Can't get the courage to promote my comic in social media

[xabelmind]

It's demostrated that post on the Internet makes you anxious (my anxiety raises writting this down).

but when I think of my friends/family watching it, it makes me want to throw up.

Sharing something that is important to you with people that is important to you is also an anxiety raiser.

So try not to do everything at the same time.

Do you want to show your family that you do art?
Start with the person with whom you have the deepest bond. In person.

To show it to your friends?
Start with your bestie. In person.

To show it on the media?
Create a new account dedicated to your artistic facet and start the journey.

Is better to do things that are important to us in small steps

Maybe, when you take the step, they just say: "I knew it". Passions develope along time, and those things doesn't go so unseen

Also, @Nachi, to keep the secret, maybe the key is to start by create a mail account and use that to open your artistic accounts in the media

[Shanny8]

I dont get the "courage" part. Basically you're just typing up a post saying "read my comic"- not like someone is gonna respond back saying "screw you- your comic sucks!"(maybe on Facebook, coz FB has gone to sh*ts over the past few years). Worst case scenario- no one sees your post or reads your comic; but you'd be at the same conclusion by not posting...best case scenario: you get a few people to check out your comic or a BUNCH of people check it out and you can a few new [consistent] readers.

You have nothing to lose and more to gain from it..!

[Nachi]

Ahhh, clever! Thanks!

[Daknight]

@Shanny8 You be surprise in all honesty. They will be people that do this, specially if the comic gets more attention.

@amortelito I understand this, I stopped posting my stuff to my personal page after getting some comments (not from family or anything, but from other people). Instead I just created my separated social stuff for my comic and art. I think many people do this in having there art/comic stuff in their own art social profile (Instagram and Twitter) instead of missing it with their personal account. In facebook is harder to do this, so I actually stopped using facebook mostly for my art stuff. I would encourage you to share your stuff, your art is good and you are a really good person. People would love your positive message and your art!

[Rhonder]

Ah that's a tough situation indeed I remember feeling this way back in the day when I was both less confident in my drawing ability and just less confident in general. I would show my close friends and family my drawings, and had a deviant art account where some of my less-close-but-artists-themselves friends would follow each other, but I was shy about drawing at school and stuff because I didn't necessarily want random people that I didn't know that well to see my drawings. Similarly, I never really posted my art on facebook for the same reason.

Slowly as I got older, a little more bold, and a little better at drawing, I would rarely share things on fb. They would either go mostly unseen, or get positive feedback which would help to bolster my confidence some. However I still didn't really share that much until inktober 2017 when I was just starting to get back into drawing after just... not for a few years through college, where I decided to share all 31 drawings on my personal facebook. Again, most went either unseen or would get a little positive feedback, but it was nice to be able to share freely~

Shortly thereafter I set up my "Rhonder Art" accounts on fb/twitter/instagram and now just post my art to those, but I occasionally advertise those accounts on my personal fb as well. Particularly I share my "TreasureHUNT!! Update!" posts to my personal page every week xD I'm always surprised to find out how many of my friends like stealth read my comic lmao (i.e. don't make tapas/webtoons accounts to sub, but kinda keep up with reading.) I've had 2 or 3 people that I don't see that often mention my comic in passing when we're hanging out and I'm like "oh you read it??" "heck yeah! It's awesome!" " "

But yeah... I don't really have advice. Sorry this turned into kind of a mini history xD idk how your friends and family would react to Amorte, but I love it at least~

[vothnthorvaldson]

I would suggest to keep you personal and artist social media separated.
If in the future you feel like breaking down this separation, it will be possible, so why not starting the way that will give you more options?
While I can't say I'm ashamed of showing my drawings to people IRL (I actually do, to selected persons), nor do I think there is anything right now that I draw that could be seen as problematic/scandalous by people I know IRL, I keep open the possibility that it could happen, and I don't want to have to censor my art in any way because I made the mistake to make it available to the wrong public.

Although I understand that the issue is to get the new set of social media accounts starting. I can't help with that much as I am very new to that, and I generally hate social media. But there are threads here where people exchange accounts, you may want to start with that.

[Maps]

Omg I would DIE if my accounts linked to my Facebook just thinking about it gives me anxiety.

[BobbyjoeX]

once it didnt do anything to start with and me being too impatient and lazy, im no good at promotion either QwQ

and along with other ppl, i avoid promoting it on Facebook because Facebook is really bad at telling your family what you are doing

instagrams the same way, i signed up with completely different info than my facebook but they're linked anyway, what the hell?!... i had to abandon it cause family started to find me o-o

[amortelito]

Thanks for all the responses, It is comforting to know I'm not alone in this and I will be happy to follow your work on social media, you can post your links in this thread too!

@Maps right, I could post only a link to tapas, I'm slightly less embarrassed to share the covers on social media, but definitely only in webcomic friendly communities, at least for now XD.

@Nachi you can make a brand new mail address only for your comic and that way when you make social media profiles it won't be linked directly to your personal account. This is also useful to have a specific mail address for your art so that people won't spam you in your "real mail".

@xabelmind this is so helpful!! Thanks a lot. You are right, I would like to show them the comic in person, I know that they are supportive. I think that my mind is playing tricks on me playing pessimistic scenarios.

@vothnthorvaldson So true, the art account should be separate from a personal profile, it seems healthier that way because all the reasons you mentioned. I actually have a mess in my social media D:!!

