I feel ya, I've been here a year and still have under 100 subs. T_T. As long as your doing it for the joy of it, then it will be ok
Ah no I didn't feel you're putting words in my mouth at all haha, I just saw it as you expressing your opinion which is entirely fine xD
Personally, my two cents on the matter OP mentioned is that you have to realize that there are going to be things people like and don't like. You may have the juiciest peach, but there will be people out there who don't like peaches. Plain and simple. Sure it sucks that you spent so much time growing the peach, and there will be people that admire it and think it's pretty, but when it comes down to it, you can't make people eat the peach.
I think what matters most is finding people who genuinely enjoy your content for what it's worth and really appreciating them. Ask your followers to promo your comic for you if you're able to. Some comics take a while to really gain traction, some don't. That's just how it is. But there are people out there who will enjoy what you create. You may just have to alter how you view that success.
Realistically, I currently only have 7 subscribers, but I'd rather have people follow me who I know will enjoy my story and who are there because they genuinely do care about the plot, characters, and everything else that comes with it. If you measure success by the amount of subscribers you get, you're always going to find some way to be displeased by the results you find, no matter how much work you do to market yourself.
This isn't discrediting the fact that most creators do put in their fair share and that there's things that Tapas could probably do a bit better. But ultimately, what will affect your comic the most is doing it because you enjoy it.
I think basically you've got to do stuff because you want to. If not, the slow speed and the negative feedback that everybody gets will grind you down.
Also I think some people might be surprised at how much people will expect you to do for free. Just today, I got an email saying (not asking) that I should email this dude to arrange a time to do a free session. I'd never met them before and had not advertised myself as free.
And I'm a teacher.
Definitely feel you on this one... It's painful when you work really hard on something, and then see it gets little appreciation in return.
Reading through all of these comments is really helpful though! Gives a lot to think about... Thanks for making this post!
7 months later
so true... though i can't draw and don't do comics.... i get that the same applies for novels... on that note, it reminds me i have a sucky icon for mine so i definitely gotta work on that... lol..
I agree with you that it seems like it's getting harder to get views. I've noticed a major change too since they started doing more promotion on the main page, and reorganized the page to make it harder to find the links that bring you to "Fresh" and discover new comics. I think what would help is if they added a link in the top of the main page to recently updated or randomly selected comics.
When I first started posting I was really excited my the prospect of getting views and subscriptions, but when I didn't see the results I expected I became unmotivated really quickly. Now, I'm just focused on using Tapas as a medium to keep me motivated to write and hopefully get some input along the way so I can improve. It's been much easier for me to just focus on the writing the story and improving it.
Keep your head up!
Tapas tends to do that to most creators. Our recommendation would be to focus on creating what you are passionate about and enjoy doing, rather than something you hope will become immensely popular overnight. If you keep creating what you enjoy doing then it won't be as defeating when your work doesn't find an instant audience. Keep on posting and you will eventually get a following of readers who share the same passion.
When I'm updating stuff (which is rare, actually), I usually would get like, 1 or two reader a day and I would like, "AHAHAHAHAHAHA I'M FINE IT'S FINE DON'T MIND IT DON'T BE DISCOURAGED DON'T CHECK THE DASHBOARD EVERY HOUR JUST DON'T!"
...
...I was like this on wattpad, and after I found tapas I'm like this too.
...check the dashboard anyway. :3
That's why I decided to focus on using Tapas as a why to put myself our there and grow as a writer and who decides to read it is a bonus.
I want to write because I love books and stories and I want to add to that world, not because I want to be famous
All this talk about sites and Webtoon and Tapas and all that...
But...here I am thinking "I wonder if this is how any of my my bookmarked reads feel"
And honestly, this is something I think about a lot. I haven't posted yet to Tapas or Webtoons. I've only posted to Deviantart. And over there? I was invisible. I had changed accounts, thinking it was my art style. So I took a hiatus, improved my art, and then posted again on a new account. Only one friend was posting on my work, and I was doing the same for hers.
Still nothing. And I was going "what am I doing wrong?"
But...it wasn't until 2016 that I started to stop worrying about that ad just post because I loved the work.
It was also the same time I started to engage people who posted on my work and engaged the people I followed. I talked with them, answered their polls, joked with them. We talked about our art, our stories, all of that. But I didn't do it for attention -- I did it because it was fun and I thought these people were awesome!
And suddenly -- people started following me and posted on my work -- the same way I was watching and posted on their stuff as well.
My advice: Get involved with the community -- not just in the forums. Those comics and books you saved? Post on them. Like the creator's post, tip them if you can. Don't just do it in hopes of "a sub for a sub". Do it because you honestly want to.
