Anyone else do the Tapastic Survey?

jono_thompson 2016-07-14 20:51:45 UTC #1

I got a notification on the site from Team Tapastic about the possibility of them adding a new feature, designed to put more money in the pockets of the designers. Did get the notification and do the survey?

Jewe11s 2016-07-14 20:53:49 UTC #2

Yup! It's an interesting concept, for sure

keii4ii 2016-07-14 20:53:52 UTC #3

I finished the survey without realizing the feature would be limited to new series. The description box was small, and I missed this part where it said:

(i.e. People who are already regularly scheduling episodes would not automatically be placed in this program. It is something new that you would have to choose to participate in).

(I didn't see it, but another creator I was talking to caught it and C&P'd it for me)

Does that mean I can't use this feature with my existing series? If that's the case, I won't be able to use the feature. I devote myself to my comic, and there's no way I can run a second series.

Shanny8 2016-07-14 20:54:04 UTC #4

Yeah I completed the survey. we'll see how it all turns out...

Shanny8 2016-07-14 20:55:36 UTC #5

I think they meant they would allow you the choice of putting your comic in the program, not you'd have to create a new series to be part of the program.

keii4ii 2016-07-14 20:56:49 UTC #6

The wording leaves that a bit unclear. In the past, they DID say it had to be a brand new series. I'm hoping you're right and that's no longer the case!

STAFF 2016-07-14 20:58:29 UTC #7

You would be able to use the feature with existing series.

It's just that IF the feature were ever made your series wouldn't all automatically start using that feature. It would be something you would have to set up. For creators not interested in using the feature everything would remain exactly the same.

PotooGryphon 2016-07-14 20:58:29 UTC #8

I did and completed the survey. My added suggestion at the end was it'd be nice if this feature was extended to the website so no readers are left out or alienated whether they have a smart phone or not. Bring the coins/keys system to the site if that's what is required but some uniformity and consistency between app and site, I think is sorely needed.

UzukiCheverie 2016-07-14 20:58:35 UTC #9

I think all they meant was that pre-existing series need to opt into it, and won't automatically be placed into the program. Sort of like how with ad revenue you had to turn it "on" to use it. I highly doubt they're going to force creators to make new series just to opt in, that would be stupid. Just that you need to choose yourself whether or not you want to be a part of it.

This so much. The app right now is so separate from the main site that they may as well be two different services. You've got most dedicated community members and pretty much all creators using the website, but then you've got a whole community of people who downloaded the app just because of its advertising and use it solely for reading and some commenting, and it's creating a pretty big divide across a community that shouldn't be divided in the least bit - at least not over something like this lol

I also added in my footnote at the end of the survey that I'd like to see you guys actually complete this feature. We've got Tapisodes, keys and coins, and novels all just sitting around on the app, not being used to their full potential, not being offered to any of the home-bred creators here on Tapastic, and with that being the case, no one's being bothered to try it out. If you guys want to add yet another feature into your stew of growing features, you need to show the community that you're going to finish it and allow it to actually be a feature and not just some preview for "what's to come" (especially because "what's to come" usually takes months and months of waiting on the community's part; when this scenario happens over and over again, it just gets tiring for everybody). The survey was the first good step - finding out if this is something worthwhile for the creators and readers of Tapastic before diving into it headfirst.

Anyway, I digress - I've filled out the survey, and I'm interested to see what the results will be

TomSawyer 2016-07-14 20:59:09 UTC #10

I just completed it
I suspect the reactions will be mixed

Although this would definitely help creators

keii4ii 2016-07-14 21:00:43 UTC #11

\o/ Thanks so much for the clarification!

Shanny8 2016-07-14 21:00:46 UTC #12

I feel you. I'm already doing a print series as well as this webcomic- and do extra art on the side.

lempi 2016-07-14 21:03:16 UTC #13

I think, since there will be videos-for-coins options, this would be a great way for creators to monetize. It'd allow everything to be done in one place, rather than early episodes being released on, say, Patreon instead.

As others have said, I did contribute that I might not opt into this unless website readers are also able to read early for coins.

Shanny8 2016-07-14 21:09:40 UTC #14

The only thing I mentioned, is that there are creators doing this on Patreon. Would the Tapastic deal be better than Patreon(as far as percentages and cuts go)?

I feel it would be a good thing, coz beginning comic artists dont have a large enough following to make a good penny off ad revenue- this might help.

shazzbaa 2016-07-14 21:17:26 UTC #15

I feel the sneak peek would be inherently different since it's not subscription based!

Like, I'm a weekly comic. If I had something where $3 patrons are able to see pages a week early, and I opted in on this feature for some???number????of coins --- Patrons would pay $3 and see every page for that month a week early. Tapas subscribers could pay X coins if they wanted to see the next page right now, but in order to see all four pages for that month, they'd pay that price four times. But they also might only pay to peek when something particularly exciting was happening. If I'm understanding the feature correctly? So it's a little different, and I'm curious how that would shake out.

I said in my footnotes that it would be nice to have "pay what you like" as an option when you're choosing how many coins to charge -- I don't know how many people would use it, but I like the idea of being able to say "pay whatever number of coins you think is worth a sneak peek!"

jono_thompson 2016-07-14 21:21:29 UTC #16

I think they were saying the creator decides on how much you would charge the user, in terms of coins, to sneak peak. So you have control over how easy it is for users to check out your 'locked' comics.

UzukiCheverie 2016-07-14 21:21:43 UTC #17

I've literally spent the past 5 minutes thinking about this, glad I'm not the only one who got tripped up on it xD"""" Right now I have it set for $1 from the get-go, you can see pages early (as there are a lot of pages in Time Gate, released up to three times a week, so it's a bit of a different situation compared to $3-$5 access bonuses people have set up for their colored, 1-page a week updates). It might require some adjusting on my Patreon feed, but I don't want to turn anyone away from that either because my Patreon offers a lot more rewards outside of early access (especially since the Support Program was botched).

Kura 2016-07-14 21:40:43 UTC #18

I'm good for it in a sense that I wanna pay content creators.

I don't like that this is another "Fuck all ya website/desktop users =D install the app, or buy a phone and switch to the app."

The execution is pretty clunky too, I can tell you for sure it would not work for me, I release content much to often (sometimes unstable because of health issues) for it to work. A monthly thing to see all content instead of 'pay for each page/episode' of content is something that would work a LOT better for me.

AnnaLandin 2016-07-14 22:06:02 UTC #19

Yeah, I just took it.

While I can see this being a neat feature, I do wish it was implemented on both the desktop and the app, for the sake of cohesion.

However, I'm not sure I'd use it, since I already do early access on Patreon, and trying to keep track of everything across all the different platforms would take more time and effort on my behalf than I'm comfortable with spending. That's personal on my part, though, so it might work out well for others!

neilkohney 2016-07-14 22:33:12 UTC #20

It's an interesting idea, but I'm kinda hesitant. I'm not sure if I'd use it. It just feels a little too close to the whole freemium game experience.

That being said, I like that Tapas is looking into more ways to help support creators. And overall the feature seems pretty harmless, especially for comics updated daily like mine. Although I hope other ideas for monetizing are being looked into.