Are one-shots temporary success?

[AffectedMind]

Hello there fellow readers and creators!

Recently I've been thinking about doing one-shots to excersize storytelling and art a bit and as always I started to think too much. Are one-shot stories a temporary success? You start to publish your work, you gain your audience and after a few weeks or months the story is over, people are coming and go, because mostly they will unsubscribe after the story is finished.
On the other hand the story is so well made it's very memorable and others will come back to it and just leave it bookmarked because they enjoyed it so much. Like I said I would do them to improve my skills, but how does it look like from creators and readers perspective?

Also feel free to share your one-shots if you have any or recommend some worth reading : D

[AnnaLandin]

Will some of your new readers be disappointed when your oneshot ends and wander away, looking for the work of other creators to read? Yes, most likely.

But some of them will stay, and look forward to what else you create. From a reader's perspective, I would much rather see a creator who makes worthwhile things, regardless of length, than someone who looks first at how successful a format would be in terms of readership before choosing what to post.

From a creator's perspective, I think short stories/oneshots are a powerful format with a lot of potential, and would love to do more of them. There are benefits to longer comics - enough space for all the stuff you want to accomplish, room to build complex storylines and explore a world, etc,. etc. - but there are strengths in the shorter format as well. The limitation in length forces me as a creator to be clear and get to the point, which leads to practising good pacing and clarity. I can then take those skills and apply them to longer stories, which is all good.

I'm currently running both a longer story and a short winter-themed oneshot for December - the latter is called Wishlight, and I really, really enjoyed making it. <3 It was a nice change of pace from my longer comic, and let me practise stuff like panel-composition and allowed me to experiment with stuff.

[Kayke]

As someone who does mini-comics/zines, which are technically "one shot" comics, I've gained a lot of new followers that way. Especially on Tumblr/Twitter.

I'm not so sure how that would work on Tapastic, but on other social media having something that is one story with a definitive ending can be a great way to draw in new followers. A short story is less daunting than a multi-chapter webcomic, so people are more willing to spend 10-15 minutes reading a one shot. And then if they like your art/writing style they'll follow hoping to see similar comics and would also check out your other (longer) comics. It is also easier to share a short comic on social media.

But again, that's me speaking from my experience on the internet as a whole. I have a Series on Tap that is a collection of one shots and that only has 168 followers which is a lot less compared to my long form comic, so take that as you will.

[okellymx]

As a reader I love reading things(and actually getting to an ending) and then looking for the new thing. If I liked your old work I'd love to see what you do next. That's why I'd want Tapastic to have a more robust social media profile with illustrations and being able to follow creators not just a comic. Most likely I'd try finding a creator on Facebook or DeviantArt to see what they are up to. To be honest I think everything you create is temporary success, a long running series can cause people to unsubscribe before the comic finishes.
As a creator I love to try new things so I don't like drawing long series.

[Vikiro_Hop]

I'd say I prefer one shots for the most part over super drawn out series, at least from a comic collecting stand point. There is something beautiful about getting a whole story done in one book. One of my favorite one shots is Akira Toriyama's Sand Land.

From a readers perspective I think a lot will find a one shot and think of it as either a side project or a warm up before the author makes a series. If they find it and like it I imagine that will turn them on to any other projects you are working on. Maybe even convince people who were skeptical about your other work to come back and give it another chance.

[MannyMelancholy]

To be honest, i am MORE inclined to subscribe if you have one-shots going. I am so worried to start reading new epics of comic artists in fear there is a good chance they may never finish the story or just stop it and in worst case just end up injecting fillers to their storylines. I LOVE knowing a story is going to finish and feel complete. If you feel like "DAMN I JUST GOTTA TELL IT, I HAVE SUCH GREAT IDEAS!" then pleeeeeeease do it! it will introduce people to your way of story telling as well as get them interested in any possible on-going comic you have happening.

[MylCreates]

I think if they're already subscribed to you they'd see every time you create a new series. When I created DeathPrince the majority of my subscribers from Hacheeachkee jumped into the new series which boosted it's chances of appearing in the trending section. Even if your one-shot ends quickly, some may move over to your longer-term story if they enjoyed your work in general. Sure you might loose some who only preferred that one story, but I don't know if they'd go out of their way to un-sub once they finish the story, therefore they'd still notified in case you made/updated anything else. I don't see much loss in your case save for the time spent to making the one-shot.

[kazukitakamura126]

One shots have an air of wonder for me. I feel the shorter the story the more impact the story has.

When I started making comics I made the stupid decision of making a comic series right off the bat. I continued this trend until 2014. I wanted to long sweeping epic you saw in anime and manga. When I made the plot outline of my last comic Osana: The Land of Greed it was going to be a 10 book comic series. I said to myself after finishing the second book that it is going to take me forever to finish this. Then my brother suggested I optimize the story and cut out what the story didn't need. With my current comic Seishin Patona I made it a longer story unintentionally at first but, I remembered what my brother said. So I only limited the story to be 15 chapter at the max. I managed to make Seishin Patona 16 chapters one chapter too much but, its better then 100 chapters.

I have never tried a one shot but, all the failed projects I have made over the years have taught me alot of skills I need to be a good comic artist.

Anyways I apologize for my rambling. I believe one shots are quite impactful like a shooting star, it can only be seen for a second but, during that second it is amazing.

[starsyscomics]

I wouldn't think of it in terms of popularity, think of it in terms of what a one shot comic is going to do for you: do you have a story that's scratching at the inside of your head trying to burrow it's way out? Are you getting tired of doing your main comic week in and out and need something to freshen up with? Will it give you a chance to work on different character designs and different settings, or improve your art or story telling in some way? If any of these questions can be answered with "yes" just do it. If you get new readers, sweet. If they wander off when it's over? Oh well. It still wasn't a waste of your time because you will have improved yourself.

[monotone_ink]

It's inevitable that people will unsub once a one-shot is over, but honestly, one-shots are really good things in terms of developing your skills and letting out the little stories that come to your mind.
I think, like many people have mentioned here, that long comics can be overwhelming for the viewer. Some only want to read a story, not a life commitment.
One-shots are great challenges as well, keeping every bit of the story concise and relevant. They're usually straight to the point as well; they're like little snacks that taste good as hell when executed right.

[carodoodles]

I first started out in comics by making a fb page and doing one-shots. Got me a lot of followers because my one-shots are easily digested and shared (only one page gags). And my one shots were about deaf/disability topics (I am deaf). Obviously that's not a common topic so people were interested in that, especially the deaf community. And one-shot really helped me to develop my comics muscle. My early one shots allowed me to have a fan base who will follow me into my new projects, and keep growing the fan base.

Now, I make The Satrians and What QQ. The Satrians are very long story while What QQ are autobiographical one-shots. What QQ allows me to experiment and keep my mind fresh. It can get tiring when you're working on one long story all the time.

[Ankur]

I have read a lot of one-shot manga, and from what I have seen if the one-shot does well (get's a lot of positive feedback), the artist continues the story and makes it into a series.
Generally, a one-shot, by the end of it, should answer all questions it has laid down from the start of the chapter.

It is a very good way to demonstrate one's talent as an artist or storyteller or both.

However, I don't know about using the principle of one-shots in a web-comic format, unless it is a part of a series, because one-shots can even be uploaded in a week or a day(if they are really short, like 5 pages).
Example: A collection of stories on adventures abroad (or some other theme like that), allows for multiple one-shots in the same series.

Still, I enjoy reading one-shots the same as I enjoy reading short stories. They are quick to read and it's very interesting to see an entire story fit into a single chapter.