Advice for creators on tagging?

[sensibleshroom]

Tagging is ridiculously difficult and can actually make or break a story on virtually any platform. Do any creators have any advice on how to properly tag? I don't see Tapas having a function to view tags versus engagement or the top trending tags. It seems most of us smaller creators are relying a lot on sub 4 sub and read 4 reads. Most of us only seem to be able to build an audience by scratching each others' backs, including me. So, any advice on properly tagging?

[rajillustration]

yeah Tapas tagging doesn't actually do anything. It's weird. Apparently the tags you put as your story tags are searchable? I think (and honestly I don't know if that's true)? but for the episodes themselves--those tags are just for fun. Probably a left-over from when it was intended to do more.

Maybe one day the tags will be more than just for fun.

[sensibleshroom]

Yeah, I was talking about for the series. I don't tag the episodes, don't really see the point. I'm really used to ao3's search and filter settings and kind of wish tapas would adapt something like that. With the tags on the series itself I'm kind of lost, because I don't think anyone is searching "angst" or "found family" or any specific tropes they want and I don't know which terms would be too broad or too narrow. There's only 10 options, and it's a whole other ballgame than what I'm used to with ao3. At least on ao3 I can literally see how many fics are in a tag for a fandom and follow the trends.

[SleepingPoppy]

I've never felt like Tapas search function is super effective. Best advice I can give is just to think about what in your story someone might search for- like my story is a fantasy romance about angels and hell hounds, so I tagged "angels", "demons" ect to go with my fantasy genre. Ditto @rajillustration that the episode tags are not searchable, consider them just flavor.

Don't rely too much on sub4sub types of promotions. My advice for on forum advertising would be to keep an eye out for promotional topics (or request topics) that are more relevant to you personally. This is way better than a free for all promotion.

Secondly, put your comic link in your profile! When you engage with the community instead of the promotional topics, people will get interested in what you have to say and check out your work. It's a slow, passive sort of advertising, but this way when someone subs from the forum, they do it out of a real interest in your work!

Thirdly there ARE topics about marketing yourself on the forums, seek out good advice from users with experience!

[sensibleshroom]

I've got the link in my profile haha. But I don't do comics. I've read over most of those marketing topics, I just didn't see any posts about series tags and what on earth we're supposed to be doing with them.

[SleepingPoppy]

Ah, sorry, I didn't see it! You might move one link to the top, I think it will show up better? Otherwise I can't see it without opening your profile.

And yeah. I agree AO3 has better search functionality! Tapas is really lacking there, and I'm not sure it gets much use by readers. But I think keeping what works on AO3 in mind as you choose your tags isn't a bad idea. *And yeah, people don't talk about it because it's not good enough to worry much about. XD

[sensibleshroom]

Yeah, on ao3 I was popular in one fandom, at least, with about 40k views at the highest on one of my stories (I think, I haven't checked my stats in awhile), but that's because I know how to tag and had a ridiculous upload schedule. Here it's a whole other ball game and I feel a little out of my depth with the way this site runs.

[sensibleshroom]

Though now that I think about it, do the tags even determine recommendations? It doesn't even seem like they even do that. Because the recommendations under both of my series seem to be based off of me, the creator, and the highest amount of likes on the site. It doesn't seem like the best way to actually tailor reading preferences. I've had people look at my series on their own accounts and it seems to recommend The Beginning After the End everywhere.

[thedude3445]

Tapas story tags give a good overview to your comic or novel and help let readers know what to expect from a glance, beyond the genre and blurb. It's one final chance to convince them to click on the chapter, and that's their best part. People CAN search tags, but nobody ever does I'm sure (mods may have the stats on that but I bet it's super low). And chapter tags are full-on useless, so don't bother.

[SleepingPoppy]

I have always assume the recommendations are based on genre, at least mostly. The tags definitely don't play a part! The only thing they do is add extra context when someone is looking at your series, and maybe influence your appearance in the search function.

[SleepingPoppy]

It's one final chance to convince them to click on the chapter, and that's their best part.

I can at least confirm this is how I use them (as a reader) if I'm not sure how interested I am in something. I see if the tags hit any subject that I like. =)

[sensibleshroom]

Not positive it's going off genre, either, since The Gods of Our Mothers has no tags or genres in common with The Beginning After the End. There's actually nothing in common with it except maybe action I think?

[sensibleshroom]

Yeah, I've been totally lost on the episode tags and didn't want to mess it up, so I haven't touched them up until now. Good to know I hadn't made a huge mistake in avoiding them.

[thedude3445]

Yeah, I'm saying this all more as a reader than an author. The tags are extremely helpful, and the lack of tags on premium series can be kind of annoying when trying to decide whether to hop in.

[sensibleshroom]

Hm..... Right now, I'm using the tags like I would on ao3, meaning I'm using them as an aid to find the series itself. So, I should probably not do that, right? By the description, you already know Artificer is an isekai, so you probably don't need that in the tags. Would it be better to use like the absolute bare minimum subgenre tags, like "isekai" or "superhero", and then use the rest to add to the description?

[thedude3445]

I'd still put isekai in the tags, because it's an important genre tag that isn't in the main genre selection options. I wouldn't, however, put something like #yaoi_fluff_uwu or something AO3-esque unless the story is overwhelmingly about yaoi fluff uwu. You only get 10 tags (older stories had more), so choose carefully.

[sensibleshroom]

I tried to edit both series, but I'm not sure. Most ao3 tags are fandom specific things like "Izuku has a quirk" or "Parental x older male character", but common things are like angst, hurt/comfort, gore, found family, etc.

[thedude3445]

It's probably just something to refine over time and make tweaks to based on what readers are responding to or not.

[sensibleshroom]

Well, Artificer is definitely doing better than ever. The Gods of Our Mothers isn't, though, but it's also new and has fewer chapters, so I guess I'll leave it for now.