Pay-To-Read Model

Luminosophy 2018-10-09 03:53:33 UTC #1

I was wondering if anyone, especially those who might be premium, can give their general experience or thoughts about using pay-to-read/unlock models here on Tapas. I was previously against them in my mind but when I did more digging and debating with some friends I started to wonder if they're a lot more viable than it appears on the surface.

I noticed a /lot/ of vitriol against the premium/ incubator creators on the last free page regarding the fact that it's no longer free to read. On one hand I was sympathetic, because it can feel a bit like a slap in the face when it's so sudden and there's no warning prior. (I think a lot of them are readers who don't seem to know what Premium or Incubator programs are.) On the other hand when I realized it was around 15c - 30c per whatever the creator decided, I started to wonder why people were so upset over something so inconsequential. I don't think you could possibly lower the barrier to entry. I mean hell, this series with amazing art and a story I'm enjoying for only 20c?! I've spent way more on games.

So despite having heavy criticism levied against the creator (it was worse in some comics more than others), is using that model really as bad as the dramatic comments makes it out to be? Do you find that you still have quite a number of people happily supporting the comic and regularly are unlocking the episodes? Some people were threatening "Yet another comic I have to drop from my library!" But as a friend put it, the creator didn't exactly lose anything from someone who never intended to pay. My biggest question and concern was though, how do you manage to advertise yourself to new potential readers if most of the content is locked?

Do you personally prefer the standard Patreon model (paid extras) over paywalling the comic pages themselves? At the end of the day, it seems like something has to get paywalled if you're trying to monetize your comic. So I guess whether it's the pages or extra content is the question and which one is better for what reasons. Or what would a model that does both look like? I'm curious! : 0

seru 2018-10-09 04:15:08 UTC #2

It all boils down to finding your audience and pretty much actively interacting with them to gain their love, attention, and support.

99% of your audience will fall under "casual readers."
1% will be the financial supporter.

Casual readers will read practically anything that interest them. If they don't feel strongly about your work, they will just drop it if it's pay-to-read.

Hodge 2018-10-09 04:21:12 UTC #3

Dude I've spent so much money on Lezhin it's ridiculous, and it seems like I'm not the only one. And the comics here on Tapas are even more affordable. I have no problem with a paywall as long as it's worth the cost (which is something to consider). Even the naver webtoon app has a paywall if you want to read the most recent 4 chapters of a comic. I'd rather a creator put a paywall so they can put in the time and effort to make quality content rather than neglecting a story because there's lack of incentive to work on it. Also, I'd prefer to just access everything on one site through a single purchase. If something is just an "extra," I generally can persuade myself to not purchase it, but if it's part of the story and am already willing to pay, I'll pay.

Luminosophy 2018-10-09 04:38:29 UTC #4

Yeah honestly the more I think about it the more is just makes way more sense to do. I can't imagine putting in all this work to make a comic and then ask to optionally support side content regarding the story. At least I'm not like that, I only like to work on one thing at a time with full attention. I haven't been on webtoons much so that's interesting to know!

This is a good reminder! A lot complained they were "too broke" to read. But the obvious counter is "well just watch some ads it won't take much to earn it." Obviously though, the only ones that will do it are the ones that care enough to. Which isn't bad really, I guess what you end up with is something you can call a true audience.

ratique 2018-10-09 04:43:55 UTC #5

I have oh so many thoughts about this.

When first introducing my paywall, of course I received complaints. The first person to rate my comic switched their 5 star rating to a 4 star the moment it was introduced (I guess I can be lucky they didn't switch it to 1star). I countered the comments with trying to educate - that an episode will cost 16 cents and that spending $5 on coins will last you forever because of that. Sadly you don't get notified when you receive a reply on a premium comic, so I don't think many people actually saw it.

Many would complain that they are too broke to pay. Totally fair. Make sure you eat before you read comics. Watching ads can be annoying and I'm not expecting anyone to spend their free-time doing that just to read my latest update.

