#marketer of the year award

[itcstories]

ITC wins Mobile Marketer of the Year Award at Maddies

ITC wins Mobile Marketer of the Year Award for its achievement in mobile marketing. Read the post for more details.

[lovesodeepandwideandwell]

Blessings roll call!

[elceeu2morrow]

lisa_wilko83:

[wettyres]

ive had this idea for months since i watched Rush but since Lewis now has a movie production company, he makes a movie a lot like Rush with Hunt and Lauda but him and Seb

(its just as homoerotic 🤭)

[bourbontrend]

Experience the Best of Both Worlds with Knob Creek Bourbon x Rye! This unique, limited-edition whiskey blends the rich, sweet notes of bourbon with the robust, spicy flavors of rye. Unmistakably Knob Creek, this 113 proof marvel is perfect for savoring neat, on the rocks, or in your favorite cocktail. Discover why this new release is a must-have for whiskey lovers everywhere.

[directsellingnow]

Network Marketing Latest News: मोहम्मद इमरान बने साल के Most Promising Direct Selling Leader

Network Marketing Latest News: 5वें डायरेक्ट सेलिंग लीडरशिप एक्सीलेंस अवार्ड (DSLEA-2024) का भव्य समारोह महाराजा अग्रसेन इंटरनेशनल कॉलेज रायपुर छत्तीसगढ़ में संपन्न हुआ। कार्यक्रम में बतौर मुख्यातिथि शामिल फेडरेशन ऑफ़ डायरेक्ट सेलिंग एसोसिएशन के जनरल सेक्रेटरी श्री किशोर वर्मा के साथ-साथ डायरेक्ट सेलिंग नाउ के फाउंडर श्री राहुल शर्मा और को-फाउंडर श्रीमती यामिनी शर्मा खासतौर पर मौजूद रहीं। Network…

[madstars-festival]

Happy New Year🎇

We extend our heartfelt wishes for a prosperous new year to each of you.

We sincerely thank you for your generous support of MAD STARS over the past year. Your passion, resilience, and creativity have enabled us to bring together creative communication solutions in the fields of Marketing, Advertising, and Digital Content.

In its 17th edition, MAD STARS has undertaken further measures to enhance its awards program's quality and prestige. Notably, we have decided to introduce an entry fee in the Professionals category to ensure sustainable growth and discover high-quality creative solutions from diverse regions across the globe. 

In its 17th edition, MAD STARS has undertaken further measures to enhance its awards program's quality and prestige. Notably, we have decided to introduce an entry fee in the Professionals category to ensure sustainable growth and discover high-quality creative solutions from diverse regions across the globe.

We continue to adapt to the changes and challenges in the advertising and marketing industry, contributing to social values and maintaining our position as an internationally recognized awards festival.

As we embark on this new year, we wish you continued interest and support. May your days be filled with happiness and prosperity.

[micer2012]

a reflection on MatPat's plagiarism

Hello, my name is Della, or micer2012, and 2 years ago Game Theory plagiarized three Tumblr posts of mine, making a video that now holds almost 6 million views.

My posts explaining his plagiarism made their rounds on Reddit, Tumblr and Twitter, but despite the Hermits and Pooka commenting on it (generally in support of me or saying they don’t know enough details about the situation to say either way), MatPat and his team have never owned up to anything, and no mention of my name is present on the video. The one Reddit post they made denying it (which was made before my detailed takedown, which they have never responded to (though the mods on the r/GameTheorists Reddit were kind and made sure it stayed up)) didn’t even mention me by name, just referring to me as “a tumblr user”. (Though one of the screenshotted comments in the body of the post does say my name)

This experience was baffling, but it’s overall had a positive impact on my life. r/Hermitcraft gave me a Golden Apple Award (post of the year, 2021). My inbox was filled with excited fans, wanting to ask me questions or pose their own theories, far more than the hate I got. (Though the hate I got from Game Theory fans was VERY funny. I wondered why none of them gave me shit about saying “MatPat misgendered Evil Xisuma” before realizing none of them read that far into the post.)

And getting on a more personal, and much more important note, I met most of my current online friends through this, including my partner. It helped me grow closer with my irl friends as well and gave me an entertaining story that I tell whenever I have the chance. It was one of the first things in my life that really made me feel like my talents, my autistic hyperfocusing and analyzing of things I love, could be valuable. Useful. Exploitable. It blew my mind that MatPat thought an autistic kid’s ramblings about a Minecraft Youtube joke character were good enough to steal. To put an audible sponsorship on. To get 6 million views off of.

