[This is copy and pasted from the newsletter sent out this morning but I wanted to post it here for posterity - I'll also be answering questions regarding the contents within the newsletter! Feel free to tag me]
Hey hi hello creators,
We hope you've been staying safe and healthy amidst the current health epidemic. To do our part to help creators and readers during these times, we'll be hosting a number of different events throughout the month of April.
To start us off, we'll be waiving all fees and commissions related to the Ad Revenue and Support Programs starting April 3rd, meaning creators will be receiving 100% of the revenue generated by both programs. We'll also be providing readers with information on how to white-list Tapas to better support creators during this time, along with a number of free Ink gifts and discounts. We hope you'll take part in spreading awareness to your fans of this event.
We'll be debuting a landing page specifically for the event similar to our previous Inksgiving page to help readers and creators connect more.
Later on, we'll be hosting an Easter Egg hunt featuring over 75 unique creators. We hosted this event last year and garnered a record high number of comments over the three day event. We'll be giving out free Ink as rewards to participants along with a note to encourage readers to support their favorite creators.
!BOOK COVERS ARE GOING LIVE!
We’re happy to announce that Book Covers will soon be available to use on the website and apps. You can now start uploading your covers and see them live on Tapas! We saw some amazing covers in the making as we worked on this and we’re very thrilled to see them come to life on our site! We hope that you’ll join us in this excitement!
For those who haven't heard or started their covers yet, here’s a breakdown of details:
Book Covers are at a 1:1.5 ratio, 960 x 1440px
We recommend working at 1920px x 2880px and exporting at 50% for best results
Titles are required and should take up about 1/3rd of the image*
Book Covers will become a Requirement for your series on July 31st, 2020.
Stories without Book Covers will still appear within the app and website normally.
*Titles are Required as series titles will no longer appear under the image like it did with Thumbnails.
Additionally, we made a basic template to help you get started, so feel free to check out our FAQ page when it goes live under the Tools for Creators Section. There, you should find a PSD template located near the bottom of the article.
I hope that you have fun creating and uploading covers for your stories! If you experience any trouble with this new feature, please reach out to and let us know at Feedback@tapas.io
We'll also be making a number of changes to the newly launched look and feel of the website based on creator feedback. We appreciate the support, patience and understanding of the community as we recognize Tapas is a work in progress and we hope to continually make adjustments and improvements.
I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for being part of the community and continuing to publish with us. The recent health epidemic has forced the entirety of our staff to begin working remotely. While we have taken extra precautions to ensure the safety and well-being of staff members, we are constantly thinking of the creator community and trying to find ways to help support as many creators during this time as possible.
The staff has found the stories on Tapas to be immensely inspirational and comforting, and wanted to express our heartfelt gratitude. Sheltering in place and the recent news within the pop-culture entertainment sector has proven that stories, especially stories from a community as diverse and creative as ours have never been more important than right now. Stories have the opportunity to provide entertainment, comfort, escape, catharsis, community and so much more.
Thank you again for providing the staff with the comfort of such wonderful stories. These stories have continually inspired us to work harder and remain hopeful. I'm sure your fans all feel the same way. Thank you.
All the best,
-Michael from Tapas
Edit 05/01/20
Due to the ongoing nature of the Covid-19 situation, we felt that it was necessary to continue extending the event for another couple of weeks beyond the original planned dates. We've raised over $10,000 from the Support Program alone, and we've seen a record number of payouts for creators this past month and have been working extra hard to keep fill rates for our watch-to-earn ads as accessible as possible.
Seeing the generosity and support from the community has been incredibly uplifting, and has definitely motivated us to take this opportunity to work even harder to ensure that more creators gain access to these resources.
I wanted to extend a special thank you to @KRWilliams and every creator involved in the #ThankYouTapas event (https://forums.tapas.io/t/thankyoutapas-event-starts-today/43246/). It was an immense surprise and the entire staff is overwhelmed from the kindness - our Slack channel was flooded with happy emojis and gifs all day from that.
I also wanted to extend another special thank you to @ratique who has joined the Tapas staff full time and will in charge of creator happiness - she'll be engaging with the community and keeping you all up to date. We hear you when you say you want more visibility and more communication and engagement with us. Ratique has been a forum moderator for pretty much as long as we've had a forum, and I honestly couldn't have asked for a better person to fulfill this role.
Lastly, I hope all of you are staying safe and healthy. The entire Tapas staff is sending you our best wishes. Ironically enough, this was the year we had set up more plans for more in-person meetings at conventions and at some of our office sites. Due to the situation - we'll be scrapping those plans in favor of some online activities - namely a fan-art contest due later in the year. So, please look forward to that!