How can I live off my webcomic when I am new?

[puchiro]

Hello everybody!

I am total newbie with all this webcomic stuff... While I am so happy that I started something I also realize that you can't make money off your webcomic unless you are super popular or got featured in Line Webtoon.

My question is how did you guys do it when your webcomic gives you 0$ but it takes off your whole week to make it.

I have seen Patreon but that too seems to depend on big fandoms...

Thank you.

[Jenny-Toons]

It's a bit more complicated because there are a lot of factors involved.

• The biggest thing is that most people who make money from their webcomics also have another means to income. That might be a part-time job, another career, or other means to getting money. But only a small amount live off their webcomic income alone because it's so competitive.

• There is Patreon, Paypal, and Ko-Fi, but that depends on how popular you are. All in all, a lot of that depends on self-promotion. You have to promote your work and have people see it in order for them to possibly like it and support you.

• You also have to update regularly and for a while. You can't really get upset about not seeing any money coming in if you've only posted for a few months or post one page every other month. People have to know a schedule, and you have to stick to that schedule.

• Line Webtoons provides contracts to potential featured artists, and the payment depends on the negotiated terms and conditions. It's not just about making your comic. You might have to attend cons, be included in advertisement, etc. The payment also depends on where you live, so the income you get can either be a gold mine in some places or the bare minimum in others.

• But the biggest thing you have to do is ENJOY making your comic. You have to LOVE making your comic despite knowing you might not make a lot of money in a good while. This is a competitive field, and you will not get a lot of money right off the bat. The people you see as "overnight success" had to put in a lot of effort we don't get to see. You've got to enjoy what you do; because if you don't, and you're in it for the money, you might have to rethink your methods. Because, despite the misconceptions, making webcomics is not an easy way to make money.

It takes a good while to start making money, but all you can do is put yourself out there and engage others. Be an active member in your creators/readers community. Network sincerely (as in not using anyone), promote others even if it gives you nothing in return, and ask/answer questions.

And have a backup plan -- don't put all your eggs in one basket and rely solely on webcomics as income. Most creators do not rely on their webcomics for their income.

There's just no easy way to make the money. But there are ways to understand the process and build yourself up to get to that point.

[AmysGames]

You don't. In fact, I would not rely on a webcomic as a primary source of income at all unless it was REALLY popular.

I think most artists have jobs and do their webcomic on the side. Other than that, maybe art commissions? I still wouldn't say that's super reliable, especially as a new artist, but it's an option.

[puchiro]

Thanks so much for the comprehensive response! You opened my eyes on how to see this. I get I am naive on this matter.
If you don't mind me asking... What is considered popular in the community? Like when you have more than 5k subscribers maybe? (Sorry that I am asking so specific. But I am just super new in this).

[Jenny-Toons]

It's no problem!

As for popularity, I would say most people think having around 2k or more is being popular. Then again, even that can change based on who you ask. Some people prefer a smaller community but active fan.

But I wouldn't really worry so much about the numbers, because often enough, only a few amount of people will interact out of the total subscribers you have.

[puchiro]

Thanks for the response!! You are an angel

[kytri]

I'm gonna be real with you, almost nobody makes a solid living off drawing comics alone. Not just webcomics, either. A lot of professional cartoonists have to supplement their income through day jobs, commissions, and/or freelance work. A lot of the others have spouses or other family who are willing and able to financially support them. There are exceptions of course but comics is a rough business overall.

I'm not trying to discourage you. It's just if you have unrealistic expectations it'll be way more discouraging when they aren't met.

The standard numbers I've always heard is a webcomic with 10k readers can support an artist and if you're lucky about 10% of them will buy a book or other merch. Of course the actual numbers are going to vary but it's generally high enough that almost nobody is going to have that many readers right away. Focus first on making a great comic that people will want to read and networking with other artists, and worry about making it profitable later.

[kaiwang868]

@kytri is right, most webtoons, webcomic and Tapas artists have day jobs, even the big ones. Maybe only the top 0.001% of creators can make enough. Same goes for the web novel writers.

Imagine this. Out of the millions of writers in the world, only ONE writer managed to reach billionaire status and that's JK Rowling. Whereas in other industries, especially tech, you got billionaires in the dozens. Content creators on a whole are quite...poor.

Although the artists serialized in magazines like Weekly Shounen Jump do make a bit of money, but they are the diamond that is on top of the cherry of the cream of the crop, the top 0.0000000000001% of Japan. And they almost universally work their way to the hospital.

It's not easy being a creator. But like Steve Jobs said, "Those who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do." Who knows, maybe the next JK Rowling will emerge from Tapas

[LordVincent]

When you are new? Forget it. Be patient and if you are ready to work for your dream for years to come then maybe.

I would suggest that you get a job that doesn't drain you too much mentally or eat your spare time (so preferrably nothing that requires a long expensive education) to keep you afloat while you work your way there. When working towards your dream, be sure to work a lot on improving your speed. If you want to make a living as a webcomic artist, speed is king and art is queen. Writing is the food they eat. Basically it's your least marketable skillset so don't get caught in a "the story's the most important part anyways!" mindset because while that may be true for some readers, it is not true for marketability and will cut your carreer off at its ankles. However without properly cooked food, your king and queen will wither and die before your audience.

