Do locked episodes make you unsubscribe?

[Iron]

It seems like I lose subscribers every time I release a locked episode (which I publish earlier than regular schedule). I can imagine it can be disappointing to see an update in your inbox and then finding out that you cannot view the episode, but on the other hand it doesn't change the fact that it will be unlocked according to the schedule.

If it's really the case, then my proposal for the future site update is to make separate episode notifications for supporters and for other subscribers.
What do you think? Did you experience a similar phenomenon D:?

[Doubtcent]

To me, I do feel turned off whenever I see a locked episode, but if I love the comic I'll stick around and be patient.

As for myself, to avoid this sort of thing, I only lock episodes if I have more than one ready for uploading. I allow all readers to see the first one, but hold the second one for a day or two. That way, the readers get something they want, the comic, and are promised another one in the upcoming days.

So if you have a finished comic, do not immediately schedule it for another day. It means that it is there, and you finished it, but the readers have to wait for it. That kind of mindset is frustrating for subscribers.

So simply,
If you have not finished, do not upload.
If you have finished, upload.
If you have more than one finished, upload one, and schedule the rest at decent intervals.

That's all I can say.

[Raven_C]

I don't unsubscribe just because an episode is locked. It will be unlocked in a few days anyway, so I think it's silly for someone to unsubscribe for that reason...? As long as the episode will unlock eventually, I'll always wait patiently. But I suppose some subscribers feel otherwise... :/

[Iron]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this @vincentprendick, @raintowns.
I imagined locked episodes to be a reward for supporters and an incentive for others to support me, but I guess that doesn't work how it's supposed to : / In this situation it's probably better to do this only from time to time (if at all)

[elixiadragmire]

i got yelled at for having a locked episode so you're not alone. A different set of notifications would be good. Similar to your wall.

[TristanJensen]

I don't mind it THAT much, I guess that its one of two things. Its either for supporters, who pay for it, or its going to be released later and I just need to be patient. It's never a big deal.
And I'd never unsubscribe because of it.

[artsylee]

As a reader I do tend to feel closed off from the content. I totally understand why it's there, so I would never actually get angry, but it does kind of feel like it's being rubbed in the face. It wouldn't prevent me from supporting, ultimately, if I liked a series enough.

As a creator I never plan to make a support page here. Once I get to my NSFW materiel, I will continue to post here and direct people to my tumblr for those particular oages. I MAY set up a Patreon someday, but if I do I don't plan to have a 'blocked' page in place of a normal page.

[Drawnicula]

I don't unsub, but sometimes I'm a bit annoyed by this. I however understand and appreciate that people wanna set incentives for supporters.
The thing is, tapastic also notifies me when there is a locked episode which I can't see. Usually I go to the page before to see if this page was unlocked and then I read it.
But some creators lock 4 episodes in a row.

[Iron]

But some creators lock 4 episodes in a row.

I didn't know this was even possible D:

i got yelled at for having a locked episode so you're not alone.

Wow, people amaze me sometimes... in a negative way : /

A different set of notifications would be good. Similar to your wall.

Exactly!

[ratique]

As a reader it annoys me to no end. I have never unsubscribed because I do understand why the creators do it, but I would be lying if I did not say that it left a very bitter taste when it comes to that comic.

I hate getting notified for an update that I do not have access to, and that it is so easy to miss when the episode then actually gets unlocked. Not once has it made me want to support a creator to be able to see the content early.

It has gotten so bad that I promised myself to never use that feature on my own comic, should I ever get that far. While I am all for special features that only subscribers should get, like sketches and background info, hiding the actual comic from most of your readers (sometimes for weeks on end) seems counterintuitive to me.

However, I do support releasing pages early on the comic's "homepage" that is not tapastic. Then I can move over to the artists main website and hopefully support them by getting more clicks for their ad revenue.

[keii4ii]

I hate getting notified for an update that I do not have access to, and that it is so easy to miss when the episode then actually gets unlocked.

I'm pretty sure the staff is working on addressing this issue, so that:

1. When a locked episode gets posted, non-supporters don't get notified.

2. When an episode gets unlocked, non-supporters get notified properly in their reading list.

Because otherwise, it IS really annoying.

I've worked around this issue by unlocking an episode precisely when I post a locked episode, so every reader, supporter or not, has a new episode to read when they get the notification. Supporters would see the locked episode; non-supporters would get to see the one that just got unlocked. It's not a perfect solution, though, and I can't wait till they fix this.

It's interesting that we seem to be total opposites in almost every issue you've addressed:

While I am all for special features that only subscribers should get, like sketches and background info, hiding the actual comic from most of your readers (sometimes for weeks on end) seems counterintuitive to me.

Hiding the extra material from the majority of your readers makes no sense to me, especially if it enriches one's understanding of your story/characters! I'm all for reserving the high-res version of stuff for supporters, whether it's extra material or the comic itself (like cover images or text-free versions of those extra cool-looking panels). Those are neat to have. But if you're not a supporter, not having access to that stuff does not affect your reading experience in any way.

