About the pain of lacking Patreon donations

[honeyandcreambutter]

In that case, you have two options: 1) Persist and continue or 2) Abandon the project to do another one that might be more popular

Honestly, I can understand it from both options. I have another comic prior to my current one and the most subs I've gotten was 324 subs (on LINE Webtoons) and 24 subs (Tapas) in 4-5 months. As much as I loved the story, I knew that my previous art style was lacking and couldn't serve the story to the best it could have. However, at that moment, I really thought my art wasn't all too bad and I was even proud of it. That's why abandoning it was the hardest decision ever.

Fast forward to this year and I've decided to try again with a new story (one that was supposed to be just a novel format) and I've received a much better success this time around. I'm grateful for my past self for not giving up back then because if I did, I would never have made as much success as I did now. So yea, it's really up to you which you choose to do! Don't be pressured into abandoning your work just because of my testimony. I fully understand loving your work to death! Just take some time to reflect what you'll do to move on from this roadblock ^^ good luck!

[CommanderMarty]

Then learn how to do this stuff, start using that twitter account for starters, post pages in the making, interact with your readers, there are many things you can do.

[arpeggiomax87]

I HAVE NO FOLLOWERS. who in the fuck am i ever to advertise my comic if i have NOBODY that would ever notice me in the first place???

[CommanderMarty]

You gain followers over time and that will equal more readers, we start at the same place and we have to work our way up if you are unwilling to do that then you should stop bitching because you are clearly unwilling to commit.

[honeyandcreambutter]

You can try advertising to other places that isn't twitter or instagram. I, for one, barely have enough followers on my art account (I have like 8 followers on my art twitter lmao). Instead of completely giving up and saying there's no way around this wall, find some ways around it. Ask your fellow creators here where to advertise.

For example, I advertise to:

• Reddit (r/ webtoons or r/ webtooncanvas or even the target demographics of your comic like r/ pokemon or r/ otomegames)

• Search through hashtags (# webtoons, # webtooncanvas, etc.) on instagram or twitter and when you see a fellow creator posting theirs, say hi, make friends, read their comics and then promote yours at the same time!

• Facebook pages or groups (again, search for your targeted demographics then join the group and advertise)

[raeguardart]

I’m at a big zero too for patrons, but I figured I’d throw my 2 cents in anyways . For starters it was hard to find your patreon link, not everyone will realize the image at the end is a patreon link. I looked on your series page and profile and didn’t see a thing.

When I did realize that the last image was a link and checked your patreon, theres no tiers? Custom pledges are set automatically at 5.00, which can seem steep to people. Tiers might be more attractive to readers, offer them something? check out the patreons of artists you admire for ideas and think about what you can offer.

Have you considered a ko-fi page too, one time donations have alot less commitment to them for readers than a month to month subscription.

Don’t forget mirroring comic pages to other sites, what might not work on tapas might take off on webtoon/insta/twitter etc. You got nothing to lose but a couple hours time. Any fresh eyes are a possible audience!

One thing you shouldn’t do is throw up your hands and walk away because money isn’t coming in. Nothing is ever easy, and if it is its probably a trap lol

[gexten_art]

You have to start somewhere you know. Instead of complaining, its better to take a step out and just do it. I'm sorry but you seem extremely pessimistic. If you want to be seen, you have make get out there on your own and work up the ladder like everyone else. Ask friends and family to help share your stuff, and you can ask for help from others.

[FritzC]

If you post your art consistently to twitter and use hashtags for events like #blueart #meettheartist and so on you'll gradually gain and audience. Also here on the forums is a good place to network, if you have a positive attitude and are friendly, you can get far. Doing art challenges, advertising your comics and being active. Also there are people here who do webcomic reviews and things like that where you can ask to be featured.
There are also a lot of threads on the forum where you can feature your comic if it's under 10/50/100 subs.

It all takes time, you just gotta keep at it, and not insult other people or be overly self depreciating because its a bad look, that you don't need to have.

[Pommie]

You shouldn't be talking down to other artists/webcomic artists because you'll never know how much effort they're putting into their works.

No one will care if you can paint the mona lisa because your attitude speaks volumes, and communities, especially the artist community talks.

A comic shouldn't be about making profit, a comic should be about you wanting to talk about your story.

[honeyandcreambutter]

Lmao I'm sorry but I gotta comment the last sentence. This was @ me for falling for a pyramid scheme a few years ago because it looked easy

[raeguardart]

See? You get what I mean lol

[honeyandcreambutter]

I've learnt my lesson that there's no such thing as shortcuts :')

[gexten_art]

well, if you got a comic, don't you draw? Can't you post some drawings regularily? If not, you can write. Post stuff on wattpad or other writing sites with prompts and competition?

[arbiterswake]

Then I suggest you find something else to do that isn't so hard or frustrating on you.

However, if you do decide to actually try, many people have given you awesome suggestions in this thread.

I've flagged your post for the self-harm comment. If you truly feel that way you should seek help but I think this thread has strayed at this point from its original intent which was seeking suggestion on how to improve your follower count.

[thedude3445]

Webcomics take a very long time. Your comic started in June, which was about six months ago, and fortunately you have posted regular updates since then. However it unfortunately takes a lot longer than that for most comics to catch on, as anyone on here can tell you.

One thing that may help is putting your story in your forum description instead of "a dumb ass" and not putting "I hate myself" in your site bio. That really pushes people away from reading people's work when they are incredibly self-deprecating.

[CommanderMarty]

You should take a hiatus from your series if its affecting you that much, you should also work on promoting your stuff on twitter, you can grab people's attention by teasing the next chapter with some of the best completed art from said chapter.

[raeguardart]

Don’t say that, You have 22 subscribers that think you’re worthwhile and you said you don’t use much social media so you have no idea what kind of audience could be out there. Along with having a new webcomic (6 months? it’s still a newborn!), its like giving up before you really start.

Take a hiatus, if you can try to grab seasonal work for cash flow and come back to your work in the new year with fresh eyes and have a hard think if you want to put in the elbow grease, or even try a new project. Theres no harm in deciding something isn’t working. Call it prototyping.

And don’t be so hard on yourself, all it does is grind you down to dust and you don’t deserve that. No one does. You’ve already proved you can stick to something for half a year, most people cant even make it a week on a resolution so be proud of what you managed so far and look towards what you can do moving forward.

[azzy-m]

Yea, what thedude3445 said, comics take a very long time. It can take years for comics to gain even 100 subs, and even longer to be able to make money off of it. My old comic was up for around year and i only got about 50 subs on it before I put it into indefinite hiatus, and part of that is because I hardly ever promote.

I want to say, and I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but the attitude of the creator plays a factor on whether or not someone subscribes. Being self-deprecating, lashing out at other creators, they're not a very good look for you... or for your comic.

[arbiterswake]

what is it that im doing wrong?

Well for one, your comparing you're work to others and their success to your lack of. Which is a really dumb mentality to have. Again no one is obligated to like your work over someone else's regardless of what perceived effort you have put into it.

As for the self-deprecation, everyone has their own problems and struggles but using it as a crutch of reasoning as to why you aren't successful at this time isn't going to magically change things for you.

[CommanderMarty]

Your attitude is the biggest problem here, all of my main series have less subs than your main and you don't hear me complaining.

You fail to understand that not everything you make is gonna appeal to everybody and it seems like you went into the webcomics community expecting to get big and popular and that clearly failed because getting popular with webcomics is a random number generator that has the odds unfairly stacked against everyone.

It can be difficult, hell there have been times I wanted to give up but I'm too stubborn (or its just pride)

Times are hard but they will not get better if you just sit there and whine about how your series only has 22 subs.