Anyone else struggling with marketing/promoting work recently?

[smokesalty]

I dunno about anyone else, but I've certainly been VERY stagnant with getting more readers for my comic, and it's not from a lack of trying.

I was doing really well for a period of time, my work was especially doing well on instagram, where I was able to find new readers through reels, where they could easily follow me and read all my pages on instagram or they could be linked to webtoon.

However, I have for over a year been stuck at the same reader number because of algorithm changes. I've discussed this on my instagram, and I've had people message me and tell me that despite constantly engaging with my work and wanting to see updates, instagram would not show my work on their home page, and they had to manually check. That explained why my views went from around 5k per post to 1k now. Granted, it could be because we're at a slower point of the story. But I get comments engaging with my work, the algorithm just has been suppressing me.

My reels get capped at around 3k views even if performing really well.

Not only that, but since webtoon implemented the rating system, my comic got the mature rating slapped onto it which means my work is no longer promoted and anyone who doesn't have an account or age verification can't read my work. Yes, my work is horror with disturbing topics but it's not so wildly inappropriate to be age-gated like this. I wrote this story when i was 16, and it's why I believe it shouldn't be blocked off like this, but what can you do.

So, I thought "okay, maybe I can censor my comic less for webtoon then if it's marked as mature?" Nope. Nooppeeee webtoon took down an episode that was CENSORED with blur (cos apparently it needs to be "creatively censored. " Like dude, my comic is marked as mature and a degutted rat that is censored with a mosaic blur gets my stuff taken down. So I'm like great I can't be uncensored, new people aren't finding my work on webtoon anymore and I don't get promoted. Excellent. Amazing.

Tiktok and Instagram have been my main sources for promo and I just do not do well on them anymore. Reels used to be such a good platform to promote but it feels like my views get cut at some point. It's aggravating but I still push through. I've had a little success on reddit but I feel a but scummy promoting my work there.

I feel a bit stuck quite honestly, and I'm not too sure where to go from here other than to keep doing what I'm doing already with not much results. I love my comic so I'm not gonna stop working on it until I finish it, it'd just be nice to find new people who would be interested in my work.

One good thing though is that Comic Fury is a fantastic platform where I've found a lot of lovely readers and my work doesn't have to be censored at all. The site is fantastic, and I think you can find a lot of hidden gems on there. And tapas hasn't given me much issue with more graphic episodes as long as I put a warning.

But anyways... is anyone else dealing with this? Or does anyone have any tips and tricks?

[ShidoDraws]

Have you tried YouTube shorts? I know some people who don't use Instagram or TikTok, they more rather watch shorts. Some artists even made videos on there to extend their reach for more audiences.

[eunwei]

Maybe you should try promoting on other platforms, too?

You could try twitter (X) for instance. Tumblr is also a great platform to promote your work. I tried promoting my novel there and used Blaze for a campaign - it wasn't really worth it for the amount I spent, but it definitely got me a few readers to discover my book (maybe I paid too early, and I should have waited to get more readers and then paid for a campaign).

What I'm saying is if reels and tiktok don't work, you should probably try to explore other platforms and try promoting there as well. I would also suggest you start promoting on facebook groups or facebook reels so more readers can get exposure to your work.

Because if you feel that your work is not getting more views on instagram or tiktok being stagnant for a long time, it just means you need to find more audience elsewhere.

Don't limit yourself to tiktok, instagram and reddit - explore other platforms as well.

I hope this helps!

[GothickangelStudios]

I make promos using my artwork and some time consuming layering with assets and sounds using Canva Pro. Canva has a free version too.
Cant show it here, its M14+ images.
Then post it on Bluesky with certain tags I use for my manga. Like webtoons, manga, ocsky and others.
Bluesky does no show insights yet. But............ within a short amount of time alot of traffic is brought to my uncensored version on Comic Fury or Fables X (x just means mature 14+ and up content).
Ive never had that on any Meta or Twitter nor Tumblr.

I have to creatively censor to PG for Tapas, Webtoons and Nami Comi. Same with change what is verbally spoken at times. So it will change the context of what is going on in some pages.

[CoInkedPath]

In truth, the hardest part of promoting the website is deciding on the message to convey. In the current format, the message is 'Sunday Funnies' as a weekly episode. In fact, that holds for three of the titles of the work. All the while, the other five are based on a thinking idea that changes every week but follows the thinking based. Make a suggestion here or at Inkedpath.com.

[Inspector_Spinda]

I didn’t even think of blaze! I think it’s a great idea. I used it once before on random art just to test and I got tons of likes. No follows but it was years ago and just a random art. For $5 it’s worth a shot

[CoInkedPath]

Sorry was pulled away from the post. The promotion of the website is done here and through SEO. With that said, thanks to this question, a few ideas are going forward in the work head.

[kyupol]

I do reddit, deviantart, discord, Facebook, word of mouth...

Then there's bit chute (a YouTube alternative)

[Kuma]

I'm literally not doing anything. ANYTHING. I post my novels and keep going. I have the time to write them, but I don't have the time for publicity.

[eunwei]

(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)

[vapidink]

I don't really do any marketing because I'm bad at it, I hate it, and also I just forget to do it, lol. Every now and then I'll remember I should market my stuff and I'll make a quick post on bsky or insta.

Also, I just noticed your comic is a staff pick, so hope that helps!

[jwabeasley]

I tend to plateau for a while or even have a down week or two sometimes when I haven't been as attentive to my promotions as usual. I had too much life stuff to be able to focus on getting the word out. Subs have been relatively down for a while but that's for everyone on the forums.

Instagram hasn't worked for me as an advertising venue much, but I never really use it except for promotion.

I've been thinking about Comic Fury, how is it from the creator side?

Your comic is doing much better than most of us on the forums, so I think we should be taking advice from you!

[MattiesMoments]

AGREED!
It's been so difficult. I've been pushing it on socials and on here, but then I feel like I'm just being annoying...
I'd love to have more feedback on my novel, so I can fix it up and make it better for self-publishing a physical copy.
I haven't heard much and it's not getting a lot of traction on here either.
I feel at a loss and don't know what to do.
If you're curious about my dystopian novel with some found family, finding oneself and romance...

Read Veil of Ashes | Tapas Web Community

[kyupol]

Comic fury? They're lenient on NSFW. You can show blatant in your face s3x scene as long as it's tagged adult or something. At least last time I was there but not sure anymore. I was banned from their forum awhile back

[toonben]

Yep, it's difficult. Did the best I can. I promote on forums. And use social media when I feel like it. Time I have to figure more inventive ways to promote.

[aphiwegambu9]

What is exactly this blaze thing