LINE Webtoon - Opinions?

[Emevsa]

That was a big part of why we went with it to begin with. Now with barely any traffic it makes one wonder what the point is. We promote it as our main site but I wonder if it'd be worth switching at this stage. Hard to tell.

[LordVincent]

Ultimate exposure is gained through posting on all successful sites available, and currently tapas and webtoons are two of the most successful ones.

Ditching one entirely because of a slump is a bad business decision, and doing so on repeated occasions will send your audience the message that you're an unreliable creator.

Choose your main site based upon the site's values and main drive. Tapas is my main uploading site because they value free expression, LGBT content, they have high acceptance for expression through mature content, I like their audiences and I see great stability and strengths in their revenue earning systems (in a sense that I can see how it earns the actual company revenue, and thus I can see it still standing a few years from now).

When judging any site you should set up a few preferences/requirements/expectations. You should try to think long term rather than short term. Think long and hard before you choose or change your preferred main uploading site, because to be successful as an individual creator you'll want to be as consistent as possible and make thought out decisions.

Emotions are irrelevant to business, too.

Quick and easy subs may feel good, but at the end of the day you need to ask yourself which site's financial plan seems more stable and which site better suits your morals and preferred audience.

The choice is up to you. Once you've made the choice of which tool to keep as your main go-to, don't blame the tool itself. Because the choice was always yours.

[NanettesClouds]

I'm kicking myself for not mirroring on webtoons before this drop happened

EDIT: Seriously though, this is probably mostly just school taking away time from your readers. It's happening here on Tapastic too. Especially if your work appeals to a younger audience. A good portion of my audience seems to be edgy teens and so yeah, my numbers have dropped. But like, I'm not gonna ditch tapastic because I'm not getting the same numbers I got back in August.

EDIT 2:

The ability to gain easy readership and subs was ultimately the biggest advantage Webtoons had over its competitors and now that it's seemingly gone, the one thing that makes Webtoons unique has essentially vanished.

I dunno man, if that was like, the only good thing about webtoons, I guess you can just move back here to Tapastic where there are literally mathematical systems designed to benefit new creators trying to grow an audience. Or, I dunno whatever.

[ReroOnyx]

Well think about it. Other than the ability to get high number of readers, seemingly because Webtoons focuses more on readers than creators, what else did it really have in terms of applications that almost any other basic hosting site had? It's notification is basically nothing. You have no real control over comments, ratings or likes with no way to really follow your readership unless you directly go to them.

There's no forum for any kind to interact with other creators or the staff. I remember actually sending an E-Mail some time ago with some concerns and it was about a month later before I go ta response and by then, I had completely forgotten about it.

You have a limited approach when it comes to uploading. Not only does it have to be .JPEG, which for me is fine but it has to be in a certain size. It has to be 800x1280 and if your even a pixel away, it blurs your entire image.

As I continued to get readers, these issues, while bothersome, I was able to ignore. As long as I was getting the reward of some sort, I could forgive not having a proper notification, ability to really interact with creators or readers, no forum, strange limitations and all that.

But now that it's gone,the only real reason I'm still posting there is because I've built up something already and you never know what's going to happen in the future.

[beta1042]

I don't plan on ditching either website. And as slow as webtoons has become, it still beats how I'm doing on tapas. It was just a bit of a shock to go from 50 subs an update to like 5. Now that I realize it is what it is, I'm just shrugging it off and carrying on. I'm mainly doing my comic for artistic growth, and I can get that with or without subs. It's just nice having people read the comic and providing comments and feedback. Motivates me a bit more.

[Emevsa]

I see what you're saying. I was coming from the point of view of which ones we might focus on in our social media promotions. Right now we make sure people know that we update on four mirrors. I wouldn't want to pull the comic from either of them, or stop updating as it is unfair to the audiences we have built up.

We generally do think long term and usually we try to back up our decisions with as much data or evidence as we can because as you said, emotions are irrelevant to business. (Though I would argue that this isn't 100% true but I understand the point you're making.)

The point I was trying to make (and probably poorly on my behalf ) is that we prefer to be in communities where we can engage with on forums or through comments, even if it is just one person commenting. Webtoons had the advantage of having those all enticing numbers, but in terms of engagement it is a bit baron. At this stage it is a matter of trying to decide if the best long term solution going into our next issue. Do we stay the course of Webtoons or should we direct our social media efforts to a community like this one.

[lunchtiiime12]

All I got from Webtoon for Cyber Monday was 50% off my views and 90% off my subscribers. Thanks, Webtoon!

[Zugaikotsu]

Hi, guys! New here on the forums! Nice to meet you all! xD

I thought that this decreasing in views/ subs were result of the midterms season solely, since most of their public are teens or college students. So, those changes on LINE algorythims are really a thing? Our 'lots of subs/views party' is coming to an end? Maybe they're trying to hamper the game, so there will be less and less competition for the patreon funds? Will the million dollar for Discover last until 2018 December (this is just rhetoric)? So many questions...

Sorry my broken English... the combo migraine + stomach cramps makes things worst. xD

[jurinova]

I have my comic on Tapastic, Webtoons and Smackjeeves and there's been a huge drop in readers on the first two but not on Smackjeeves. There's been a small drop in views but I've still gotten some new subscribers on SJ but on Tapastic and Webtoons the change has been dramatic, so I honestly don't believe it's just school that's to blame. I noticed the change in views on Tapastic happened when the Trending section was moved to the bottom of the front page but I didn't know Webtoons had changed their website too.

