Does anyone actually come on here to forums to read?

[kitkatxk]

Just as the title says with all these non stop promotion threads that have like 200-900 plus responses pushing content in hopes people will read the recommendations. Is there anyone actually on the forums that come here to look for book recommendations and specifically see the non stop growing unsorted upheaval pile of content and go. That looks fun to wade through! Or are the promotional threads just content creators pushing to other content creators.

Curious if any readers are actually out there hiding amongst the majority. XD

[doitlikeomar69]

I come to read most of the time

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

I've wondered the same. Is this primarily a mecca for writers & cartoonists instead of for consumers of content?

[VibrantFox]

i haven't come for new content to read in ages so i tend to not look at any forum promos and have the category muted and if anything have found most new things to read through promotion elsewhere (twitter/tiktok/tumblr)

it's also hard to want to engage with folks who solely interact in promo threads than in discussions anywhere else and even then discussion threads tend to just be the same faces (save for a few lurkers or new faces popping up here n there) so I just kinda...chill, hang back n observe or work on my own stuff ┐(￣ー￣)┌

for folks who are filtering through those threads i commend em

[XiuLyn_12]

I suppose the majority are creators.
Aside from promotional threads, most posts seem to be from creators, like asking for reviews and the struggles of authors.
I have never found a thread (in my assumption) made by readers.

[EncryptedWriting]

If I'm completely honest, I might take a peak at someone who doesn't post 100 replies to separate posts to link their story. I cannot stress how much that annoys me.

But aye yeah if I see something I like then I'd take a little look.

[Lensing]

Like I wrote in a another thread, I only read comics of people I interact with or who start interesting
threads which are not promotion threads. I think most people in the forum are creators who don´t read and
only promote. The endless promotion threads almost made me quit the forum but then some friendly
forum member told me that I can mute them

[igneriss]

I find comics to read here, but not in general promotion threads. I made one or two threads on my own looking for recommendations, and now I have a very long list of comics to check out (... but life got so busy that I managed to check out only few of series there). I also check out comics of people who post in art/discussion threads if something they said or drawn was interesting. But well, as I don't really have that much time for reading it all just goes to my bookmarks for now

[darthmongoose]

There are more readers on the Discord than the forums in my experience, but a lot of them aren't that interested in reading "Community" comics, at least if they're not creators themselves, they just like the very popular licensed Korean comics, or maybe Heartstopper.

Put yourself in the shoes of a person looking for something to read on Tapas. You're a twenty year old Californian woman looking for some entertainment between college classes. You get out your phone or tablet to read a webcomic or webnovel, and "Oh man, my faves haven't updated!", you need something new to binge! Where do you go?

In most cases, the answer isn't "I type "Tapas forums" into google to look for recommendations." Some might go on the Tapas discord and ask for recommendations, but the vast majority will: 1. Look at what's recommended by Tapas in staff picks and collections, and 2. Browse the popular rankings in their favourite genre.
Maybe they'll follow "webcomics" tags on social media, and if a cool looking webcomic or webnovel turns up on their feed, they might check it out.

The forums can be a good place to build a loyal base of fellow creators who will leave likes and comments on your updates and so help you get visibility (which likes are a big factor in), but mostly these people will look at a work because the creator is saying interesting stuff about it; they can't just subscribe to literally everything anyone posts here or they'd never read it all. But yes, it's mostly creators here. People who just read aren't that bothered to hang out here, because none of the big creators are on the forums, and they're probably not that interested in occasional conversations about how novels and comics are made interspersed with threads of people saying "READ MINE!" without elaboration on why.

[kitkatxk]

Exactly. I wonder why the promotion threads still exist on here, they are absolutely preaching to the wrong choir. XD

[HGohwell]

This conversation comes around every now and again and we talk about why the promo's thread is still here since since one really comes here for reading material, it's mostly a creators forum split between people who use the promo section for sub-for-sub and those who use the rest of the forum and get readers from other members who actually enjoy and comment on their work and are better for the work in the long run. There's been talk about what to do with the promos for ages, from things like restricting the amount of times you can post in promoper day and we didn't used to be able to mute it. At least people used to be a little more creative with their promo spamming.

[VersusVII]

I sometimes answer some discussioni here on the forum, but the majority of the threads are "promote here, subs for subs there". I try to put my link there when I update choosing 3 or 4 ones every day to not spam my content too much in a raw.
I think the forum is attended mostly by creators and reach readers only is difficult, I think socials or reddit is were we can find them.

[PapaDom]

That depends, honestly.

When I first came here, it was more of a place where people ask for improving their work and just had some activities here and there for everyone with the occasional discussion about specific topics.

I'm more likely to check out other people's works since I had some conversations with them and/or liked them as a person, rather than just some randos dropping links and just focusing talking about their stuff.

