Mar 2023
13 / 38
Mar 2023
Apr 2023
cherrystark
Mar '23

Wattpad is really predatory, imo. I was on there for a few months before moving over to Tapas. You have to commit yourself fully to their company: join their feedback groups, enter their contests, etc. I noticed too that if you want to enter their paid program, there are more hopes to jump through. I did look into their serial app to compete with Vella, and you can't see any information about their TOS or any payment or rights. I know that it's "invite only" but the lack of information seemed like a red flag to me.

diamondactor
Mar '23

Yeah, no info doesn't sit right with me if there's no one to even ask about it. They are established, they should have someone as the point of contact for questions or at least a FAQ page about it.

cherrystark
Mar '23

I watched a Youtube video about Wattpad's annual "convention". The whole thing had major MLM vibes to me. I'm never going back to Wattpad.

thepenmonster
Mar '23
BlairFujin

I think both of these posts are good but there needs to be a real solid comprehensive list made somewhere that's easier to read than, well Twitter or a thread in a small forum.

They would need to address what people are looking for in these sites and not just personal experience because what one person finds inexcusable another will see as just the price of doing business. It's a lot of hard work for something without a safe home in a field that is always changing, so I can't see it ever happening.

I admit this is selfish of me because I'm still looking for a suitable platform my stuff and so far nothing is fitting the bill. If wishes were horses...

Katzalcoatl
Mar '23

Those lists do exist. You just search them on google. They compile multiple experiences and state the reasons why and which websites are predatory. I recently posted a link with such a site in one of the threads here. Kind of lost track which thread but as you can guess predatory companies is not a rare topic but with good reason.

Point is sites explaining such things are a click away.

darthmongoose
Mar '23

I think OP should maybe be a bit more open about a vested interest here. According to LinkedIn, she's an employee of Mythrill, and from her posting habits, it seems pretty transparent that she's on this forum to market the platform.

Also, during my digging, I discovered that Mythrill uses AI for making the artwork for their various covers and "Lore Cards", which is a hidden factor that may potentially impact decisions. Tapas, of course, has recently banned all use of AI for art on covers and comics for both ethical concerns, but also the muddiness of copyright around it.

I also notice, that unlike Tapas, where you can withdraw earnings at $25, Mythrill it's double that; you need to accumulate $50 to withdraw... That's quite a lot for a novel, especially on a platform that's currently really hard to find on Google. Probably a lot easier currently for creators with a large presence online who can act as brand ambassadors and try to draw people to the platform... like OP appears to be doing here.... (bit cheeky... and against forum rules. The mods are lenient, but I feel like the sheer amount is taking the piss now).

Tapas contracts are pretty good (speaking from personal experience), but usually need a very big readership to get or to make them work. You keep all the rights to the IP. You're allowed to post to other platforms unless it's a "Tapas Original" series made explicitly for the platform. Making money from the contracts does require a very large audience, but because it has a tipping system with ink, you can actually make a fair bit of cash from the site if you have a medium-sized following, and highly engaged reader base. I've made somewhere close to $800 on Tapas over the few years I've been making my comic, which presently just hit 2500 subs. I make more on top of that from my Patreon, and the recent print book kickstarter.

Like most platforms, Tapas works best if you make or customise your work to fit in with what performs well here specifically. You definitely need to be making something with a core audience in the late teens to mid twenties region, and because it's more like a comics platform that also has novels, you need strong presentation that would appeal to somebody who likes modern webcomics or east asian "Light Novels", so colourful illustrated covers focused on appealing characters with polished typography tend to perform well. I know some people who have a colourful illustrated cover on Tapas, and then a moody photo-montage type one on Radish for the same book. Tapas readers like short chapters and stories that get started quickly with a strong "elevator pitch" type concept, and they like a focus on characters and emotional drama or conflict over physical or political-focused plots. Fantasy is a popular genre, but is dominated by Isekai because of the appeal of a "relateable" young protagonist from our world and the ease of exposition that facilitates, and Fantasy with a strong Romance element tends to perform best.
An advantage of Tapas is that because the strongest promo is internal features on the app itself, it's less reliant than a lot of platforms on being well-known or having an established fanbase. If you make something very polished, and very suited to the platform and get noticed by the staff, you can hypothetically blow up here out of nowhere.

Some platforms do the quality vetting and making your work fit in for you, like Mythrill, where they'll only let you in if they think your work will perform well (like a traditional publisher. Radish does this too), and then giving you art in a style that's on-brand and they feel will appeal to the app userbase (Radish doesn't do this). On Tapas, its up to you to do the work of trying to figure out what to upload, how to present and describe it etc. which a lot of people seem to struggle with. A bit of branding-savvy goes a long way on an open platform like this.

diamondactor
Mar '23

I was transparent. If you care to look I put I was a CONTRACTED author. It says so on LinkedIn. I have said this above as well and even said my experience may not be the usual due to the success of one of my stories. I’m not a brand ambassador. I don’t get paid for that. I only get paid for my stories. I market myself cuz hi, I’m an award nominated singer, author, model, and more. I said it was new, not a year old. Kinda obvious it’s not the easiest to find since all the other platforms have YEARS of postings and content. I don’t know about the AI artwork personally, so I can’t speak on that. I personally have seen sketches evolve into lore cards. If they use AI they must use to assist, but not for the whole thing since you know I have sketches of my lore cards. They also have a team of artists the author works with, but I guess they’re BOTs right? The emails and discord chats are fake right? I shared my experience with various platforms I have been on and offered for others to share with different platforms. This is a thread to help new authors to decide what is best for them or did you completely ignore everything else I said? There are plenty of threads that pop up with people from WEBTOON, Royal road, and more. I don’t know what your deal is but if your gonna research maybe do it right? Or you know ask questions because I’ve answered every question I’ve been presented.

