Any tips on how to fight stagnation and grow your reader base?

[aqua03]

Hi guys, recently, I've been feeling a bit of discouragement with my webcomic's lack of growth and possible stagnation or decrease. I've noticed that I've kind of just stalled around 28 subscribers along with pulling in less views per episode than they used to. (Only around 20-ish a week) even though I've upgraded my art significantly since my comic's inception (my mom's been telling me that she thinks that people have been responding more to my comic now that it's in full color, but I'm just not seeing it.)

It doesn't help that I have recently switched to a more ambitious art style, which also means more work on my end, but it seems that I haven't really gotten that much of an increase in notoriety for the increased effort.

Does anyone have tips on how to get more visibility with their comic and possibly also more subscribers? (Other than just spamming your comic everywhere on Reddit and other sites?)

Thanks for the help!

Also, here are my comics, please tell me what you think of them!

Edible Green Tea (My main one)

Edible Green Tea | Tapas

Pup Culture (Spun off from Edible Green Tea)

Edible Green Tea Presents: Pup Culture | Tapas

[gh0stcr33p]

I don't know how much you've been doing it but try to advertise on the forums as much as possible, and I don't think you've been uploading on a constant schedule, but if you did that would help as well

[TimCaloweh]

Write better? I mean better art doesn't work unless you're fluffing the s*** out of it like most romance comics. If art isn't getting you anywhere than pulling in readers with interesting plot is the only way to go.

[joannekwan]

• Advertise on different and new social media sites: twitter, reddit, etc.
• Start a mirror and publish on a different platform: webtoons, smackjeeves, etc.

[KoreanTacos]

I'm really confused about what Reddit is? I thought it was something for let's players and video games? Is it also used for webcomics too?

[joannekwan]

It's a forum site so you'll find threads about a lot of things.
I believe there are a few threads where one can promote their comic, but I've never used it myself.

[ZombieOwl]

You could try switching up the presentation a little. Maybe you could try formatting it as a vertical scroller? People viewing on mobile devices will have an easier time reading. And make the font darker so it's easier to read?

And like others have said before, advertising on your social media sites should help (though I've never tried...)

[aqua03]

Reddit is kind of what you make it. I often frequent the subreddits for tokusatsu like Kamen Rider and Super Sentai as well as the art based ones (especially the Comic Crit subreddit, where I often ask for advice and feedback on my webcomics.)

@ZombieOwl I know I upload my weekly strips to Facebook for my friends and family to see along with sometimes posting them to various subreddits when appropriate. Maybe I might experiment with vertical scrolling strips after I'm done with this batch of 25 strips during my next break from it.

[mariusthered]

standing naked in the full mood wearing just a bucket.....has no effect at all but makes a very cold!

some sort of publicity Illustration on social media might help. as might a competition of some kind.

and i was just kidding about the naked thing...I had me socks on!.

[ryoko]

Things should pick up once September rolls around and everyone's back in school or at work. Everyone's trying to get in that last bit of summer right now and it's a bit slow right now. People will start looking for distractions from work/school pretty quick

[Merle]

If you have a better artstyle, update your first episodes, as this is what new readers will see first;
other than that work hard to keep improving. Look at other webcomic, and how they work.
Things I could see you holidng back at first glance:
- readability: I had problems reading some of the text, even in the newer episodes, just cause it was such a small size
- does it work for phone users? I don´t think so.

Generally give yourself more space, maybe with the panels you´re doing consider changing to longformat.

Apart from that you will always experience growth when you experience personal grwoth, so keep improving.
And lastly, if a project is not working out, move on at some point and start again with something better, where you can apply all the knowledge you´ve gained right from the start; especially if you only have such a small following ;D

[Rosso]

first i really like your colors. here are a few things to consider:

1. try vertical formal as the majority of readers are on mobile.
2. text is so hard to read (size, font, and color). make sure it's legible for smartphone users.
3. the banner looks a bit lazy. make the text on the paw print much more bigger, use a more cartoony font. make it pop-up. More contrast for "Edible Green Tea" in the banner. The boy's ear look kinda weird here if you wanna be more technical x )"
4. Update the thumbnail so it better reflects your current art style (e.g. thicker ink, dark blue instead of black..etc) maybe redraw the mug to look either more accurate or stylized.

but the most important thing is definitely the text and vertical format. good luck!

[kaiwang868]

The easiest way to gain growth quickly is to become featured. Because I think the majority of readers only look at the front page and the trending page. How to become featured? It all depends on how luck you are, if you've been selected in Writers' Camps/Creator Incubators before, etc...

I've been fortune enough to have all 3 of my Tapas works feature before. Links below:

Elina | Tapas

The Girl in Cell 3 | Tapas

The Snow Maiden | Tapas

[aqua03]

How does one become featured, though? Is it completely random and the staff just picks the one they like the most? Or is there a process you must do to become eligible?

[kaiwang868]

In my experience your writing has to be suitable for the web novel style (i.e. easy to read on a smartphone) and it has to be something that is easy to grasp (e.g. interstellar space voyages with heavy sci-fi elements tend to be nice to read in a print book, but hard to read when you're on the bus and looking at your phone).

I think having a look at what is being featured gives you a good sense of what works well. Again, I've been fortunate enough to have all of my Tapas work featured either currently or in the past, so I guess the way I write works well for Tapas. But there are also tons of people who write with very different styles, and they get featured too.

For me personally, I follow these rules:
- needs to have a killer opening paragraph
- needs to have a hook right away in the first chapter
- a narrative voice that is easy to get into
- don't be shy on the romance
- first person POV

[droidmonkey1]

I'm really confused about what Reddit is? I thought it was something for let's players and video games? Is it also used for webcomics too?

Reddit is a platform to share things and discuss them, from YouTube troubles to webcomics.
Impotent to remember, you can't just post your things, or you'll get band. 1:9 ratio of self post to other posts.
another thing try posting things on several sub reddits and as diverse posts and sources. if you post a lot from one source they'll think it's self posts and can get you band.

[Wumbl]

I'd just recommend starting to post on Webtoon - upload them gradually until you've caught up with your tapas comic. That way you can maximise the amount of time it's discoverable. The more platforms you use the more your work is exposed!

Also, try promoting via social media and blogs. There are blogs and accounts dedicated to promoting webcomics if you're looking for a boost. You just have to make a promotional post and submit a request for them to share it. Now and then I like to make a poster or some other visual, construct a post and then share it around to promo blogs for action comics, lgbt comics and supernatural fiction - that way I can reach the market I'm looking for. Precise marketing is better since you'll be getting better traffic even if it's less traffic. (More of your new readers are likely to view all the episodes, or even subscribe because they're looking for the genre you're creating. It's what they enjoy.)

Just some tips that I don't see as many people mentioning, that have helped me out!

[Leon]

There's one trick I discovered, which consist in staying in the first page of recently uploaded as long as you can to gain more visibility. Of course you first need to do a lot of chapters first as well as keeping a regular update, and when you've had enough post them when you've already avandoned the first page. If you want to stay on the category then you will have to upload more often, but you can save some time if you just focus on your genre's.