How much is the pay from Tapas?

[AAVI]

I wanted to know from the people who've been uploading on Tapas for a long time and have decent views and subs. Does Tapas pay a good amount from ads? How much, on average, monthly, do you guys earn just from the ad revenue? And, what about the donations, is that good?
I know some people might be sensitive to talking about money, so I'm not asking for your exact figures.
Thank you!

[GiveMeThatBread]

Definitely do not depend on ad rev to make anything. Most here have made a 2-5 pennies in YEARS. I've made $80 in 5 years, but that's with over 2M views, and it totally depends on each reader (if they have ad blockers or not).

[wolflu66]

Unless you're an author with over 10,000 subscribers, the ad revenue you can get on the TAPAS platform can basically be considered as 0.

[Humbug]

I didn't bother enabling revenue when my one of my comics had under 3000 subs because to be honest, that's gonna get me eff all. I actually got more from donations and it's still just pocket change in the grand scheme of things.

[AAVI]

Then what if someone wants to write as their profession? Is it good as a career? Like with donations and stuff? Maybe merch too?

[AAVI]

That's fucking depressing

[AAVI]

So, approx how much you got after enabling revenue after 3k subs?

[GiveMeThatBread]

To make this as a profession takes years, networking, patience, personal growth, growing a readerbase, and sheer luck.

As someone who has managed to make this my part-time profession after 5 years, I can tell you that you need massive numbers to even make it part-time, and that's from the Premium stand point. Those who manage to make this a side gig, on both Community and Premium, usually have other means to make money with their work, like Patreon and Ko-fi. Even then, a big readerbase is needed so they follow you there and donate/subscribe.

If you're looking to make writing a full-time profession, like Turtleme, then I can only suggest starting on Community and working your way up with a story that stands out in the crowd—genre, cover, story quality, etc. Research the platform and see what's been performing well.

I know this sounds kinda harsh but it's the reality of the webnovel and webcomic industry.

[Humbug]

I didn't, because it wasn't worth it. Nearly 3k subs is not going to get me much.

[jwabeasley]

I've made $8.46 on Tapas in nearly two years. Since Tapas won't let you withdraw amounts under $25, I haven't actually made any money from them. $0.61 was from ad revenue - I have generous friends and readers.

That's with 79k views and 389 subs for my comic. Novels on average perform worse than comics. You're not premium, so don't compare yourself to premium novels - they have more institutional support.

I do not recommend expecting any significant income from Tapas itself. Even the biggest names on Tapas probably don't make their main money here.

I also do not recommend planning on making a living as a writer or comic artist. At least not as a short term plan. It takes about a decade of regular publication for a professional author to be able to think about quitting their day job, and even the biggest names in comics generally require a second income or the support of an employed spouse to make ends meet.

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

Posting one's writing online just never struck me as the way to become a professional author.

[jwabeasley]

Then what if someone wants to write as their profession? Is it good as a career? Like with donations and stuff? Maybe merch too?

Write your novels and submit them to publishers. Take your book to conventions. Be deliberate about practicing, studying the market, finding a niche you can stay in. If your plan is to become professional, look at posting a webnovel on Tapas as a good way to practice your skills, build audience, develop good habits, make connections, and learn marketing.

[Lensing]

what if someone wants to write as their profession?

You´ll have to talk to people who are professional writers /
earn enough money with writing to call it their profession.

[moontokkym]

Hi, I write and draw as my work and main source of income. Comics are what pay my bills.

Tapas isn't a viable plan A, nor plan B, nor C, in the same way Youtube and patreon aren't either. It should be a "I'll do this expecting nothing and if I get some money at all, cool." Tapas is not a career. I did not get my current comics job through tapas. Having a comic helped show I had the discipline to do a long project, but my comic isn't the same genre nor style as the one that pays.

What got me the job was applying to it on the recommendation of a friend who'd worked with them before and told me there was an opening for a storyboard and line artist. Everything after that is NDA'd, and you can usually tell when an artist gets a professional job because they stop posting online as much because everything's hush hush until the project is done. You do not know the names of most paid artists.

Same goes for writing, if you want to live off your work, 1) good luck, that's unicorn projects, even successful authors have day jobs 2) you have to go to pitch events and contact editors and agents that fit what you're writing and try and get a publishing deal, that's still hard but way more likely to make you a reasonable amount of money if successful.

[ThunderChicken]

Tapas' pay structure for non-premium comics can be described in a simple mathematical equation:

[cherrystark]

Honestly, if you're planning on making any type of real income from your work, you need to pull back and make a business plan. More and more "free-to-publish" sites are starting to exploit their writers so they can push users into buying their "in-app currency". The only people who are making truly good money here are the people Tapas likely specially contracted to host their work. I haven't heard of a series in the five years I've been writing online that started organically on Tapas make it big.

For writers, the best ways I've seen/heard to actually make real money are to:

• Prep your work for traditional publishing and shop for publishers

• Publish on a reputable self-publishing platform: Amazon, Kobo, Google Play, Barnes and Noble, etc.

• Use AI voices to record their work as audiobooks and upload them to YouTube.

• Build your own paid subscription site

• Sell your books directly to customers through a printer

[cleo_san]

This mathematical formula is actually pure genius and I love it!
May I save it and send it to a few friends who feel the same about Di/Sq?

[ThunderChicken]

Feel free to share it anywhere you want!

[cleo_san]

Thank you so much!