Is it possible to get a popular comic without injecting money on the equation? XD

[nekoendy]

Are there any examples of comics that got popular without spending a cent?
Just point them out...

[kip]

I’m a bit confused- the vast majority of comics on tapas were made “for free” by their creators. If anything, the very popular ones & premium comics gain money by Ad revenue and premium coins.
Could you please explain how you mean?

[xanedis]

I think the question here is if one can create comics without having to spend money on their creation(i.e. if they're a writer that wants their story told, and has to pay an artist for its creation). But maybe that's just me.

The fact is that - if you want to become a full-time creator - you need to have some savings so that you don't have to spend time working a part-time job or whatnot. THAT IS, if you want to be a full-time creator(artist or writer, it matters not).

[kip]

Oh, that’s true then!
But as for examples in that case, I believe Eve is a very popular collaboration done ‘for free’?

Eve | Tapas

[punkarsenic]

depends on what you mean.

if you mean not spending money on promotion, its probably most of them

if you mean there were absolutely no expenses - not software, not hardware, ink and paper and time, then none of them.

[Kura]

I'm a little confused? Are you talking about advertising exclusively?

Because ANY art form is going to cost money via equipment and supplies, and if you're printing, printing costs obviously.

So I assume it's about advertising. If so then there should be a lot actually, though I'm also not sure what you're criteria for 'popular' is

[nekoendy]

Yes, I'm talking about advertising. Even if you believe the majority of comics got popular without spending a cent, the reality may be other story

[kip]

What do you consider popular?

[Croik]

When it comes to the premium stories, it's Tapas that spends the money to promote them, though I imagine most of them are also promoting off site through social media and such. Even the non-premium comics that gain popularity are doing a lot more than just posting updates on Tapas and hoping for the best. They've got sites, social media accounts, and Patreons of their own, they're post consistently, and they likely have years of experience in gaining a following.

If you don't want to spend money on ads you're spending your time to promote like crazy, and time is money. There are no free rides to popularity.

[DiegoPalacios]

Is important to point the difference between paid advertising, organic advertising and self promotion.

some examples of organic advertising in case you are curious:
1-a scene of your story becomes a meme.
2-word of mouth, people talk to each other about the awesomeness of your story.
3-Your story appeared in the news for some reason.

Self promotion doesn`t neccesarily require money. For example, some writers here do some cross promotion to each other.

Also, in the forums there are topics to self promote. If you are creative there you can atract people`s attention.

You don`t need money to promote yourself, but for advertising and self promotion to be effective, you need to be creative about it.

[joannekwan]

I've never spent a dime on advertising and my two biggest series usually pop up on the top 20 list of the popular section whenever they update. I don't really heavily promote them on social media either …

[Testaccount]

Same, I've never spent any money on advertising, and I have about 245 subs here now. I also don't promote my stories on social media or anything because I'm just gauging readership for a select few stories now.

One thing I've learned in life is if you create something and care about it, people will use it (or read it). Yes, I say you can get popular without spending money on advertising if you care about your craft, treat your fans well, and update continuously.

[Shanny8]

I havent spent money on advertising yet, but I eventually want to be more than just on Tapas/Webtoons etc...but even at that, I dont think I'd sink a ton of money into it without the analytics of how many readers I could gain or other benefits.