But there are also those who simply get upset at the idea of having to pay. Everything on the internet should be free. They shouldn't have to pay for a comic when everyone else is doing it for free. And that you, the creator, should feel bad for hiding the comic from public view.

That, to me, someone who practically has no free time because of my comic, is entitlement. And I don't feel bad for someone who feels entitled to receive my work for no input of their own.

Like @seru said, those who really want to read the story will pay happily and be extremely supportive overall. I love my small group of readers and enjoy the fact that the same people keep returning and commenting. They are invested, emotionally AND financially.

Edit:
Forgot something. Something a lot of people like to forget: Most of webcomics are done as a hobby project. Very few actually make money with it. This means, sadly, that most webcomics eventually will be dropped by their creator, forever unfinished. Many long-form stories take years to complete. Without backup of a team like Tapas, I've found it nearly impossible to do this alone.

Comics with paywall are under contract. You HAVE to complete it (unless you have a good reason). That is huge and I gladly spend money for a story I will see the end of.

Luminosophy 2018-10-09 05:10:32 UTC #6

Thanks for your reply!

You encounter this attitude absolutely everywhere, from comics, to lawyers, to chefs lol. At the end of the day the creator needs something to keep the lights on and I can't really blame someone for not wanting to continue working on something in their free time if after a while it just doesn't pay off. I always wonder where this idea originated though, because it's even present in adults who expect the most random of services to be free, or otherwise impossibly cater to their every minute whim. As evidenced on For_Exposure tweets.

But yeah - I've always dismissed these types. To think this way you really have to believe the world revolves around you (or just be young and not know how business/ the world works, which is forgivable to a certain point. )

That honestly sounds like a dream come true. You know you're always returning to a group of dedicated readers who legitimately are invested in everything happening. I still have my one question though, how do you go about advertising a series that's paywalled to new people, if you do advertising at all? I see free comics link to their latest page on their social media and people go read it. Unless you just do the same thing and maybe some figure they want to pay to read after they read the free intro. I guess I'm wondering if you'd do other (non-spoiler) illustrations and talking about it etc on social media pages.

ratique 2018-10-09 05:23:21 UTC #7

I don't advertise and I don't have a very large social media following. Others are much better at this - especially writer/artist pairs seem to do a really good job at marketing themselves, with one working on the comic and the other playing the social media game.

Tapas takes care of the marketing, that's one of my main reasons why I signed the contract. I don't want to have to deal with trying to gain readers when I'm also struggling to meet a deadline.

The fact that you are a premium comic actually works in your favor too. There are many readers who seek out comics with potentially higher quality (because editors also work on this) and they can be sure the story will be completed.

seru 2018-10-09 05:29:27 UTC #8

Advertising and marketing can be tricky for some people if they are not knowledgeable about how things work.
It will take me days just for me to explain the concept, but for starters these are the things you need to know:

1) who are your target audience? What sites do they visit? What type of stories do they read? Age group? Etc?
2) build your brand as a creator. This is super important. Social media presence is a big deal as you progress as a creator.
3) Create something unique/niche. The market is over saturated of content and you need to cater to specific people.

I started from zero and I've been through it. It's a uphill battle and you need grit and perseverance.

fleohr 2018-10-09 06:43:50 UTC #9

Recently, an author on LW created a website for their comic where you have to pay 2 dollars to read each episode

They have about 20k subs and every update (they just post a single image as teaser) a bunch of readers still complains about the change, not even caring about the author, telling that it's illegal to advertise on a free-to-read site, they are poor, author should have mercy, etc etc

I guess the best would be to start as a pay-to-read webcomic, instead of switching to pay-to-read in the middle, just to avoid these kind of comments

Hodge 2018-10-09 07:32:05 UTC #10

Oof, I'm actually curious, can you DM me the comic?

