An unpopular opinion or two

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

Recently, I've begun to suspect that there are more writers at Tapas than there are readers.

Also, that writing is something more & more people are interested in doing but reading is something fewer & fewer people are interested in doing.

Your mileage may vary...

EDIT:
I suspect some folks are taking my post too seriously, too.

[YS_og]

I asked this question long ago. Its because only writers tend to use the forum and discord. Readers wont.
Its like me and Webtoon as a reader. I only read and hit like, NOTHING else lol

[ar-ninetysix]

On a personal note, I agree! Personal note bc I'm one of those people.

Hear me out.. if any one of their brains works the way mine does, it comes down to a weird mix of "all these people can do it, why not me" but also.. "why would i want to read in general???" For the most part, I was reading only 2 comics this year, but hot damn, did I try to write stuff way more than I tried to read.. I'm still behind on a lot of stuff I'm subbed to tbh

[NickRowler]

My unpopular opinion is that I AM part of a secret organization that allows me to bypass the block function of the forums. We also do other nefarious deeds like removing your post when you aren't looking.

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

Actually, I wasn't posing a question or speaking specifically about the forums, just expressing a bit of recent depressing thinking. It struck me as a supply & demand problem, where the supply may be outstripping the demand.

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

Sometimes I wonder if doing a lot of reading other authors won't eventually lead the brain to subconsciously repeat someone else's scenes & dialog & that won't look good.

[Shomin]

Readers do not join in the conversation here unless they have something they want to say.
And some readers do not open an account on Tapas.
Thinking about nobody read your published work is a bit too bleak,
Provided that you are publishing something to the www.
There will be people who read your stuffs!
Just the matter of time and your effort on promoting and marketing it.

If you really want to get that spike of view count and have amazing number of real readers in no time...
Try write the NSFW sexual stuffs. You'll be surprise how many people are alive and reading your works!

[ar-ninetysix]

I weirdly understand that, but in a different context lol I get sooo irrationally worried about doing that with making music lol the pool of artists and bands I've listened to has stayed pretty small the past 5 years

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

Thinking about nobody read your published work is a bit too bleak,

Perhaps but I'm sure the counts provided by Tapas aren't actually reads. They're just clicks or page retrievals.

If you really want to get that spike of view count... Try write the NSFW sexual stuffs.

That's not the content I wish to create. I'm not that interested in the numbers, per se, just in readers who enjoy my creations.

[DasIstWunderblyat]

I am sadly, not the type of person who likes to interact with works I read. I think some or many readers are not too keen on interacting or feel no need to—like me. Sometimes I feel like other people have conveyed my thoughts perfectly.

---

You know those notification ads most of us regard as annoying and intrusive? Is it just me or there is almost no (or no) novel being promoted in such way? If there is it is probably a part of an event or already a big series (not new ones). I understand that Tapas care less about community series (both comics and novels) but that is just a bit sad and make Tapas novel section even more unheard of.

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

Understood & I guess you're probably representative of most readers. But a few comments are worth more than reader's suspect.

[monotone_ink]

I saw this homeless dude do a backflip yesterday, shit was so cash

[TheLemmaLlama]

Chipping in as another writer/non-reader! I basically have no interest in reading anything these days unless it relates to what I'm writing in some way and makes me want to research it. But despite that, I'm objectively reading more content than I am creating (I've drawn 6 strips since August whereas I've read ... like one super long series and one starting series that's still further along than mine?) This is because making stuff takes ages, and reading stuff doesn't, and writers need to read as well in order to get inspiration and keep a diverse pool of ideas to draw from. Even the least readery writer probably reads more than writes, even if you can't tell from their comments, so I think writers will never lack for readers :]

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

so I think writers will never lack for readers

You're probably right, in general. My tongue-in-cheek thoughts were more like, in the Tapas arena specifically, I suspected writers were more common than readers. Of course, if we looked instead in a bookstore, we'd probably find more readers than writers.

My 2nd thought is derived from personal observation. I meet more people who say they don't read for fun or entertainment than I do the reverse. I lay that up to the schools (& perhaps homelife, too) that don't do a good job of teaching how to read well, resulting in it being more of a chore than a joy.

[TheLemmaLlama]

Ah, I meant even in the Tapas arena specifically, I don't think writers will lack for readers because ever the least reader-y writers probably read more than they write (although I guess when I wrote that, I didn't take pure novel writers into account and focused on comic writers who take longer to produce content). The argument being that even someone who doesn't seek out things to read purely for entertainment (like myself) probably reads more than they write because it takes far longer to write stuff than read stuff :]

[mrtoontastic]

Geckos over Dogs or Cats. Period.

[system]

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