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Nov 2014

This is so awesome and helpful! Thanks for sharing! Now you've given me even MORE things to think about, if that's even possible, my head is already quite full on thoughts. lol You rock!

So once a creator has a stockpile of content, a consistent schedule, and is starting to gain some footing building a good reliable reputation with loyal readers that come back for each new update. What would you recommend would be the most effective way to start really pushing promotion? Would you recommend ad promotion, frequently posting to social media sites and trying to build a following there, focusing on branding, or another method at this point?

Oh wow! That's rather good advise! My update schedule is er, weekly but necessarily at a set time. Some pages take longer than other due to their workload and MY workload! I now wow how dense mean is ... it is afterall one page a week .... hmmm

haha! solid advice, i've been doing this already but its always nice to hear it again as a refresher.

making a buffer is the best way to keep a consistent schedule while not being overwhelmed by the weekly work. the best way to do a buffer is too schedule a set of days where you work hard on your set. (like find a week where you have the least hectic schedule) the joys of not rushing a deadline and focusing on the interaction to your audience is probably the joys of not procastinating :3

which is also a good tip, procastinating is bad yo! make it a personal thing to stop procastinating, like exercise, its a struggle, but a struggle that will end up with more postiives than negatives

Thanks for the great advice!

Update frequency is something I've been worrying a lot about recently with my own comic, Girl with a Pearl Earring Comics8. I'm currently updating once a week, on Sundays, with what I consider to be the "main" comic, and every Thursday with little extremely-low-quality doodles that are supposed to be more like extras. Although I could probably update the latter twice a week if I put in a bit more effort, I don't want to overwhelm the main comic pages.

My primary worry is that the "main" pages are too low density, considering how infrequently I update them. As a busy student, though, I'm not sure if I could get them up any faster without some major changes to my methodology -- not coloring my pages, for example, or trying to find some better software that makes clean lineart less labor-intensive to make.

Could someone please give me a bit of critique on that front? Would it be worth updating more frequently if I sacrificed some quality (which is already fairly low)? Actually, I'd really appreciate critique on my work in general; I kind of just started posting comics with very little forethought, and it really shows.

Thank you very much! smiley

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Hi Cindi.

There's a couple avenues you can pursue at this point (specifics at bottom). I'll keep in mind the (pretty universal) budget constraints. (note some suggestions are only viable for those with non-tapastic mirrors)

Make sure you're on any and all popular comics listing and consider posting voting rewards for ranked lists: topwebcomics (down at the moment), comicrocket, thewebcomiclist, piperka (more of an aggregator really), and inkoutbreak if it ever comes back up (also an aggregator), so people looking for webcomics can find you. Consider sinking some effort into the community at one or a couple of these to get yourself in front of a larger audience.

Consider listing on more niche sites like the belfry webcomics index. Each of these hosts it's own community and requires a slightly different approach if you want people to notice you, but just being on the site will make it possible.

If you have more time start looking high profile site mirrors: inkblazers (currently breaks in firefox), and tapastic (currently the king, which you are on) are probably the only ones currently worth it. Smackjeeves, comicfury and others I am not currently thinking of seem to be falling by the wayside. Webcomicsnation is gone and keenspace is probably irrelevant.

And/or consider entering a thriving webcomic collective: Hiveworks is slamming. Cup of comics seems to be doing ok. Spiderforest seems to be chugging along with some solid fresh blood. Each has its own set of rules, but a group of like minded comickers and mutual aid/linkage can be quite a force for mutual aid (though tapastic kinda does a lot of this).

You will want to post to social media. It's one of the best ways to reach a wider audience without a hefty financial cost. All of the content marketing rules in the above post apply to social media. Each has it's own ideal post density (rate and post size) and requires consistant updates. Tumblr, twitter, and facebook all tend to be very effective means of promoting a webcomic, but I'd suggest starting with just one and building from there.

There is a very useful site called iftt.com (if this then that) that can automate social media posts (among other things) with each comic update, that and (free) post scheduling sites like Hootsuite can reduce much of the overhead required especially for multiple accounts.

In addition finding and talking with webcomic reviewers and bloggers who might be interested in doing a post on your comic is never a bad idea. I'm personally aware of webcomic overlook, but there's quite a few who might be interested in taking a look at your work if you approach them.

Paid ads are possible too, but I'm afraid it's pretty dependent on your financial situation and goals for the comic (and a large enough subject for another post).

So in your specific case I'd recommend adding your site to any webcomic listings. Then in roughly this order: if you have manpower start one social media account that posts whenever you have an update and includes random making of and anecdotes (perhaps a facebook fan page? They've been doing strange things with fan notifications recently otherwise I'd solidly recommend that initially, tumblr is a solid second). If you have time, consider whether finding a webcomic community fits your goals for the wordpress site and look at those you'd be interested in joining (pros/cons). If you have more time than that consider checking out blogs that might be willing to share your work with their audience and look at creating extras like donation bait (or patreon rewards) for people who want to vote/give you monies. You already have a mirror, so that shouldn't be a high priority, but if you want, look at using IFTT to multiply your social media efforts (it can be set to automatically make social media posts when a new comic goes up, etc).

