YOU ARE NOT A MUSEUM PIECE:
Putting Yourself Out There in the Alterhuman Community
Page “Lecture King” Shepard
with Orion Scribner
“Things always seem to be happening, but I have no idea where!”
“I love my community, but I feel invisible!”
“I want to make cool shit too, but I dunno where to start!”
“Just who the fuck IS Page, anyways?”
DOES THIS SOUND LIKE YOU?
Here’s your one-stop shop to rolling around in the mud of the alterhuman community.
STEP 1.
Stop worrying so much.
Ain’t nobody in this community actually knows what they’re doing, and anyone who says they do is a liar. There’s no secret or trick to it; just be yourself and have fun!
STEP 2: Throw down some roots!
Everyone needs a base of operations.
Unless you plan on tumbleweeding your whole time, consider setting up a long-term place where you can shove the shit you make that’s important to you.
This gives you a place to direct people to, and gives other people one rock-solid foundation where they always know to find you.
If you’re not careful, this could be you!!!
“But Page, where do I go?”
Neocities
Make your own HTML site! Any layout you want, any focus you want, entirely created at your own discretion! No gods, no kings, only code! Your imagination is the limit!
Dreamwidth
Open source! Supported by users rather than beholden to companies! Great for long-form stuff.
Tumblr
Join a blog! Post images and walls of text! Reblog other people’s posts, decorate your blog with HTML!
Mastodon
Federated social media software! Micro-blogging on niche communities!
Forums
Alterhuman forums like Nonhuman National Park!
Great for longform posting. More private than a blog or website.
Discord
Small, private communities with rapid-fire instant messaging software and ephemeral groups. What could go wrong?
STEP 3: Get involved!
The temptation to be a wallflower is the devil talking! Don’t listen to it!
“Collaborative Projects?” Where are those at? 👀
A collection of nonhuman and alterhuman-related information, writings, and creations, meant to be a community resource and memory bank.
A fiction anthology zine for and by nonhumans and alterhumans that accepts submissions annually!
A zine by nonhumans and alterhumans about what it means to be draconic in the present day… or even the future! Submissions are open until Oct. 31st! ⏰🎃‼️🐉
Current events of interest for therians, otherkin, fictionkin, and other alterhumans. Anyone is welcome to post about what they’ve created or other relevant news.
An encyclopedia on the culture, history and experiences of otherkin and related alterhuman groups. They have a Discord!
Writings about personal animality from therians, otherkin and other alterhumans with uncommon or rare species identities.
And remember: if you have an idea for a project that you don’t see here but that you wish were real, you can take the steps to make it happen!
Don’t bite off more than you can chew, but don’t be too afraid to start thinking about it and planning out what that might look like.
Don’t forget about
✨ Howls ✨
And there’s your free online alterhuman conventions!
STEP 4: Make shit!
Talking with people’s just phase one; now it’s time to express yourself and have a good time doing it, too.
SOME BADASS IDEAS FOR THINGS YOU CAN MAKE:
Essays!
Short stories!
Twine games!
TTRPGs!
Fake newspaper!
Zines!
Masks, Jewelry, or Gear!
Start a band!
Compose music!
Start a convention!
Surveys!
Podcast!
Videos!
Animations!
Comics!
Art!
Set up a Howl!
Recipes!
Musicals or plays!
Video game server!
Conlang!
THE POSSIBILITIES ARE LIMITLESS! (LITERALLY!)
[Redacted]
Fursuits or Costumes!
(If you want to make a book, I got you)
(At last year’s Othercon, I did a panel on how to do that, together with House of Chimeras and Orion)
STEP 5: Post shit!
Now that you’re done making shit, here comes the semi-obvious next step of actually posting it and putting it out there.
If whatever you made is in relation to something like a Dreamwidth community or Tumblr tag game, then a great first step is to post it in those groups. From there, spread it around and slap that bad boy on the front of your fridge as your heart desires! Put it up in Discords and Forums! Show your friends!
Most importantly, post what you made on your home base and show it off with your whole chest!
Take pride in the work you’ve done and the things you’ve made!
Step 6: Profit
“Fuck you, pay me” is a valid way to be when you’re making entirely original content.
Shoutout to LB Lee for being the direct inspiration of this slide ily guys!
There’s a few ways you can go about selling your work, depending on what exactly you’re selling:
✓ Ko-fi
✓ Patreon
✓ Itch
✓ Gumroad
✓ Bandcamp
✓ Your own website
✓ Just post an ad for what you’re selling on whatever social media site you like and accept payment via paypal invoice!
There’s also a few platforms that people generally don’t recommend, because they cut into profit margins so significantly:
✘ Etsy
✘ Redbubble
Be prepared for responses to what you make
Sometimes people are NOT cool about alterhumans existing in online spaces.
Easy solution to avoid people being dickheads:�⇾ Don’t post shit somewhere filled with assholes!�⇾ Use the block button liberally!�⇾ Don’t feed the trolls!�⇾ You don’t owe attention to randos!
This is also why you should post to multiple places. By posting to your homebase and a variety of social media sites or groups or whatever, that means that when shit sucks, you can always hit the bricks.
Stay safe! How much could it endanger you to share each piece of info? How do you weigh that risk?
HIGH RISK: �IT’S UP TO YOU, BUT DO YOU WANNA BE SO EASY TO DOX!?
LOW RISK: �PRETTY SAFE TO SHARE
MEDIUM RISK: �SHARE WITH CAUTION
NEVER share this info, because that’s how you could eat shit, chump!
MINORS are at higher risk and should never share these on the internet!
How do you weigh the risk of meeting in person, if you choose to?
LOW RISK
HIGH RISK
MEDIUM RISK
Further reading
Thanks & Acknowledgements
Viewers like you! Thanks for coming to the panel!
Q&A and
Discussion Time!
Please keep your discussion rated PG-13!