@Daknight @rmdooley Thank you so much

About the suggestions for making a separate account. I have my personal profile and at least 3 pages with my side projects, I don't have the time, resources and energy to keep them all of them updated. I made them independent of each other because none of my projects are alike. (the comic had a page too but I closed it out of embarrassment XD) Maybe I can combine all my work in a single artist page under my nickname. But I sill get very nervous about posting the comic along with my star projects...But I guess I have to own it and follow your advice of trusting my friends. But it will take me time, anxiety has been hard to deal with.

Thank yous again for all the responses and sharing your struggles too. Let me know If there anything I can do for you.

[ble]

This post was flagged by the community and is temporarily hidden.

[xabelmind]

and I will be happy to follow your work on social media, you can post your links in this thread too!

Mmh... I take your word:

Look, I just started my journey on the media in IG:

Xabel Mind (@xabelmind) • Instagram photos and videos

And Twitter:

https://twitter.com/xabelmind

It helps me to have the number of followers and followings paired up, and you can take a look on what I post to have an idea of what works. Investigate on what others do always help

Obviously, I'm not an expert and I'm figuring out step by step what should I do, so probably many times you'll see me post, delete and repost better and/or at a better hour, or delete what doesn't convince me, or... I can be pretty clumsy, so bare with me

[Daknight]

Yeah, managing a number of accounts can be stressful O_O If you already have about 4 accounts I can see why you can find that stressful. I would still indeed combine your projects into one main account, easier to manage and people will know all your art skills instead of just some devoted to the side/start/main projects.

As for my account, I got one in twitter and instagram.

https://twitter.com/Daknight_Art

Carlos Encarnacion (@daknight_art) • Instagram photos and videos

[amortelito]

@xabelmind I tried Instagram long ago and made like two posts XD so I'm still figuring out stuff too
@Daknight right! Taking care of social media pages takes a lot of time! No wonder why influencers consider it a job! When I'm busy updating one project the other projects are temporarily inactive and people think I'm taking a break or being lazy XD this way they can see that I don't stop working.

Ok, I will follow for sure, I just need to make the new account or decide if which account will become the main one.
Thanks!

[Milhamah]

A couple of weeks ago I posted a Facebook ad for my comic. A random person commented and said I suck and should feel bad about myself. I got over it... in 10 seconds.

Make no mistake: Being a public artist requires courage, chutzpah and a thick skin. Fandom can be fandom, and that means loving passionately and hating passionately.

But most people will offer compliments or constructive criticism, or simply say nothing at all. In the end, getting people to react to your work in a sea of internet distractions is its own form of reward.

[writercynknapp]

The art is uniquely attractive. The concept is very clever.

[KoreanTacos]

I'll be honest my family and I are very distant so I don't have any advice on that one, personally I told my brother about my acceptance into a zine which I was excited for and was a big moment for me, and he just kind of brushed it off. A lot of people I know personally aren't really interested in either of my comics either. As far as social media goes, I know a good chunk of my readers come from my Twitter account, and a lot of them have been far more supportive than any of my blood relatives or my "friends" from work and school. Personally as someone who's been doing this for years and being virtually invisible for the most part I will say that it's still important to try and push your work out to anyone you can. Yeah it sucks hearing the negative comments, but it's still better than getting nothing any day. Probably really rambling on, but yeah I get it, it can be somewhat rough to spread your work out, "Hey I draw a comic about being an adult," and a "Magical Girl series based in a small town in America." can be a little awkward for me to announce XD

[demthorshie]

I felt the same way you did back when I first started my comic here on Tapastic. I didn't want to share it on my personal social media accounts for various reasons, mainly because most of my friends and family weren't interested in webcomics. So I decided to create separate social media accounts just for my comic (twitter, facebook, instagram etc.) and that seems to be working out pretty well for me so far. I get to promote my comic to people who are already interested in comics from my genre.

As far as being afraid to get negative feedback? Don't let it get to you too much. I think I've only ever gotten a hate comment once or twice ever within the last few years. I could care less whether someone likes my style or not, for ever 1 negative feedback I get, there are hundreds more who really appreciate my work at the end of the day.

[xabelmind]

A lot of people I know personally aren't really interested

I didn't want to share it on my personal social media accounts for various reasons, mainly because most of my friends and family weren't interested in webcomics.

I have to remark that one thing is that your family and friends know that you're doing something, and another thing is that they're interested.

From my experience, is better that they are not interested. Have in the public someone who you know, may stop you from show or even do many things that you think they can dislike, or do things just to please them

You can't know what other people may or may not like of your work, but you can have that solely person that you personally know stuck in your head while you're drawing or posting and be thinking "If I show this, they gonna say that..."

Believe me, all what your parents and friends need to be able to respond if they are asked is "Oh, yeah, he/they/she likes to draw" and not far more

[demthorshie]

That all makes sense, but not all of us are lose to our immediate families. I don't have the best relationship with my parents so I haven't really had an opportunity to show them what I do. As for my aunts, uncles and friends? I show them my work if they ask about it or if they show up to my home while I'm creating. I just don't believe in pushing my interests and what I do on people. No one I know personally is interested in webcomics on that level. I have had far more success marketing my webcomics and my businesses on designated social media accounts.People who stumble upon my stuff are generally already interested in comics within my story's genre.

I also think that on some level, you can't let what family and friends say or think about your art consume you. You should do what you do because you enjoy it and that's all that matters.

[xabelmind]

I may expressed myself bad, I was meaning exactly what you said