And that’s why I’m writing this post, this update years later. As you might’ve been able to guess, Hbomberguy’s Youtube video on plagiarism reopened this wound. It was really hard for me to sit through, it took days of pausing and taking breaks, because I had experienced everything he was talking about firsthand. 

In my 10 page long takedown post, I wrote about how his rewording of my sentences made him say things that were incorrect, just like Filip did. The content farm production style that made big companies like Cinemassacre take one creator (AVGN/MatPat) and turn him and his content into a brand, a voice that reads out scripts by other people with other opinions/theories, is a history shared with Game Theory. What really hit me was Harris talking about how big creators only do this to people they think they can get away with doing it to. How they view their victims as lesser, as not deserving of their words, repackaging them as their own to give to an audience that can gain from hearing them, but deserves better than to have to listen to the original victim.

That’s the thing, I 100% think a video version of my theory to expose to a bigger community than “Evil Xisuma Fans on Tumblr” is a great idea!! Near the end of the video Harris talks about how video adaptations of things could be a great market, even an accessibility tool, and I completely feel that about my posts. I wrote them quickly assuming the reader was someone well versed on Evil Xisuma lore, after not even watching most of the CarnEvil series, and the diagrams I made to explain them are even less comprehensible. Harris makes a joke that I completely agree with, 

“I’m sure some of my videos would do very well if someone translated them into English.”

I don’t think I would’ve ever made my posts if I didn’t have autism, and a special fixation on Evil Xisuma and Hermitcraft. I made them because I felt the character was being done an injustice, and because I wanted to share with other superfans this theory that might explain it away. I do think that MatPat plagiarizing me was ableist. I used to wonder a lot if this would’ve happened if my posts were articulated better, if they had been peer reviewed, if the posts themselves had been spread to a wider audience before MatPat made his video. At one point when the discourse was fresh (before I had the time to write out my 10 page rebuttal), a bigger YouTuber (100k subs at the time) messaged me and started talking on Discord, interested in possibly making a video on the discourse, but I think my style of typing and general enthusiasm drove him away. You can tell by a single look at my blog (or my original 3 posts!) that I don’t usually type like this. This post you’re reading now has been peer reviewed and edited, and took me hours to format correctly. That video could’ve been huge, the entire outcome of this MatPat situation would probably be much different.

I also used to stress a lot about “being the one who ruined Evil Xisuma’s story”. If you didn’t know, to me S8 Evil Xisuma’s story got wrapped up pretty quickly and unsatisfying (in my personal autistic opinion). (though this might’ve been due to s8 being experimental and ending early with moon big) There was no real culmination of the plot points and arcs going on, and I don’t want to blame myself, but when Xisuma said on stream (when the MatPat thing was first going on) that he didn’t want to focus on the discourse or draw more attention to it, it makes a lot of sense to me that he just wanted to wrap it all up as quickly as possible. For a while I beat myself up about it, of ruining the story of this character I love, but it’s not my fault. If anyone’s, it’s MatPats, but I don’t think it’s useful to just blame someone else. That’s how the story ended up going, and that’s fine. This is Evil Xisuma we’re talking about, their inconsistent lore is what made them such an interesting character. And notably, Pooka made an animation with an awesome culmination of Jeff, the Dreamer, Evil Xisuma, and his own sona’s story, and it makes me so happy to watch. Whatever Pooka does is of course his own choice, but I’m glad he got to give this personal story his own ending (if it is an ending, and not just the start of a new chapter!). 

Typing this all out and getting it off my chest has made me feel a lot better. For a while I wanted to make my OWN video essay about Evil Xisuma’s lore and CarnEvil’s lore, actually going episode by episode to explain it instead of just assuming you knew as much about Evil Xisuma as I did. That idea is still not off the table, but MCYT isn’t something I’m that into right now. Maybe if something else comes out about Evil Xisuma I’ll get back on it, but for now I’m fine with letting that go. But I want to make other videos, share other theories and analysis… if I have the freetime I’d love to make YouTube videos, and if I don’t have the time I’ll continue posting to my tumblr and infodumping to my friends. Apparently my infodumping is valuable enough “content” to steal! Writing this out has made me feel a lot better though, I’m really glad I got it out.

