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

[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!

[arpeggiomax87]

I found out about it when I had hope of sharing something people might have loved.

Whoops.

[colorgoat]

I post exclusively on Tapas!

I found it through a certain comic an artist I liked posted a looong while back, and soon before starting my own, I thought why not look into it a bit deeper? I thought it'd be a nice place to find an audience since posting original work on sites like Tumblr can feel like shouting in a void, lol. I found a ton of people and other comics in the process!

I've considered cross-posting to Webtoons since it's also a popular webcomic platform, but...not gonna lie, navigating it makes me dizzy. Who knows, though? Maybe one day I'll change my mind.

[domisotto]

I started on Wattpad and was satisfied with the experience until the forums went down. It was a very hard site to get readership on since 2018 at least, but thanks to the forums and clubbing culture, making friends was easy.

Wattpad also has a stream of books near professional in its quality and lately seems to show preference to YA contemporary (I.e. high school) genre.

People who got readership there thing, get massive readership to the tune of millions of reads. It’s insane.

If you have a story like that, try it there, but you need to be an Instagram popular to get anyone to read your story.

---

Second site I tried was Royal Road that is like Wattpad for boys, Gamergate crowd. If you have a man-facing story with izekai, boobs and system or litRpg, that’s a great place to try out.

Their interface is best in business, and they are dead-serious about preventing plagiarism. They also show new releases/updates on a separate list, helping people who do not have social media outreach to find at least someone to read their stories.

---

Finally, after Wattpad removed forums, I started on Tapas. It is small for novels, but it has a wider range for genres than Royal Road, more interested in fantasy, more male protagonists, particularly BL & the forum.

The downside is that it is harder than on Wattpad to get props for a more complex novel. The short-chapter, easy-writing with simple plots seem to do better, but that’s Internet for you.

On Wattpad you can always hope to win a Watty, while Tapas doesn’t acknowledge writing with an award like that, but runs a Premium program instead emphasizing a potential commercial success.

Tapas algorithm is great for while you keep posting the story, but it doesn’t support completed novels

[Eiranyx]

Which platform(s) do you post your work on?
- I post it on Tapas and Webtoons
How did you hear about the platform
- I heard about Tapas from my friend, then I was a reader on webtoons before until I discovered I can publish my work there too.
What stood out/what you like about the platform?
- Tapas has a notification when someone either comments, like or subscribe to your work. Also it has a dashboard where you can interact with your subscribers and can make an announcement there and of course, the forums.
- Webtoons has more simpler navigation and has a larger number of site visitors which means larger audience.
What are the negatives you heard/experience about that platform?
- Tapas: Well I heard Tapas has slow growth rate.
- Webtoon: Well aside from the fact that they don't have notifications and their terms and condition about NSFW are really strict, I would say that the number of page views you have to reach to qualify for ad revenue is really high.
Also Webtoons has no forums.

[likhoradka]

1. Tapas and Webtoons
2. Researching for where I could properly post a comic without having to relearn scripts
3. Free. Convenience. I like Webtoons for the audience numbers and they apparently added scheduling (which I didn't know they had from my research). Tapas is nice since you can have a cover that doesn't have to be a separate episode. Also the forums.
4. Webtoons: lack of notifications (even for 'please comment under me to get my attention', you still have to go look), lack of forums. Tapas: I guess smaller userbase?

[carreonaiwille]

I have my work posted first on Wattpad, then Sweek, Underlined(formerly Figment) Royal Road and Tapas. Wattpad was suggested to me by a classmate back when it was starting to boom in our country. I encountered Sweek on Facebook, Underlined I stumbled through on the internet. Royal Road and Tapas, after researching for other sites for writers.

Wattpad since I almost grew up in it, maybe I'd keep coming back there because of the Filipino audience. It seemed bigger there than all the other platforms I've mentioned. Underlined had nice...quizzes. Though I heard it used to be a lively place as Figment before. I can't say much about Sweek. With Royal Road, they have nice aesthetics and neat design. Forum posts seem professional, in a sense? With Tapas, I liked that novels could have thumbnails, and I was using that feature as a motivator.

Wattpad, maybe like many said, there is a high popularity of certain genres. Not that it is bad on its own, but it seemed hopeless to try your luck if your story had no semblance of romance whatsoever. Some people I know (at least in the Filipino community) do get to make a name for themselves writing in the Horror or Mystery genre but not really big, as in, hired by a major publisher big like with romance novelists. However, some writers in detective fiction ( and one writer who has repeatedly refused romance in his main work despite the requests from audience and is now teasing each other about it) do manage to get popular.

