Fighting the "no readers" blues

Menbung 2015-02-21 18:44:36 UTC #10

Yes it can be pretty tough when you spend a lot of time doing something and then you post it and, no new reader, no comments or likes; a month passes, and nothing, maybe someone drops your story too... (true story).

I always take some time to think about it, like charging myself for the new update, to pick up the pencil again, and even though I might not get a new reader, my body just can't quit, I want to have better art and convey more feelings when I do a new "page" (episode here on tap).

I always think that I wont accomplish anything if I do nothing, doing something will always be better than doing nothing, who knows who could be watching out there.

And that feeling of a new reader, to me is pretty precious, if someone trust in me and invest time in my story and likes it I just want to give him/her my best, that moves me forward, everytime I have a compliment or likes, or If peeps share my work, when I think about that I just can't quit, I can't let those peeps down, even if it is just one person that reads my story.

We strive to be greater, hmm. Regards Oo.oO

bluefairy 2015-02-21 21:28:05 UTC #11

From my personal ecxperience and from a lot of stuff I have read, the things one want to happen most, happen really slow or don't happen at all. Why is that? There is a reason for that which is really hard to explain. It is has something to do with how the universe work... If you care too much, to the extent that it brings you down when you don't see the desired results, that means you are on the wrong track and you won't have those results anytime soon. If you want something to happen really really a lot, work and fight is not enough. You must have the mind of someone that has already acomplished that. And those that have accomplished their goal certainly don't want this thing to happen really really a lot, but look at it as something normal. So... one has to calm down and not take things too much to heart... enjoy what he is doing or work hard as if he has thousands of fans already and a lot of responsibility. That's how it works.
Has is worked for me? Well, yes. There are things in my life that after I went through a lot of pain , I stopped caring so much and only after that happened, they worked out. But the comic - I still haven't figured out how not to care. I guess I'll have to endure some more pain before I get wiser. Drawing comics is still evoking too much passion and strong desire in me, so my mind is not at peace at all.

SadSacks 2015-02-21 22:03:24 UTC #12

I'm in the same boat.

My comic Sad Sacks just got to 10 subscribers. I convinced myself that all the comics with a HUGE amount of subscribers have been doing it a while or (more likely) were lucky enough to be featured (I wish!).

Hang in there!

Icelug 2015-02-21 22:13:35 UTC #13

Ok...this is pure gold. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

carloswebcomic 2015-02-21 22:18:45 UTC #14

That interview with Christian Jacobs was great!

CSJones 2015-02-21 22:21:31 UTC #15

This might be arrogant, but I feel like the writing and art are good enough that it'll catch on eventually.

It's only 20 pages in at the moment, and no webcomic ever - unless it's done by a veteran creator with an audience carried over from their other work - has made a splash that early.

carloswebcomic 2015-02-21 23:51:20 UTC #17

Well, that's what keeps you going, isn't it? The hope that you just haven't been noticed yet and that people will at some point see your stuff and stick with it.
I used to have a comic that would get about 10,000 hits a day and whenever I started a new one, I would advertise on my old one and carry a lot of the readers across.
Now I consciously started one from scratch. No advertisement or anything, just to see what happened. I'm lucky to get 100 unique hits a day.
I forgot how hard this thing was...

CSJones 2015-02-22 00:43:52 UTC #18

Oh yeah. Lowroad. I used to read it in high school. I never knew it was that popular, though.

carloswebcomic 2015-02-22 01:33:12 UTC #19

Well, yes, but I'm sure a good percentage of those were trolls and haters...

SuperRazz 2015-02-22 14:54:05 UTC #20

I have always believed that 10 readers = 1000 readers. When I had less than 10, it never really bothered me. Just work and do your best because even if they are just 10 readers, they're still readers. They may not be many but you still have people that care.

jayorten 2015-02-22 17:35:01 UTC #21

Probably the best piece of advice I can give you is this: do comics because you love to do them. Don't try to base your artistic hobbies around popularity. Yes, it is nice and somewhat important that people see and read your comic, but what's most important is that you are doing what you love to do. Don't worry if you don't have very many views right now. Just stick to it, and eventually, you'll get your lucky break.

Doubtcent 2015-02-22 23:04:32 UTC #22

A good way that I know how to keep out of the no reader's blues is to keep working. If the current comic is getting you down, work on the next one or onto some other project. My comic has a low amount of subscribers so I don't constantly get notifications. Maybe one or two every other day.

On the other hand I'm spending a lot of my time on a new comic, my first ever manga, and because I'm still getting the hang of the art, I'm spending a lot of time with it, and by the time I'm satisfied, I come back and find that someone said something about my comic or something.

Having more than one project going on at the same time does help.

cthlatu 2015-02-23 01:29:06 UTC #23

My sentiments exactly. Those people who took time out of their day to get to know my comics and characters are more than worth the effort to keep going.
More than ANYTHING else though, I keep going because they are stories I feel need to be drawn.

SpavVy 2015-02-23 05:51:10 UTC #24

Personally I don't worry about it too much, if I draw my comic in hopes I'll get lots of readers I'll only set myself up for failure because I'll tend to get hasty and it will take a toll on the quality of my artwork. It may not work like that for everyone but that does tend to happen to me.

MylCreates 2015-02-23 09:28:00 UTC #25

I feel that, however, creators will always have this predicament in their heads when posting a series even if they try not too. I'm sure it arrises every now and then in most

jonufele 2015-02-23 11:50:17 UTC #26

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mjmassey 2015-02-23 16:39:14 UTC #27

For my main website, I have Google Analytics set up, and every month I check it and compare to the previous month. Every month, I have a few more unique users, a few more "sessions" (page hits), some new countries in the demographics. Even if it's only one or two people in Sweden or Indonesia or wherever, it's a really cool feeling to know that someone, at some point, bothered to click on my site and read it.

Another thing that makes me feel better about a low number of subscribers, is that I have consistent commenters who leave a comment or like every page. They give me lots of great insight and generate interesting discussions both on Tapastic and my website. Even though it's only a few, they are so wonderful, and I'm so thankful to them.

dlalas1 2015-02-25 19:48:40 UTC #28

I make my comic for my own benefit, it's sort of like therapeutic blogging. It's about my own life and all the seemingly unbelievable frustrations that go along with it, so getting it out there is like venting but in a more artistic way. If I made my comic based on views I would have given up a long time ago, as I've been making it for a while and gotten barely any attention. I think I have like 10 returning readers and 1 active commenter on my main site. I honestly think I have the least read regularly updated webcomic on the internet.

Of course, this is great fodder for the comic itself. Very meta!

BladeRabbit 2015-02-26 00:04:52 UTC #30

You know what, I really am wondering if it's even worth worrying about people reading it at all.

It's really sad to see that there's few or no people reading what you put out, especially when you put a lot of effort and time into making something.

There's this need to feel validated, a need to know that you didn't just waste your time with something.

It's just not worth it, I personally think I'm probably better off just making something stupid and not worrying about people even liking it. All worrying over readers does is stress you out in the end anyway, right?

Doubtcent 2015-02-26 15:06:46 UTC #31

True, stressing over Tapastic readers is like stressing over bad weather. No matter what you do, no matter how well you plan, not everything goes the way you want. You either don't get readers (or enough) or you get snow on the same day you need to help someone move from their house.

Unless readers are the reason why you get paid or something, stressing over a digital web-comic site isn't something that should be done. Just enjoy the flow and enjoy what you create.