Idea pool: how to promote your comic

[Lia]

I think the title explains a lot...

sooo... It's a bit hard to start out with your comic. just from uploading, the views are rather low in number and you can't even update as much as you'd need to to gain organic readers.

so how about putting our heads together to make a list of "how to get more views"

I'll try to update this post with the most helpful Ideas, so let's get thinking!

LIST of Ideas:

• social media: thats very general, but draw views from more than one source
  • make accounts for your comic.. people who read your work, might not care about your other stuff going on and the other way around
  • interact with people from your peergroup. be part of the community.
  • do occasional events like giveaways or raffels

• find a routine that works for yourself. persistency pays off

• use forums

  • tapas has several "promote yourself threads. suggested "Post Your Latest Page -Month- 2018"
  • reddit is a good place to be visible. Suggested subs r/comics and r/webcomics
  • even without promoting directly, be active and just enjoy talking to other creators

• networking ....

  • similar to social media idea. try and get into the community
  • collabs... be it arttrades or cameos etc. one hand washes the other

• Ads. if you generate income with your comic, you could use that as an investment. but be sure to have enough content out so you can really hook the new readers

• listing sites. suggested "TopWebcomics" , "Comic Rocket", "Archive Binge", "@WebcomicLibrary", "@lgbt_webcomics"

• make a thanks for the sub drawing for your new subscribers

[neichasart]

The easiest way is to already have a platform somewhere else really.
If you've got an audience on instagram/ tumblr/twitter maybe make a post for the launch of your series.
Cross promotion works better in the beggining than just hoping for people to come across your stuff.

Otherwise the tapas community is really active on the forums so talking to people here and taking parts in events is a good way to garner visibility.

[Lia]

an not so great option: shameless self promotion.

pro: theres never a place where you can't promote
con: people will most likely hate you. so don't do this unles it's in treads where its okay to do so.

especially on instagram it seems popular to comment on other peoples stuff "nice. now check out my stuff." ... don't do that.

for this thread tho.. bc you will want to promote your stuff when you post here after all ........ self promo is okay IF you've contributed an idea

soo here I go :)))

Drop in the Ocean | Tapas

[Lia]

yes!

that's the thing.

but for that to work, you need to also get followers and views for the social medias.

I am personally using an insta where I put wips and screenshots, and it seems to regularly give me a spike.

tumblr is harder, and only really works when you do stuff like raffels or ych as a motivation

twitter works great for me, bc it gives you a great way to network with other comic artists that are starting out. also doing fanart for your fave comics and tagging them accordingly

[Rhonder]

This thread had some good external advertisement tips:

Even if I go online I only find some half decent sites that give good views to my comic. Do you guys know from experience some site or forum that its good to self-promote? (btw shameless plug and self-promote) (give it a read and maybe sub ^^ )

I'll quote here my personal weekly promo routine that I put in that thread:

---

I have a typical promotion ritual of:

• Post on instagram
• Post on Twitter
• Post on my Artist Facebook
• Share that to my personal FB page
• post on r/comics and r/webcomics
• hit the forum's "Post Your Latest Page -Month- 2018!" thread.

That's typically good for about 200 views per week on my tapas version, and ~30 on webtoons. Considering the size of my readership, not bad~

---

After only uploading for 2 months, I'm already sitting at almost 30 subs and will probably pass 2k views next week ^^ Like and this is all with pretty low social media followings too. (~90 on instagram, ~30 on twitter and fb). As you said, just simply uploading is pretty bad for generating views... but if you put your stuff out there you can get eyes on it

[feardeer]

1) Social media. Garner a following on twitter or insta or elsewhere and immerse yourself in those communities, and then either share your comic there or redirect them to tapas/webtoon/etc.

2) Comic listing sites/collections. The most well-known of the bunch being TopWebcomics, but others including Comic Rocket, Archive Binge, @WebcomicLibrary, @lgbt_webcomics, and more!

3) Post your comic on multiple platforms! Tapas, Smackjeeves, Webtoon, personal website, etc. And if there's a forum on that site, use it! Make yourself visible!

4) Buy ads! I've heard good things about buying ads on TopWebcomic

5) I think the most effective way is to swap promos with other creators, though I've been too shy to try this myself. Networking with other creators is super important though.

[neichasart]

I have about 7K on instagram but it's difficult to get people interested in your personal stuff without overwhelming them.
I try to sprinkle it in every once in a while and do story posts every time I update my main series (so every wednesday)

Might wanna use twitter more after what's going on with tumblr if your work is even a bit suggestive.

