How can I get more people to read my comics?

leoh090723 2016-06-23 12:16:27 UTC #1

In tapastic, people mainly read the comics that are already famous and I'm new to this site. Does anyone know ways to make my comics more known? For example what tags to use and what genre to draw, things like that.
Here's my series :https://tapastic.com/series/If-I-was-in-a-comic

carloswebcomic 2016-06-23 12:54:45 UTC #2

You can't really get people to read your comic. What you're talking about is exposure.
You can expose your comic by updating regularly (this puts you in the 'Fresh" section), gently promoting on forums and social media and.
add your comic to webcomic listings like Belfry Webcomic index.

This doesn't guarantee readers and subs, but it increases your chances
But really, you only have 3 pages. You've just started. It takes years to build up an audience.

miseryhunting 2016-06-23 12:58:31 UTC #3

Hello.
First of all, you seem to be asking the wrong question. It's not about "what I can do to become famous" but "what I can do to improve my work".
I looked at your comic and it seems it already has a genre, though I'm not sure how popular it would be - most people are looking for characters they can relate to/inventive stories. Your comic is more of...reminding of the basics?
But I guess, the short answer to your question is: PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! Perfect your art (perspective, anatomy, style), writing (storytelling, scripting, world building) and technique (colouring, lineart, etc). Use social media to promote your work. There is no short cut.

I'd highly recommend you go through those treats too:

fsarbolaez 2016-06-23 13:17:13 UTC #4

One way to get more exposure is by checking out the posts on the forums. They can give you the opportunity to introduce yourself to newbies looking for comics to read or a creator asking for help in a collaboration. Sometimes, you run into posts that give the opportunity to leave you mark so that others might gain an interest in your work, like so: https://tapastic.com/series/aofthea
Doesn't always work though, but it gets your foot in the door. Just don't do it too often, especially if you aren't leaving behind anything helpful in the process. If you do, you're just spamming.

jonufele 2016-06-23 14:27:20 UTC #5

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Kayke 2016-06-23 15:22:03 UTC #6

The whole idea of "people only like comics that are already popular" thing is pretty flawed. Every comic that's currently popular at one point was not popular. They got to where they are through a lot of hard work improving their craft and promoting their comic.

So to answer your question: work really hard for a very long time. There are things you can do to make your comic better and give it more exposure, but there aren't any secret tricks to get popular.

Also, you shouldn't pick your genre based off of what you think people want. You should pick something you feel passionate about or you'll burn out on it.

shazzbaa 2016-06-23 15:49:34 UTC #7

People don't really use tags a lot on this site -- the episode tags actually do literally nothing, and series tags will only help if someone's searching for something kind of specific. If there's something special about your comic that is a thing people seek out, absolutely include that in the series tags! But they don't really affect very much, in my experience.

Update often, with really good comics, for a year! Weekly updates will make gaining an audience a little bit slower than more frequently updating comics, but as long as you're consistent you'll still get there. : )

heterodont 2016-06-23 15:55:26 UTC #8

Not to mention the perception that only popular comics get more popular is just because they have more readers/subscribers who are going to advertise the comic to people they know - much like a snowball effect. It's not really just people seeing the comic out of nowhere and being like "oh this comic is popular! I'm going to read I solely for that reason!" (Not to say there aren't people who do that!)

Everyone else already said pretty good advice. Webcomics aren't a 'get popular fast' method. You're in it for the long haul. It does help if you have accounts on social media websites, you can advertise your comic on there! For examppe tags do work on tumblr, twitter, and instagram lol.

J.Z.Castillo 2016-06-23 17:24:55 UTC #9

It seems like you just started uploading... not even 24 hours ago. Just take it slow! I have had a comic going for a little over a year and I am not even at 300 subs, I tag everything and post it everywhere. Lately I have been uploading more since I have more free time and I have seen my subs grow by 5-10 people a week, so it's just that, consistent posting, just keep posting, work on your style and your story and eventually people will gravitate to it. Make a little greeting card and send it to every new subscriber, post it on their Tapastic feed, comment on other people's comic, just be active in the community and eventually people will start noticing you, but that's not very important if your story is not something that grabs people. To sum it up, work on your story and your style first and then worry about exposure.

J.Z.Castillo 2016-06-23 17:36:52 UTC #10

Yeah, I've also noticed tags don't matter that much... however, I still tag my stuff just in case lol. But you're right, they're not as important as they seem to be. Frequent updates get you better exposure.

jonufele 2016-06-23 17:42:35 UTC #11

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BlackMantaStudios 2016-06-23 17:55:43 UTC #12

^This. I might be a bit sentimental, but don't compromise what makes you happy for the sake of garnering fame, be it perceived or real. The audience should never take priority over your own satisfaction. If you choose to work on a certain genre based on the notion that it will get you the most attention, then the one who'll suffer most in the end is you. The audience is of course extremely important (who wants to work on something no one notices?) but more importantly, you're here because you want to share something you love with the world.