How to be mainstream?

I will be very upset if you'll go mainstream. But who cares.

I would be extremely happy with more 7 subs by the way.

I've given other versions of this pessimistic rant in many other topics on this forum, but here I go again:

I've been in that boat before, the boat you want to be on. Giving the people what they want (even if it's not really what you want) and actually getting attention for it. It felt nice in the beginning, but the fact remained that it was never supposed to be "all" of me. It was just a game, a little side project. So eventually I returned to my passion projects, the things I really wanted to do, and of course, all the literal hundreds of people who supposedly signed up to see my art suddenly disappeared. Again and again. It was pretty demoralizing.

What was even more demoralizing was thinking I could always get them back, if I just did x and y. ^^; What a fool I was. Sometimes x and y worked...and sometimes they didn't. It's like gambling: sometimes you win big, most of the time you win nothing, and every once in a while you win just enough to get you to think "I'm getting there...just one more try and I'll win big again". You might...and you might not.

I don't think I'll win big again, at least not now. Everything I thought I had has fallen through; x and y are about as predictable as my own work at this point. Once upon a time, I thought I had "achieved" at least a steady 10 comments per work. Now I'm back to glowing if I get even one good comment. So much for "achievement"...
To be honest, I think it was never me. After some careful observation, I think I was riding the waves of someone else's popularity the whole time, and now that they've ebbed, I ebb as well. When they come back, I'll probably experience a resurgence in popularity...but I'm not looking forward to it. Because that'll mean that I'm right. That nothing I did was the reason I was popular. It was always someone else, and something else...

The moral of the story is, don't sell yourself out. Because if you have even an ounce of integrity, even a hint of the belief that your passion should correlate with your recognition, then you won't like what you end up with. You'll just have another set of problems on your hands...

Be yourself. Be unique. At least then if you can't become popular, you can still have a little fun. And if you really want to be famous, keep striving for it-- you'll never get it if you don't keep trying. But don't depend on what other people want to give that to you. Keep doing what you want to do, no matter what it is, and keep hoping.

Because honestly, you aren't the problem. You've probably convinced yourself of that, because you are the only thing you can control, but it's just a comfortable lie. No matter what you do, no matter how base and vile or idiotic and empty or bright and beautiful or deep and memorable, someone out there wants it; someone else out there would like to see it, make no mistake on that. You aren't the problem.

The reality is something that humans hate more than anything: the problem is out of your control. You can't do anything to get yourself the recognition you 'deserve'; the possibility that you will live and die in obscurity is real and it may never go away.

All you can do is wait. Keep waiting for the people who are waiting for you, the real you. And while you wait, try to have some fun.

Like everyone else has said, stay true to yourself!

There was something Hayao Miazaki said in the documentary "Never Ending Man" that really stuck with me:

"We never sought out to be popular. We just created what we wanted, and then the people came.

It's very frustrating when your work doesn't reach as many people as you want, but success and growth isn't overnight (I'm still trying to gain more subs by sharing my comic in different social media and stuff, keeping a schedule and improving quality. it's very stagnant though D: ).

Keep at it, have fun, and carve your own niche!

Popularity in an oversaturated market is a gamble, and as in gambling - the better your winning streak is, the harder will be the withdraw once the hype wave you caught runs out. Been there, it's devastating when suddenly your "like" count drops 500% without you changing anything - the audience just went after the next fun shiny thing.

The only way not to be heartbroken about this is to do your own thing - because there will always be at least 1 person who will be passionate about this and for whom nobody else will do the exact same story - and that's you. Sure, you can try to incorporate some formulaic stuff into it for a wider appeal, but it still should be stuff you'd personally enjoy doing. Stepping over yourself because of a promise of maybe being popular - that won't make anyone happy. You have no one to be held accountable if your work doesn't bring you joy but yourself if you choose to bend it to the tastes of others. And that's talking about free content - unless you're hired or have a successful patreon, you can't even set a price on compromising your artistic vision.

So, yeah - you do what feels good to you and there will be people, that will find it appealing - being mainstream means being swept away the moment the "main stream" of popular trends, pardon the pun, changes.

I think these are popular online because you can't find them much in Western comic shops.

Well... you'd basically never be able to remain mainstream forever. Mainly because the mainstream tastes adapt and change so much that eventually something would be trending that you just can't replicate.

It essentially would be about being really in touch with what the current generation of readers are into.

In my humble opinion becoming mainstream doesn't have to force you to change your tastes or force yourself to make things that you don't really enjoy, your strength will always be your own authenticity. You can find things in the mass media that you also enjoy and implement them without losing your essence, it can be a middle ground.

Now, here is the important thing: becoming mainstream popular has little to do with your work and more with your positioning in a platform, level of influence in social media, connections. You can change everything about your comic/novel and still be unknown because you lack the exposure. Some artists work for decades to build those connections, some are overnight celebrities because they became important for an online community, etc. If you want to become mainstream you can work more on your social media presence.

Don't! The beauty of the internet is that you can create the works you wish existed. If you keep producing art that means something to you, then you'll find your audience that resonates with it. What's the point of doing art if it doesn't mean anything to you?

