It makes sense. Throwing different comics out there to see what sticks, then discontinuing support for ones that don't work out. I remember some of the comics that went up on the front page with mine stayed looong after it was taken down, but those comics had twice the subs and higher ratings. Some of the same comics that stuck also made their way on the Recommended Titles list under the Discover tab.
I don't think Webtoon is scheming... Naver is a mega rich company investing its wealth into a platform that has skyrocketed in Asia. They don't need profit right now, they're still trying to grow into something that will dominate. Massive audience is because they've been advertising everywhere for the past several years, reader engagement has always been a tiny, tiny fraction of views, drop in engagement is due to the mobile discover interface change, and you might get sudden sparks of readership because they select random comics to promote without notification. And the longer you are on front page, the less effective it becomes because most readers will have already seen your comic.
TLDR everything u guys r saying just seems pretty normal to me
I absolutely agree with this! I'm one of those readers who rarely EVER leave a comment, mostly because I have nothing to contribute/shy/bad at wording compliments. I try my best to leave a like on the episode, but I often forget because the like button is so small and forgettable.
I've noticed that there's a trend with people adding "Don't forget to like the episode!" to their comment, which is lovely, but supports the idea that people just forget to like the episode/ can't be bothered to.
After observing my own stats, I've noticed that even the silent readers like me would leave a comment if there is something that "directly" addresses them, or prompts them to speak out. I asked people to submit questions for a Q&A for my comic recently, and the comments went from ~200ish in previous story updates to 1,400- on an update with only one panel- which is why I support the theory that the majority of readers are "silent", and that it's totally normal.
The next update I did answering the Q&A asked people to leave a donut emoji in the comments if they would be interested in a part 2! I think I got a lot of comments again because it gives the readers some influence and something to comment even if they didn't have anything to say.
And what I got was:
Apologies if I went completely off topic/rambled! I just thought this was interesting, and I haven't had my coffee yet..
Yep, I've had the same experience. Back when you could get into the Patreon program with 7k subs, I got promoted until I was at nearly 8k, then when I was removed I lost about 300 in a week, which slowly dripped away back down to about 7.1k. But even after the loss it was still great for me at the time because it meant I was getting $200 a month!
It just happened to me again just recently and now I'm closing in on 8.8k and a couple of weeks later it looks like it's stabilising at around 8.75k, which is only a loss of about 50, which is great compared to last time.
But even though I've just experienced a spike of 1500 new subs, my new updates aren't getting any more engagement than they were before, so I think people need to temper their expectations on that front, like others have pointed out, a whole lot of views and subs doesn't necessarily mean you'll get an equivalent number of likes and comments. Those two things in particular depend much more on the content itself.
takes off tinfoil hat
I may have been a bit reactionary.
I still don't like webtoons very much but for reasons that are completely separate from this discussion.
Ha, it's not just you, lots of people feel the same way, and this question about where they get their money from comes up constantly, and after what went down with Inkblazers, it's a perfectly reasonable one.
I for one love a good tin foil hat when it makes sense.
Me personally all i care about is people enjoying my webtoons and having fun with what i do.
Unless you get featured you can't expect to get rich off of these comic websites.
True both Line-Webtoon and Tapas has it's pros and cons though at the end of the day what really matters is your main reason for posting your comics.
For me one of my comics "I Love My Yandere Neko Girlfriend" just reached 9,124 Subs, but i'm not in a rush to reach 10,000 to make the $100 cut. It happens, when it happens.
Some people can take this as Line-Webtoon challenging us to grow more or as a discouragement.
And some other people like me don't mind either way.
It all depends on your perspective
I can probably test y'alls theory that "bad" comics seem to be getting an absurd amount of attention...
lemme go on webtoons, and upload a series of randomly colored pages, and see what happens to my view count there... agent moron on the way
alright, so I made this series, do not look it up on line webtoons as I don't want anyone from this thread boosting up it's stats
I wanna test line webtoons through ONLY the webtoon userbase, the test will be ruined if anyone from this thread looks at it (or at least my results wont come off right)
first page has been uploaded, episode title "don't read this", comic tells you "not to read this" and uploaded an image of a white blank canvis
if my views come up, either idiots or rebels clicked on my comic through reverse psychology, or something's fishy going on...
I intend to upload the same page with the same text for around 3-4 weeks maximum, every day.
I'll write some fancy graph or upload my results here for the first week at most
(edit: also changed my name to "don't subscribe to me)
I actually missed this comment. It's something I've noticed too, and it's left me scratching my head on more than one occasion.
But really, I think it probably does just come down to subjectivity. What you and I consider bad, tweens lap up like chocolate milk (that's what all the kids are drinking these days, right?)
I've seen some of what I would consider woeful artwork being praised as being the best on the site. I've seen webtoons failing just about every test of decent fiction writing being begged for in the comments section like it was crack. I don't think it's nefarious, I think it's just a case of young readers having poor taste and not knowing any better.
Some stories, for whatever reason, just hit the spot with the bulk of the regular Webtoons crowd, and once it all gets rolling, it can often start a snowball effect.
By contrast, on Youtube, you can go viral if you have something interesting to say that isn't being talked about in the mainstream, but presentation isn't actually all that important there.
I think it's all just about what the regular visitors to the site are looking for.
When you are the owner/artist, that's fine. When you have an artist on payroll, there is a lot more pressure.
So I gave a quick look to your library just to have a rough feel for how our tastes differ, and where they're similar. From my quick glance I can guess that you and I both tend to like comics that are on the "darker" end of the spectrum, where our tastes mainly differ is that the stuff that you read tends to look more polished and (for lack of a better word) mainstream, wheras the stuff that I read tends to be a bit more "quirky". I don't mean to put words in your mouth, and this is just a surface level first-impressions sort of analysis. I'm also pretty sure that I'm younger than you are? I remember you sharing your age in another thread.
I bring all of this up because, you're right, taste is subjective, what we find good is different in some ways and similar in others, and by extension of that logic, what we find bad must differ too.
That said I feel like whats happening on webtoons is more than just a situation of "kids have bad taste". They do. I had bad taste as a kid, I'm sure you did too, I think most people do. But speaking for myself, I still had reasons for liking some of that bad stuff I was interested in as a kid, and I imagine that kids with bad taste have reasons for liking the stuff they like too. When it comes to some of the things on webtoons, I feel like there is no reason that anyone would like it at all, regardless of taste, that still gets 1000's of views, and it gets those views quickly.
I had to put my tin-foil hat back on for this response, sorry. I'm interested in seeing the results of @Im_moron 's experiment.
Yeah i understand everyone has different reasons and ways they do their comics.
You have every right to be upset with Line-Webtoon i don't blame you. $100 isn't really a lot especially when you have to pay the artist as well.
Like i said it all depends on your reason for uploading and how you do things.
My view is a little different since my wife draws for me and i write the stories. So that's why i'm not in a rush.
I do feel for people who are depended on that money because it use to be a lot easier to make money on there now it's hard to even make $100 which isn't right