If anyone ever wants to talk to me about the things I’m obsessed with, or reach out to me as a source in a bigger discussion about Game Theory or other channels, my inbox is more than welcome :] Thank you for reading! 

Sincerely, a tumblr user.

[siamivoryspa]

Thai-style spa services

Thailand has been a consistent winner of several spa awards for many years. Thailand's spa sector appears to be in good condition, evolving with the changing needs of spa clients to a focus not far from the old goal of traditional Thai massage and herbal treatment techniques. Despite the necessity to integrate Western principles, the Thai spa industry's competitive advantage is its historic heritage: the rituals, treatments, and massage techniques that have lasted the millennia.

It has an authenticity that spas throughout the world strive to emulate, and "Thainess" has also become a key marketing factor for Thai spas. It is critical to understand why Thai spas with Thainess or in Thai style have won numerous accolades and surprised the globe!

Thainess refers to both the therapists and the cultural characteristics that have made Thailand the spa capital of the Asia-Pacific region and a must-have component for spas worldwide. While Thainess might mean different things to different individuals, it appears to encompass old therapeutic procedures, folk wisdom in its ceremonies, and, probably most importantly, graciousness when applied to Thai therapists.

Maintaining wellbeing through a better balance of the body, mind, and spirit, as well as with the environment, has become a fundamental principle for Thailand's award-winning spas and new initiatives. Thailand is increasingly positioned as a medical destination offering both orthodox and alternative treatments.

Thailand, known as the "Land of Healthy Smiles," offers its health and beauty-conscious visitors the wonders of pampering and holistic spa treatments for the body, mind, and spirit. The discovery of health and wellness includes a comprehensive selection of world-renowned day spas, destination spas, hotel/resort spas, and medical spas.

Spa treatments in Thai style can help you connect with your inner self in a variety of locations across the country. A Thai spa is unquestionably a worthwhile treat that gives the best spa experience. Without a doubt, this causes discerning tourists and receivers to fall in love with Thai spas with Thainess or in Thai style!

Thailand is a world-class spa destination because of its delicate blend of cultural heritages and diversities. Thai spas, with a focus on health and beauty, incorporate methods of relaxation and health enhancement, both physically and spiritually.

They bloom in Bangkok and key tourist cities around the country. The Thai spa experience incorporates indigenous resources, unique traditions, and local wisdom that have been passed down through the generations. Recognizing potential market niches for spa business, spa operators look to this historic treasure trove to produce and showcase the greatest Thai style spas to ensure worldwide spa recipients a lasting spa expectation.

In truth, Thailand's spa treatments differ greatly from those provided at top spa facilities across the world because the spa theory there has been embraced and adapted into traditional Thai style. The globe has been impressed by an imported spa recipe with a distinctive Thai twist! Spa facilities in Thailand also are of premium and exceptional value for money.

 A tropical sanctuary with natural and cultural diversity, Thailand is regarded one of the world's most recognised holiday resorts. This is a great plus that helps strengthen the country's basic strength as an eternal spa paradise. Additionally, top-notch spa supplies give foreign spa visitors a fresh perspective and a sense of familiarity.

Thai spas give visitors the chance to experience several aspects of traditional Thai culture. Thai spa experiences stand out because the staff members are innately friendly and service-oriented. The kindheartedness and gentleness of the Thai people compliment gracious hospitality and high-quality service, adding to the distinctive Thai touch's global recognition.

The Theravada Buddhist tradition strongly promotes kindness, compassion, and providing solace to others, and these virtues are deeply ingrained in daily life. The gesture is also logical and sincere. Additionally, the majority of spa facilities are built with distinctively Thai features that are highly regarded among foreign visitors.

The Land of Healthy Smiles, which offers a wide range of spa services, has also developed a wide range of retreats, alternative therapies, one-on-one consultations, and life coaching. Traditional Thai, Swedish, Javanese, and Sports massages, foot reflexology, aromatherapy, acupuncture, acupressure, hydrotherapy, skincare services including body wraps and facial scrubs, treatments for the face, skin, and hair, herbal steams, and floral baths are all frequent offerings at Thai spas.

