Is really SUB 4 SUB a good thing to do?

[inkstarsofficials]

I have seen a lot of people trying to increase their stats and grow their comic, and I have been wondering if this actually works or if is just not a good idea to engage in it.
In platforms like YouTube this is seen as something bad and not useful to grow, as the people who do this are mostly interested in getting a sub than watching your content, making your channel have just ghosts subs that don't care about your content (Considering the people who subbed to you just did so they can gain a sub themselves)

Taking this into consideration, is in here any different than in YouTube? I'm not personally interested in doing SUB 4 SUB but for the people that do, is this really something worth to do?

[adamjtitus1]

Personally I don't like it. Because it makes the number of subscriptions a person has meaningless. If you see a comic with a lot of subscriptions you can't know if it's truly popular or not, maybe a lot of people liked it, or maybe they just did a lot of trades.

[wolflu66]

The main purpose is to enable advertising revenue and the Ink support.

After reaching 250 subscribers, sub 4 sub doesn't matter as much.

At least for me it's like that - after I reached 250, I wasn't as actively seeking sub 4 sub as when I first started. But if someone needs my help, I'll still do it.

[vapidink]

Some people need a little boost to help them keep posting, just so they're not stuck on zero, which is fine. Personally, I don't like it. I'd rather have people who sub out of interest, but I've been posting online for a while so numbers don't matter as much to me.

[jwabeasley]

I thought of it as 'fake views and subs' when I started, but from the other side they aren't. Many of the creators who regularly participate in sub4sub threads here are excellent readers, likers, and commenters. These are the people who are with you for the long haul, checking up on series as they publish, commenting on new pages when they come out. I keep up with the comics I've sub4subbed with, and mutual authorial friendships really help to buoy your motivation to keep going.

It's not bot activity, keeping high activity on your story will help it be seen more by other readers browsing the community section, and it can give you a small boost to get over the hump towards milestone goals.

Although I don't recommend spamming the forums with dozens of sub4sub threads for the same series. Once every 6+ months is plenty - there's only a dozen or so regulars on at a time. The Tapas forums shouldn't be your only method of advertising, either, but it does help.

[justincarbunkle]

Some of it is getting a dopamine rush seeing numbers go up. But it's still helpful. Even if some only use those threads for numbers, it's still a way to get attention drawn to your comic, and every now and then, you'll get someone who genuinely reads your story and gives feedback.

I prefer the review swap threads over just sub for sub. I always try to push that in the sub threads, I'll actually comment on your first few episodes, and you do the same for mine. At the very least get some feedback/comments I can use to improve my series.

[JoshRaed]

No. You will not get a real fanbase off of this. I never read the stories I sub 4 subbed with when I used to do it, and they never read my work either.

[moontokkym]

In most cases it's not great. If everyone were responsible with it, it'd be cool, but there's a bunch of people who do it knowing that they're only going to press the button, and some even go back a week or so later and unsub. This isn't good for your comic's momentum in the algorithm and hurts it in the long run. That's why I don't do it personally because I know I don't read enough on screens to be able to maintain a sub4sub fairly.

Also reaching the milestones necessary to unlock ink donos or ad revenue is meaningless most of the time. Tapas' revenue unlock is unusually low for this type of thing, which can be good because if you get a sudden influx of dedicated fans you don't have to wait for admin, but it does give people a skewed idea of when they're going to start making any money, so people rush to get 100 subs with stars in their eyes thinking they'll make a few dollars, only to realise that most people who unlock adrev don't make anything meaningful until 1k subs le something, if they make any money at all.

[thepenmonster]

You're using someone for personal gain AND telling them that their work is only worth that fraction of a penny Tapas is going to pay you for doing so.

[wolflu66]

On this point, I agree with you. I have indeed seen many great people in this process, and discovered some good works.
Some of their styles are really something I never imagined before.

Of course, I'm not denying that there are many fake subscriptions among sub 4 sub, but as long as a portion of them allows me to gain something, that's already very meaningful to me.

[BellaTheCow]

Idk if this makes sense but I try to do an honest sub4sub, meaning any sub4sub I do I make sure I will want to read and check up on later when possible, which is also why I say that if they didn’t want to sub4sub, I’ll still stay subbed to their work.

I would also like to add that by doing sub4sub in my experience, I do get a good amount of genuine feedback and readers, which I am very thankful for. I also have found soooo many cool comics and novels to follow by doing sub4sub or just looking around the forums. In short I guess what I’m trying to say is that sub4sub and genuine subs both carry pros and cons, it’s really up to you what you want to participate in. Hope this helps, ️

[wesley01x9]

Appreciate the help :

Read 01X9 | Tapas Web Community

[wesley01x9]

I think reaching 100 subscribers is a great milestone to gain some traction when starting out. Personally, I always read the first chapter, and I’ve even found a few great stories that I continue to follow.

That said

Read 01X9 | Tapas Web Community

[kyupol]

I do sub4sub because it gets my comic out there. The more people are subbed to your comic or novel the more it gets out there and recommended

[moontokkym]

Friend, time and place. This is not a promo thread.

[jwabeasley]

I will admit I thought monetization would be a bit more substantial than it is, I'm glad I wasn't counting on it.

On the other hand, I definitely read and keep up with your comic!

[moontokkym]

I'm "lucky" in that I kind of had a ballpark for what's viable to give to creators from just being aware of Youtube numbers over the years and having friends in online marketing, I knew that no one would be getting anything from ads at 100 subs, especially on an image-based website rather than a video-based one. However I get that not everyone is nose-deep in youtube's business model so there's nothing to really compare to.

Thank you for reading :3 i don't often promote so it's really heartwarming to see you in my comments and notifications! I'm glad you liked the cityscape

[Panpan]

I understand people participating in it to reach those goals. At the end of the day:

-It does mess with your algorithm. The more dead subs you have, the less likely you are to appear higher in the ranking.
-Do you really want 95% dead subs who originally subbed to you in the first place as an exchange? What we want to aim for is genuine subscribers who love the story, returns for every update, and supports.
-It's smarmy after a certain point. Did you reach that 250 sub goal? Now it's time to attract readers who aren't creators, unless those creators subbed without sub4sub threads. When a novel ranks pretty high in the listing and has 200 subs, we can SEE those subs, by the way. Seeing that they're ALL creators from sub4sub or accounts that follow just YOUR story and no one else's does not appear authentic.
-Depending on the creator, spamming for sub4sub is a for sure way to get creators to block you. Don't DM Tapas readers. Don't write on people's walls (prior two, depending on how much you spam, goes against community guidelines, btw). Stop posting links to your work in threads where it doesn't belong.

Overall, I would recommend to stop participating in sub4sub after you reach your unlocking goals. It's not going to work out long-term for engagement. There was a writer here last year who was RELENTLESS in sub4sub and finally tapped out the number of people willing to do it (around 500).

[Paul_Tromba]

It's mostly a means of generating readers as the higher the reader count, the more likely someone is gonna try reading it. Like some have said, it is also good for getting yourself ad revenue(despite never actually seeing a cent of payment most of the time). I have also received a few more dedicated readers through review swaps, sub 4 subs, and other promotional threads that usually bear little fruit.

[NGChloe]

of course its helpful, I wouldn't have achieved monetization without it. Other serial sites don't have the kind of advertising options as Tapas, and thus, I haven't been able to grow as much on those ones. The only downside is that not everyone who sub4subs will actually read your work. But any form of advertising is good advertising, as you'll get a few consistent readers within the deal