How do you promote your work?

[kbhargan]

Hi guys,

I'm doing a course in User Experience and am looking for people to talk to about how they promote their work.

My project on how sites like Tapas can improve how people find an audience and want to chat to some people next week, both if you did manage to find an audience or, if not, what did the site not do that could have helped you.

Think you can spare some time to help me out?

Thanks!

[darthmongoose]

I've actually done a little work in UX myself, and I think that's an interesting topic to study!

So, in my case, I'd describe my success on Tapas as "moderate". I have over 2000 subscribers and I'm on the Creator Bonus Program, so I'm hardly in the top performers, but my comic makes me somewhere from $20-80 a month most months, and has made over $500 in the time I've been making it, which is coming up towards three years.

I knew Tapas would be my main platform before I even launched my comic, because I know people IRL with a big following here, like the creators of Buuza!!, BREAKS, Alien Heart and The Firelight Isle. So I knew there was potential for somebody with a similar background; UK small press comics and freelance comics and illustration work in a professional context, to make something that found success. I also knew from most of those being comics with queer themes, that making an LGBTQ+ themed comic, Tapas would be the best platform for it, especially when Tapas itself has originals like "Magical Boy" that blend action and fantasy with exploration of gender and sexuality.

Tapas is a very reliable place to find an audience...IF you have the right product and the right approach. This is where I'd say my success has been.... partial!? The key factors for success on Tapas, I believe, are:

• Professional level art on your cover and internal pages.
• Written in accessible English for ESL readers and teens.
• Long scroll format or at least something that reads well on a phone.
• Plot establishes very fast, ideally hitting a big plot beat or the story catalyst or explaining the premise within the first few updates.
• Genre and style appeal for an audience of mostly women aged around twenty based in the US.
• Strong brand identity - good unique title, logo, strong character designs and a distinctive style or vibe.

I've hit.... some of these, but not all of them, and some I'm iffy on. Generally if you're hitting at least half, you have a decent chance of getting staff features and growing an audience on the platform. Getting a staff feature is by far the best way to build an audience on the platform, and not only is a work more likely to get a feature if it hits the above bulletpoints, but it'll probably grow an audience much faster if it hits them.

From a UX perspective, any off-site advertising is kind of... frustrating... because most social media apps now, if you open a link, it opens in a browser inside the social media app; not your regular browser where you're logged in, or the Tapas app itself, creating a barrier between somebody clicking say, an insta ad, and it turning into a subscriber. So focusing on gaining readers on Tapas itself becomes very important. Getting staff features and building up to a level of popularity where you regularly gain enough likes to appear in the "popular" rankings for your genre is the optimal way to get seen by readers.

I do off-site promo as well though. Twitter, Facebook, Insta, Comicad, Tumblr and I've even tried Tiktok, which does seem quite effective. Really like advertising any product, casting a wide net and paying attention to what works to refine your approach while persevering over time is best. Still... I don't think a comic or novel with very low appeal to the core userbase could find success based purely on bringing in readers from outside Tapas through advertising unless the creator had an incredibly large and devoted social media following.

[kbhargan]

This is amazing! Thank you so much! Would you be willing to do an interview with me?

[powerplantanimations]

For me, I'm making a brand out of my current comic. Doing stuff like animations, webcomic dubs, and a YouTube series in the vein of Pointless Hub where I use my stick figure avatar to talk about random stuff like video games and all that.

Be sure to hang out in animation servers and offer your services for free. Lots of animators are looking to help out.

I also plan on doing gags, but I'm a bit iffy in that department atm. I also do TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram. When doing TikTok, I recommend you just film little bits of your comic that can make up a gag.

• Mondays I post stuff on Twitter and Instagram, while working on auxiliary content. Usually pictures of my episode that just released. I advertise on Tapas Forums.
• Tuesdays I post Twitter and Instag, while working on auxiliary content. Usually pictures of my episode that just released. I advertise on Tapas Forums. The stuff I post this time is a TikTok video or an Instagram gag.
• Wednedays I post on Twitter and Instagram, showing my upcoming episode. Auxiliary content.
• Thursdays I post on Twitter and Insta. This time it's either TikTok or an Instagram gag.
• Fridays I tell people my episode is out by posting more images. I go back to Tapas
• Saturdays and Sundays I spend my time on Tapas, but yeh I stockpile on TikTok.

I recommend you check out other places to grow as well instead of dwelling on Insta and Twitter tho. Discord is a great place.

[darthmongoose]

I'm not sure what you need an interview for? Are there more things you need to ask me? I'm pretty busy preparing for events and stuff.

[kbhargan]

Pk, no problem, thanks for your response, it is great. Good luck with the events!

[kbhargan]

Thanks for this! great advice

[RedLenai]

Let's see... (I'm a comic artist btw, so if you're a writer then I won't know much about how to promote yourself)

Sharing wips, concept art, promo art, thumbnail art for updates on Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Discord, Reddit)
Wips and concept art are usually on my dashboard/wall, promo art and updates I make sure to share them everywhere:

• Facebook groups, I think I'm in around 80 more or less (Both English and Spanish)
• On Twitter I try to participate on ArtShares from time to time, keeping things short and using hashtags, I try to not reblog many things the days I update or bring new art so it can be seen easily whenever someone checks my profile
• On Instagram I also use hashtags, but I also use stories
• On Discord and Reddit, I share in all places I'm in that accept self promotion
• Spam in the promo threads here (I also use my Tapas.Io wall for updates, just in case)

I must say, synchronizing my FB and Insta was a really good idea, and using the Business page helps me avoid scrolling on the sites unnecessarily, and just focus on making the post and boom, covering two places at the same time.

Also, doing all this kind of takes me less than an hour. So, put a nice playlist, copy paste your post and done. Here in Tapas, the trick is either add a letter, separate a pharagrap or even adding or removing certain exclamation signs.

Another thing that I do is stream my work (Despite I don't do it often, yet, I highly recommend streaming your process even if it's "spoilery", but I can guarantee that the sensation of being watched kind of forces you to work harder, avoid taking many breaks or getting distracted).
I use Twitch, but you can totally use Restream.Io if you want to make a livestream in both Twitch and Youtube at the same time. (And I must say, you're not making extra content with this one since you're making the comic at the same time you're exposing it)

And then, you can later use the saved stream, either for TikTok, Reels, by just editing and adjusting the format, the speed, cropping, and such.

That's at least what I personally do, is not much but is something.

---

I've seen other people do Challenges, Trends, Tutorials, Memes, 2-frame animations, and similar in order to promote either the characters and/or the story. I forgot to mention that I try at best to do this twice a week, when it comes to work in progress and similar, but the whole bundle I do it whenever I update

[kbhargan]

This is great! Thank you!

[system]

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