Along with healthy nutrition and detoxifying, the Thai spa experience also includes body and mind exercises like yoga, tai chi, pilates, stress management, holistic wellbeing, and spa cuisine. Thai spas are well-known throughout the world thanks to its holistic therapies. The therapeutic properties of Thai herbs and plants that have been particularly designed to rebalance, repair, and revitalise the body, mind, and spirit are the foundation of many healing methods, holistic treatments, and wellbeing programmes.

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #20

May 24-31 2024

The EPA awards $900 million to school districts across the country to replace diesel fueled school buses with cleaner alternatives. The money will go to 530 school districts across nearly every state, DC, tribal community, and US territory. The funds will help replace 3,400 buses with cleaner alternatives, 92% of the new buses will be 100% green electric. This adds to the $3 billion the Biden administration has already spent to replace 8,500 school buses across 1,000 school districts in the last 2 years.

For the first time the federal government released guidelines for Voluntary Carbon Markets. Voluntary Carbon Markets are a system by which companies off set their carbon emissions by funding project to fight climate change like investing in wind or solar power. Critics have changed that companies are using them just for PR and their funding often goes to projects that would happen any ways thus not offsetting emissions. The new guidelines seek to insure integrity in the Carbon Markets and make sure they make a meaningful impact. It also pushes companies to address emissions first and use offsets only as a last resort.

The IRS announced it'll take its direct file program nationwide in 2025. In 2024 140,000 tax payers in 12 states used the direct file pilot program and the IRS now plans to bring it to all Americans next tax season. Right now the program is only for simple W-2 returns with no side income but the IRS has plans to expand it to more complex filings in the future. This is one of the many projects at the IRS being funded through President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act.

The White House announced steps to boost nuclear energy in America. Nuclear power in the single largest green energy source in the country accounting for 19% of America's total energy. Boosting Nuclear energy is a key part of the Biden administration's strategy to reach a carbon free electricity sector by 2035. The administration has invested in bring the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan back on-line, and extending the life of Diablo Canyon in California. In addition the Military will be deploying new small modular nuclear reactors and microreactors to power its installations. The Administration is setting up a task force to help combat the delays and cost overruns that have often derailed new nuclear projects and the Administration is supporting two Gen III+ SMR demonstration projects to highlight the safety and efficiency of the next generation of nuclear power.

The Department of Agriculture announced $824 million in new funding to protect livestock health and combat H5N1. The funding will go toward early detection, vaccine research, and supporting farmers impacted. The USDA is also launching a nation wide Dairy Herd Status Pilot Program, hopefully this program will give us a live look at the health of America's dairy herd and help with early detection. The Biden Administration has reacted quickly and proactively to the early cases of H5N1 to make sure it doesn't spread to the human population and become another pandemic situation.

The White House announced a partnership with 21 states to help supercharge America's aging energy grid. Years of little to no investment in America's Infrastructure has left our energy grid lagging behind the 21st century tech. This partnership aims to squeeze all the energy we can out of our current system while we rush to update and modernize. Last month the administration announced a plan to lay 100,000 miles of new transmission lines over the next five years. The 21 states all with Democratic governors are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin.

The Department of Transportation announced $343 million to update 8 of America's oldest and busiest transportation stations for disability accessibility. These include the MBTA's the Green Line's light-rail B and C branches in Boston,  Cleveland's Blue Line, New Orleans'  St. Charles Streetcar route, and projects in San Francisco and New York City and other locations

The Department of interior announced two projects for water in Western states. $179 million for drought resilience projects in California and Utah and $242 million for expanding water access in California, Colorado and Washington. The projects should help support drinking water for 6.4 million people every year.

HUD announced $150 million for affordable housing for tribal communities. This adds to the over $1 billion dollars for tribal housing announced earlier in the month. Neil Whitegull of the Ho-Chunk Nation said at the announcement "I know a lot of times as Native Americans we've been here and we've seen people that have said, ‘Oh yeah, we'd like to help Indians.’ And they take a picture and they go away. We never see it, But there's been a commitment here, with the increase in funding, grants, and this administration that is bringing their folks out. And there's a real commitment, I think, to Native American tribes that we've never seen before."

Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged $135 million to help Moldavia. Since the outbreak of Russia's war against neighboring Ukraine the US has given $774 million in aid to tiny Moldavia. Moldavia has long been dependent on Russian energy but thanks to US investment in the countries energy security Moldavia is breaking away from Russia and moving forward with EU membership.

