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

[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.

[honeyandcreambutter]

Novel sites based on my own experience:

Wattpad

✓ Pretty lenient towards non-native English speakers as long as it's readable and the flow of the story isn't interrupted too much
✓ I guess you could call it a beginner platform for newbie writers (almost like a rite of passage for newbie webnovel writers in the later 2000s? )
✓ Second largest traffic for writing webnovels (largest is archiveofourown) so if you make it there, you'll definitely gain hundreds of thousands of views and a loyal fanbase
✓ Once you've made it past a thousand views, you'll start getting comments quite frequently so that's nice.
✓ Analytics! I love the analytics system on Wattpad! I like being able to see where most of my readers are from and also the demographics.
✘ Lots of people are migrating from Wattpad to other sites simply because they are offering better options
✘ Incredibly difficult to gain readerships unless, you're already a popular author. It seems as if readers won't bother to read your work unless it has thousands of views already
✘ Forums closed down so there's no way to network with other creators or readers (i.e. no chance at advertising your work at all so you'll have to leave it to the algorithm, ranking and time to help you get noticed)

✓/✘ No review system. On one hand, other people can't abuse the reviews system to spite other writers but, on the other hand, you also can't get proper criticism to help you better your writing

• ScribbleHub

✓ Small community where it's mainly creator based (pretty nice place for networking)
✓ Relatively better English works compared to Wattpad so it pushes you to write better (although, do expect criticism on your grammar once in a while because of this)
✓ Has a forum that allows for advertisement
✓ Updated chapters allows you to be noticed on the front page for a while (be sure to experiment when is the best update time!) which frankly, should be an option for all sites instead of burying the new updated section into the deepest parts of the site
✓ Allows for Patreon and Kofi link on your author's page so your readers can support you
✘ HUGE issue with review/rating abuse. If you think Webtoons and their star ranking system is bad, SH is just as bad... if not worst. This is especially prominent if your novel gets featured or if you're writing for the current contest. It's almost certain that you'll get a bunch of 1-3 star ranking from trolls.
✘ Forum topics die off pretty quickly (i.e. not as active as Tapas)
✘ There's a weird expectation for novels to be >5000 words per chapter (not much of an issue on Wattpad)? Short chapters are looked down on and will likely cause others to leave a 1 star or negative review.

✓ / ✘ Unless your story is isekai/LitRPG/GL/BL/transmigration/cultivation, it won't gain as much popularity. On the other hand, if your story DOES have these themes, you'll likely gain readership quickly. Just look at the front page for proof!

• RoyalRoad (I've only posted once but that was a long while ago so I can't remember much)

✓ If you're looking for well thought out criticism, go to RR for it. There are plenty of reviewers who will willingly analyse your novel and provide a long review on how you can improve it.
✓ Great interface (probably the neatest out of all the other sites mentioned here)
✓ Similar to SH... it has a forum plus, it's a lot more active
✘ Going back to the first pro, unless you're prepared to be picked apart by harsh critics, do not post your novel here! I've seen plenty of testimonies from people that they gave up writing because of RR critics.
✘ If you update a new chapter, it'll only appear for a short while before being pushed down again meaning you'll have a very short time getting noticed by new readers.
✘ You have to send in a ticket to delete a novel