Well obviously these are all for the ideal case and none of this is set in stone. Plus circumstances are rarely ideal. Very few of us have the luxury to do this professionally after all. Honestly one page a week for a plot driven piece like silversong, especially with such heavy duty art, shouldn't be a bad place to be (in my humble opinion). Of course it's all subjective, so get a variety of opinions if you're worried.

If I were you I'd be far more focused on the continuing improvement that is the mark of a dedicated web comicker (and makes them soo fun to read) and making sure your work gets some exposure (see the reply to cyndi above if you need help with that). Best of luck!

Hah, I know the feeling. I've got this ridiculous comic about Teddy Roosevelt fighting bear4s I made for a friend a couple years ago. it was so unplanned I had no room for text and had to type it in the description beneath (there's a design minor for ya ^_^').

I'd be quite interested to know what sort of setup you're using for the comic. There's probably some simple art tricks/programs/devices that would make life easier. You might be better off using vectors instead of freehand since it looks like you are being careful to make very clearly defined lines and gradients.

The biggest popularity boosts are most likely going to come as your art naturally improves if you can keep up a regular posting schedule. One+ post a week should be fine for you. The quality difference between the sketches and color comics might get jarring in time, but there's no way to tell at the moment. If you go back far enough, the most amazing artists tend to be hilariously bad (which is why my early art is conspicuously missing from the internet :3). At this point I wouldn't worry too much.

I can also point you towards some of my favorite tutorials if you're interested.

This was a great analysis and I agree with everything said here!

I know that I've started buffering pages for my series more often (as typically I'm a "finish the day of" kind of person) and in the long run, it really is helping. It's a lot less stressful, because I have the next week's worth of pages ready to be posted so I can focus on other things (including getting the next batch of pages ready > <). So to anyone who's reading this, take advantage of buffering pages and Tapastic's scheduled release function. It's so efficient and stress-relieving heart

Yes, very true! This sites are very good and bring in a portion of traffic to my site. I'm pretty much on every webcomic index site out there with Oops. I've never thought about offering rewards for ranks, so that's a very cool idea. Comic Basement, Comic Fix, and Comixology are two others I'm also on. Though the last two sites are more like store front sites.

Belfry webcomics is an awesome site! I get a good size of traffic from them as well. I've totally neglected getting involved in their community. It'd probably be a wise idea to do that especially on a site that I get attention from. lol Thanks for reminding me of that.

I just learned what a mirror site is. lol Had to look that up. For people that didn't know either:

A Web site that is a replica of an already existing site, used to reduce network traffic (hits on a server) or improve the availability of the original site. Mirror sites are useful when the original site generates too much traffic for a single server to support.

I haven't tried Inkblazers yet. I keep hearing a lot about it. So I'll have to actually look into it and consider it. Smackjeeves and Comicfury are slowly building up but it's painfully slow. I've known other people that have more success their, but those just might not be the most active sites for my comic. I'll still keep them as another place for new readers to see Oops but I'm probably going to keep my attention on other sites instead.

This is awesome! I've never heard of these sites before, I'll have to look into these. "Each one has their own rules" are they like Reddit.com?

Agreed! I'm pretty much on every social media site too, updating and posting consistently. It's been a very useful way to update readers that follow me on social media when a new page has posted and a link to the page. SM communities are also very awesome great ways to promote, interact, chat with like minded people.

Never heard of iftt.com before, so another good site for me to look into. I've used Hootsuit a few times, but I felt like I was fighting with the site more than it actually doing some good. I wasn't able to link all my SM profiles to the site and I had to tweak each individual post to fall inline with Twitter constraints or FB or Tumblr. blah. Sounds like iftt.com might be a better alternative.

Agreed! I've contacted a few already. Most of them are super bogged down and busy so I'm still waiting on replies but yes! Reviewers are a great asset!

This is awesome info! And I love your Teddy comic. XD

Aw, geez, this was meant to be a general use post too, but now I regret not taking the time to thoroughly check out your current social media efforts before handing down recommendations ^_^'. I'm honestly taken aback at the scale of what you've been doing. I should probably do a social media specific post at some point...

More topically:

Webcomic collectives (edited above from “communities” for accuracy) are basically co-ops for comics working together to help each other out. Many of them require successful application to join and provide various benefits for members sometimes including: hosting, member linkage, community support etc. Each has their own requirements for members.

I've seen some very powerful effects on comic ranking lists from offering readers fun little rewards (like mini comics/drawings/sketches). I'd be surprised if the creator of Goblins didn't attribute a good part of his success to his obviously prominent Topwebcomics rankings (seriously, he took the vote link down at one point because he felt bad about hogging a spot in the top 10) and there's been times where voting wasn't a choice, but something I had to do or I would miss out on far too much awesomeness (Runewriters I'm looking at you). It's pretty obvious a fan base can really be leveraged to give you prominence on a site like this.

