How do I Get Started on Tapas?

[jojo01jc]

What's a good way to promote your comic(s) and artwork to the public within the Tapas website and forums? I haven't been here for very long and I only have 13 subscribers. My infrequent updates are likely to blame in the past month or two, but in the following weeks I am getting back on track and would like to know what I could do along with more regular comic updates to improve my comic's visibility and steadily increase my following. I'm more or less seeking advice on marketing rather than on art skill or consistency, with which I'm aware of my issues and am currently in the process of improving.

Basically, how do I get started? What can I do to get seen on the site?

The Misfit Hunters :: Cha. 1 Pg 19 | Tapas

[DiegoPalacios]

there are topics that encourage to share your comic. Those are a great chance. Only promote your comic in topics related to it for example, if your comic is a comedy and someone makes a "share comedy comics" topic, share yours there.

Don`t act like an invasive door to door salesman. There are times and places to self promote.

Also, you can put a link to your comic in the part where you put a description of yourself.

Participate in the forums in topics you are interested, if you have doubts or want to ask for feedback, you can create a topic about it.

Good luck and hope this helps!

[Jenny-Toons]

Well, I think a very good way to get started here is to build yourself within the community while you're posting. I just joined the forums 15 - 16 days ago, but already, I've been connecting with people by answering questions, discussing my own personal path to comics, and just talking with people. I've also give what I want back by commenting on people's work, tipping, etc.

I think the best thing to do is to show people that you're always ready to be a part of the community. And the best way to do that is to be a part of the forums and a part of other people's work.

This post should help out more and give more details.

I've been a creator on Tapastic for about about nine months now, with a decent, expanding, yet young series under my belt. And during my time here, I've realized that there are a lot of things to keep in mind when you start here on Tapastic, especially if you want to start to develop a following. Here's some important tips going in: Get started. The hardest part of making a series is simply starting it. Really. You can plan all you want and promise the world, but unless you actually start the…

Even if you're not exactly new, this can definitely help you

[Rhombik]

It also takes four to six months to get over the first hump as well. I know some new creators can assume it's something they're doing but I'd give it at least this long. I joined May last year and it wasn't until October that I really started getting much traction.

[ReroOnyx]

Honestly, do a lot of advertisement and bring readers from other places to Tapastic. The sad truth is that, you probably aren't going to get viewership merely through posting. The site focuses heavily on creators but does very little it seems to help readers. Meaning that while you might have a lot of control as a creator, the site doesn't do much to get readers. Not unless you're featured or something. Even those people admit that once the impact of being featured wears off, so too often does the readership.

Make some posts, advertise your work because your probably going to get more attention here on the forum than hoping someone will merely find it on the Fresh section. If you can advertise outside of Tapas, do so and again bring your readers from outside the site. I've noticed many times for myself and others, that trying to get readership through Tapastic alone doesn't work.

I've actually created my own personal advertisement post that I update every once in a while. Before I did that, I would've been lucky to get 5 views. not subs, views. That's how bad it got and how, unfortunatelym relatively useless the Fresh Section was. When I made my advertisement posts, I'm hitting anywhere from 30-40 views which to me, ain't exactly a lot but its far better than 5. I started getting more views, I got a bit more subs, a bit more interaction, all of that.

So again, advertise. When you make an update, tell the world. Promote outside of the site and outside of the forum. Sub to a few places as people often sub back for appreciation. Whatever the case may be, just don't expect much from Tapas as a site alone unless you can get featured or some kind of boost directly there. Because while Tapas may give you many freedoms as a creator, it taketh away many freedoms of a reader it seems.

[ChristodeBoyet]

Hey where do you usually advertise besides here, specifically for your novel? I've tried tumblr, twitter, and google+. None of them are really working for me, so I was wondering if you had other sites that were doing you well.

[ReroOnyx]

I usually have other sites I post on and Webtoons is basically my main hosting site for lack of better words. Frankly, you've only been posting for about a month but have already hit nearly 20 subs on your novel. At this point, considering that gaining readership for novels is harder than it is for comics, I don't think you have much to worry about. I think right now, you are doing fine and whatever you are doing, seems to be working. I can't say much else but just to advertise and promote your story to bring readers here but again, I don't think you have much to worry about.

When it does come to Advertising though, do so at a place that will help you promote. Twitter alone probably won't do anything but if you go to a specific place meant for promoting stories, that will definitely help more. You can also just try different hosting sites and see if one of them works better for you than others.

[joe_galindez]

Marketing works by communicating value. This is important, so let's say it again: Marketing works by communicating value. You want people to come away thinking you spent a lot of money on your advertising. You want them to know that you're confident in what you're selling.

It doesn't matter how you use your marketing budget, just as long as your target market gets the message. You could spend the money on lots of airtime, expensive airtime, high-quality ads, or celebrity endorsements.

Is the Super Bowl really the best time to tell people about cleaning products? Is David Lynch's commercial relevant to the game console it's selling? Does anybody believe that Brad Pitt goes out of his way to wear Japanese jeans or that Jamie Lee Curtis really likes probiotic yogurt? No, no, no, and maybe. The point is that money was spent and that's obvious to everyone. The products must be worthwhile or people would not have gone to so much trouble.

"But what about guerilla marketing?" you say. Bitch, what about guerilla marketing? Sure, there's this:

Guerrilla marketing is an advertisement strategy concept designed for businesses to promote their products or services in an unconventional way with little budget to spend. This involves high energy and imagination focusing on grasping the attention of the public in more personal and memorable level.

But there's also this:

The web is rife with examples of guerrilla marketing, to the extent that many of us don't notice its presence - until a particularly successful campaign arises.

If everybody is doing guerilla marketing, it becomes just regular marketing. If everybody and their wife is flogging their comic on social media then nobody is standing out. Remember: Marketing works by communicating value. And it's hard to communicate if you have to shout to be heard over a crowd.

So, my advice is to save up for an ad campaign. This will probably make it more expensive for me to advertise but reading the forums lately is like being a midget at an all-male nudist colony. Can't take a damn step without people shoving things in my face.

[jojo01jc]

Thank you very much for your advice! Of course, because of my young age and lack of a job outside of artwork, it may take me awhile to obtain the funds needed to launch an ad campaign, it is certainly something I will consider doing in the future.

[jojo01jc]

I primarily use DeviantArt and Instagram ( I go by JcArtSpace on both) and I also, rather rarely, post on an app called Amino. I've found that I'm slightly successful on DA and Insta, but both in different ways. On DeviantArt, my follower group is small (145 watchers) but much more active than my Instagram followers, even though I almost twice as many followers on Insta. I also have an Etsy shop where I sell original works of art (but they are all unrelated to my comic so far, simply because my comic is not popular enough to sell any merchandise yet.)

I've never used Tumbler or Twitter, but I do have a classic google website so I have my Etsy,social media, webcomic, and commission information all in one place.