• Qidian a.k.a webnovel.com

✓ Huge readership base so it's easy to gain a ton of following
✓ Analytics is pretty comprehensive
✓ Receive notifications every time your novel is added to their collection (on Wattpad, if someone adds it to their private collection, you won't know)
✓ Allow readers to send you support + ability to lock chapters behind a paywall (extra income I guess?)
✓ Loyal fanbase! I haven't posted an update in months and there's still a single reader sending support to bump up my ratings I've also read other testimonies that WN readers are pretty loyal if they like a story and they are quite active too.
✘ Shady, shady, SHADY! Qi has a bad reputation for offering up-and-rising authors very gray contract offers. You can just google up examples!
✘ Slow admin system. Similar to RR, you can't delete your novel unless you send in a ticket system. But, unlike RR admins who responds really quick, Qi will take a few months to get back to you. So if you happen to be offered a contract with a publisher (which requires you to take down your novels on other websites), you'll have to delay the publishing until Qi takes it down.
✘ Text editor is SO basic. Forget about having the bold or italics option lmao. Also, you can't even add images to your stories.
✘ Inflated view count/easy abuse of the view count. If you click on your own chapters, it counts towards the views and because they count based on the pages, you can boost your views by hundred views each time pretty easily.
✘ Don't even get me started on how easy plagiarism or novel stealing happens on here. There's a TON of sniper bots ready to grab popular novels and post it on their site without linking it back to your original novel. You might think that this is great for exposure but, as soon as you become exclusive or find yourself a publishing deal, this will lead to a ton of problems. Not to mention, readers are less likely to purchase your novel if there's already a free version existing somewhere online

[Llyrel]

Which platform(s) do you post your work on? (Tapas, webtoons, wattpad, any really)
ComicFury, Tapas, Webtoons, Wordpress (the "blog" version of WP, not a self-hosted site... yet XD)

How did you hear about that platform? (word-of-mouth, ads, social media, etc.)
I already knew about Tapas because I was following DocWendigo's works back from the SmackJeeves days and I knew that he had a series on Tapas as well, so I made an account on here way back in 2016 to read it. I was also familiar with Wordpress, since I've been using it for years to backup my Tumblr blog when the site started to ban people randomly (it was before the mature content ban). As for ComicFury and Webtoon, I found out about their existence as I was searching for more platforms to host webcomics: I wasn't sure about Tapas because I didn't like how it seemed to be pushing for the vertical format and something about SmackJeeves told me that the site was dying... and as it turned out, I wasn't wrong XD at first, I planned to post my comic on CF only, since it seemed to be the only platform that had no problems with comics in print format. However, after talking to a few people who were uploading their comics on Tapas, I was told that print format was a thing on here too, so I figured I could try sharing my comic on here as well. And honestly, I'm glad I did

3. What stood out/ what you like about the platform? (it's free, looks nice, easy to use, sounded fancy, etc.)
Tapas: I much prefer the modern design (compared to ComicFury) and how easy it is to upload comics. Granted, I'd be happier with a dark mode, but so far I'm happy with the look of the site. I also like that it has an app that I can use to keep up with comics I follow from time to time and I like that it has a big and active community.

ComicFury: the graphics ain't the prettiest (though I think the site looks a lot better in dark mode) and the community isn't as big as that on Tapas, but I love, love, LOVE that you can customize your site with html, add an About/Cast/Support/whatever page and overall end up with a very professional-looking site without having to pay a cent! The community on there also seems to be pretty chill and overall it feels very cozy <3

Webtoon: once again, great design and I like the app as well. I love that it has a "supernatural" genre (honestly, I still feel weird about having to switch the main genre of my story from "fantasy" to "mystery" on Tapas because that's apparently where most supernatural comics are found on here) and... honestly, I love how I basically didn't have to do anything to promote my comic on there and still got 15 readers out of nowhere :'D

Wordpress: Once again, custom layout and possibility to have your own custom domain. Also, stats: I know where my traffic comes from, something I can't see anywhere else.

4.What are some negatives you heard/experience about that platform? (opposite to #3)
Tapas: As already mentioned, I don't like how the site pushes for vertical format comics. Yes, it works better for the phone app, but not everybody reads webcomics from phone apps and, as a creator, I find it to be more of a pain in the butt than anything else: I'd like to be able to print my comic one day, so I need my page format... yes, I could re-arrange the pages to work in a vertical format, but honestly, it only doubles the amount of work required to publish a single update and, as an only person, I prefer to focus on producing new pages instead.

ComicFury: the interface is... well... a little clunky. Feels very outdated, with lots of buttons to click and a very early 2000s vibe. Don't get me wrong, the site works perfectly, but I feel the layout could use some revamping.