Make sure you obtain multiple income sources. In the art world, things can change overnight, ripping your income away or making one of your income sources smaller. I work full time as a webcomic artist, and I have the following:
- A premium comic
- Ad revenue from Tapas
- Used to get Patreon pledge from Webtoon, might get ad rev from said source instead
- Patreon
- Tipping
- I sell merch
- I sell books
All of these are important as some months things will go better or worse for one or the other, and the overall growth on them is fairly slow. Sometimes unexpected things happen, too, like Patreon's recent problems with credit card charges.

Be ready to work fast, hard and well for at least 5 years before you see the fruit of your work. Think of it like a very slowly growing bush that has the sweetest tasting berries once it does bloom.

If all of this sounds like too much, then maybe you should consider remaining a hobbyist instead. If it sounds like a fun challenge, I wish you good luck!

[droidmonkey1]

You need a large fandom to earn money from webcomics, especially if your new to it. even on your own website.
in all of social media you need to create several revenue streams to live off of it.

[punkarsenic]

you find a way for it to not take off your whole week to make

simplify, speed up your process and slow down your updates, and start building moneymaking ways. so yes, patreon. get them subs to unlock tipping on tapas and ad rev on webtoons. its a slog, but it is possible to live (very modestly) off webcomics. it will take a few years to get there, and its not a stable income, but its possible.

[AdrenalineShots]

Thats a really interesting view. 10k is still a lot of subs however I would think over the long run it’s do-able? Ive also heard that its usually 1% of your followers who buy things?

[AdrenalineShots]

This is an interesting figure too. So the general consensus is if you have more thsn 2k followers you are popular? Is that on line or tapas or both? Just curious!

[nessiefynn]

I don't live off my webcomic, I just do it as a hobby. Most people don't live off their webcomics, maybe only the top 1% or less make enough cash from webcomics to do it as their jobs.

My question is how did you guys do it when your webcomic gives you 0$ but it takes off your whole week to make it.

My solution is to not spend a whole week making it. I prepare a lot of my comic pages in advance, I start writing scripts long before the chapter starts, and I try to sketch and line whole chapters before the first page even gets released. Most weeks all I have to do is add greys, which only takes me 1-2 hours, which is quick enough to accomplish even on busy weeks. It's all about time management.

[kytri]

I could be remembering wrong, it might have been 10% will be hardcore fans, as opposed to casual readers, and then 10% of them will buy something. Either way it's a pretty small fraction.
These are also figures I was hearing years ago, before tapas, before patreon, the landscape is a bit different now. Ad revenue doesn't pay nearly as well as it did years ago so raw numbers matter somewhat less.

I think 10k is a good benchmark, though it is a bit of a fuzzy number. For example tapas isn't my primary website, the majority of my readers come to my comic on my own site and aren't counted in any subscriber number. I can just estimate based on site traffic. The other side of that coin is I have no way of knowing how many subscribers on tapas are actually reading my comic. They might subscribe because they think it looks neat and then never come back.

It is definitely possible in the long run though, it's difficult to get noticed because there are so many comics to choose from, but once you get some traction getting more becomes easier.

[seru]

It really depends on the market, your work and how you sell yourself.

It can range from 1-10%.

You cannot live off your webcomic when you're new. Treat this as a small business or an investment. You will see that it's not generating income in the beginning but if you know how to sell it and market yourself, it can pay off eventually.

[Kotopopi]

When you talk about having 10k followers are you talking Tapas-followers? Cause really, most of the artists that I know that make a living on their webcomics are either featured artists (Tapas or Webtoon) or have at least 100-200k followers on Instagram and manage, thanks to that, to do kickstarters of their books or sell merch.

[kytri]

No, I'm talking about humans actively reading your comic on a regular basis. And it's intended to be a lower benchmark.

Your followers on tapas is most likely not the actual number of active readers you have. It may be artificially inflated by people that sub and then don't keep reading, people that sub and then leave the site all together, people who made new accounts and resubbed, or bots. Conversely it doesn't count anyone who comes to read your comic but doesn't make an account or doesn't subscribe for whatever reason.

Most of those comics probably don't actually have 100-200k active readers, but they have enough that it doesn't really matter in a practical sense.

You can make a living at way less than 100k readers, they just have to be the sort of readers who are invested in you and your comic succeeding. In a financial sense you really only need about 1000 people who are willing to give you a few dollars a month. It's just for every one of them you're probably also going to have at least 10 or so people who can't or don't want to support you financially.

[Kotopopi]

I've heard the 1000 followers number many time. But in order to quantify how many 'active readers' you have you need to set a reference. For exemple:

• for Tapas: are active readers tippers?
• for Instagram: are active readers people who actively comment, share or tag on your posts?
• for Webtoon: are your active readers also patrons?

Otherwise 'active readers' is a pretty vague piece of information that it's hard to figure out due to the very poor statistics that Webtoon and Tapas offer to us.

Obviously if you mean 1000 patreons there are high chances that you can make a living with it.

But I was trying to figure out how many followers have, generally speaking, on social media those artists that can live off their comics (only beacuse I thought this was the question).

[kytri]

Active readers are people who read your comic on the reg, people who tip or support you on patreon or comment are a subset of that.

The thing is you can't actually know how many people are reading, you can roughly guess based on the metrics you do have but you can't know for sure. The general rule of thumb is that for each person who interacts with you there's probably 9 or so who don't.