darthmongoose
Mar '23

No, I was actually noticing everything you said in all the various threads the past few days where you've been plugging Mythrill. Often in threads where it really wasn't related to the thread topic. Even in this one, you're trying to frame it now that you're caught out, like you're giving an even-handed comparison of what's out there... but you're not. The other sites are often very light on detail, and then suddenly there's this entire sales pitch about Mythrill. It makes it pretty obvious that your aim was to make the comparison look as favourable as possible. The stuff you said about Tapas isn't even factually correct; some of the highest earning works on the site aren't originals, and I know at least one creator whose non-Tapas-Original work makes more money than their Original one.

It doesn't matter that you're not being paid to come to other sites and to espouse the platform. It clearly financially benefits you to build awareness, in order to boost the number of titles on the site, raise awareness among people who are into webnovels, push traffic on the site and app and have more people saying things about it online (in more positive terms than the Reddit threads that came up...) to increase how easy it is to find in searches and how positive the stuff that comes up in searches is.

So I stand by what I said. It's against forum rules, it's cheeky, and it's kind of taking the piss when Tapas are hosting these forums.

diamondactor
Mar '23

They are light because they are my experiences. I clearly stated for other people to share because I don’t know everything and when I was wrong above I stated I didn’t know something. Maybe care to look at my oldest posts on this forum and you’ll find FMK was on Tapas and Webtoon and oh what am I marketing? FMK plus a newer story I made. Again, I market myself. I’m no different than any other author on here. You could say marketing their WEBTOON is being cheeky that they are doing it to benefit themselves. Again maybe do your research the right way or you know ask questions?

darthmongoose
Mar '23

You know that marketing your Webtoon is ALSO against the forum rules, right? The mods tolerate it, but you're not meant to.

Maybe do your research? Like the absolute most basic kind of reading the rules of the platform you're on?

diamondactor
Mar '23

I'm saying if it's such a big deal to talk about other platforms why haven't they pulled 50% of the threads on here? Why are you actively going after one person who is trying to have EVERYONE weigh in on different platforms including Tapas to help writers decide what is best for them. Why are you specifically coming on this thread and being belligerent when everyone else is trying to share knowledge? If you've got problems, go somewhere else. This is to share not to be a d*ck.

cherrystark
Mar '23

I am also on different platforms with my writing, it's exciting and it's hard to not want to talk about it. But -- Tapas forum often isn't the place for it. I come here for the social aspect and try to be vague about my Amazon work. If they want to know more about KDP, they ask me directly.

@darthmongoose is raising a red flag because in SO many threads you have replied to, you have been pushing Mythrill, with excerpts and links that aren't really called for. Posts like that get flagged as spam. It seems really suspicious that you show up all of a sudden, ready to push Mythrill. *But like I said, I get your excitement to share a new platform, but you have to keep it in check.

I have no issue talking about other platforms because creators should make an informed choice. It's your presentation hyping Mythrill all the time.

diamondactor
Mar '23

Most of the posts I've been on recently are promo threads. I get your point and I appreciate it, but what he was doing was really uncalled for. Yes, I talk about Mythrill because my story FMK that was on here went there. Trying to get back some of those fans.

What is not okay is all the other things. If he had asked about my LinkedIn I would have shown him, it does say contacted author and I have mentioned before I got a contract with them. Also making other unsubstantiated claims about why I do what I do instead of asking. Researching into my life and posting publicly instead of DMing or asking on a thread. Do you see the problem?

This thread was to talk about ALL platforms even said this is just my experience and wanted others to chime in cuz I'm just one person. I have not experienced it all.

darthmongoose
Mar '23

I mean... you're saying I should have sent a DM to check if your connection to a site which lists you as an employee on Linkedin, has done at least one feature on you, and which over the past few days you have done nothing but make posts about, or linking to it, pretty much exclusively....

And yet it never occured to you to even glance at my profile... and see that my name is Kate and to maybe think "wow, I wonder if this person might be a she?"

You're really asking for a very lopsided amount of research, good faith and looking into things on my end, while you just don't read the forum rules before posting or look up a single thing about me on yours?

cherrystark
Mar '23
diamondactor

Things definitely could have been handled differently on all sides. I won't argue that. But please remember that you've been radio-silent in the forums for along time, so people might not remember you. So imagine seeing a strange profile begin posting all of a sudden hyping a platform you've never heard of. It starts ringing alarm bells. Creators get spammed by reps from platforms all the time, so we have to be careful.

A general rule of thumb, if you aren't promoting a Tapas link, don't reply to the promo threads. Most people get annoyed when every thread is low key turned into a promo thread by people spamming their links. That being said once and awhile, it's accepted to do an off-topic thread to show off an outside link (I've done it for my books) but that should be occasional thing, not a way to poach Tapas users to your platform.

Lensing
Mar '23

I´m on lushstories.com
It´s for erotic stories, I like how they set up the page, it´s easy to navigate
and has an active community

diamondactor
Mar '23
darthmongoose

Why would I bother to research someone who refused to do the minimum towards me and attacks me? I went based off the profile pic.