Webtoon: as with Tapas, I'm not a fan of the vertical format. Also, lack of notifications for comments/likes/subscribers. Heck, I don't even know WHO my subscribers are! D: Despite having a lot of users, it feels very lonely on there.

Wordpress: the fact that they make you pay for the very air you breathe on there and the utter lack of interaction.

[CursedBeasts]

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

• Tumblr (inactive, but i started posting again a few days ago),
• wordpress(Inactive),
• Smackjeeves (inactive),
• DeviantArt (inactive),
• Webtoon, Tapas

2) How did you hear about that platform?

• Tumblr - I already was on the site,
• Wordpress - same as Tumblr,
• Deviantart - same as Tumblr and WP,
• Smackjeeves, Webtoon and Tapas - google search + friend rec

3) What stood out/ what you like about the platform?

• Tumblr - has a variety of themes to use INCLUDING one built for webcomics, is where most of the fandom is nowadays,
• Smackjeeves - used to be great, I could post the comic in its OG size, add image descriptions, make a mini-site for the comic,
• Tapas - the closest experience I found to SJ, and I love the forums and the music feature!
• (I don't really have anything positive to say about deviantart and WP in regards to comics, and Webtoon is neutral)

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

• Tumblr - I got p much ran out of the fandom my comic is for, so now I have to block like 10 people to post it without the main person behind the cancellation attempt throwing a big fit. Wild. So you really have to watch out for particularly zealous fans \ people on Tumblr.
• Wordpress - isn't built for image posts, so posting a comic on it was clunky as hell.
• Deviantart - also was clunky as hell.
• Smackjeeves - changed owners and ruined their own site.
• I can't really say anything bad about Tapas and Webtoon, like, they're fine.

[bafflinghaze]

I mostly write novels! So my answers correspond to them~

1. Which platform(s) do you post your work on?
For the few (fan) comics that I do, I post them to tumblr.
Otherwise for writing, I post to AO3, Tapas, and Scribble Hub. I've tried posting to Wattpad but....the reception was the worse compared to three I mentioned.

2. How did you hear about that platform?
I found AO3 through...googling for free LGBT+ online writing.

Tapas must have been through webcomics I read who also posted on tapas.

Scribble Hub through Novel Updates (Novel Updates for Chinese BL novels~)

3. What stood out/ what you like about the platform?
All of these are free to use lol

AO3: BEST TAGGING SYSTEM EVER. Really really easy to find LGBT+ stuff. The HTML editing for stories is nice, and the chapter word limit is HUGE. I also like the comment system (i.e. there is an inbox where I can easily filter for all the comments I haven't replied to and reply to them). I also like the ability to subscribe to stories and get them delivered to my inbox. And ability to bookmark stories and add my own comments to my bookmarks... The HTML freedom in comment replies is also really good.

Tapas: Largest original fic BL (M/M) reading community that I've been able to find online. Also the ink giving system is a pretty neat low-barrier way for readers to support authors. And the ability to like every chapter separately and the hit stats for every chapter separately. (In contrast, AO3 only has stats for the entire fic) Also the ability to schedule chapters.

Scribble Hub: I think it has a clean design compared to tapas. Also, the ability to select multiple/as many genres at once is great (and missing from tapas). The search for including and excluding genres and tags is pretty good, provided that what you want can be found in the pre-defined tags. Not as powerful as AO3, but a lot better than tapas. The ability to schedule chapters. I also like the way you can bookmark and follow stories on Scribble Hub, you can bookmark where you're up to (with a click), and you can see how many more chapters there are. The ability to quote parts of the chapter and have them in your comments is neat too. (This can be done in AO3 if you have a script; this cannot be done in tapas without you re-typing it out)

4.What are some negatives you heard/experience about that platform?
AO3: The readers for original fics is not so large.

