Jan 2016
115 / 119
Sep 2017
Sep 2017
listerart
Mar '16
joannekwan

THIS. This is the biggest turnoff for me reading a comic or webcomic for the first time. Just sloppy work in general. The internet is DRIPPING with unlimited FREE how-to-make-comics info, a gazillion books are available on the subject, Comicraft has a 'how to do digital lettering' book for just $10. I understand some folks are better writers than others, some are better artists than others, but that does not excuse sloppy work. Spell check, Google search, use a dictionary. Read the characters' dialog out loud - does it make sense? Have someone else read it back to you out loud -- does it make sense to them?

gearsofrain
Mar '16

On another note, it seems like people really like their BL...not that I suggest you take on this sort of...story element just for the sake of getting more subs

UltimateGallo
Mar '16

I noted thad too, it looks like the norm, have gay, tras, aseaxual or another kind of sexuality characters, is more common than heterosexual characters (but slices-of life are the winer pool for subscribers, maybe for the easy reading and comprehension)

unpinned Mar 30, '16

1 month later
jordanthelass
May '16
ratique

Yes, I think this is probably the best answer for gaining subscribers. When I first started Whose World15, I thought to myself "Man .. what's going on? Do I have to draw in anime style to gain subscribers?"

I worked hard on improving my art and getting better at my writing (mostly establishing the character personalities), and even though I haven't gotten a HUGE amount of subscribers, I'm thankful that people subscribe here and there because they appreciate all the effort I put into my work. ^_^

Keep at it and give it your all. Everything will work out in the end. ^_^

1 month later
shaneoid77
Jun '16
lyon

I can see how this would work, but my limited experience here has shown me one thing, the webcomics world is insular. We're a group of creators sharing work with other creators. In all honesty we each have our own individual tastes in comic genres so there's your limited audience right there. What we need are readers, and we need avenues in which to attract readers. I'm sure the Tapas team are doing all they can to achieve this. Also I've found the webcomic scene to be incredibly diverse, this has both positives and negatives as diversity is what makes webcomics appealing, but also any potential readers will need to be sold on what they're about to tuck in to if it's not obvious. Things like Superhero comics2 are instantly recognisable and accessible. More obscure types of comics may need to prompt readers more. I personally try and reach an audience by a variety of means rather than just type up a blurb and hope for the best. Try some adverts, some art that leads in to your story, hype it up with some mystery or leading questions? What answers will your story give to these questions. In essence, being a webcomic creator at present means you also double up as a comic promoter, think of the skills you can put down on your C.V!

PotooGryphonFriendly Neighborhood Gryphon Rider
Jun '16

I definitely think you're right however I do think that Tapastic is currently breaking into a more general casual reading audience especially with their recent success on the Tapas app getting featured in the app stores next to HBO and Netflix. I've been seeing a steady increase in non-creator readers subscribing to my series and I suspect to see more of that over the summer as people on summer break look to the app store for casual reading apps.

It's also on artists a bit to try and break into the general audience. It's so easy for us to fall into creator communities online and not try to other interest groups that'd relate to our series.

Oh! Definitely agree to all of this! Yes Yes! Webcomic creators have to wear many hats inorder to pursue it as a career and not just a hobby.

5 months later
kristynamaximova
Dec '16

I'm like super happy for every new subscriber. I wish more people will read my comic, because comments are tbe best motivation for me to draw :/

NickRowler
Dec '16
1

I think a lot of it is finding your audience and trying to "sell" yourself to them.

The audience for anime and BL is very large so it is sort of easy to get followers with that kind of comic.

But if you want to do more of your own thing, you need to find out who your audience is. Your friends can help you, by being readers and promoter. (Just don't make your jokes too inside)

I'm sort of in a difficult place because I am not 100% sure who my audience is and I don't really have friends offline to help me.

9 months later
UbePie
Sep '17

I'm a complete noob, only been here since May. But I'm a history major so I did what I do best and got some research done.

Here is what I've learned:

For tapas smaller once a week or twice a week updates are preferred. Because there are so many comics on this sight this gives you more visbility.

Color comics may be more popular but mine is black and white and seems to be doing fine

As for groups. There are some forums here with links to chat groups, however most creator groups are found outside of this website. I have joined a lot of groups on Facebook, such as Webcomic Underdogs, which I find helpful.

Once I hit a plateau in my subscription rate I used project wonderful for advertisement, and have not spent more than ten bucks in total for two ad campaigns. That is not that large of an investment and I can pinpoint gaining five new subscribers from that alone, but am not sure of the exact number so it may be more.

Now that I have some readers I am slowly going back to old episodes and fixing spelling mistakes with the help of my partner. That way new readers won't get turned off by my bad spelling and grammar that ironically gets corrected by a non native speaking person, lol.

Also keep in mind, if your comic isn't in color, you don't have to change that. If your comic has a few longer episodes and you change it to a shorter more frequent schedule, it's not a big deal. These where some of the hang ups I had. I use to post long chapter but know I post shorter ones more often, and my readers don't mind. Be open to change along with any new information you get. The more you do to better your comic, the more people will subscribe.

Good Luck!

NKip
Sep '17

I wonder about this too, for the last updates of my comic I've been losing more subscribers than gaining them :confounded: I get that at this point the story isn't fully running and I'm working a lot on improving my art, plus I update for mobile reading format. I wonder what I might be doing wrong??

isaacfriedman
Sep '17

If you've got multiple comics, I recommend prioritizing one and making the other(s) side=projects that you only work on if you have the time. That's what I've had to do. I try to publish my most popular comic at least once a week (maximum four times a week) and if I feel like that's enough for one week, I work on the others.