Can a serious webcomic find it's way on Tapastic?

minzinger 2014-12-01 22:23:21 UTC #39

@aferrara - As hard as it may be to believe me, it only appear to be that way because we only feature comics (w/ some auto algorithm that tells us what's trending) that is likely to be successful when featured. We've featured some comics in the past, but just the fact that it's featured on the front page doesn't mean that it will get subscribers.

It was there before (maybe a year ago or so). Now removed. More doesn't make it better.

@greatnessiam1 - People do like colors...ESPECIALLY for serialized content. Not confirmed by data, but I think readers care less for shorts. Punch is very important for shorts.

@all - I think everyone puts so much emphasis on the front page. Getting featured is a result of objective selection (trends we see) + staff choice (subjective selection). However, we honestly weigh a lot more on the objective points. We see a series with just a cover page but is trending for some reason, we will probably feature it because the staff thinks there must be a reason why it's hot. It seems unfair to some creators, but I don't know what this creator did to make that excitement visible, but it's apparent and we can't ignore it. If it's trending but it looks terrible on mobile, we never feature it. We want to be as fair to all creators and readers as possible.

aferrara 2014-12-04 06:53:20 UTC #40

i understand algorithms...

My point was that getting featured on the front page = significant amounts of exposure, and ALMOST always can lead to a few loyal subscribers, which is all a creator can ask for.

Whether it is a new or old creator, every bit of exposure/subscription can benefit.

aferrara 2014-12-04 06:54:26 UTC #41

love the 'active' idea!

thejollity 2014-12-04 19:16:13 UTC #42

I think this has less to do with Tapastic specifically and more to do with the type of things that generally grab attention. A lot of the most popular featured comics tend to be short, funny, perhaps slice-of-life, and they get a ton of attention because of what everybody else said—they're short, shareable, and more often, relatable. Long-format comics are a greater investment, and it takes a lot more to hook a reader that way. Your characters have to be likable, your story has to be compelling, your art has to grab attention. A "zany" slice-of-life type comic strip can be forgiven on most of those fronts as long as it's funny or relatable. These things apply all over the web, not just tapastic.

The best you can do is just put your comic out there the way it is and don't worry about how many subscribers you get. Your audience will come to you. Another thing to think about is that because long-format comics require more investment, whatever fans you get for your comic will stick around for a long time. Loyal fans are wonderful to have

Alli 2014-12-05 14:19:10 UTC #43

I understand why Tapastic caters to bite-sized gag strips and statement pieces, but I really do wish there was a platform specifically for story-based comics. If there is a website dedicated to them I haven't heard of it. There have been so many times I have craved new webcomics to follow but can't find any with decent art and a good story that I'm not following already. I'm already reading The Black Brick Road of Oz and Blindsprings, and I keep track of Minna Sundberg. Hiveworks has a big list, but isn't really an open publishing platform. You could search deviantart for weeks, good luck. Tapastic has a good number of them, they even get featured if they work well on the mobile platform, but honestly I think story comics should have their own site.

I like some of the funnies and I won't begrudge any of them their success. I just think that story comics have a lot of potential but aren't given a place to really thrive.

PotooGryphon 2014-12-05 14:30:15 UTC #44

I've found some great story webcomics on Comic-Rocket, like All Night is a really amazing fantasy comic and Bird Boy is a beautiful stylized narrative comic.

I find SO many great story comics on Tapastic through looks at other people's reading lists. A lot of readers that have subscribed to Oops, I'll go to their profile and check out their reading list. And as I'm writing my "Thanks for subscribing" post, if I can think of a comic they might like, I'll suggest a few other webcomics they might enjoy. Kinda helps spread the word of the great story comics on Tapastic with other readers that really enjoy those comics.

noxfox 2014-12-05 21:43:21 UTC #45

That's really nice of you to make reading suggestions @CyndiFoster! I feel a bit too shy to do this and it's not like I've read a lot of series as I don't have a lot of time to read.
This idea isn't bad @lunox99, I suppose it would remove an unnecessary sort of competition between two kinds of comics that were never meant to compete with each other. At the same time, I can see that my series of shorts has brought me some subsrcribers too, which is rather nice I suppose. So I don't know if segregation would be a solution. It's really hard to figure out those things and how people will view them.

minzinger 2014-12-05 22:26:47 UTC #46

@lunox99 - It's not our intention. Long stories are more difficult to feature. @changkim @daronakira can perhaps help us out here. I understand your concerns.