Also, I think this person explains why this entitlement is not good for the industry in the long run. And here you can find interviews from BL creators where this is becoming a serious problem. I'll take a few whiny commenters over a declining comic industry any day.

seru 2018-10-09 08:07:24 UTC #11

@Hodge Interesting. My site is doing better now that it's pay-to-read and no more free shit to be honest. Most of our sales are still offline at conventions.

Hodge 2018-10-09 08:18:24 UTC #12

That's great! I really like the monthly subscription model so hopefully that works out

kaiwang868 2018-10-09 08:49:03 UTC #13

Fully agree with you!

vvbg 2018-10-09 12:39:48 UTC #14

I was literally having this discussion with some fellow creators yesterday! (And most of our one-star reviews on Born Sexy Tomorrow are from people upset that they have to pay for content.)

Most people do webcomics as a hobby, which I think is wonderful. But if your goal is to become a professional creator, then getting people used to the idea of paying for comics is beneficial for all creators, and the future of the industry as a whole. When people see comics as something that has real value, not only does this allow you to make money off your creation, it legitimizes what we do as something valid and worthwhile.

When Archia (my partner, the artist) and I started out making comics, we were happy to make them for free, and then self-publishing a print version that people could purchase from us. This meant we had to handle printing costs, packaging, and shipping and handling all on our own. It was a LOT of work! It also meant that whenever we were working on making the comic, there was no money coming in from book sales. Archia is a full-time artist, and in order to make money during those lean months, she had to manage a patreon as well as do commissions on the side, which obviously took time away from making the comic itself.

When we got chosen for the first Incubator class, it was a dream come true. The money that Tapas invested into us allowed us to focus completely on creating BST, and something that had once seemed impossible for us - making a career in comics - was suddenly viable!

Tapas itself is a small start-up company (I know it doesn't seem that way when we're using this site) but in order to pay creators, to pay for hosting, to maintain the site, to continue to update and improve user experience, as well as to market to bring in new readers - they depend on ad revenue and Premium comics. When readers pay for Premium comics, it actually goes towards benefiting all of us.

We did a warning on BST before it was locked, and I think a lot of our readers appreciated that. Also, despite being a Premium comic, our subscriber count continues to grow every time we update! Of course it won't be the rapid growth we'd see on a free comic, but as everyone else has said, the readers you lose would never have paid in the first place, whereas the ones that return again and again are your true and loyal fans.I'm incredibly grateful for them because without them, we literally couldn't do this.

As to your biggest question - we do try and advertise on social media (I'm still not very good at consistent updates, I'm struggling to get better at it). I post behind-the-scenes exclusives, world-building extras, select single panels, and I'm starting to do WiPs. However, our social media following is still quite small, especially compared to other artists. And managing social media is a lot of work in itself, so we're thankful that Tapas does feature its Premium content and take care of a lot of advertising for us.

It's actually a very exciting time to be in webcomics! Print media sales are declining in all published industries, and the cost of printing is rising due to paper mills closing (at least in the West - and I know this since we get updates from the printers that we use.) More and more we turn to the internet for entertainment. South Korea invented the webtoon (specifically, the vertical scroll format of webcomic) and it's become a MASSIVE industry there over the last decade. Webtoons are seen as a new media and their own form of entertainment - and they go on to inspire animations, movies, live-action dramas, novels, etc. (And the reason why Naver is investing so much money into LINE Webtoon in the West) If we want to see even a fraction of that kind of success in the English-speaking world, we have to convince audiences that webcomics are legitimate and have monetary value.

Luminosophy 2018-10-09 15:32:19 UTC #15

I was actually wondering about this, since I've seen artists use the same pay-to-read model for pages through their Patreon. It would seem to me like Patreon is at massive risk of having someone pledge, download pages, upload for free and remove pledge. That person mentions they can rip from Tapas but it's too much effort to, mostly. So there's still a possibility that someone could unlock, prt scrn it all, stitch it together and release for free? I would hope the sheer effort involved is enough of a deterrent.