If you're drawing in a popular art style that isn't yours, remember that people won't go away from your work thinking "holy wow kainatarma's work is so good!" they'll go away thinking "oh boy I do love this anime style stuff!". ANd they'll forget you when the next thing comes along. Find people that love your work, and if you keep plugging away at it, then they'll come.

Also tapas I find, especially in the premium comics/novels section, there's a lot of hot overblown garbage. Sure, some people like the contrived fifty shades style plots with mary sue protagonists and love interests, but I'd personally rather read some 16 year old's weird comic that's made in ms paint and it's real rough around the edges. They believe in what they're making. And that's good enough for me.

First of all, you should link your comic! I tried to find it and read it but I couldn't. Anyhow, I don't really know how people reach a big audience, but I'd say it has a lot to do with the algorithm. You don't NEED to be mainstream. I've seen a lot of not-mainstream themed comics getting a large audience. I'd say romance has the most readers though. Getting featured helps as well.

Here's my comic if you want to check it out: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/piece-of-mind-bl/list?title_no=2687815

........why would you do that? Even if your intent is to eventually make money, targeting something you have zero interest in is just hollow.

If you're hired to do a project of some sort that's not to your taste, sure. But if you're creating stories of your own, why on earth would you put it into something you have no interest in? That's a sure way to kill the idea and and lose interest fast.

You're on the internet. No matter how niche your thing might be, you WILL find your audience. Sometimes it takes time, but they're out there.

Then again, which "mainstream" are you trying to target, exactly? Sure, there's shifting trends. Like one year vampires are the thing everyone's thirsting after, and the next year it's werewolves. But it's all still urban fantasy or horror. And the lovers of either will overlap. And there's tons of general markets that one would call "mainstream."

Just how niche are your interests that not even one broad stroke of "mainstream" holds zero interest for you? So you don't like historical fantasy or steampunk. What about scifi horror? Slice of life anime/manga? Steamy romance? Absurd comedy? Action/adventure? Superheroes? Epic fantasy? Magical girl manga? Gritty noir?

Heck, around these parts the examples you gave aren't even that big.

So which thing is it you're not interest in?

I will put here recent tweets by Stjepan Sejic, he is better with words than I am.

I often speak about this how my original style, my artistic handwriting was something i had, and killed when i got into the comics industry because i was convinced everyone else was doing it better and doing it the right way, and i was wrong.

I spent 13 years at least trying to be everyone but me. It resulted in a massive burnout and my return to my personal style resulted int he most unexpected of successes. I made sunstone, i made death vigil and i kept growing from an honest place. A personal place.

Looking at it now, these images of ravine before i changed it all to realism, i see every element of what made me big later on. I think of where i could have been if i staid true to myself. Don't give up on your approach. If it is honest and from your heat, believe you me, there is value in it. It may be imperfect but you will grow faster and tronger than by being someone else. this was ravine from about 17 years ago. This was me. The heart of me. And i abandoned that heart for what i thought others would prefer. Don't be like me. Embrace your heart.

That's a perfect example! And a tale you'll be find told in a thousand variations by a thousand artists. And it all comes down to that same idea of "I tried to be what I thought people wanted, but when I did what I like people wanted it."

Also his stuff is wildly off from what most would consider mainstream, yet he's crazy popular. Especially Sunstone.

Guys, I know you all have good intentions and you all try to cheer thread author, but let's be a bit more realistic.
Hard and persistent tries to create something sincere from the bottom of your heart don't guarantee to gain ANY readership from it. This all is about luck, marketing and existing of enough amount of people, who can relate to your work. When authors becomes more "pop", it means increasing amount of people, who can enjoy their work, and thus it increases success chances.

I guarantee that my own comics have too much features, which prevent it from becoming super-popular. Like:

• Moral ambiguity of everything and thus, lack of definitely positive characters. Reader will NOT gain any sense of justice from depicted events. You can't say that good defeats evil, if they are intertwined with one another so much, that you can't even distinct them... and sometimes there is even no difference between them.
• Complicated plot and non-stadard setting, which require a bunch of non-trivial explanations (in my case these explanations are also heavy technical). Most of people don't like complicated things. Only small part of them can be interested in it.

And... I can see the same features in the current novel of the topic author, just expressed in less degree. It makes their novel interesting for me, but it also means that it will never be as popular among wide audience, as more simple, easy-to-understand-and-relate things.

You're on the internet. No matter how niche your thing might be, you WILL find your audience. Sometimes it takes time, but they're out there.

There are people who have been unlucky and couldn't gain audience for years. It happens, too.

Drawing naked anime girls or beefcake guys with guns doesn't guarantee it too =) It still is about luck, marketing and people relating to your work.
I'm sure there are tons of awesome artists, who draw good fanart and still are not popular as some other artists. But the thing is, you can draw naked anime girls, become popular and hate it and go down with depression, and you can draw things you love and maybe some day become popular.

Sure. I just think that "naked anime girls or beefcake guys with guns" will provide popularity with somewhat more probability, than drawing stuff which is interesting only to the author.
But it's a lottery in any case.