May 2016
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May 2016
Jun 2016
Aspie_Gamer
May '16
itzewulf

I used to be in your shoes until a couple of months ago. Here's what I learned.

  1. Be social.

1b. Treat being a web cartoonist like its your job. Be frequent with your updates so you can get a steady stream of views for your comic and ad revenue if you have it enabled each week.

  1. Sub to comics like you mean it. Talk with the creators of your favorite comics.

  2. Being a forum regular never hurts. Post a link to your comic in the appropriate threads.

3b. If you don't know how to post links, go to your comic. highlight the url, copy it, click the chain link icon when typing up a post here in the forums, delete the http://, paste the url of your comic in the bar, click ok, and then type the name of your comic in the link below. For example my comic is named Life of an Aspie so if you did it right, it should look exactly like what you see below this paragraph.

Life of an Aspie3

Hope this post helps and I hope to see ya around smile

Mane
May '16

I really can't give any other advise than the old and worn "you must have patience". Aside from a few lucky gems out there that managed to get noticed immediately, most stories, even currently famous webcomics, started out with a small audience. Constantly working on it, updating regularly, and with quality content, that's the recipe if you ask me. I've been working on my current project for 2 months now, and just recently I've started to gain more attention, but still nothing to write home about yet. Slow and steady I tell myself, and I appreciate every new follower, every new view.
Advertising is important , but you shouldn't invest more time on that than on actually working on the comic. It's a trap I almost fell in, trying to find more platforms on which to post my work and get more readers instead of focusing of giving them something to read.

demthorshie
May '16

Pretty much what everyone else is saying here. Post often and post consistently. Promote as often as possible, in forums, social media, etc. Reply to any comments you receive on your comic and most importantly, be friendly. I like your comic so far btw, it's cute and fun! xD

Kyosu
May '16

4 ways:
-update your comic regularly. (for example a new page every 2 weeks)
- patience........lots of patience
- make an original and interesting comic
- friendship

shazzbaa
May '16

If you've been at this a week and only have one subscriber, that honestly sounds pretty normal! Outside of Tapastic it's harder to say when I first got new readers, but I do know I had posted around 40-50 pages of my first comic before people other than my friends started commenting.

I often tell people not to worry about their subscriber numbers until they've been updating pretty regularly for at least a year or two. Before that point, you could be doing everything right and still not have many readers just because they haven't found you yet, and if you're doing all the right things already, there's nothing you can do to change that other than keep going!

Also, this is a small forum etiquette thing, but the forum might start limiting you if you reply to a bunch of posts individually all in a row. A good idea if you want to respond to a lot of people is to do something like this:

@itzewulf - [answer to one post]

@shazzbaa - [answer to a different post]

(if you type "@" and start typing the person's name, the forum will usually suggest people you might mean, so you don't have to type the whole thing out) and then you can just do this for every person you want to reply to in the same post!

or you can quote people by selecting text in their post and then clicking "quote reply," so you get something like this:


and then answer their post underneath!

That way you can answer multiple people in one post, instead of replying to each one with a separate post. :>

TomSawyer
May '16
itzewulf

Hey you noticed me!

About time
You interested in working with my group!

All of us are new members
We have artist looking for writers
Writes looking for Artist
We critique each other, and offer moral support!

TomSawyer
May '16

Basically its a bunch of new people

Looking for artist and writers, for those who don't have any
Many of us are teaming up, for non-paid work
We offer suggestions, critique each other, and show moral support

avalonmao
Jun '16
shazzbaa

Thanks for your encouragement in forums like these!! When I started out this was really common of me to worry about. You're the best!!

carloswebcomic
Jun '16
AnnaLandin

Advertising and promoting your comic is not going to yield results UNLESS you give readers what they want.
So what is it that readers want? Well, that's the million dollar question, isn't it?

At the end of the day, if you want subscribers, you have to give them a good enough product that stands from the crowd.
Sure, it's easier said than done, but then again, nothing is easy in the webcomic world (except giving up).

Robosaur
Jun '16

I don't have that many subs(still very grateful though) but i did notice that my art got noticed WAY MORE when i drew fanart and posted on social media. Like I've never gotten more than 50 likes/favorites on ANYTHING before but, my latest fanart on Twitter got 100+ likes and 15 retweets. So yeah, fanart is a great way to catch people's attention. Also being just generally friendly and active on the forums and webcomics. Just don't spam and shove your comic in other people's faces ahaha

ShrewdManeuver
Jun '16

I'm not even thinking about subscribers at the moment, I just want to finish my first chapter then I'll start promoting my comic.

itzewulf
Jun '16

Thanks for the help everyone, the Tapastic community really is one of the best

GFalconDX
Jun '16

Like everyone is saying here: don't let the number of views, likes and subscribers, or even money be the guiding force behind your comic; let your passion be the guiding force for your comic. The rest will follow soon enough. Heck, even after one year of posting my comic here, I only have 47 subs and over 3700 views. Yet I don't let the low number bother me. I just continue to draw and post.

KSlinger
Jun '16

You've had a lot of great advice here so I won't take up too much of your time, however this method has worked well for me so far:

Step 1: Clear a space.
Step 2: Form the devil's seal from pens, pencils, laptop cables and headphones.
Step 3: Summon your new business partner and open discussions.
Step 4: Profit.

Alternatively (this isn't something I actively do, just something I've noticed) when I am late saying thank you to people for subscribing to my comic and end up thanking like 30 people at once, that wave of activity (people being reminded of my comic or visiting it after seeing my message around the site) I end up trending. In theory, by 'saving up' subs like that and thanking as many people as possible at once you could tactically land yourself in that section then ride it to the front page.

I'm really not this conniving in real life, I'm just interested in cause and effect.