[TroyVSTheWorld]

Yeah, my sentiments exactly. The oversurge of promo threads make me juts kinda skim this forum daily now, which you CAN hide, but really the problem remains that you're advertising the same comic to the same people, and in multiple threads in the same day, its exhausting.

[darthmongoose]

We do keep telling them...

But in seriousness, when people do respond, there's usually a sort of... desperation. I get it, because, yeah, building an audience is hard, and it's not really fun to discover that after all the work you already put into making a novel or a comic all by yourself, that you're not done yet and need to learn marketing (ugh...marketing). They don't know how to market their work, and they don't know why it's important to really think about how they market their work, because they're writers or artists, and they've perhaps been told that if they make good writing or draw well and have original ideas, people will come...but they're not coming. It creates a sense of frustration, especially when the dashboard has a progress bar that seems to set the goal for everyone at 250 subs (I think a lot of people would be happier if that bar could at least be hidden, or wasn't on the page where they upload pages.)

One of the hardest lessons to learn in comics and novels is "you are not special. Just being good at writing or drawing isn't that special; lots of people are", even "having ideas that are different or unusual" isn't special. No matter how good a writer you are, or how good you are at drawing, you have to put your work in the right place for the sort of people who will like it, and you have to put work into making it look nicely presented according to current design trends, and make it very clear what's good about it. Nobody is such an exceptional writer that they can just drop a novel and run and people will read it. Nobody is so remarkable that they can post a novel with a cover that's just an unedited stock photo and some text thrown on there in Times New Roman or Arial font and people will somehow sense its hidden depth; people do judge books by their covers, that's what covers are for!

But inevitably, no matter how often I give the advice of "make a polished cover with one or more well-illustrated faces on it if possible", "don't hand-write your title font or use a default font that came with your computer." Or "You are not the magical exception that will make this unpopular genre popular unless you mix it with a really popular style and tropes." there's always resistance to it, and it becomes almost like a moral crusade, where giving into what I'm advising would show weakness of character or erosion of individuality or "selling out" (god, it's 2023, can the term "selling out" go in the bin? Please?). I'm really just telling them what any publisher would tell them, but hey, it's easier to just keep dropping a link and they can frame it like it's a sign of strength and individuality that they're sticking to their guns and not letting anyone change their very special and unique way of doing things.

[GumshoeComix]

I'm pretty sure promo threads are only here to keep spam away from regular normal threads
obv doesn't 100% work but with the number of promo threads, I imagine without them The art and offtopic threads etc would get spammed to hell and back.
and like @VersusVII said i think this forum is used mostly by creators.
and creators reaching other creators is difficult

I come to the forums looking to interact with people mostly but there's always only promo threads and it's a bit overwhelming sometimes.

[HGohwell]

I'm pretty sure promo threads are only here to keep spam away from regular normal threads obv doesn't 100% work but with the number of promo threads, I imagine without them The art and offtopic threads etc would get spammed to hell and back.

I'm not sure if it would or not, given how things have changed in recent years. When I first came to the forums, there were a lot less promo threads and a lot more actual discussion. And when promo threads there were tended to be a lot more creative. For instance, talking about your magic system and actually discussing it. Or, the one that really shows you who's here to simply promote and who's actually reading other people's works, promo someone else's work. However, I think as webcomics have become more mainstream and more people think they can just do it, it's almost reaching saturation and the make up of the forum has changed a lot. (Of course, back then the forum had other problems like persistent hatred and complaining about popular works/creators, so it's not like it's ever going to be perfect).

[Archetype_Moon]

I have to admit that even I am getting sick of the promotion threads. All you ever see is the same people spamming their story, even I am guilty of. At this point it is getting exhausting to even post on those. On another point, I actually had no idea you could update a thread you had created. I still don't know my way around the forums all that much.

[Nugtown]

Nobody is so remarkable that they can post a novel with a cover that's just an unedited stock photo and some text thrown on there in Times New Roman or Arial font and people will somehow sense its hidden depth; people do judge books by their covers, that's what covers are for!

I'm dead, I think I just love it when someone says what everyone is thinking.

I think i'll throw my hat in here and there, and on occasion an interesting premise or art will get my attention, but I don't go to those threads deliberately looking for something to read. For the most part I like to talk, or rather I think it's a lot more interesting to discuss something relevant to what you're working on, like your theme or something. It's also more likely to make me think about looking into it.

It says a lot more to me about what to expect from the kind of story you're making, beyond just a blurb or a synopsis.

[powerplantanimations]

I just go here to meet other creators and see what kinda tips I can learn. Like with marketing. I also think it sorta... makes sense... to know the ins and outs of a platform whenever you post something somewhere. I used to be a sub 4 sub person and I just stopped when I saw a person making a thread with a name like "AAAAAAHHHHHH I'M SO SICK OF THESE SUB 4 SUBS!!!". I WILL admit I still do promotions because I feel as though they work. I prefer fun game because it's cool comparing and getting to know other characters.

But to mention it's just fun talking to other creators. Seeing people grow and all that.