I have a pretty OK following on social media (about 43-44k on Instagram and counting).
I was trying to get it going for a long time and tbh early on the work just wasn't very good. I've known people who start working on comics and their very first works BLOW up and its usually cus they had a lot of practice offline that they've honed and turned into something that people were really eager to share. For me though, it wasn't really "sharable" for a few years. I think maybe three or four years ago was when I started posting comics on Tumblr that outta nowhere just BLEW up. And when I started getting a little more confidence, the work started getting better, and then more people would talk about it with their friends and word of mouth really got around. Then I submitted comics to a news site online and that made everything blow up even MORE.
I think before even getting into the minutiae of how to optimize your socials the very first thing that matters is the work itself. After that then its the same thing you've probably heard over and over again; post content daily, figure out your best posting times, engagement, etc. But none of that really matters if people aren't biting in the first place.
Most of my fanbase on social media are friends and acquaintances looool.
I mean, of my 600 ish Twitter followers, I recognize the names of about 200 of them!
For Youtube (~900) and Tapas (~7000) and Webtoon (~6000) though, Idk who they are... they probably find me through friends or some community projects.
I'm not popular, It's still an enigma to me
Guess to attract people, you've to get what people like
While it's true to some extent, I'm honestly tired hearing "WaNnA bE PopuLAr? ThEn BE GoOD," kind of shit. It's not that easy, this world isn't fair. If the world was fair, the tax-frauding 1% rich guy who is just eating his inheritance money that he don't have to work wouldn't exist.
For me it's rather: "Wanna be popular? Then be loveable." Be likeable.
If quality really determines your chance for popularity, then why is the shitty Twilight fanfic called Fifty Shades of Grey being made into movies? Why are publisher choosing on Wattpad stories that are cheap-ass disgusting romance written by horny teens who can't differentiate between "they're" and "their"? Why is the popular webcomic has shallow overused plot with people that have same face syndrome?
Quality-wise and theoretically, their crappy ass of quality should prevent them for making it
The main thing is that they like it, quality doesn't matter if you already hooked to something. It's like when you fall in love with someone, you'll excuse and not mind all their flaws.
As shallow and stupid as its sounds it is true; a simple slice of life with no plot might be more successful than a long-form story with sophisticated plot because it speaks to people and they love it, a simple anime style comic with cel shading that an 14 years old deviantArt kid can pull off might be more appealing than a painterly semi-realistic comic because the design just looks sweet and people like it.
Yet I don't know the key of being universally liked, so having a good marketing skill might help.
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TL;DR:
- Fanart.
- Luck.
i wouldn't consider myself "famous" or having a fanbase. it's such a big word XD"
However, the few times i actually get noticed is when i draw fanart of relevant stuff.
especially shippy, cute, or anthro-version stuff.
It's started with Okami wayyy back in the days. Then Pokemon cuz i was RPing and there was a good community there. Then The Evil Within, which is quite niche. Those are where i had the most attention.
Like, i understand some people say drawing fanart only for attention is Badz but like, if you actually enjoy the source material and could use a bit of a following, what's the problem?
As for my original content (namely, my original webcomic) i gained a good ~880subs on my own for a few months and then got lucky when Staff featured me multiple times. And now i have a decent following thanks to that.
hope any of this helps.
Currently I have 1k+ likes on Facebook
And this old SpongeBob fanart I made in 2012 that became a meme at some point
Never did actually got a consistent fanbase yet though :o but somehow how it all happened was just sharing it everywhere :'') I agree with @Rosso with the luck part... It just happens.
Always remember to never give up :V
THIS this is the main thing.
Sophisticated plots can hit it big though, like Game of Thrones. People can like crap, people can also like good stuff too. Sure the good stuff may be more niche, but if a dedicated few find it, they will really love it, and if some movers and shakers happen to be a part of that group, they can make your long-winded, difficult-to-follow, high-fantasy epic into a smash TV series for the masses.
Wouldn't say I'm famous, but I do have a nice size of regulars reading my comic. And it happened by just putting myself out there.
I build up my internet presence before I started posting. I talked around the forums, posted a little bit of my work. I also advice to people who wanted feedback on their work and promoted others. Keep in mind, this was before I had my own comic, so I wasn't promoting to get a promotion. I did it because I wanted to.
And then once I started posted, things just kinda took from there. It's a slow pace, but I'm of the idea that "slow and steady wins the race".
I can also point out that people who do get famous have been at it for a while. They definitely have works that didn't get much spotlight and had to go back to the drawing board a few times.
Luck can play a big part sometimes, and I won't deny that, but it's also what you do with that luck that helps. Can't rely on luck alone -- you have to put in some work too.
@joannekwan
While it can, it's not guaranteed That's what I meant. People naturally think it will, because lot of effort poured into it and it may have superior technicalities; but in reality, it's not always.
After lurking through old forum posts that have been created before I existed here, and observing things via Wattpad, Webtoon, or chat groups; many long-form creators are dissatisfied with their audience number, to the point that they blame creators of mainstream genre (Slice of life, BL, romance) for overshadowing them.
Even they blame the audience for being such a cheap ass, that they enjoy "Mass produced crap for popularity whoring" than their "Carefully crafted long dwindled epic."
Yeeeah, I see that around, and that attitude kinda makes me pull away from ever wanting to see their work. I think another big part of getting up there to to help each other. So whenever I see some creators kinda giving into their dissatisfaction and bagging on others, it doesn't really convince me to look at their work. I get the feelings, and I've been there myself, but there are other ways to express it.
Things are hard enough as they are! Bagging on each other makes it even harder.
I'm "FAMOUS"..?!?
2As a rule I don't begrudge people for liking a certain genre any more than I would for having a favorite flavor of ice cream, or type of music! =)
I have sympathy for someone frustrated that the thing they create with love isn't doing as well as they'd like it too. But it's not cool to belittle creators of other genres, or audience members for different preferences. (not saying you are, just referring to your example of people you've seen)
Also on long winded epic content: that takes a huge level of investment for the audience, and will probably be produced at a snails pace as a weakly comic, so it's totally realistic and predictable that slow growth could be a huge problem compared to a lighthearted romance that's easy to get into right away, or a silly slice of life that's funny on every page! It would make more sense, if one cannot avoid comparing themselves to others, to see a similarly themed epic long form comic that appears to have worse art/writing doing significantly better, then perhaps investigate what that person is doing that's having them rise faster. (Is it luck? Are they farther along? Do they create work at a faster pace? Is this their third comic and so they had an existing audience to carry over? etc etc etc.)
Well I don't want to assume that I'm famous because there are some people who got loads of patrons and subscribers but I like to interact to the comment section in my series~ and that's what my readers/fans love about me.
I'm very happy that readers are supporting me~ by just communicating me. I even made a discord so that I can reach them~
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