Gaining subs and losing likes

[gh0stcr33p]

I feel like I've seen this happen with a number of other comics as well, but it seems like with each chapter my average number of likes per episode drops noticeably even though I'm slowly gaining subscribers. is there any way to keep this from happening more, and to get more engagement from my readers? I'm also not the type of person to care for views but I can't help but notice that my episode view counts have been going down too.. is this just because the comic was newer at the time when I had more activity, or is it something else? I'm scared because I've seen this happen to comics to the point where their regular active reader size has almost disappeared no matter how frequently they update or the quality of their work.

(now I just noticed there was an older very similar thread to this one, but I didn't really find the answers I was looking for)

[keii4ii]

(now I just noticed there was an older very similar thread to this one, but I didn't really find the answers I was looking for)

I fear that the answers we seek may not exist. X'D

I don't know why some comics are better at retaining readers than other comics of comparable quality. But I do know that some comics compensate for reader loss by bringing in new readers quickly enough through effective advertising. How, I don't know, because as far as I understand, the most effective advertising is word of mouth -- and that is not something the creator can control.

[Merle]

If you are concerned with your active readers, it is much more informative if you look at the views you get per episode. Keep in mind only to compare your recent episodes, not really new or really old ones, those will be different for a number of reasons.
People can still read your comic and don´t like anymore. Some people make it a habbit to like when they binge read it for the first time, some people will like only episodes that are especially interesting to them.
Also, it is fairly normal (on tappastic, that is) to have only half the size of active readers of how many subscribers you have. I´ve gathered that from a multitude of people in the hundreds or thousands in subs, including myself.
Don´t worry about it too much. I only compare stats every once in a while. It´s better to look at other achievements. A good growth in subs will still mirror a general growth of your readership, no matter what.

[gh0stcr33p]

yeah, but I think it's been going down a while after I first uploaded the comic here. probably around when the current chapter was released was the last time where my views and likes were declining. also I'd say that my activity is 1/8 of my amount of subscribers which is preeeetty bad

[keii4ii]

A good growth in subs will still mirror a general growth of your readership, no matter what.

Ehhhh, I get less views on newish episodes (around 2k/episode) with 12k+ subs, than I did back when I had 6k-8k subs (around 4k/episode)....

I will agree on not worrying about it too much, though, because it's not productive. Staring at the numbers will not help me find solutions.

[Rosso]

the longer the series, the harder it is for readers to binge and catch up.
even premium and popular series have a significantly low Likes (and overall engagement) in their latest episodes compared to when they first started.

and for smaller creators like most of us here, this sharp drop in reader engagement can be quite discouraging since we don't have that many readers in the first place, lol.

i've seen some creators make a "condensed" version of their comic; longer episodes instead of many bite-sized ones. some readers find that less intimidating to read, so you can try that too?

[gh0stcr33p]

i've seen some creators make a "condensed" version of their comic; longer episodes instead of many bite-sized ones. some readers find that less intimidating to read, so you can try that too?

that's kind of what I used to do but with the schedule I have now it's not really a possibility. and if I were to delete my chapter "parts" and condense them into a whole chapter I'd lose all the comments I've gotten and as a reader, I actually prefer reading episodes that are 2-4 pages instead of a whole chapter to scroll through in 1 episode

[Maps]

I can have over a hundred views on a chapter and only like 4 likes. I think people read and enjoy (mostly), but don’t utilize the like button a lot.
Also, I read somewhere you own views don’t count on Tapas, but I’m thinking that is incorrect because my views will go up by one each time I review a chapter.
But I have the same trend and I’ve always assumed it wasn’t unique to me. The more chapters I put out, I usually gain subs, but the likes sort of remain the same.

[TJSchongar]

I can say, as someone who just got on Tapas a week ago and have been binging about as much as I possibly can, that the dip in engagement might be because people are engaging too fast to click the heart. Honestly, when I find something I love and decide to bookmark, unless there’s just one particular page that made me laugh in real life or just really hit me hard, I don’t like every single episode. I’ll like the last one, I’ll leave 2-3 comments, but if I’m loving what I’m reading, I’m too busy being engaged by the content to pause between chapters/pages. And that’s not a bad thing! You want that kind of engagement. The bookmarks are the number to track, if you ask me

[DiegoPalacios]

it makes sense for the first pages to be the most noticed because there is where most readers start.

If you want to measure engagement, it would be better to see the ratio between the likes and views. Or the percentage of likes a page has compared to views (the latest could be harder to properly evaluate because some readers see a page twice or more, sometimes to show it to a friend or to notice further details)