Anyone else feel more and more invisible on here?

[isaacjmendez]

Me too! I thought I was alone in feeling this way I'll support your manga! Hopefully we can gain a large audience soon!

[YangKoete]

^_^ Thanks. Yours looks professonally made!!

[Testaccount]

I feel that way here, as I'm sure you already know that. At least in the novel section, the only stories that really get promoted are the paid ones, so it's hard to break through that barrier.

I think most Tapas readers either:

A. Only read the paid content (both comics and novels)

B. Don't search around for new content pass the popular pages

I understand how you feel - it's a hard struggle. I don't want crazy subs or views either, just another 50 before the end of the year would be nice.

[XzynderVexymous]

Tapastic's view on new comics is interesting. Just keep trying.

[isaacjmendez]

AWW thanks! But will work harder

[fighterxaos]

Ha, I know I do. Been looking at other places recently to post, but I'm not sure where.

I don't think many check out recently updated comics.

[Testaccount]

I heard Webtoons may help get you a decent following, so you could try there.

[shaylafarley5]

I feel you, I've been on here for nearly three years and only gotten a nibble

[sarahrebecca58]

My specific issue, is it seems like it's starting to have similar issues Wattpad does. If Tapastic starts "verifying" famous authors, I'm just straight up leaving and continuing to post on Goblinrefuge.

I'm tired of hierarchy.

[YangKoete]

That kind of feels like an exclusive club I need to get better for before uploading to that. ^_^'

[sarahrebecca58]

I'll start removing my content if Stephen King level authors start populating here. I left Twitter cause of that sort of inequality.

People like Maragette Atwood, Stephen King, Dan Brown, James Patterson, and others already have a craptillion fans.

They don't need Tapastic. Give authors with less views a chance.

And I only say this, because at this other place it was at, it starting moving into increasingly a commercial direction where it started being a site for Big Names to promote their content, then equalizing publishing. Thereby cementing the foot hold Trade publishing already has.

I mean it makes it that much harder to find someone willing to collaborate, because there is all these big names I'm having to wade through.

[Sieza]

I know how you feel. Although I could have 100 or 20 followers and still be just as grateful for them checking out and supporting my comic. I work hard so that I can enjoy the comic myself and hope that other people can too. My goal is to at least have 100 followers on this site! XD But, right now it feels a little impossible! Just keep working hard and believing your self! Then you'll look up one day and realize that you've grown!

[Testaccount]

I feel you - I'm really tired of the hierarchy on these websites, too. I get it, I understand why they do it, but it doesn't help new writers and less-known writers want to be on the site or promote it.

I also noticed the "Premium" stories get to be in cross genres, while the non "Premium" stories aren't. If you write Fantasy, then it's only in Fantasy. While the Premium stories will be in Fantasy, Drama, Slice of Life, etc.

Sadly, there isn't much we can do it about though. Ultimately, our success on these sites depends on our readers, much like a business depends on their customers and their money. Our success is determined by our readers' reads, likes, and comments.

[Testaccount]

That's really all you can do. I'm hoping to have 100 subs before the end of year. Right now, I have 71 subs, so I'm almost there.

[sarahrebecca58]

It's not like I'm not an authority also. It's not like a Wattpad ambassor would ask something of me, if an SF magazine guy didn't like my work.

It's just cause I'm a small name here, and barely promote.

And the thing is, in non publishing there are places you don't have to deal with hierarchy. And yet for whatever reason the publishing industry is consistently behind Web 3.0

[YangKoete]

Wouldn't it be harder to get people on this site though if they didn't have very popular authors?

A Heirarchy seems needed, but it needs to be more open and available to let viewers see other comics.

Stuff like "Random Comics" and "Random Novels" would be a great thing to have on the front page.

[ReroOnyx]

I can't speak for every creator, but for the majority, people, including myself, have found great success on Webtoons. It's far more open and less business first approach like Tapastic, leaving more room for all kinds of creators to make an impact. Creators have boosted their viewership on Webtoons anywhere from 10-1,000x compared to what they had on Tapastic.

Heck, even people who are successful on Tapastic admit the difficulty in keeping up with the readership and find themselves daunted by an ever changing and often dwindling readership. While there's no guarantee you'll get high ratings, the site is such that readers are far more willing to check things out. I've see plenty of series that don't have very high ratings but still have 100s of subs to them.

My own person experience with Webtoons was like this. I struggled on Tapastic just to reach 50+ subs and keep maybe 20 views per post. It felt almost pointless to post anything. I went to webtoons, posted a series that wasn't even a webtoon or comic and in just 7 months, already hit 700+ subs, 20,000+ views, several ratings, favorites and comments, all without any need for advertisement.

Then, I reset the series, started completely fresh and in just 3 months, already hit the 300 sub mark. It was amazing the impact I could make despite all the changes I did. I could probably post a blank sheet and get more readership than I did on Tapastic. (Probably not to be honest.)

You should try out Webtoons. If your like 95% of the rest of us, you'll find yourself boosting some huge gains when it comes to subs and views and perhaps even some comments and favorites too. If you happen to be one of the 5% who don't get that boost, then it's a shame but, no shame in trying they say.

[sarahrebecca58]

The fact they don't do novels kills the deal for me.

[Kura]

I also noticed the "Premium" stories get to be in cross genres, while the non "Premium" stories aren't. If you write Fantasy, then it's only in Fantasy. While the Premium stories will be in Fantasy, Drama, Slice of Life, etc.

Trying reeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaally f***ing hard not to be mad about this rn.

[UzukiCheverie]

The fact they don't do novels kills the deal for me.

I mean, that's not really their demographic. They're a Korean webtoons company. If that ends up being something they try out in the future, great - but there are websites like Wattpad for that.

And honestly, publishing novels online is still a small market because most authors sell their work either as physical copies or as eBooks through Amazon and other companies that are built for distributing and marketing books.

Tapas' novel platform is still very new and there certainly isn't anyone making a living off of it or becoming the next Stephen King through it.

So yeah, LINE doesn't publish novels, but if you're a comic artist, you have nothing to lose by posting your work to another website. It always baffles me how people weigh the pros and cons between several comic websites at a time as if it's going to make or break their career - just upload to all of them, worst case scenario you don't get any traffic.

And if you're a novel writer only, then no, LINE Webtoon isn't gonna be for you. Just like how Tumblr isn't for people who do video blogs or Youtube isn't for people who write novels.