Do readers get annoyed by daily/frequent updates?

[galebourn]

I've been working on my comic for a few months before I decided to upload it on Tapastic, so I have 30 pages of material. I decided it would be a nice idea to update daily, until I reach the latest comic. However, for the last 3 days, I always lost subscribers shortly after posting something new.
Now it could be because my stuff got worse, but yesterday's comic was one of those I've been looking forward to the most because it's the cutest/funniest so far (in my biased opinion) and it got much more positive feedback from other social media websites than anything else I made up to this point.

Am I just reading to much into this or do frequent updates bother people, because they always get annoying warnings or emails?
Would it be better to update on a weekly basis or just dump everything I have in one go?

Edit: Another subscriber gone.

[maximumthemokona]

Unfortunately I can't speak for every other reader, but I'm under the impression that yeah, daily posting is not optimal. Personally when you start following a bunch of comics at the same time, if you don't check your computer everyday, coming back and finding your feed full of stuff to catch up on can sometimes feel like a chore.

My humble suggestion is not to post everything in one go, but switch to posting twice or thrice weekly, and maybe post 2-3 comics in the same update. That way your subscribers still get fairly frequent content but not as much nagging.

(Oh, and I gotta add, losing subscribers at some point is kind of physiologic. As you continue your comic, people who signed up at first who didn't know what it was going to be about might realize it just isn't for them. It feels crappy, but don't take the sub count to heart too much; it's not worth it.)

[AnnaLandin]

1. Losing subs doesn't have to be a consequence of frequent updating - it can be people who subbed as a way to bookmark your comic, came back to read it and found it wasn't their cup of tea; it can be bot accounts being cleaned out, it can be pretty much anything.

2. I don't think frequent updates are all that annoying. I post my regular comic twice a week, but I ran a oneshot in December that updated once a day for 24 days straight, and people weren't annoyed by that. However, I explicitly stated from the start that it was going to be daily posting-schedule, and that it was a one-shot, so people knew it would only run for a month.

3. Unless you straight-up ask your readers if the daily posts are annoying, you won't know if they are. It's hard to second-guess the motivations of a bunch of people. However, if your readers are subbed to a bunch of different comics (which a lot of people are), then yes, there's a possibility that your readers might feel your daily updates clog up their notifications.

[60Six]

In my own PERSONAL experience, it's normally a good thing? I got a big boost in my subscribers when I was uploading daily and I know of a few comics who upload daily who it really helps out too.
You have a really cute looking comic, so all I can really do is agree with @AnnaLandin
I know I've personally gotten a tiny bit irritated by really, really frequent wall posts, but I've never come across anyone annoyed by page updates. If anything, most readers seem to like it.

[CaptainUfo]

I'm doing the same thing (daily updates - sorta: I don't release anything during the weekends) for the same reason (huge backlog, 84 pages now, an counting), and it's somewhat working for me; however I must say that I explained my update schedule in the description so that people know what to expect, and that I have a lower amount of subscribers compared to other series that started around the same time (seriously, I've seen series by new authors with 50+ subscribers after just a week, ho do they do that?. Do they bring their own public from home?)

I'm planning to slow down to twice a week by the end of Season one (which will happen in a month or so), and then slow down again to once a week when I get closer to my original release.

[lizm]

I've been updating daily for a while now and all comments I receive about the update schedule are positive. Some people actually check the comic daily and enjoy the frequent updates while others catch up on multiple updates a few days later. From a reader's point of view, personally, I love frequent updates--I subscribe to comics because I want to read more of them after all! And if I'm too busy to read them the day they're published, I'll just catch up whenever I can. No big deal, really.

Don't freak out over watching the subscriber count--it's tempting, but don't. There was a time where I lost more subscribers than I gained and it was really disheartening until I realized some of what's been said before here--e.g. people just bookmarking it and then figuring out it was not their thing, or bots being deleted--and simply stopped watching the counter go up and down. Instead of focusing on the numbers, focus on interacting with your readers and really getting them hooked.

[galebourn]

Hey, thanks for all the posts. I think I'll do bi-weekly updates now and will instead focus on interaction with my readers. I'm just not very good at human interaction in general, but I'll try.

[mariusthered]

I post my comic TalesfromswipecityDaily because it's meant to be that way, like a tv soap. I am slowly getting subs, but I am getting people reading it. (the silent partners lol)

personally i enjoy reading comics with more updates, if they update too slow i grow kinda weary and sometimes loose the plot ( but i have been told i did that years ago)

I would say that it's your buffer that counts, if you have that in place you can speed up postings and slow down as you see fit.

[nathankschulz]

We might be coming down to the difference between posting a page, and wall posts. Post a page and hey its no real problem. That is what this site is for.
Post a ton of wall posts and it feels like things get a little clogged up. I don't know.
I personally don't mind a lot of comic posts.

[galebourn]

I think I've never made a wall-post on my own, only replies. Writing other people without any reason isn't something I can do.

[zerofruits]

I don't mind daily updates - though I might not read the update every time it pops up on my dash (I like binge-reading things). But I think that daily updates can definitely help you to gain more audience - since you will be present on the "fresh" or even "trending" and "popular" section more often (or at least have a higher chance of getting there?). And it's also always good for potential readers that you are still active and they won't have to fear long gaps of not having any new reading material.

I'd say, if you have the time and energy to do daily updates - why not? I would love to update my own series - SHEEP + WOLF more frequently, but due to not having so much time to draw, I have to settle with my current schedule.

What bugs me though are constant wall-posts and such - especially when they don't really have anything to do with the comic or are just random blabbering.

[ToonDoctor]

Daily updates are just fine. Now worries pal.

[efdvorsky]

You might not get an immediate response since some people will then give it a few days to read the bundle, but yeah, there's no problem there far as I know!

[eschaefges]

yeah i have updated 155 days straight and have gained subscribers and viewers steadily - i MAY have gained more if i spaced it out but then again I may not have - many of them have commented how much they love the daily updates!

[Tindabox]

As a personal preference, I like when comics are spaced out a bit so I can have something to look forward to, BUT if I'm caught up in the story I get really frustrated because I just have to know what happens next. If I were you I'd post either 2 or 3 times a week to give yourself a lot of time to work on more.

[DeadAccount]

My main comic updates once a week, but with my side comics/strips, at some point I've been doing daily uploads of the archives and honestly, it worked pretty well and there was a steady growth of subs over those days. Definitely beats uploading the whole thing in one go, anyway.

[MannyMelancholy]

I agree, sporadic wall posts are important because they can let an audience know what major announcements need to be made in regards to the series. It can just feel annoying when wall posts become the substitute to what a twitter or tumblr account should be and I think often times most artist here have such accounts available to their fans. Wall posts can feel like overkill because a creator can also interact with their fans on the comic pages themselves too without any notifications going off like a wall post would do. when it comes to Page posts daily, they are good as long as the content being pumped out is quality.

[nathankschulz]

I knew you'd understand me, Manny!

[Gagovi]

i think tha daily updates are good, then you can read them all at once on weekend.

[Mharz]

I don't think the readers would mind if you do daily updates. Most people prefer to read in batches like I do. I'd totally shoot for daily updates if I had tons of buffer. If I get successful in patreon I might but chances of that happening are zero.