The loss of the forums also made it hard.

With Underlined? I don't hear or receive activity on that site as often as I used to.

With Royal Road, well, there are some instances that some jealous folks would bring down the ratings of a work that lands on the Trending spot. It is good to post there if your story is mostly litRPG and fantasy. I doubt how much traction one can get in there if your story is more on the drama side or one that focuses more on character relationships than big-scale fights or good 'ol save our world.

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

1. Tapas. Little vignettes on Insta, Reddit, YouTube.
2. Recommended by an online friend who was helping with artwork & review of my 1st shortstory.
3. It's free was important. Plus I could ask my friend questions about how to do things.
4. It's hard to get noticed (that's surely a common problem everywhere). There doesn't appear to be a way to know how many readers you have, only "Views" which includes click-thrus. Personally, I find comments to be far more sparse than I'd have liked, being a relatively new writer & wanting more feedback.

[RyzaCobalion]

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)

1. Before Tapas i posted my novel series on a site called Quotev.com back in 2011. But back the original draft of The Dark Children of the Night was WAY different than it was than it is now. But I delete it on that site because it wasn't performing well.

2. I heard about Tapas from a friend and I have been posting my novel series since 2018 with the final draft of my series. And I am still planning on turning it into a comic as well. But I need to finish college to set it into full gear.

3. What really stood out the most about this site was how extremely helpful everyone is on the site and on the forums. Meeting so many people on this and talking about to many wonderful authors on the Discords chats that I'm in is just amazing. Now I feel like i'm part of this online community as a whole and I am so helping every new author in any shape or form. So i am proud to be a part of Tapas.

4. Really the only few negatives things i have experienced on this site was the occasional spambot attack or people pretending to be from official publishing companies commenting your series and tricking people into their bs. And the hardest experience i have so far from this site is keeping up a consistent schedule to publish a new chapter.

[nauko]

I post my comic on tapas and webtoons.

I started posting first on tapas...I don't really remember how I got on this site tbh! Maybe i followed an artist that makes comics on to here? But i don't think i really considered making anything worthwhile until two years later when i expressed to a friend I was tabling with at an artist alley, that I'd really like to try my hand at making comics...and then this site suddenly became relevant to me for things other than reading webcomics.
I learned about webtoons through following discussions on the forums here.

I like that this and webtoons is made specifically for comic viewing/posting. It makes things feel very professional somehow and provides a bit of a separation from the sites I post my illustrative work. I guess I like how "clean" everything is. The forums and community on tapas is a big plus for me as well. Fewer and fewer sites have something like a forum where creators bounce ideas off each other like this. I think that's part of the reason I stayed on dA actively for so long before eventually abandoning it...

Negatives of tapas..? It has a smaller audience I guess. But I honestly have trouble growing an audience anywhere I post anything and audience growth is not usually my main focus, so I don't really mind that that much. I think I care more that webtoon is a bit sterile..? I really do value community / interaction, that kind of thing spurs me on/motivates me a bit, so though I have more followers on webtoons, the atmosphere there is a bit of a negative for me.

[kmlangleyauthor]

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

Just Tapas!

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

A creator on Webtoons linked their Tapas account in their author’s note, so here I am

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

I feel like Tapas is fairly intuitive to use, both as a reader and a creator. I honestly love the community and all the available ways to connect with people I actually really like that there’s both novels and comics on here. A lot of other sites are only one or the other. It was a big incentive for me to stick around (as a reader of both) vs either finding other sites or going back to ones I had already found. And, once I realized there were novels on here, it opened up the possibility for me to post my novel here, while the thought never would have crossed my mind had I stayed elsewhere (like Webtoons).

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

I’m going to second the whole spam bot thing. It was really frustrating when it happened otherwise, as a creator, I’d like to know a little more about how trending/front page picks happen. And I wish the app had a better layout for comment replies/notifications (they are absolutely buried in my opinion).

Good luck on your project!

