree that it’s while then they should have got rid of Mike McCarthy on his phone. Do you watch the games and saw the play calls in the end? It was pretty well known that this is a very vanilla Often by the way, just terrible play calling. I mean the plays are not that creative and Innovative. I think there’s something else going on there. First of all, the talent level is still what it was last year add in the fact that despite it’s a newer better scheme. It’s a more unfamiliar skis, but that’s that’s beside the point. The point is this is a team that right now is being driven by defense and that’s okay, but we need the defense to do its job and primarily the main mover. The main driver is pressure Seattle game. We won that because

47m 30s – 48m 30s

30 pressures and 5 sacks in that game. How do we beat the Minnesota Viking 20 pressures six sacks at least PFF calculate. They don’t do half sack even if you don’t like that number for the official box number was five. That’s how the team does a man when they rise up and B teams are not supposed to be in environment. They’re not supposed to be comfortable in its the defense that brings that pressure that gets the other team uncomfortable cuz that’s the main factor when you’re at home in an environment in which you don’t lose the 49ers are comfortable right now. They know they’re very good football team and they are they know they don’t lose at home with the exception of the Ravens but you know, the Raven was closed, but they know they know they’re a really good team and this is their house and they’ve got a great game plan and they trust that Shanahan those LaFleur inside out and they trust that they got this all figured out but that first time za’darius shoots through the line and berries Jimmy garoppolo’s head into the ground is the moment that all that confidence goes right out the window. Suddenly the Roar of the crowd isn’t there backing you up anymore? Suddenly you realize this is

48m 30s – 49m 30s

Something that’s just going to be pushed around it as much as you might think we’re better siderius doesn’t care as not going to make it hurt less when you see Kenny Clark is just a wild animal. That won’t stop rashan. Gary is is literally just a wild animal he’s unrefined. But he’s while and you look at the size of him and you wonder how can a man move that fast? I don’t know if you had a chance to go see if you can find he had one pressure on the game last week. It was his first play only had like 9 Russia’s so it was at 7, I think actually seven times you rush the passer the first time you did it again. That was the most za’darius Smith. Ask rush I’ve ever seen it was just I’m going to squeeze right between two guys about the other guy wasn’t really blocking but it wasn’t really so much technique. It was just I’m better. I’m bigger. I’m stronger. I’m faster and I’m going to squeeze past you I’m going to go around you and I’m going to hunt from the back side. And if you didn’t get cut his legs cut off from underneath them. He might have gotten Richard Russell Wilson from behind. I don’t care what you think. I don’t care what the stats say. None of that matter.

49m 30s – 50m 30s

You have to find a way to operate in that environment in this will be a hostile environment. I don’t care whose house it is. That is the key. That is the goal disrupt if his offense is able to get in Rhythm. They will hang up 30 points again 37 to be exact and that was really it that that that’s what it came down to right. What did I say that the key essentially for both teams is the defense needs to find a way to disrupt the offense. The Packers could not disrupt the offense. They got into a rhythm and essentially just scored on every driving right up 37 points the 49ers defense against a struggling bakhtiari and Alex light were able to disrupt Aaron Rodgers on almost every single drop back causing them to not be able to get into a rhythm and get a point. That was the key then it’s the key. Now. The question is will the Packers defense rise to the occasion this time or not. Will the Packers offensive line rise to the occasion or not? Those are the only two questions that matter if the answer is yes, the Packers have a very good chance of winning this game. It’s up to the offensive.

50m 30s – 50m 34s

defensive line of the Green Bay Packers bottom line

50m 35s – 51m 5s

just like I said before Aaron Rodgers just needs an opportunity to be the hero. The defense needs to keep the ball in his hand. Keep the score low the offensive line needs to give him a chance to stand on his feet and deliver a ball. Just give him the chance to be the hero and bring this team to a Super Bowl and I believe he will do it. Anyways, that’s all I got you folks. Enjoy your Saturday. As always. I will talk to you tomorrow. Hopefully, I’ll get something out one way or another, but otherwise you folks have yourself a fantastic day. Talk to you tomorrow. Bye. Bye.