The US and Guatemala launched the "Youth With Purpose” initiative. The initiative will be run through the Central America Service Corps, launched in 2022 by Vice President Harris the CASC is part of the Biden Administration's efforts to improve life in Central America. The Youth With Purpose program will train 25,000 young Guatemalans and connect with with service projects throughout the country.

Bonus: Today, May 31st 2024, is the last day of the Affordable Connectivity Program. The program helped 23 million Americans connect to the internet while saving them $30 to $75 dollars every month. Despite repeated calls from President Biden Republicans in Congress have refused to act to renew the program. The White House has worked with private companies to get them to agree to extend the savings to the end of 2024. The Biden Administration has invested $90 Billion high-speed internet investments. Such as $42.45 billion for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment, $1 billion for the The Middle Mile program laying 12,000 miles of regional fiber networks, and distributed nearly 30,000 connected devices to students and communities, including more than 3,600 through the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

Michael Sembello - Maniac 1983

"Maniac" is a song from the 1983 film Flashdance that was written by Dennis Matkosky and Michael Sembello. The original idea for the song came to Matkosky while watching a news report on a serial killer, which inspired gruesome lyrics that he and Sembello expanded upon after finding a 1980 horror film with the same name. When Flashdance director Adrian Lyne grew attached to the demo of the song used during filming, his music supervisor Phil Ramone requested lyrics more appropriate for their story of a dancer and worked with Sembello to produce a new version for the soundtrack. The new recording was used for a scene in which protagonist Alexandra Owens trains rigorously at home. After the film became a surprise success, a music video was made using scenes from the film and began airing on MTV in May 1983, coinciding with the release of the single. The song spent two weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and performed well in several countries. Because its video was shown extensively on MTV and Flashdance became the third highest-grossing film of 1983 in the US, Hollywood began to see music videos as a profitable way to market films.

"Maniac" earned Sembello Grammy nominations for Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male, and a nomination with Matkosky for Song of the Year. As part of the Flashdance soundtrack, it gave them and all of the songwriters who contributed to the album the Grammy Award for Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special, and a nomination for Album of the Year. "Maniac" was nominated for the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Original Song, and the music video for "Maniac" was awarded Best Editing at Billboard magazine's Video Music Awards.

"Maniac" received a total of 90,3% yes votes!

[spiderman-into-the-sapphiverse]

I find it so refreshing that we are in this rare stage in western animation where disney is actually not monopolizing all the attention. If anything, 2022 has been one of their worse years yet in the animation department. Everything they have done has been completely eclipsed by other studios for once. Their Pinocchio "movie" was just obliterated by Guillermo del Toro's version. Strange World was completely forgotten because of poor marketing choices, allowing Dreamworks to come back with the Bad Guys and Puss in Boots, the first being very good and the second absolutely excellent (I'm being serious, this movie is SO MUCH MORE than a simple Shrek spin-off).

TMNT even got its time to shine with probably the best 2D animated film this year (in a technical aspect at least), rekindling an interest for the entire franchise (with another TMNT movie by Seth Rogen in production!!)

The Sea Beast was amazing. Wendell & Wild was a masterclass. 2022 has just been excellent throughout, and it's Disney that happens to be the weakest at the moment. Even the Minions 2 got more attention than most things that came out on Disney + Animation this year (not saying that the movie was great or anything, but it's saying a lot)

And when we look at the next Pixar movie coming out next year, the hype pales in comparison to the Mario movie, and let's not even TALK about Across the Spiderverse......everybody knows it's going to snatch everyone's wig, and all the awards under the sun to match it.

So yeah, western animation gets to breathe a little, and it feels amazing.

[freyahazel]

2022 was an incredible year for me.

I already put a whole thread for this on twitter if you'd like to look it over click here but I'm just going to sum it up here and say. I didn't realize until I sat here and looked back at everything how many amazing things I did this past year.

