Did Promoting on the Tapas Forum Boost Your Views & Subscribers?

[stella]

Hey everyone!

I’m curious about how effective promoting on the Tapas forum has been for creators. If you’ve shared your comic/novel here, did you notice an increase in views, likes, or subscribers?

• How often do you promote on the forum?
  *Did you gain loyal readers from it, or were the views temporary?
  *Do you think certain types of posts work better than others?

Let’s share our experiences! Did the Tapas community help boost your work, or did it have little impact?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

By the way this my new novel (BL) https://m.tapas.io/episode/3466032

[Paul_Tromba]

First of all, welcome to Tapas! I promote on the forums between 1 and 3 times a week on multiple threads and it does help get subscribers. Though only 1 out of every 10 really seems to read more than a few chapters or at all. Sadly, I don't know what posts work best as I haven't been here too long. It doesn't hurt to promote.

[kyupol]

How often do you promote on the forum?

Nearly everyday

Did you gain loyal readers from it, or were the views temporary?

A little bit of both.

Do you think certain types of posts work better than others?

I think it's these "tell me one cool thing about your OC" type threads. Or community engagement type threads like dtiys (draw this in your own style)

[moontokkym]

Hiya! Welcome friend!
Personnally there have been a couple of kind souls who have checked out my work from here and subscribed and commented, and it's been really cool to see them pop up.
However I don't do sub 4 sub threads ever, to me they're a waste of time and don't do you good in the long run because most people don't actually read the things they sub to (that's also why I don't do it either, I know I won't read most of the comics because I don't have a ton of motivation to read on screens) and I don't do pure promo threads much either.
Most people who've subbed and read have been people I've been chatting with and they pop by out of curiosity or I've asked for a critique and during their critique they've liked my work enough despite it's flaws to keep reading.
I don't enjoy flooding, so that means that I don't get a huge amount of subs from here, but the people who do sub quite reliably read a chunk of the comic and that's the main thing I want :3

[jwabeasley]

Welcome to Tapas and the forums!

How often do you promote on the forum?

I join other people's sub4sub threads on the forum nearly every day, and have done so since September 2024. I rarely post my own threads, though.

*Did you gain loyal readers from it, or were the views temporary?

Yes to both. My views increased a bit at first, then diminished, but as I've continued, they've grown steadily since I started posting to these forums frequently. The other creators here are generally good viewers, likers, and commenters. Likewise, I keep up with nearly all the comics I'm sub4subbed to, unless they're very poor quality. I can't keep up with the webnovelists though, there aren't enough hours in the day for that. Many of the comics I actively look forward to are ones I found through sub4sub!

Don't expect the other creators to join your Subscribestar/Patreon or send you money though.

*Do you think certain types of posts work better than others?

Hosting sub4sub, like4like, and comment4comment threads works well - but only once every 4-6 months. Otherwise, the regulars will stop responding, as there's only a dozen or so of us here at a time, and you can only sub once!

Review-for-review threads are great for feedback, if you're prepared for criticism. The best though are if you exchange something only you can do, like gift art of other people's OCs, in exchange for what you'd like to receive. That's a lot more work on your end, though.

Basically, put out into the world the kind of energy you'd like to receive.

[eternityoz]

I typically promote at least three times a week (two of which are from weekly updates and the other being simply in threads that catch my eye as I scroll through the forums)

In terms of loyal readers, I find it pretty difficult to get them from forums unless you've taken the time / had the chance to really connect and become friends with other creators on the platform. People often do sub for subs and like for likes, which in my experience are honestly a waste of time. Although it's nice to see your sub count rapidly grow from these, it's often nothing but meaningless number inflation since most of the people who sub are unlikely to come back and genuinely read your work after the trade. However, this isn't to say these kinds of trades are all bad, as I have found maybe a couple loyal readers from them.

In terms of what kinds of posts work best, I think it'd be anything that stands out against the rest of the promotion threads. Almost all promotion threads are either generic "post your work here", "show your latest chapter", or sub for sub threads, making them more or less the same, just being created by different people. In my opinion, if you find any sort of topic that can spark discussion instead of just being a 'one-and-done' kind of thread where you pop in your work and leave, those are the types that work best!