College Humor offers holiday cards.
Diesel Sweeties, too, has cards aplenty.
Despair has BitterSweets Candies and a heart-shaped card that you can personalize with one or three hearts.
JibJab has tons of themed Sendables waiting for you to make them your own.
Perhaps sensing all of the above, Indexed commented on the (possibly […]
Micropersuasion.com’s Steve Rubel recently described the revolution underway as (i.) content production and distribution explodes and (ii.) creators bypass intermediaries to go direct.Providing an apt metaphor, he called for Digital Curators to help audiences discover, experience, and understand the best “finds” within this ever-increasing flow of content.
Nice call, Steve.Thank you.
We help audiences (all of us) find, follow, and enjoy the best work from the emerging class of self-sustaining Internet-based artists, aka the Undependents or Undies, who are telling amazing stories within podcasts, video, webcomics, machinima, animation, etc.
As curators, we feature these programs:
Undependent.com, which focuses on success stories, trends, insights, and practical advice.
The Undependent Universe’s Collection continues to grow.It currently includes the following, in no particular order (visit the site for links):
Webcomics: The Perry Bible Fellowship; Girl Genius; PvP; Starslip Crisis; Sheldon; Evil, Inc.; Piled Higher and Deeper; Wondermark; Unshelved; Dinosaur Comics; xkcd; A Softer World; Cat and Girl; Dresden Codak; AppleGeeks; Ctrl+Alt+Del; User Friendly; White Ninja Comics; and Octopus Pie.
The Drumbrella Exhibit: Boy on a Stick and Slither; explodingdog; The Creatures in My Head; Diesel Sweeties; Overcompensating; Scary Go Round; Goats; Wigu; as well as RSS feeds from the creators;
The Achewood Exhibit: featuring all character blogs;
Videos/shows: Funny or Die; College Humor; The Onion; Heavy.com.
Others: Penny Arcade; Rooster Teeth Productions; Angry Alien Productions; JibJab; Despair, Inc.; Ask A Ninja; Smosh; Homestar Runner; Those Lil’ Rabbits; Tiki Bar TV; Engrish.com.
How To’s and News: Fleen; Webcomics Weekly; Comixtalk; Cold Hard Flash; NewTeeVee; Halfpixel; Web TV Wire; Thinking Machinima; Digital Strips.
Rotating special exhibits highlighting great stuff, and much more!
We hope our programs help you enjoy the Undies more easily and regularly. We live in such an exciting time, eh?Creative expression flourishes, and newly empowered creators keep inventing more ways to delight their fans.
Thanks again, Steve, for your great post and ongoing work.And thanks, too, to all the Undies and especially all the fans who support them. Without you, this revolution doesn’t happen.
I recently highlighted Despair’s BitterSweets relaunch. In their typically super-creative fashion, they have amplified this product and taken it to a completely new level. Fans can now share their own expressions of dejection, dysfunction, and Despair.
make your own custom, candy-heart image with anything you would like to say (in two lines of six characters each);
email that image to friends;
buy a custom, heart-shaped greeting card with your image on the front and your own text on the inside; and
even load your card into a BitterSweets candy tin, into which it fits just perfectly.
In addition, since this product is completely integrated with their store, you can purchase these items in the same order as a t-shirt, mug, and custom calendar.
Perry Bible Fellowship’s success continues, which is just as it should be. Check out these wonderful figures on your way to reading the whole profile:
Records Broken By the Perry Bible Fellowship? - 10 Zen Monkeys
25-year-old cartoonist Nicholas Gurewitch watched as the pre-order sales climbed past $300,000 for The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories. Close to 27,000 copies were sold even before the collection of comic strips had its official release in November and crashed into Amazon’s top 250. “It bounces off and on Amazon’s best-seller lists all the time,” Gurewitch told me, jokingly searching for an explanation. “Nifty cover? I’m not sure.”
Fleen: Does leaving the rent job shift any of your plans forward?
Diaz: If sales remain stable I’ll continue to make a little more than I do at my regular day job, so I still plan to move out to Portland next year. Even if it fluctuates a little bit I still have some side commission jobs that should help supplement my finances.
Fleen: Now that you rely on your readers for things like rent and food, is there a particular level of nutrition that you’re hoping to maintain? Are your tastes modest, or will you be looking to purchase the premium cat chow?
Diaz: It helps to be used to a very low standard of living. I don’t usually eat any meat or expensive things; a few canned vegetables can keep me going for weeks. In general, as long I have an internet connection and running water, I’ll manage.
You gotta admire Aaron’s spirit and commitment. He’s literally banking on the appreciation of fans. After all, creators are not so undependent that they do not need the support of fans. They do, in fact, rely upon it.
Whether you are in webcomics or not, all Undies can benefit from listening to Webcomics Weekly. Scott, Brad, and Dave provide tons of great stuff in episode 12, which touches on:
advertising models;
staying true to your voice;
learning by doing;
editorial cartoons;
fighting through tough early startup phases; and
many, many references to the YMCA for some reason.
These talented folks have accumulated an invaluable store of tacit knowledge, and they’re cool and committed enough to share it with the world.
Subscribe to their RSS feed here and listen regularly.
Undependent™ tracks the emerging class of self-sustaining Internet-based artists. By artist we don’t mean artiste. We mean those content creators whose self-expression originates in and emanates from the Internet itself. The compelling ones attract audiences and in so doing are capable of creating completely self-sustaining businesses with total artistic control. (Read more here)
Meet the new Undependent.com. Underneath the hood, it's still Wordpress, but in the world of new blogs (as in life) we all know it's really what's outside that truly counts. We owe a great debt of gratitude to Nicolò Volpato and GNV Partners for their great work.
We chose the minimalist color scheme to emphasize that it's not about us.