^ that screenshot there is just 1 out of 7 tweets in the thread, and I know for sure I missed a ton of stuff that I did throughout the year. Sometimes you get so swept up in what you're doing that you forget to acknowledge how amazing the life you're living truly is. I believe there were very few times during all of this that I truly stopped and just acknowledged those moments in their present time for how truly incredible they were. The moral is, I'm going to do what I can to spend more of 2023 enjoying the present rather than just cramming all of my time with things to do so that I'll look back on fondly later (although I'm still going to do a million things lets be real, that's just how I operate). Cheers! May 2023 be our best year yet! 🥂🍾🥳

[drchucktingle]

space raptor butt experiment

when conservative ideas are put to the test they basically always fail. specifically ruminating on how very early in my career conservative goofs tried to force me into an award for ONE specific reason: irony. in their mind, as a queer artist, i OBVIOUSLY didnt belong there

that is premise RABID PUPPIES had at hugo awards, that CHUCK TINGLE was least likely person to be taken seriously and therefore would delegitimize something serious. to them it was unfathomable that i could be making REAL art because i was too strange, queer, and UNTRADITIONAL

conservatives in literary space believe TRADITIONAL is RIGHT and everything else is distraction. now we have a literal TEST OF THIS THEORY. they GOT TO PICK THEIR FIGHTER in the arena, to see my art and whisper amongst themselves 'this is epitome of progressive artistic failure'

this test has been running for nearly ten years now, not in a lab but ON THIS TIMELINE OF REALITY. and look at the results, look how much tinglers resonate, how many buckaroos have gathered to support my art. CAMP DAMASCUS was a best seller. BURY YOUR GAYS COMIN IN HOT

this is not a moment to just sit around and pat myself on the back, but i think it is worth recognizing something. RABID PUPPIES and all of those conservative literary goofs were unequivocally WRONG about me and my art. because they are philosophically wrong about EVERYTHING

they have joined a long line of lonesome whining goofs who will say ‘let the market decide’ and when the market decides that their work is slop they will CONVENIENTLY forget what they initially stood for. more sad lonely devils moaning in their basements while we trot in the sun

i will end this observation with this: THANK YOU for being a part of this experiment with me, for seeing my unique expression and trotting along beside me. for as much as i have proven love to you on this path, YOU HAVE PROVEN LOVE TO ME. HERES TO TROTTING INTO THE FUTURE

[thetransfemininereview]

Do you have any recommendations for gaining access to these books? I have a pretty long list of ones I want to read but can't afford most of them. The library has the big ones (Whipping Girl, Detransition Baby, Nevada) but the newer or less well known ones have been difficult to find

No this is actually so real though. Let's talk about it.

One of the big problems that I'm trying to address here is the fact that there is a lack of ability for trans books to reach their perhaps core audience, trans people. Over the last few years trans librarians have been trying to increase the number of trans books in circulation, but that's super contingent on where you live. Not to mention the fact that, at least in the US, states are actively trying to criminalize circulating trans books in libraries.

I know Tumblr is allergic to economics a lot of the time, but you've gotta look at the math to understand why this is the current state of things. Essentially it's a vicious cycle. Lots of trans people can't afford to buy a $25 hardcover on a whim, and traditional publishers put a lot of stock into how well a book performs on release, cause that's how they make money. So when the core audience can't afford it and isn't marketable, they register that as a lower demand, which means that fewer trans books get published, fewer end up in libraries, and the cost of an individual book is driven higher. Low demand, high price. Then because the price is high, trans people cant afford the books, and the cycle continues.

It is the dilemma of the transfemme author that most of their core audience is also gonna be transfemme. It's a self-selecting process that's very hard to break out of. And at the end of the day, there just isn't very much money to go around in the trans community because trans people so frequently get cut off from generational wealth. So when you get an ecosystem of transfemmes selling books to other transfemmes who also sell books to them....

I took a class on the Sociology of Art a few years ago, and one of my core takeaways was that the boundaries of a field (yes my teacher liked Bourdieu, come for her ass, not mine) are fundamentally governed by institutions and entities with the money and power to dictate their rules of play. In Althusser's language, you would call those ISAs (Ideological State Apparatuses). When you read Weber, he talks about how culture needs to have some level of social legitimation in order to become a force of power in the world (I butchered that but it's the gist lol). And it's like.

The people who have the money to read the books dictate which books receive the money. Organizations like Lambda Literary, presses, big name publishers, etc. One of the big problems in the field of trans literature up to this point is that the only people who've had the money to produce social legitimation from the organizing schema/matrix of an ISA have also only chosen to read a very small slice of the extant literature. Then, because those non-profits and presses and companies only champion a small selection of books, that in turn dictates for those who have less money which of those books deserve social attention, critical acclaim, sales, library slots, etc.