I've been told that sending in little thank you for subbing drawings on new subscribers' pages works, but I don't know if that's generally frowned upon.
It kinda reminded me of deviantart in the way it might be a bit spammy

[Lia]

yes, each social has its time to shine depending on your content .. but if its networkability, I am personally convinced of twitter ... insta can be really unfriendly tbh

I've been wondering about those "thanks for the sub" drawings. good or nah?

maybe we can get some opinions here

[Rhonder]

insta can be really unfriendly tbh

Yeahh... my biggest issue with insta promoting is that you can't include clickable links in the description x__x best you can do is direct them to the link in your bio and hope they go lmao

I've been wondering about those "thanks for the sub" drawings. good or nah?

maybe we can get some opinions here

People generally either like or are neutral towards those, no harm in doing them :> I'm on the neutral side... I think they're neat but never really look at them haha

[racarter]

Tapas Forums
Top Webcomics
Facebook
Tumblr
Twitter*
Webcomics Hub
ArchiveBinge
The Webcomic List
Participating in Webcomic Chat on Twitter
Mirroring on other sites to increase your audience
Paying for ads like a chump
Paying for ads like a chump but on a PTC site where you can just earn the money to pay for the ad since Paypal refuses to associate with PTC sites anymore so what’s the point otherwise?

If possible, real life promotions, like I’ve handed out my URL on paper before.

*Twitter: if you @ webcomicnetwork, supportcomics, promotecomics, and webcomiclibrary they’ll more than likely retweet it. For # I use, webcomics, comics, and any key words related to my comic.
You can also @ artofwebcomics, however they do not promote Tapas links so you’ll have to mirror somewhere else. I use SmackJeeves, so you can also @ smackjeeves if you mirror there.

On Twitter it’s important to connect with other creators as well. Webcomic Chat will help. It also helps to just follow the creators you already enjoy and interact with them.

As for the PTC (paid to click) sites, I use Scarlet-Clicks to buy ad space, of which I can control how much it’ll be worth and how many of my ad credits I want to allocate to it (when it reaches the allotted amount, the ad is removed - but you can always make another). Since Project Wonderful is no more it’s the only method I could think to use.

Shameless Self Promotion can work if you’re not obnoxious about it. I look to see what I do, for instance if someone tips me or leaves me a comment and they have a comic as well? I’ll check out there work. There’s no guarantee I’ll like it but I think it’s courteous to at least check it out. I like to think others do the same thing, so I’m other words, comment, like, and tip if you can. It’s like passive self promotion simply by getting your name out there. Of course you should be genuine when doing so.

I also have Thank You images for anyone who subscribes or tips me, and when you post them on walls it’s like a little PV for others to see your art - while also being a gift to the person that says you appreciate their support.

That said, the time I did the PTC site, I got a boost in viewership AND shares.

Also on Tumblr, I tag people, friends mostly. But also Takashi0, he likes to reblog webcomic promos and he usually reblogs my updates twice - sometimes 3 times.

If you are LGBT+ or make LGBT+ comics, you have other promotional resources you can utilize, however I don’t know much about it since it doesn’t apply to me.

So yeah, kinda overly detailed but that’s what I do.

[Kittosaurus]

I've been wondering about those "thanks for the sub" drawings. good or nah?

maybe we can get some opinions here

There is actually a thread about this already:

Chances are you've received a message on your wall for subscribing (or tipping) to someone else on Tapastic. Whenever it was a picture or a worded message that states "Thank you for subscribing", "Thank you for tipping", E.T.C. What are your thoughts on those messages? Should webcomics do "Thank you for ______" messages?

I really like them! I have actually found a lot of comics to subscribe to when I have been posting my own because I liked their thank you message and decided to check out their profile.

[Lia]

... since you are too shy to try this I wanted to ask you if you wanna do this ... now I've been on your profile and I'm shook! your art is so good and I am so gonna binge your comic tomight after I'm done with this day's pensum

anyways.. .I'm a nobody, and my twitter is only at 1.5k, so dunno if you could profit from anything I have to offer qwq

[Lia]

woa that's a lot! I love you!

it will take me a bit to read through it and stuff bc my mom just came home and since I'm a freeloader living on her couch, I need to endure her constant talking and bugging me so hell no I can concentrate rn oof.

[BobbyjoeXforgotensb]

1.5K?... i only have around 30 followers... MY twitter is useless, yours isnt

[Lia]

uhhh I mean.. It's literally dying atm bc I can'T for the life of me finish some art I owe and am too anxious to post much while i do ...... rn I'm not toooo happy about my twitter. big number or no :\

[BobbyjoeXforgotensb]

Hey, do you mind if i ask how you claim your comic on Comic Rocket?

[ZombieOwl]

sending in little thank you for subbing drawings on new subscribers' pages works, but I don't know if that's generally frowned upon.

I don't feel like this is frowned upon. I dunno, maybe it depends on the person, but I always like seeing cute art as a thank you on my page. There have been a few times I've gone and checked out a comic because I saw it on someone's page when I went to post a "thank you", so, if they're done well, you at least get some eyes on your content

[feardeer]

If find your comic on the site, there should be a link on the info page that says "claim this comic", and that'll walk you through how to do it. It's been a while for me, but I seem to remember putting a line of code into my site to do it, but that was on my own site, not Tapas.

I think to claim the comic through Tapas you have to contact Comic Rocket via email or something. Sorry if that's not much help! Maybe someone else has had some experience doing that.

@Lia
I'd be happy to! I don't have a very big following either, but we all have to start somewhere.
I'm reading your comic now, but feel free to send me a private message and we can discuss further!

[Lia]

I will hit you up soonish, but rn I'm overrun by schedules ^^" fml