I think a big part of getting out there is to also help others get out there too. I know there's a few of us here who have a few books and comics saved but we don't really read them and tip and comment as often as we'd like to. I know I've cut off from that recently because of school. but I wanna get back to that again, because I have the coins to do it. I wouldn't bookmark and like people's work if I didn't feel they deserved that recongition.
We can argue about how Tapas or Webtoon doesn't help us as they should, and I'd agree with some aspects to that (though some of the things said can get outta hand). Sometimes, people need to stop looking at the big guys and look at the little guys. But it's also the little guys who gotta look after the littler guys sometimes. Because if we don't do that...who will?
I encourage everyone here to keep posting if it makes you happy and it's something you enjoy. But I also encourage everyone to be apart of getting those voices out.
Give to the Giving Tree 
While I may not be the best person to explain the whole popularity/subs/view thing as I have been promoted by Tapas in the freshpicks for my comic and gained the majority of my readership from there. But after a few years doing this, I can say from my experiences of trial and error, comic growth is usually determined by 3 major things: Art style, Genre/story, Company bias.
Art style:
I think it can be safe to say that certain art styles are more popular than other art styles. In the case of Tapas and especially Webtoons, the manga/Asian aesthetic art style is much preferred. Not saying that western styled art cannot be successful, but compared to the manga style, it is not as popular.
Also, colored comics are preferred over black and white, and mobile friendly/scroll formatted comics tend to be more preferable than comics paneled to be printed on a page. Art is one of the biggest factors if someone even chooses to take a look at your comic. I know people say "don't judge a book by it's cover" but as long as people are not blind, they will judge initially on appearance. If your comic's art cover cannot hook the new reader in, you lose that reader unless they go a little further and decide to read the summary/synopsis which brings me to my second point,
Genre/story:
Certain genres are more popular than other genres. On webtoons, the romance/drama genre is definitely the most popular. On tapas it is a bit more diverse with comedy and romance and fantasy. Now labeling your comic BL is one of the fastest way to gain new subs as there is the new flood in fujoshi culture on the web. So certain genres will draw in more subscribers than others. Then of course to keep the readers and keep them active, you have to make the story engaging and interesting. And finally
Company Bias:
This, unfortunately noone really has control over (unless you're famous, really rich or one of the employee's family???) but it cannot be denied either. That is how Tapas has their spotlight, Daily Snack and Fresh Picks. And that's how Webtoons does it's recommended, front page banner, and fresh picks. And these promotions do garner crazy amount of subs and views for the creators lucky enough to be noticed and favored by the company which they are hosting their comic on.
I know it seems very discouraging, especially when you notice how some series are more favored than others, but as cheesy as it may sound, just don't give up. You can still remain true to yourself and do your comic the way you want to do it but if you really really want subs and views no matter what, the only options there are is to hope someone really famous or the company promotes you, or you change your entire comic, art and story, to suit what the majority of readers want/like. But I believe it's best to remain true to yourself and not change for other people unless you want to personally. It is your comic, it is your story, and you shouldn't feel compelled to change it for others unless that is want you want for yourself.
Back in January, I posted a single page comic. Within a week of posting it, I was amazed that I was averaging about 100 views a day. It was incredible, but after the week was done, the influx of views stopped. I knew it would eventually. What I went and did was immediately commission a follow-up to that story, hoping it would receive the same amount of attention the previous one did. It didn't. Not even half. Then I posted two other unrelated comics which haven't gotten near the attention.
I have no idea where that viewership came from. When my other shorts failed to get decent views, it did somewhat put me down a bit. However, I knew I couldn't be so hard on myself. I've only been publishing stuff on here since last August and I don't have a set schedule for posting stories. So I can't expect sudden fame in such a short time.
I do wonder, though how people manage to get a hold of viewers. And not just that. But subscribers as well. Up to now, I feel the only logical answer to that is to just keep putting out content.
I've also gone over to try out Webtoons. I haven't gotten the amount of views there that I have on tapas.
Also, maybe my lack of visibility may have to do with the fact that my content is mainly single-shot, 1-2 page stories.
So much wisdom already, but I just wanted to point out this key sentence. I think everyone should remember this. Networking for networking's sake is obvious and painful. 
Sincerity takes you much farther.
Unfortunately Tapas hasn't worked out as well as my other websites but I don't bear the website any ill will - It's probably not a good match for my comic. For now, I think I'll keep posting but if I keep losing time to spammers, I'll have to re-think it.
That's exactly it. And I think the most important thing about this is that you'll end up with people who are awesome!, who enjoy your work and engage you post. And you might even make some friends.
On deviantart right now, I have 192 followers. But only a handful of them (like 12 people) interact daily with me when I post. And even if I lost all those followers but those 12, I'd still be very happy.
At the end of the day, views and subs are nice. But unless you're using them for a source of income, they're not everything.
You won't be invisible if you have a loyal but necessarily large crowd. You just won't be highly known, is all.