Curious regarding assistants

[ylldre]

Hey so i’ve noticed a lot of featured webcomics authors list a lot of assistants in the bottom of their webcomics and i just wondered...how do they pay for those assistants? I mean i dream of hiring one someday and i’ve been saving up for that but multiple assistants regularly? Does the pay really cover for the assistant provided that they pay atleast minimum wage? Do they really earn that much? Or all of the salaries for the assistants come from patreon etc?

[Kelheor]

It depends, Webtoons originals authors pay the assistants themselves, I've heard some of them saying how becoming featured makes them less money than being on Canvas (if they were really booming prior to being featured) because now they have to pay their assistants too.
Their basic salary is 2K$/month before all ads I think. I guess the more popular the comic is, the more they are being paid from the ads and merch and something else. But considering they usually have 1-3 assistants...

[darthmongoose]

The easiest way to get assistants is to have the backing of a publisher or platform, they pay the assistants rather than the artist/writer paying them. In cases where I've seen an individual artist paying for assistants like inkers or colourists, they've usually been paid themselves by a publisher for the job and decided to sub-contract some of the work so they can hit the deadline/s. I haven't seen many examples of a person whose comic makes money on Tapas, Patreon etc. through just ads and donations shelling out for an assistant unless they already have a big enough following to more than cover their expenses and so decide to ramp up production significantly to grow their business.

[ylldre]

Yeah i’ve seen the 2k monthly basic salaries and then there’ll be incentives and the fast pass merch etc, but....still can’t wrap around my head over how they pay for the assistants. Also i watched an interview with one of the most popular titles and they said they’ll have to work on their own for a few months again before rehiring assistants and i’m just....so when even you have to get a break from hiring assistants how other creators fare is what i’m thinking.

[Kaydreamer]

That's a really good question. And what @Kelheor pointed out was really interesting; that becoming a featured original may actually earn some creators less money than doing really well on CANVAS. Likely because you need to work so much faster, and to do that, you need to pay assistants. (It certainly helps give some insight into why a creator may turn down the offer to become an original.)

To answer your question though, they pay the assistants out of their wage. I think WEBTOON may contribute a bit toward it, but it depends on the individual creator's contract. I'm not sure about Tapas.

Personally, I'd rather go on pause and release one shorter season per year, and pause for the remainder, than work year-round with assistants, if it was going to work out to be the same money. And it seems some featured creators do that. But I suppose it depends on the contract they have, and how much story they have to tell.

[ylldre]

Yeah this makes me wonder for some creators if the money isn’t enough or less than their what they’re making currently is it worth it at all to be featured. I mean i read some great titles that haven’t been featured yet and they have sizeable patrons that may help pay their bill, and even speculate that some of them rejected the offer. I mean there’s only limited benefit if the salary is less and now there are rules they have to follow and minimum panels they need to make each week isn’t it? Not to mention the rights to being exclusive only on webtoon for years.
And i’ve started to think that maybe in the future webtoon won’t stay as webtoon anymore, but more like youtube but for comic? So there’s no need to become featured to get all the attention and they won’t have to pay for premium creators anymore. I know they’ll prioritize their own original contents but basically the non premium videos on youtube also doing fine.

[Kaydreamer]

I mean i read some great titles that haven’t been featured yet and they have sizeable patrons that may help pay their bill, and even speculate that some of them rejected the offer.

There absolutely would be. Some creators on CANVAS have sub counts into the millions, and very healthy Patreon accounts. They'd also be pulling extra revenue from ad views, merch, and physical book sales. They get to work at their own pace, sell whatever merch and physical books they like, and can tell their story however they wish to.

By no means would they be wealthy, but so long as it's enough to live comfortably on, I don't think I'd want to give that up for the stress and deadlines of being a featured series.

I suppose it gives 'em an incentive to catch talented creators early, before their series bows up on CANVAS.

[ylldre]

They get to work at their own pace, sell whatever merch and physical books they like, and can tell their story however they wish to.

This. This is very important especially the first and last part. I mean if i were one of those creators who were offered to be featured, i’d be very hesitant unless they promise to let me have my creative freedom lol. But still, i can’t pay the assistants lol so maybe the alternatives are better.

[Kaydreamer]

Apparently they do provide a great deal of creative freedom. Your editor is mostly there to polish rough edges, not control the story.

But still, I know my comic is going to meander at points, because I care more for character moments than I do for plot progression. I intend to deviate and spend some 'chill time' hanging out with different characters on the ships each season. If I had an editor who didn't get that, and liked tight narrative, it'd become a tense relationship.

[Caro]

I wish I had an answer for this one but with my featured comic I didn’t have any assistants! I remember in one of my meetings with my old WT editor she did tell me that if I needed it they could source assistants but since I never needed it I never found out what the process and payment was like.

[ylldre]

Wow thank you for sharing that information. It is nice though to know they offer to pay for the assistants but do they offer it to all featured creators or just a select few?

[Caro]

I’m not sure if they pay them or if it is out of the creator’s pocket but they offered to help connect me with potential assistants and that’s the extent of my experience with that tbh!

[ylldre]

Oooh the offered to connect. Okay, thanks!