Do you browse forum promotions to find new reads? - POLL

[InfiniteLine]

This is not about whether you like them / post your own material / if you think they are effective. It's specifically: Do you ever scroll through promotion posts looking for something new to read? Genuinely curious!

• Yes
• No
• Only, if I'm really bored

Show results

[BlairFujin]

No, it never even crossed my mind to look for stuff to read there
If I'm looking for something to read, I'm more likely to just browse a genre I like and see which cover will catch my interest
As for finding stuff on forum, there was once a "recommend something from your library" or something thread and I followed some from it and I think those may have been recommendations from people whose works I already followed

[SilentHamster102]

Yes, not every time when I see a promotion thread, but sometimes yes.

[ar-ninetysix]

Blocking promo category gang, wya?

[Freemints30]

I blocked them, I thought my friends were harsh when they blocked those threads. Now Ive seen the light so yeah. Generally I read a new tapas story if I either vibed with a creator and want to check their stuff out, was recommended by a friend or I browsed on the site and came across it.

[VibrantFox]

in the early tapastic years when the promo category wasn't a thing and you had to be creative and come up with interesting topics of discussion to pair with your promos? sure

now with all the link dumps and repetitive stuff? lol nah

like...i'm all for checking out other folks work if it interests me but there's certain things that just rub me the wrong way so i don't really bother

if anything i'll check out works i've seen shared on twitter, tiktok or tumblr faster than anything i see on here which is in no offense to creators here on the forums but those just tend to catch my fancy

[InfiniteLine]

I watched a video a while back about the biggest marketing mistakes you are probably making as a creator. The thing that stuck out most to me was that many new writers/artists are doing a lot of promoting on social media, forums, etc... but they are trying to connect with and advertise to other writers/artists. For most of us, this is not the target audience for our work. (Aside from some exceptions, like when you've made a personal connection with someone.) We all know how little excess time we have while doing school/dayjobs and still making our own novels and comics, so it's not really that surprising.

Was curious if the raw data on this forum would support that theory or if creators here were more inclined to respond to the promotions. Results so far are pretty much what I expected.

[cherrystark]

The thing that stuck out most to me was that many new writers/artists are doing a lot of promoting on social media, forums, etc... but they are trying to connect with and advertise to other writers/artists. For most of us, this is not the target audience for our work.

That's actually a really common occurrence in writer communities. While their "reads" are still valid toward your numbers, the online communities usually mean nothing for your average reader.

[river121693]

I have never checked out anything from the promotional posts. Actively avoid them actually. Most of the comics I do read from this forum are from folks in threads that share their thoughts, tips and process, because I get curious about how those things look in their comic and end up sticking around.

[Nugtown]

I'm pretty familiar with this "mistake" and I think wanting to be friends with artists is probably a casual blunder I can't help doing all the time. Art is just how I bond with others and I suspect this is the case with a lot of people.

The caveat is that no matter what avenue of art you are attempting to profit from in some way, you are always competing with other artists.
Case in point I was savagely and in a pretty unsolicited way flat out disregarded as a person to buy from, simply on the basis that he was a working artist. Hurtful as it was to hear I don't hold it against him somehow. My personal opinion is mostly different, I could buy a commission or something from an artist I like. Being an artist doesn't change it for me, but other people don't feel the same way. Maybe even a lot of people, I don't know.

Globalcomix is the prime example of a new site on the block which has a disproportionate number of creators to readers and it shows, standing just about the opposite to Webtoon. But it doesn't seem to be clearly established enough to be known so far, that there are droves of people going "hey, that's the place where I picked up titles x,y,z. This is where I go to find good things to read."

Webcomic sites have a problem as old as the dawn of the internet, a curation problem. Tapas and Webtoons kind of solve this by introducing their own curated titles, allowing the sites to make a name for themselves while not locking out other creators (they just shove us in a corner, instead) I think realistically if you want a comic site with more readers than creators you need curated titles- things you know are well made that will draw people in.

Otherwise I think everything you can do to promote yourself online is pretty much a losing gamble without outside forces lending their support to you.
I don't really come here with the specific intent to find new things to read. I'm picky about what I like and even have a habit of putting off reading what I know is good or would enjoy. But that's strictly a me problem.
If someone wants a review I always give it my time and attention. I'm open to reading anything, not just manga (just mostly manga)

[feuersichel]

I only look in interesting promotion threads. Like those with a theme or "post your favourite page" or "promote your story in one sentence" - kinda stuff. Threads who are actually fun to read and encourages me to think about my own story. I don't look into only link droping threads.

[TheLemmaLlama]

Yeah if I (actively) wanted to find something to read from the forums, I'd probably make a new topic saying 'please recommend me comics with (X, Y, Z, super specific niche stuff I couldn't already find with the search function)'

Mostly the reads I pick up from around here are 'accidental' - I didn't go in looking for something to read, but something just happens to catch my attention because of the way the creator was talking about it (or writing/art in general, or even some unrelated stuff that makes me feel they might have written some interesting stories XD)

[system]

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