Something like that is being worked on. Progress and quality take time...I mean A LOT. Tapastic has improved significantly over the past 2 years. There has been some side-effects like biased towards shorts. It's a continuous struggle to solve problems we face with. Hope you understand.

Alli 2014-12-06 03:58:42 UTC #47

Oh wow, awesome! And when I said Tapastic catering to short comics I probably should have said something more along the lines of "the Tapastic Community". It's a community that shares things on social media, and it's the community that collectively takes interest in the funnies. The site just reflects that. I am actually really happy with Tapastic as far as a publishing site goes. It's much easier to reach fans here than on anything else I have ever tried, and the staff is very vocal and eager to please.

As far as suggestions go, I think it would be pretty beneficial if creators were able to put themselves in groups, similar to the option deviantart offers. You could request to join a group and then the members look over your work to see if you have a comic similar to their own. It would make it easier for readers new to Tapastic to find similar comics, and then there might not be as much pressure to feature all different kinds of comics on the front page. The suggested reading section you offer now is helpful, but I feel like it could be more effective this way.

Requiem 2014-12-11 14:28:06 UTC #48

I completely understand how you feel greatnessiam1. For the most part I have noticed the more comedic comics getting the spotlight. Granted they are probably the best to use to get more publicity for the site.

Two of my comics lean more towards the serious side of things (still has some humor in it here and there). I've gotten a few good complements here and there from people. Mostly get most of my views from sharing on social media sites personally.

ck_tapastic 2014-12-12 18:24:08 UTC #49

Long form, short form, serials, one off's ... at the end of the day what matters is great stories, as we know.

greatnessiam1 2014-12-12 21:22:19 UTC #50

Absolutely understand that! I do agree 110%

At the end of the day I just want to tell my great story on any stage or venue the world has to offer.

Exposure comes in the long run aslong as you put the work in for it. This is my first year I've got time
to grow!

It's all apart of the journey right?
Infinite The Journey Have you joined the journey?
Infinite The Journey

thebrosse 2014-12-13 07:26:59 UTC #51

I've found a few worth reading after a lot of digging, but I agree that it is very difficult to rise up the ranks with a serious story in you arsenal.

jonsaintamant 2014-12-14 06:04:27 UTC #52

I totally agree with a character feature. It could even be as simple as having a character introduce themselves by answering some random question. The key is to provide an enticing sample for prospective subscribers.

ck_tapastic 2014-12-15 19:57:29 UTC #53

Maybe a more clear distinction between short forms and long forms would help here?

kurisquare 2014-12-15 22:48:31 UTC #54

I don't know if it's a good idea to make a strict distinction between short and long form since sometimes people can work with a mix of the two? Sakana works with pages that work as "short form" comics sometimes (punchlines and all a lot of times), but they're all connected as one long story.

But then we might just have to choose sides if it's for the sake of organization

thebrosse 2014-12-15 23:43:21 UTC #55

Also there should be an option that allows new readers to not begin certain stories from the latest released comic. I figured that if a new reader began reading an on-going series from the latest chapter, they would have no idea what was going on and just move on.

yuliusefferven 2014-12-16 00:12:43 UTC #56

@ck_tapastic and @thebrosse I think we shouldn't segregate the 2 but give readers and creators ways to differentiate between them. like @thebrosse said, creators should have the option to default their 'first page' when clicking on the series by an new reader to the first page or last page depending on which is more sensible to their comic. Maybe there should be little tags in the comic title/description to show whether it is a story comic or gag comic. Short form comics can still have stories in them though as well as gags, so it's really hard to make a clear distinction sometimes.

minzinger 2014-12-16 05:05:43 UTC #57

Similar to the way there are sitcoms and serialized dramas, I feel it helps the readers to be able to distinguish the two from the start to understand the time investment to keep up with the series.

T10K 2014-12-16 06:48:08 UTC #58

I believe they can find their way, they're not going to have the explosive subscribers that a lot of shorts do. Long term comics take time to build up a reader base; it's an investment on the reader's part as been said several times above. A lot of the suggestions posted in this thread are wonderful as to how to promote serial and serious comics better, it's been a good read.

That said, it would be absolutely wonderful to have that feature where you add to existing episodes and it sends notification to the readers instead of having to do each page as a separate issue. Totally a vote for that from us!