And like, all of that is an illusion, but it produces a material reality for the transfemme author. It dictates the material conditions for the reproduction of said literature and who can participate in it.

So, what's to be done about it?

"Buzz" is a big deal in the publishing industry. A good review, an award, a thinkpiece - all of that can be the difference between a successful book and a flop. Publishers look for that. If nobody talks about a book and it doesn't sell well, they'll drop the author faster than you can say Susan. Again, vicious cycle. But like, at the end of the day, a "field," an "ISA," a "legitimated" work of art, that's all just a class prerogative. The different between a Very Important Literary Blog and a "person talking about books on the internet" is money. Like. It's just money. The reality of it is really banal.

It's who has the money to read books. It's who has the money and time to write about books. It's who has the money to gain institutional access to book. It's who has the money to read enough to say, "Oh, well that might seem true, but if you look at X, Y, and Z it's clearly not." It takes money to fact check. It takes money to challenge institutional myths. It takes money because when an institution makes a claim about a book and none of the people who care enough to argue with them have the cash to challenge it, the claim tends to stand.

And like, the honest truth is that between the books, the website, and the education, I've spent a lot of money bringing this website online in the form you're reading it in. A lot of the books I've read were really fucking expensive. I grew up in a wealthy family, my parents were accepting. They have both the means and the desire to support my passion projects. I'm lucky.

The goal of The Transfeminine Review is to create at least one independently trans-run website that can challenge that brand of institutional legitimation work from non-profits and big publishers and cis outlets, a website that can actually highlight transfeminine literature as it exists in the world, not as the Big 5 publishers have dictated it. Topside, Metonymy, Arsenal Pulp, LittlePuss, etc. They've all taken on that challenge from the angle of producing books, but there hasn't been a corollary trans secondary ecosystem dedicated to documenting and critiquing them. Or there is, but it's extremely diffuse and hard to find if you don't know exactly what you're looking for. Then there are the general queer outlets, like them. and whatnot, and they do their best but literature is a side hustle at best. There's the queer-helmed literary outlets like Electric Lit (shout out Denne Michele Norris) but they spend most of their time talking about cis authors. None of it is designed to help or review self-published literature from poor authors, and let's be frank, most transfeminine publishing is still done indie or self.

It's an investment, essentially. On the longshot, the hope is that this website will inspire others to do similar work, and that eventually through the collective efforts of trans authors and their readership, we can begin to change the math on trans publishing and help to spread it to a wider audience.

Now.

None of this changes the current reality that trans lit is expensive.

Unless you're lucky, you're probably not gonna find much trans lit at the local library even if you dig for it. Another good place to find free trans books is transreads.org, but their selection is mostly non-fiction, and the fiction is, again, largely the same few books you can find elsewhere. Another good online queer library is https://www.queerliberationlibrary.org/, which might be a good place to look (shoutout to Skye for bringing it to my attention!)

There are a couple of cheaper places to find trans books. If you shop around on itch.io, a lot of self-published trans authors have "name your price" models, which can be more accessible. Creators on itch will also bundle their work on a fairly regular basis, so you can get like 10-20 books for $10, which is, by my token, an excellent price.

If there's a particular author you're interested in, a lot of self-pub trans authors have Patreon accounts where they serialize their novels. You also can find serial (pre-edit) versions of a bunch of books on Scribblehub.

This has gotten steadily less affordable over the last few years cause Amazon is evil, but Kindle Unlimited ($11.99 a month, but there's a free trial) has thousands of trans books. Most of them are erotica, but like, there are a lot of hidden gems in there, and if you're a voracious enough reader, then it'll definitely be much cheaper per book than buying trad.

The problem with all of these, though, is that they tend to favor specific genres and tropes. Like there's only so much variety on itch.io or Scribblehub or transreads.org or KU. So if you like the genre conventions, then awesome! But if you don't it's probably not for you.

And none of it will give you access to some of the rare older tradpub books or the new but scarce releases that I've been going through unless you're willing to pay the full price for them.

I wish I had a better answer, but that's unfortunately the current state of the industry :/

Hopefully this ramble is helpful.

Beth