However, I do support releasing pages early on the comic's "homepage" that is not tapastic. Then I can move over to the artists main website and hopefully support them by getting more clicks for their ad revenue.

This actually annoys me as a reader (just a little). Why? Because following a comic on their own site is a pain. I'd rather have locked episodes here on Tapastic so I can at least get notified.

Not once has it made me want to support a creator to be able to see the content early.

Personally, I don't see any of the perks as an incentive to support. It's more of the creator's token of gratitude. The quality of the comic should be the biggest incentive by FAR: it's so good, you want to support the creator even if you don't care for any of the perks.

I'm all for spending money on quality stories; it's why I buy physical books, and I would pay my favorite webcomic creators for the same reason (as soon as I'm able). But little perks like request sketches or whatever? If that's what I'm after, I'll rather commission an artist to draw me a sketch. Now, I offer request sketches and such to my supporters not as carrots, but as a token of gratitude. No matter what the perk is, it's insulting when you look at it as the creator dangling a carrot in front of your wallet.

[gateofselidor]

I think the way your comic does things is fair. One locked episode certainly isn't going to make me unsubscribe, but there's one supporter comic I follow that I'm tempted to unsubscribe to because I got 3-4 notifications from it over a couple of weeks, and all of them were locked episodes that as a non-subscriber I would have to wait weeks to access. No episodes were made available to non-subscribers in this time. By the time the first of these episodes finally unlocked for non-subscribers, I had lost track of what was happening, and I wasn't really interested in reading it.

I think getting an episode a week earlier, and getting some bonus content is fair enough for subscribers, and I don't mind that at all. It's only when I start to feel like I'm being snubbed/neglected by the comic creator for not being a paying reader that it starts to bother me.

[puppetbomb]

Crap I have six locked episodes @_@;;;;

I'm wondering WHY Tapastic shows locked episodes in the first place. I thought it was for publishers to be able to view their pages to see if it looks OK, but if readers get frustrated when episodes are locked, I don't see a reason they should see it?

[Iron]

No worries, yours are just scheduled, that's the other thing ^^

[SpavVy]

Heavens no, if I like the comic I will not unsubscribe just because I can't view a chapter right off the bat, yes it does annoy me when I get notification of an update I can't even view which I would like to see it only notifies the actual supporters of the series and when it unlocks THEN it should notify the regular subscribers. I plan to put my series on the support program when it gets enough subscribers so I understand the authors that do it. VanRah who is the creator of Stray Dog makes a living off of making comics, it IS her job to make comics, she makes a living off of it (she does have more support than just tapastic.) And yet I see people who are non supporters complain about it being locked which is stupid. Because it will be unlocked eventually. Back before the internet was around people had to go to the store and buy comics and yet I see people comment on a webcomic that has locked episodes complaining that they can't view it for free right away, I just find it sad really.

[Iron]

. Back before the internet was around people had to go to the store and buy comics and yet I see people comment on a webcomic that has locked episodes complaining that they can't view it for free right away, I just find it sad really.

Yeah we live in such times when people got used to internet being the source of all the free content, and it's easy to forget that there is a living person on the other side actually making this content...

[puppetbomb]

Ah, OK, I just checked with another device and saw that it just shows up as scheduled for next week hurp llD

[Doubtcent]

I just realized this was about "locked" episodes, not "scheduled" episodes. But to me they're almost the same thing.

I believe that there should be a notice for supported creators that says you can get an episode earlier if you support. However there should be a thing where if you don't support, you don't get notifications about the comic until it's public. Otherwise, disappointment will arise any way you lock episodes.

If (somehow) I become a part of the support program (not likely), I'd make sure that there was content for both non-supporters and supporters whenever there is an update, and that if you support you get just a bit more. Like the Locked sketches or other content is only available, but there would be plenty for non-supporters to enjoy. As for episodes, no. None of those should be locked for anyone. Maybe only scheduled in advance if I made more than one thing.

[WintreKitty]

The only time that I am slightly irritated by locked or scheduled episodes (doesn't matter which one in this case) is if I had read farther in the comic before at a different site. For example, a lot of artists recently moved to Tapastic from Inkblazers. How some of them have their comics set up, they are actually behind on what their updates were on Inkblazers (which I understand, you don't want to release all your content in one go). It is a little frustrating waiting to have access to an episode you have already read, and then when that finally opens, you still have to wait for the next episode (which you also may have read before -making the waiting process for new content really really long).

I'm just looking forward to the days when the comics are caught up to where I currently am... or when I'm rich and can afford to unlock content early.

[SpavVy]

Yeah it's pretty sad when people tend to forget about who is making their favorite series and that authors need to make money too, we're not lifeless machines that just crap out art even if we may feel like it sometimes. We have blood, not ink.