How did you choose which platform to post your story on? (comics AND novels)

[MimSS]

Hey guys! I'm conducting an analysis of different writing platforms for school, and as you guys can guess, there's very limited information out there. So I decided to ask here! Please share this with your friends cause the more answers the better!

1. Which platform(s) do you post your work on? (Tapas, webtoons, wattpad, any really)

2. How did you hear about that platform? (word-of-mouth, ads, social media, etc.)

3. What stood out/ what you like about the platform? (it's free, looks nice, easy to use, sounded fancy, etc.)

4.What are some negatives you heard/experience about that platform? (opposite to #3)

*#3 is the most important question. Please feel free to write as much or as little as you want. Other examples of answers are:
great customer service, potential to grow as a creator, potential revenue, has a big audience, liked the community, already has quality stories, has a good reputation, seemed safe, liked the privacy policies, etc. etc.

[Rhonder]

1.) Tapas & Webtoons

2.)

Tapas:
In 2016 when I was thinking abut getting back into drawing and comic-making I was watching some Youtube videos about comic creation steps and publishing and learned about tapas(tic) that way.

Webtoons:
Word of mouth from these forums. I didn't know it existed prior to hearing people here talk about it.

3.)

Tapas:
Reasonably detailed analytics, scheduling, easily unlockable monetization (ad revenue unlocks account-wide at a relatively low threshold, tipping is a little higher but can be manually unlocked sooner during some special events), has a forum community, ability to place links in episode descriptions, decent customization options for your series page, creator wall, notifications for things related to your series.

Webtoons:
Well known/large potential audience... yeah~

4.)

Tapas:
Small-ish userbase/potential audience, lack of creator wall on app for easy reader notifications

Webtoons:
Lack of customization options, lack of scheduling (until recently I guess, I haven't posted there since it's been implemented), wimpy analytics, lack of notifications relative to your series (no notifs when someone comments makes it very difficult to interact with readers on anything except your most recent episode(s)), difficult monetization thresholds for newer creators, inability to place links in episode descriptions and short character limits as well on said descriptions, lack of creator profile/page/wall.

[MimSS]

Thanks! Your answers are super helpful! Especially for webtoons since I don't post there!

Thank you so much!

[MegaRay]

1. I post the comic on Tapas and Webtoons.

2. I heard about it from a manga website years ago. I believe the first site I heard about was Inkblazers, then migrated when it was shut down to Tapas(tic) and Webtoon.

3. Easy to use and fast uploads. With lots of eager and great readers.

4. Tapas? Slow growth.

Webtoon? No useful dashboard or notification system.

[MimSS]

Thank you for the insight! for #3, are you talking about Tapas or both?

[cherrystark]

I started out on Wattpad. It was the first one I knew about. On the WP Forum, they did have threads about different platforms so I had a few ideas about where to check out. Wattpad is good for fan fiction and fluffy, high school romances, stuff like that. The community made me feel bad because I wasn't writing teen fiction. A lot of writers whose cast involved anyone over 22 was pretty much shunned. I also had a hard time getting feedback since most people wanted "more" but couldn't/wouldn't define what that meant.

I tested a handful of sites after WP. Right now, I'm on Inkitt and Tapas. Inkitt has a vetting process and an interesting rating system but there really isn't a community, so it's hard to get your story out there. They also focus on romance, so my genre didn't do well. I'm only still on that site to keep up with two series.

[WillowTree]

1. I post on Tapas. I tried inkitt and royalroad as well, but no longer post there

2. From a friend!

3. I like the Tapas community! That's probably my main enjoyment here. Inkitt and Royalroad was harder to get comments (though I barely gave inkitt a chance) and their forums didn't feel as enjoyable to be on.

4. Negatives that I heard when first joining the forums I guess would be that a lot of people have trouble growing their subscriber base. I joined and expected it to take months to even get that first 100 subscribers

[MimSS]

Thank you for your insight about wattpad! I only had a vague idea of the community there but you really explained it out! Thank you!

[MimSS]

Thank you for your answers!!

[MegaRay]

Both. And now I have to write 20 characters...

[nellie_warren]

Which platform(s) do you post your work on?
Tapas and Tumblr.

How did you hear about that platform?
I wanted to read a webcomic made by a YouTuber I liked which led me to Tapas.
As for Tumblr I inevitably heard about it over the internet a long time ago but only made an account as of late.

What stood out/ what you like about the platform?
It was easy to navigate and well-laid out, functional and full of comics and novels with plenty of variety.
Tumblr is more customizable in terms of creating your own blog, and it's also relatively easy to use and looks nice.

What are some negatives you heard/experience about that platform?
Tapas is often plagued by bots and spam which have been an issue on my comic/page in the past.
Tumblr is massive and not solely focused on novels/comics and so much harder to get noticed on there. The website itself has some questionable rules and regulations.