Tapas: The search function....horrible...... The word limit and the inability to edit HTML, add in-chapter images and tables and special formatting etc. without ~doing special tricks~ Also inability to have multiple authors on a single story (unless you are premium?). The tiny comment window....(ugh). Lack of formatting in the summary box. I find tapas pretty hard to navigate, even though I have used it a lot now. Also, the inability for mobile/app users to see the "walls"...in which case, what's the point.... The lack of a comments inbox like AO3.

Scribble Hub: Mostly the small community of BL readers, though this site is the newest. Inability to have multiple authors on a single story. The pre-defined tags is also limiting. Lack of formatting in the summary box. The lack of a comments inbox like AO3.

I mean, the summary is that a lot of the weak points of Tapas and Scribble Hub is that they lack features that AO3 has lol. If I had to rank in terms of posting, then AO3 > Scribble Hub > Tapas. But in terms of reader community for original novels, it's more like Tapas > Scribble Hub > AO3.

[shfra13]

Mhmm, I don't have much experience with writing platforms and stuff, and have only came back this year after years of hiatus, so my experience might or might not do anything. I write novels.

1. My first writing experience was on fanfiction.net, but I will not talk of it. I used Wattpad, and now practically reside on Tapas.

2. Wattpad was pretty famous back in 2014 (I think), and my friends used Wattpad to read fanfictions and stuff. They once borrowed my phone to download Wattpad, so I just used it ever since. So, I guess, word-of-mouth. Tapas, I found it randomly. I think I found it somewhere from Instagram or something like that.

3. Wattpad: I love that you can have each chapter as long or as short as you want. I don't feel restricted when I write in Wattpad. Also, back in 2014, it was easy to get readers in fanfictions section, even withe mediocre writing, story line, and cover. I also find it interesting that there are people who offer service of making book cover, etc. And you really don't have to have great cover! Even mediocre/'bad' cover can get a lot of reads. Also, in 2020 I notice you can directly create cover through Canva, that's immediately directed to the book itself. It's really nice and easy to use. And then, the fact that I can reorder the chapter is definitely a plus. It's nice to do that when I decide to, say, add a prologue or an author's note at the front. I also love that we can add media -- either at the start of the chapter, or even in the chapter itself -- and also that we have alignment and stuff. And as a reader, one of the thing I love about Wattpad is that we can have reading list, and that we have archive. Also, I remembered that when you read, the app track the last sentence you read. It's easier for when I read long chapters -- or even short chapters!
   Tapas: I love the community; I love the forum. Honestly, even when Tapas isn't a novel-centered website and that my work could easily be drowned under thousands of other work, I still find it satisfying to post my work here. I love that I can schedule an upload -- it makes my job a lot easier, considering that sometimes I would forget that I need to update. I also love that there's always a monetization chance. Although I'm guessing it wouldn't be much of an income source, gaining a little penny is quite a boost for myself. The customer service is quite good, too. Since it was easy to gather information in the forum, it was easy to know what I need to do. Like, when I had a problem with commenting, it was easy to find information of who to contact, and I think the respond was pretty quick.

4. Wattpad: From my personal experience, especially in 2020, being discovered is difficult. I wrote fanfic back in 2014, and garnered 10K+ reads easily. But, when I wrote an original novel, it garnered no reader. I have never used the Wattpad forum, so I wouldn't know if it would be any different if I did so. Also, I don't really like the front page of the website. The promos are not... what I would read. And even when I try to look into a genre, it's hard to find anything. The fact that a novel that I posted literally a few seconds ago didn't appear in Fresh was so disheartening. The platform feels... empty, even though I know a lot of people are still using it. Also the customer service is confusing. It did answer relatively quickly when I emailed them, but it didn't really help. They only accepted my complain and said that they're gonna look into it. Not sure if anything else happens.
   Tapas: I hate, like hate, that I can't reorganize chapters, insert pictures into the chapters of novels, centered-words, and copy-and-paste my document with all the format I had first. It needs an extension or something, can't remember, but I dislike it. Also, I dislike that we can only sort a story by its first/main genre -- which, to me, defeat the purpose of the two extra genre. Well, most of the things I dislike about Tapas is technical, so that's that, I guess.