[thedude3445]

I made a huge list of tons of single web fiction sites I could find about a year ago. I have only posted on a few though, and I have experience with a couple others:

(Oops I forgot to answer the questions in order, sorry in advance about making it annoying for your data gathering)

Tapas
* Pros: Nice reader interface, lots of interaction, good community, site staff who actually care, an app
* Cons: The text editor for prose is quite bad and lacks most formatting options; the audience for prose is quite small; the library system isn't very robust for archival readers and focuses too much on serial reading (I lose my place in stories a lot)
Tapas is better for comics, for sure. But I think its novels will improve a lot in the next few years.
* I heard about the platform from @KRWright when I made a rant post about leaving Wattpad this year lol. I knew the site from back in the Tapastic days and read some comics, and I subscribed to some comics via RSS, but I had no idea there were novels on the site until 2020. (Thank you)

Wattpad
* Pros: The most popular web fiction site by a mile. For prose alone it is bigger than all other web fiction sites combined. If you have a hit here, you can get a movie deal and make an entire career.
* Cons: The website is absolutely terrible for readers and writers alike, and unless you have a huge hit, having a story on Wattpad makes publishers LESS likely to be interested in you due to its reputation. Stay away unless you are already very popular on social media and can game the system. Bad formatting; deletes in-line links; no community forums; broken tagging systems; No post scheduling?!??!
* I have no idea where I heard about the site, but I started posting there in mid-2017 kind of as an experiment, then began posting more "real" stuff as I tried to break through the algorithms.

Archive of Our Own
* Pros: Robust tagging system; very good control over your stories and layouts; very easy experience for readers
* Cons: It's mainly for fan fiction, so original fiction is unpopular; very small readership overall even for fan fiction; not as "web 2.0" as other sites; no community element at all so it feels a bit "empty"
* I discovered this site back when it was in beta, as a successor to fanfiction.net. It still has lower readership than that site, but I use them both when I write fan fiction.

Royal Road
* Pros: Largest readership on average by far; active engagement for stories that fit its LitRPG/anime-esque niche; certain publishers look more favorable on this site than most others; extremely good text editor and analytics; the admins are very helpful and actively engage with the community
* Cons: EXTREMELY toxic readerships emerge if your story gets popular (though this is changing due to authors banding together to fight them); stories not in its niche will have much less engagement; a large portion of success is determined by conquering its convoluted Trending algorithm
Royal Road, like Tapas, may be a much better site for web novels in the near future, but for now it has a major problem with a terrible community of bully readers. If you have a thin skin about criticism it will be tough. Stories with gay men (specifically men) will constantly receive ratings bombs from anonymous jerks.
* I discovered this site in late 2018 when I began engaging the community on Web Fiction Guide (RIP) more often.

Scribble Hub
* Pros: Very good posting interface, possibly better than Royal Road's; allows more adult content than Royal Road (if that is the kind of story you want); very LGBTQ+ friendly
* Cons: Smaller audience (Tapas-sized); very low reader engagement; the forums are (currently) very toxic; the site is filled with adult content so it can sometimes feel sleazy
* I discovered this site as a word-of-mouth alternative to Royal Road; it's basically that site but more adult content and very few commenters.

Webnovels.com
* Pros: Has an app
* Cons: Please don't post your story on this site, whatever you do
+ I heard about this in 2019 when looking for other web fiction sites, mentioned as a site never to post on even the first time I learned about it.

Other sites I'm not as familiar with or are too small of readerships to really talk about. All web fiction sites now have pretty big drawbacks but I think Tapas and Royal Road have the most potential; the former because the staff seems actively engaged in improving itself, and the latter because there is an active effort to fight the toxicity on all levels. Still, neither of them are "huge" yet and it will take some time before web fiction really reaches a similar level to web comics.

[oliveoly]

For my comic I use tapas, I used to use webtoon but it's not for me... I use wattpad for novels.

I heard of wattpad from a friend who writes novels, and I figured it was a good site to post my writing on I won some contests there. I found out about tapas afterwards but I am not a native english speaker and tapas' userbase seems more english speaking than wattpad's... If I try to write english novels then I'll give tapas a shot.
I heard of Tapas when looking for a place to post my comic, tried it as well as webtoon but webtoon didn't work for me.

I love that both wattpad and tapas are free and it's easy to make friends with other creators there. I also love getting comments on what I do, and the fact that wattpad allows readers to comment paragraphs as they go is amazing I get to see their impreqsions as the story progresses! I also recently reached the ad revenue goal on tapas ! It's something I barely thoughr was possible, getting revenue from my stories...

Sadly wattpad has a reputation of being the place with awful fanfics, I only read original stories on there so I don't really see that side of it though. As for tapas, people say it has slow growth but lets be honest, I grew twice as fast ln tapas as I did on webtoon.