And you're exactly right about mirrors. Again I'm impressed you're making the effort to keep a comic updated on so many sites, but it you're willing to put in the effort a mirror can also be a great way to put your comic somewhere else for people to find it. Comicfury and Smackjeeves have always seemed to have mediocre browsing experiences to me (one of the reasons I didn't even mention drunkduck). I've always wondered how much that can dilute the reader's experience of the comic and at what point it makes sense to cut your losses and move out. Thoughts?

Disclaimer: There are more energy efficient strategies to accomplish first, so those of you who haven't added your work to listings or aren't putting out comics on schedule yet, etc. would probably see more success there.

PS. and thanks about the comic. It surprised me how much time it took (~16 hours no toning). Those of you who regularly put out classics level inking amaze me.

All of the info you're posting is golden! I'm just asking to keep the conversation going, and for my own benefit (admittedly teehee). Maybe eventually, we'll hit upon something that'll get more people talking/asking question or maybe they're stunned from the massive wealth of information to take in wink

Personally, I think the website greatly effects a reading experience. Like I know many comics on Tapastic that are also on Smackjeeves and Comicfury, though, for me personally, I don't really follow those comics on SJ or CF because I prefer Tapastic's interface. There are many great comics that are exclusively on SJ and CF but I haven't found them yet because I don't have the resolve to shift through those sites' databases. So for me personally, I'm a bit of a hard sell on that because I have a short tolerance for those kind of comic site (is drunkduck still a thing? I thought it was dead). I have more tolerance for personal webcomic site on wordpress or tumblr (probably because I know their pain) however, if it takes a long time to load pages I'll probably lose interest.

So just a general question for everyone to ponder, what's the best way to go about branding a webcomic? Is posting reliably on schedule to building reader's trust all there is to it? Or are there more methods to branding? Is building a eye catching website needed, or is just using sites like Tapastic enough? And how important is it to do grass root guerrilla advertising, like hitting local comicbook shops and leaving flyers/minicomics for costumers to grab up, or attending comic conventions? Do graphic design materials like logos and banners make a difference and are they really needed?

X3 Thanks, it's taken close to 2 years to build where we're currently at. If I've learned anything, I've learned webcomics take time to build an audience.

A social media post would be awesome!

On a side note, though, I don't recommend facebook post boost or promotions. With facebook like farms and such, it seems like their promotions hurt a page more than helps. Because you've generated a bunch of new page likes but those "fans" don't interact with posts, meaning your posts aren't reaching the true readers and fans of the page.

...... I keep hearing that a lot, and I'm sorry but I'm disappointed by the pressure. I sorta swore an oath in my childhood that I'd never use those sites because everyone else in my family uses them, so I want to know if there's an alternative to using social media.

You can certainly put up an amazing comic, send out emails to review sites, post listings, etc. but you'll always be operating at a bit of a disadvantage vs. the people who do use social media. On the other hand, for those with fairly limited time constraints, social media might be beyond the scope of what makes sense for your comic anyways.

Is this an addiction thing? I understand that can be quite a problem for some people.

Funny enough, actually, I don't have a personal FB account. Our Oops page is setup in Jeramy's name, my husband. An alternative might be to ask your family for some social media support. You can establish a FB page under their accounts, set them up as admins, and let them help you by posting frequent update or notifications when a new page posts.

In a way you can employ your own family. If someone is really good at Twitter, you can ask them to setup a twitter account for your comic and help keep it active. If someone is really good at Tumblr, you could ask them to help you setup a Tumblr page, and so on. Kind of creating a team for your comic.

edit: Cyndi's alerted me to a real danger of promotion on facebook without the right targeting so I've removed this rebuttal. I might throw together a targeting guide at some point, but in the mean time, look it up before you advertise. It's really helpful and on facebook at least neglecting it could kill your reach.

Facebook advertising can also be expensive and it might not make sense for most web comics. Unless you have a proven way monetize the incoming visitors and keep them to turn those costs into profit it won't help in the long run.

I'd imagine the exact combination of selling points and best strategies really varies from comic to comic. I leave the floor open to those who can speak with some experience.

Having enough content to promote is a huge one. I didn't start getting an audience with KYRIA until a year later when it was at the end of it's first big chapter.

Consistently updating is super important too. There are a few other things that have worked for others which haven't worked for me, but then again some strange things have worked out very well for me and not for others... soo there are many methods to try out there, I think :>

Thank you for the tips!

The one I relate to/agree with the most is the scheduling. Super important to build a buffer into your schedule. Stuff happens all of the time that you can't control. So it is better to prepare and have 5, 10 pages, or even a whole chapter done before you start posting a series- that way if anything happens or you lose your creative kick for a bit, you won't be "screwed". A lot of other artists I've met have had the same idea in that we are not machines, we need time to conserve our creative energy at times.