[But_a_Jape]

1. Which platform(s) do you post your work on?
My own website (butajape.com), Reddit, Imgur, Tapas, Webtoon, Twitter.

2. How did you hear about that platform?
butajape.com: Created it
Reddit: Frequent visitor for years and already knew various artists would post their work there
imgur: Used to be the main image host for reddit and I knew it had since developed its own community
Tapas: Discovered after researching what the popular webcomic platforms today are
Webtoon: Same as Tapas
Twitter: Just by being aware of the world, I guess

3. What stood out/ what you like about the platform?
butajape.com: Completely customizable and provides a sense of accomplishment for being my own thing
Reddit: Strong familiarity after years of use; typically gives me the best reception to my comics. Different subreddits designed for different interests means I can sometimes post my comics to multiple places if it's relevant.
Imgur: Simplest method for just posting images to the internet I've experienced. Usually more responsive to long/multiple images than Reddit.
Tapas: Best UI I've seen for webcomic-specific hosting, a lot of creator-friendly features such as scheduling and analytics, provides a community of fellow creators to interact with through the forums
Webtoon: Second-best platform to Tapas for features specific to webcomics; I have better traction on Webtoon than I do Tapas
Twitter: Everybody's already on it, I guess

4.What are some negatives you heard/experience about that platform?
butajape.com: Limited by my own inexperience with web development. Creating a website requires time and effort to learn and update, which is also time and effort taken away from creating the comics themselves.
Reddit: Community is biased towards short, snappy comics (usually fine for me since I primarily do gag comics) - anything longer than 4-6 panels, especially wordy, or story-based is not likely to gain traction.
Imgur: Not as large a community as any of the other platforms, so I get much less engagement
Tapas: The scheduling function is always set to PST, so I'm forced to make mental conversions every time I schedule updates. I have no idea how the Popular and Trending sections work, but I'm preoccupied with appearing on them.
Webtoon: Not as creator-friendly as Tapas. Harder to track reader activity for comics. Very little feedback from the website to let me know how well each of my updates are doing relative to each other. Drafted/scheduled posts must be published in the order they were uploaded - if I ever need to add an extra update in between or reorder the posts, I either have to delete or edit each post that comes after.
Twitter: Least familiar with this platform and get the least engagement from it. I've heard people complain about it being a cesspool of constant drama but I have yet to experience it. Though it may just be because I'm not especially popular.

[Schwarze_Neko]

I use Tapas for publishing my comic and I heard about it from my friend who likes to read comics lmao. Tapas stood out because it was the first time I saw a platform where anyone could upload a comic. It sounded nice and it got me excited to start making my own I haven't really heard anything negative in the platform, maybe only the occasional bot invasions but yeah

[MimSS]

Woah! So many replies!!

I can't respond to everyone but thank you so much for your input and your comments!! This really helps me a ton

[allenT]

Tapas is like a marketplace, we're all merchants and traders on a busy market, try to get our 'customers', but we also can help each others out.

ComicFury feels like a home exibition. Not much 'customers' but can expect friendly neighbors drop by to visit. i can decorate my site and customize my comic for doublepage view-- where Tapas can't.

Tapas frontpage is mostly premium comics and genre i don't read. I only look for my niche genre. Other than that nothing has annoyed me.

ComicFury don't have a nice looking frontpage, it don't have more advanced search engine like Tapas. It's harder to search specific or tagged comics, even forum don't have search. Also there's mostly slow pageloads from my Asia location.

When my Act 1 is complete (when time is ripe) I'll try to reach larger audience like WebToon. That will be like on the theater stage, you're to please the crowd.

[Lahin]

I started on wattpad. Read a few things and thought, why not? So I uploaded my story there. It's really hard to get any views there. I've barely gotten any. It's been stuck on 33 for over 3(?) weeks. And there isn't any way to promote it either, so it's awfully hard to get someone to read it.
I heard about Tapas from a discord chat. I don't have any complains in the month or so that I've spent here. It's been a really great experience for me so far. I love the community here.