It's such a shame when things like this happen because they really do discourage the lesser known creators. It's a struggle just to get noticed and it takes so much energy from the actual comic making to promote that it doesn't always seem worth it. I know that it's impossible to have a completely even playing field but for some reason the websites seem to be making the visibility even less equal with these new updates.

[69Michi]

I decided to start keep track of my traffic since July (wish I started earlier but oh well, you really can't trace back your old traffics on Webtoon)

Here is a quick comparison between Webtoon and Tapas. As you can see both site took a hit during October, nothing surprise there. But I think traffic is slowly picking up but I'm not putting too much hope into it. Final exams are near and December + January are dead traffic months for any business not just online traffic. My comic update every 2 weeks, and every update, I do manage to make it into the top 5 (more often has been number 1 on Fantasy) Webtoon wise, so take my numbers with a grain of salt. Just want to share an insight into my data. All website has its slow time, give it sometimes and try again.

[Kyazi]

I was considering posting to Webtoon for my comic New Password: Love but will having it on both tapas/webtoon cause issues? I have a thick skin so webtoon rudeness doesn't bother me. Since I have never really made comics before lol...

Anyways opinions? (this is a really long thread ;-; )

Ill be honest when I read on webtoon it does work better for longer comics but i dont want super long ones since I read while I am on break at work lol... Tapas I know people post shorter to build up view counts so shorter comics or parts works better here. If I ended up posting on webtoons I would probably combine several of my tapas posts into 1 webtoon post. My average page length is around 4-5 pages per post on tapas...

[UzukiCheverie]

Every time someone asks "should I post to both?" the answer is always the same - you have nothing to lose and possibly everything to gain. It's not like there's a law saying you can't upload to more than one place at the same time, and frankly, you'd be foolish not to Best case scenario, you get a whole lot more traffic; worst case scenario, you don't and you decide it's not worth updating to that one place any longer. Internet trolls are everywhere and most people who harass these days are those who are on a personal level with the creator themselves (and those who are really just random really aren't worth worrying about because they're random, why should you care?), so unless you've got specific people you're worried about following you around, you should be fine. Don't let anonymous idiots be the deciding factor in trying something new, that's a waste of your time and energy.

[beta1042]

I mean it's not a lot more effort but it's some extra effort. Both websites have different sizes for everything, and Webtoons only allows JPG so you may have to convert some things if you post to webtoon. I would also make sure your comic looks good on mobile, I'm pretty sure more of their users are using mobile than on tapas.

They also have a rating system which is totally arbitrary and if someone decides to give you a poor rating right off the bat it can be hard. But if you have a thick skin don't think anything of it.

[Kyazi]

I see well thank you for your input. I do have a pretty thick skin when I am not worrying myself Lol.

[ReroOnyx]

Honestly, your series takes heavy influence from the romance genre and considering how much Webtoons loves that genre, I can't help but think you'll have little trouble fitting in.Honestly, if you don't hit 50 subs by your first day alone posting there, I'll eat my shoe.

Not really and I make no promises but to be fair, the genre you're working with is something that's much easier to get attention on Webtoons than say others. The moment people see that "Romance" genre on the front page, it's like an aroma that that just brings readers in.

I make no promises as I say but you have far less to worry about I think then other people do.

[Kyazi]

Thats hilarious cause I normally avoid Romance and go for gaming, fantasy, reincarnations though lately I've been going towards a few romances. Weird. Lol (Also Hi Rero!)

[bear1]

Can someone tell me where the 'fresh pick' section is? I only see 'recommended titles', but nothing else. I thought the 'fresh pick' section wasn't on yet

Personally speaking, I don't see any change in my views. Everything stayed pretty steady. Just the subs aren't as strong as they used to. But that might be due to me changing categories. So I guess that's my fault XD

Also, how do you all manage to get featured!?
I don't mean to whine but...I update there since the beginning of June, I have now nearly 95 comics on and Senpai hasn't noticed me yet
I feel so ignored...is there anything to improve my chances or is all I can do just update and hope&pray

[globetrottingfox]

To be honest when I decided yto post online my comic (which is more a way I entertain myself during my uni classes, shame on me) I went straight on Webtoon since a lot of friends of mine told me about this views and subscriber bonanza but, as long as I have seen, It worked better for me on Taas which was the website I ironically had less faith in due of its nature.
I am kind of shocked by reading the last posts here, I honestly thought it was due just to my poor art and/or story but it might be something else as well.
I am keeping track of my datas as well and I'll see in friday (posting day) if something moves or the water stays still.
One big complain I have is, for sure, the little to nothing capability I have to see what is actually happening in terms of comments, views and subcount.

[69Michi]

You can find “Fresh Pick” on the mobile app, it’s not on desktop version.

And yes, all we know about the chance of being featured is to hope and pray that we get picked. Webtoon is very strange when it comes to feature. Sometimes it’s the one that is already popular on discover, but a lot of the time those that are under 10k subs get picked too. It’s really not up to “views/subs/popularity” as they mentioned in heir FAQ.

[KingsClubComics]

same boat I'm doing a printed version to reach the older audience, but I really want to keep the online version as long as possible.