Comic sub count stagnated and downward trend of views

[redsblueyoungster]

I Work Part-time...IN HELL! | Tapas

Looking at the stats for my comic for the past few months I seem to be on the downward slope for views and getting stuck at just around 120 subs. I'm happy with getting over 100 within about the first year the comic has been out but now it's just sitting on that number. Not sure exactly on what options to do other than some advertising or trying to change what is going on with the story. I just started working at a full-time job now so I have a lot less time that I can commit to to drawing and recently switched back to once a week single page updates because of it.

Is where I am now in the story just too boring to interest new readers or was it always boring since the beginning?

[IdiotWithPencil]

Is where I am now in the story just too boring to interest new readers

would bet some money on this, also I think you just entered the (don't know the name so I'll make my own) stable stage of your product, like when you take out a new product at first you get a surplus of growth of clients cause of hype or because it's new, but after some times you won't get new clients and will get stuck in a stable average of clients (like you with always having 120), this mean you should do one of two thing, keep on keeping on, or make a change to the product that might the interest grow, in a book or comic this means making a more interesting arc or story, like Archie dying or DC rebooting their comics or marvel making a bunch of characters more "diverse". also a good way would be to ask your readers in a survey why they subed in the first place and what would they like to see, this might help you find what made the story great and relatable in the first place and what appealed so you can grow from there

wish I could be more helpful but this is all I got =P, also these are just my opinions and guesses so take them with a grain of salt =| ,hope it helps

[Evan]

There's usually a point where new readers become more reluctant to subscribing because there's too many chapters and they think it'll take to long to catch up. There's no real solution to this, maybe advertise your comic more?

[charliepeppersoap]

get good.

just kidding! you're fine, lulls are normal, especially the time of year people are doing a lot more for holidays and outside hobbies or yard work. since you know your updates are slower, you have your answer right there.

i doubt readers are turned away by large comic volume; quote the opposite. it's a grind, don't lose hope, and stop obsessing over view growth! smack your own hands away from the mouse or touchscreen if you check more than once a week!

[ryoko]

Looking back at my stats since 2015, there's usually a lull in activity from Oct-Dec, probably because people are getting back to school and work and don't have as much time for much else until close to Thanksgiving/Christmas. Just make sure you keep updating on a regular basis and it will pick up!

[redsblueyoungster]

Alright, thanks for the support everyone!

[Greg_Dickson]

I've gotten a similar thing this year. Each time I reach a "40 Mark" in subs (ex. 240, 340), I stagnate for the longest time. I was on 240 for about 5 months or so, and then all of a sudden I shot past it. Now that I'm in my 340s, I've been stuck for a couple more months. Usually during this period, I'm constantly losing loads of subs each update, and it's a real struggle to keep motivated. Like you, I also don't have much time for pages lately. A lot of times, I can't even get a page out for 2 weeks, no matter how fast I go. I don't really think there's a way out of it once you've gotten pretty far into your comic. Unless you're already going in a bad direction (I can't make that judgement, as I haven't read your comic), making big changes may alienate your current audience if your comic turns into something different than they had originally subscribed for. Really, all you can do at this point is try and update as much as you can, and always strive for improvement in art and storytelling. Advertising is always pretty important too, but it won't make-or-break your comic. It's the effort you put into your product, and the determination that you possess to keep yourself motivated through the toughest of time that's really going to affect your success in the long run. Your comic may have more of a niche audience if it hasn't picked up as much steam as you expected, and this stagnation may be a result of people deciding whether it's for them or not. Some people need more time and pages before they're ready to commit, and others may have initially expected one direction from your comic, only to leave when it goes in another. Also, if you find everything overbearing, never feel ashamed to take a break, as creating for the sake of creating when your heart isn't into it will really affect the quality of your work over time. I'm not sure if any of this really helps, but it's kind of what I've been learning about webcomic traffic in my time here, so take what you will out of it. I hope things pick up for you soon. You just gotta stay strong in the meantime.

[Evan]

Just another thing I thought of, school has started up again and people generally have less time to read comics now. That might explain a part of it.

[andrew17]

I was wondering about this myself, as I've hit much the same barrier. This is my first year on Tapas so I don't know how seasonal the hit rate is. In my real job I run some websites in the construction sector, and you can tell there's a lull in august when everyone goes on holiday, but things start picking up in September. Here I noticed my hits halve as soon as university started in late September. Is this usual?