Gaining subscribers

[johndanims]

Hey guys, apparently this is question number 1,000! Unless some have been deleted.

Just wondering if anyone has any good tips on gaining Tapastic subscribers without being too spammy on here? I've been stuck on just 15 subs on my series for over a month now. I know I can throw in links like I just did in that last sentence and there's the threads for under 100 subscribers, but how often can I post on there before I get 100? My PW ads I'd rather send on to my blog as I view that as my main site that has links to everywhere else and I seem to gain followers on Twitter every now and again without having to do too much. I'm not too bothered about my Tumblr page, I just keep updating it and let it do it's own thing. Though my facebook seems to mainly only be liked by people I know so far too, so any tips on that too would be appreciated.

[PotooGryphon]

Self-Promoting

That's pretty much it, until you reach the turning point and fans start to find you organically. I've had to promote my Tapastic series just as much/often as my official comic site. And since I'm offering something slightly unique and different with Tapastic being the only place my series is in vertical format infinite canvas, I'm able to push that along side my official site's update posts.

Also, these forum threads for more advice:

What's a good way to spread my comic without being obnoxious?

Building a Social Media Presence with No Budget

You can do both ads for your blog site and your Tapastic profile on PW (it's more work but possible). Lately, I've been just promoting my Tapastic profile on my many social media profiles and that's seemed to work just fine too.

Of course, there's also being active on the Tapastic site. Engaging with other comic series (without self-promotion as a motive), Thank you pics on the sub's wall, Fan art of your favorite comics series (the other artist might be nice enough to share on their social media), guest comics, so on. I like to call these methods indirect advertising because just your mere presence (without promoting being your intention) builds a reputation and possible curiosity for people to click on your username and check you out. For social media it just helps being everywhere. ;D

[DeadAccount]

Promotion is important, but really, content is king. Make sure your stuff is the best it can be - tapastic competition is fierce. I promote a lot, but usually outside of Tapastic. Here we've never been featured, I don't post thank you drawings on everyone's pages and yet we're still doing quite ok. Update regularly, always work on improving your art and writing and you'll see results. Presentation is super important - nothing wrong with traditional art, but you need to clean your scans and crop page edges at the very least.

[Fioree]

i am totally agree with u

[johndanims]

Keeping the edges and not cleaning the scan up was a conscious design choice. If I was doing pretty much anything else I would do all that but the idea behind this series in particular is the raw nature of it and the materials I use. Just to give it the feel of a quick doodle done while at work or school or whatever you do. I do edit a little after scanning but mainly just straightening it up and re-sizing it. I already update regularly, Monday, Wednesday and Fridays when I can. I've only missed one day since coming up with the schedule and I posted it the next day.

[Kamikaze]

One of the best places I've found subcribers are actually NEW users to tapastic that I convert myself. If someone wants to read the comic on the go, I point them to the app. Not only is it a win for me, but it's helping Tapastic out as well!

Another great way to gain new subs, is simply by being active in the twitter dicussions throughout the week (which as of late I've dropped the ball on - sorry ya'll!), or getting into discussions of stuff throughout other forms of social media. One of our biggest drawers is actually a tumblr post that listed us. You can also join facebook groups too.

[Jrej]

This things take time. You have to count about 6 months of content before being taken seriously. (With one page per week that's 24 pages/episodes)

So don't worry to much about stats at first. Just keep up the best work you can.
After one year you can look back and see how you did.
You avoid the depressing process of counting your views/subscribers.

And believe me I've been there.
With my own site I had no one for years.
But I pushed on until I had enough content to be interesting.
That's also how the rythm of my story line is structured... Crescendo.

Keep calm, relax and carry on.