Is the Incubator Program discontinued?

[ValouraDoe]

Since my laptop crashed last year, I just realized that they hadn't done an Incubator Program contest as far as I'm aware.
I haven't heard anything about it for like... almost 2 years now that I look at it.
Have they officially decided against doing these contest? I'm just curious now that
it was brought to my attention.

[joannekwan]

I think they might be taking a break?
Doing one every year might have been a strain on company resources.

[ValouraDoe]

Honestly that's what I was thinking too. I would have liked to try to enter again this year with better material and also see new titles. I was just wondering if I was missing any information about it this year. Bummer.

[eleoza]

Maybe after the pandemic.

I do hope they organize it better than last time though. They left participants hanging with questions.

[ValouraDoe]

The first time I entered a couple years ago, it seemed fine, They seemed to be responding to tons of people in the forum thread. I'm not sure what was different last time with your case because I was not around. I think, of course, there's always room for improvement though. My main hope is that they branch away from the typical romance and cliche stuff. No offense to Tapas originals, but I'd personally like to see more original and compelling stuff. Not saying I'm IT or anything, but I'd like less romance and more sci-fi. Maybe Horror. Superheros, emotionally complex stuff. I don't know. That was my main qualm. No body implied this, but based on there previous choices. It felt like you were set to fail if you weren't a BL or rom-com series.

[eleoza]

I don't know about the years before, but I hope they pick up on being responsive like that again.
Last time the webtoons contest was also underway, and being left in the dark especially during in that time wasn't nice. They just stopped to respond and nobody knew what was going on.

Most incubator winners weren't all about romance I think, they may had romance, but also other themes. I've seen sci-fi and superheroes. Horror would indeed be awesome though.

[ValouraDoe]

Yeah but I felt like romance oversahdowed any other themes. They weren't scifi driven plots, they were romances that happened to be in scifi settings and those titles didn't actually delve into anything that would have made it actual scifi.
I'm not sure what title was super heros though?? I can't remember a superhero title that was a incubator winner.

[eleoza]

I haven't read it tbh but '5 suits' I think it was called, appeared to me as a super hero comic, and the 'magical boy', unless magic hero's is another catagory

[SeraphicMayin]

Now i don't know about any Incubator plans but in lieu of the contest, you can always craft a solid pitch for the Premium program if you meet the requirements. Cause who knows when or if it'll come up again.

From my experience pitching for it and also for the last Incubator that ultimately let me produce Swaha, the format of the pitch was essentially the same cause they'd want the same info to decide whether or not to produce the comic.

[darthmongoose]

The premium pitching requirements are here, for anyone interested:

Guidelines for pitching to Premium

For a lot of people, this is fairer than a competition (because there isn't a time limit, a requirement to wow the judges in a really short page count, a theme or just one winner). If you can prove your work has enough popularity on Tapas by reaching the numbers, you can make a pitch.

[eleoza]

There's my problem. They state they may not respond.
In my opinion being ignored is even worse than being rejected x.x I would never have the guts to do this.

edit: I know they're not obligated to respond, I'm just saying I'm too cowardly xD

[ValouraDoe]

They literally said they might not respond??

[ValouraDoe]

I totally appreciate that for anyone else at isn't aware of the premium. Though I prefer the benefits of the incubator program. It's like.. a learning on the job opportunity. Which is something I think Id really benefit from. Premium is pretty much just a title with a few other benefits.

[ValouraDoe]

For sure! I just really prefer the Incubator Program because I think that it'd help me learn more. I am planning on pitching for premium if we know for sure the Incubator Program isn't happening. So, I'm bummed that there's apparently no actual news validating either or.
P.S. Thanks for always taking the time to talk to other people about this. I see you in like every Incubator Program thread. lol I appreciate someone with experience talking to people about it. Am I wrong or was the last contest when you won? That was the last time I remember seeing the contest. :,(

[eleoza]

Yeh it said so in the guidelines :<

[ValouraDoe]

That is so frustrating. Hopefully that isn't a thing later.

[eleoza]

you mean in a possible new incubator event?
I hope so too, I won't participate anymore due to the silence last event. But for the people who would try (again) I really hope they won't abandon their question thread.

[ValouraDoe]

Me too. Here's hoping for better communication! lol

[ValouraDoe]

Magical boy was definitely one. (Though I never read it) Although I'd think Magical girl/boy series
isn't super hero.5 suits was a Incubator winner? I didn't even know that.

[ValouraDoe]

Yeah but you need 2000 subscribers to even qualify.
Which personally makes me feel more defeated than joining a competition.
That's just my personal view point.That's just one reason why I liked the incubator program.