[MimSS]

Thank you so much for you insight! It's really helpful!

[IndigoShirtProd]

1) I post on Tapas exclusively now, but I plan to begin posting on WT in the future and used to post on DeviantArt and tumblr in the past. I followed the advice of casting a wide net.

2) From a youtuber I watched in the past. Then I did more research about different platforms.

3) I thought Tapas had the vibe that would better suit my comic. I draw in a more western, cartoon style in page format, and I thought I would get more traction in comparison to WT. I found out about a year after I started posting that Tapas had forums, and I really like it here which is one of the reasons why I've stayed. I had (and still have) a DeviantArt and noticed that comics get a lot of traction on there. Webtoons has a big audience, which is why I'm planning on putting my comic on there in the future, and they finally have scheduled posts.

4) For DeviantArt I wasn't really getting any traction myself (maybe I should've waited longer) and uploading became a hassle since I'm not a core member meaning I couldn't schedule posts. I just plain couldn't get into tumblr. I never hopped on WT when I first starting posting my comic because it's not kind to page format comics (so much to a point that in their 'how to begin posting on WT' tutorial comic for canvas users, they explicitly say to format the comic in the "webtoon" style) and at the time you couldn't schedule episodes so I thought it wouldn't be worth it. WT doesn't really have much else going for it other than what I mentioned; it's not a bad platform, t's just not intuitive or friendly to comics that don't fit a certain mold.

[jcmraz]

I started on Smackjeeves because I liked the customization and format but then they went and changed everything. I still uploaded there until they announced that the website would be shutting down which is sad after so many years that I've been doing comics there but they did it to themselves. Now I upload basically everywhere but I focus on Tapas because it has a community and is better for page format comics than a lot of them out there

[MimSS]

Thank you so much for your answers! They're so detailed and intuitive that it really helps me out!!

[KGBrightwell]

I am brand new to Tapas.

1. I have posted my work on Wattpad for about a year and a half. And I JUST posted the first 6 episodes of my work here.

2. I stumbled into WP while reading translations of Thai and Chinese stories; I definitely came in as a reader first.

3. To be honest I lucked into some very helpful people in the forums on WP. I also liked the interactions between creators and readers. There were a number of stories that I liked. I enjoyed reading things written by people of many different ages.

4. I heard about some hateful behavior but I'm not sure what it was that resulted in the forums being shut down.

[Legendofgenii]

Not gonna lie, it was the top search result when I was looking on Google. 🤣

I moved from Smackjeeves in June.

[Prisim]

I started off on FictionPress. Can't remember why I joined it at the time but it was likely the only one I could find when searching for a place to post my crap. Then someone plagiarized it off of FP (back then it was literally as easy as cut and paste to steal someones work) and posted it to Wattpad. I liked how Wattpad handled getting it removed so I decided to stick around. Cosmetically it was soooooo much nicer than FP, especially how to upload chapters. I remember trying to go back to FP for a short time after being on Wattpad and I just couldn't do it. Everything felt so archaic.

I started to post here because I wanted to test waters elsewhere, I soured on a few things Wattpad has done over the years and I wanted to find a new and/or additional home for my stuff. I don't have too much to say about Tapas just yet because personal issues have kept me from being able to dive into it too far, but I did really enjoyed my time on Wattpad. I had a really decent following after 7 years of hard work and I hated how I soured on it. I'm hoping once I get the personal issues that keep me just toe deep in the waters here are resolved that maybe I can keep posting to both.

Probably the biggest negative for Wattpad is that it has gotten a bit too big for its britches so smaller writers tend to get left in the dust.

[ble]

1) Which platform(s) do you post your work on?

Webtoons and Tapas. I don't know others.

2) How did you hear about that platform? (word-of-mouth, ads, social media, etc.)

Probably from sites like tv tropes or bad webcomic wiki.

3) What stood out/ what you like about the platform? (it's free, looks nice, easy to use, sounded fancy, etc.)

It's freeeeeeeeeeeeee and well it's already customized.

4) What are some negatives you heard/experience about that platform?

Tapas = no audience.

Webtoons = no notifications.

[rizamasuyama]

I asked writer friends before posting but I post my OC's here as well as Neovel, a newer site that's also dedicated to supporting writers (see link below). And for fan fiction I use AO3.

I chose Tapas and Neovel because they're both platforms that not only cater to the reader's experience, but they have many systems in place to help all creators, big or small. But, I'm coming from a novelist perspective and I know that there are many more options for comics.

Things to consider in general are:
-How does the site treat their creators/what are the benefits
-How does the site protect its creators
-Visibility of the site (though if you have a small faithful readership this doesn't matter as much imo)

Here's my profile on Neovel: https://neoread.neovel.io/user/8604
Here's more info in general: https://neovel.io/

Hope this helps!