LordVincent 2018-10-09 15:49:53 UTC #16

I advertise my paid content by continuing to produce free content too. I crosspromote my own comics across all my free comics, along with my patreon and premium comic. This means that I always have something that draws in readers at "entry care level" and then once they become more engaged and excited about my work they will usually support on patreon or read my premium comic. It's a model that I've found works well for me, but it requires you to be a fast worker in order to manage it.

So basically: i have at least one free comic running at a time. That free comic has an optional "supporter upgrade" on patreon that gives you early access or other stuff, and on that free comic I also advertise my premium comic.

As of right now I have 3 free ongoing comics with extra stuff available on patreon, and 1 premium comic. I have another release on the way but that one is already finished so I am not actively working on it anymore.

Kura 2018-10-09 16:26:37 UTC #17

I don't have anything against paywalls, I don't mind them, I like giving artists money if I am able to because I know how much work art is. However, I don't think it's a model I will adopt for myself (though I'm fine with other people having it)

Because I grew up really poor I like being able to release my stories and comics for free, it's just how I am and how I will very likely always be. It was just not fun being the only left out in a conversation because I couldn't afford cable, the next harry potter book or the most recent issue of a comic. So I like having stuff available for free with people paying me when/if they can via patreon or paypal. The idea that people that can pay me can choose to which in turn will keep the story free for everyone was one I liked, and this model worked fine, but then the numbers changed.

It was no longer a majority of readers just not being able to afford entertainment, the majority became people DEMANDING free entertainment despite having money, people demanding that EVERYTHING be free because 95% of it being free wasn't enough free content, they should have the extra stuff that's not necessary for the enjoyment of the story but is created more as gifts for people investing money to keep the stories free for everyone. They should be able to read at the same time as people investing money (which for me, wasn't even a long wait, one comic you waited a day longer than paying people, the other comic you waited a week) because of this it has made the previous model not work as well as it once did before, and definitely made it one that was not stable enough for a living wage.

That said, the 'entitlement' crowd expands MUCH further than payment and paywalls and exist even in the paying group, and it's unfair to pin that on only people that can't pay. I have faced more demands and abuse from people that actually pay for my content than from people that read it for free.

"I pay, so I am better than and should be given higher priority."
"Why aren't you updating faster, I'm paying you."
"I don't like the way the story is going, change it or lose my support"
"If you keep drawing things I don't want instead of ONLY drawing things I want then you won't get money and I'll tell everyone else to stop paying you."
"How is it taking so long for you to draw this comic? What am I paying you for? You better not be playing videogames on my dime."

Are comments I used to get a lot from people that would pledge to patreon or paypal.

TomDellaringa 2018-10-09 16:45:27 UTC #18

This is the crux of the issue and has been true forever. It won't change for the casual reader.

You have to build an audience of backers that are invested in YOU and your work. It's hard, but it works.

Over the past few years I have had a very small group of backers on Patreon. At it's height around 35 when I was still doing Marooned, now only around 17 since I am between projects. But over the course of that few years, they have provided me around $3,000 in support. That's a lot, friends. And I am just a small time player.

The truth is giving your stuff away for free forever doesn't get you much anymore unless you can get a portion of those readers to pony up something. Patreon, Kickstarter, whatever.

My problem with Tapas/WT seems to be that the amount of people actually willing to back artists seems very low. I think it's partially due to a young audience, and partially due to the fact that since there is so much free content, they feel it should all, always, be free. It's a double edged sword.

In the end you are selling YOU. Remember that.

TomDellaringa 2018-10-09 16:49:50 UTC #19

What is LW? I've not heard of this.

Shanny8 2018-10-09 17:01:24 UTC #20

This how I make most of my money. I would love to pick up that "small army of loyal readers" so that I could sustain fairly well and have a balance between sales from cons/online revenue.

@TomDellaringa Amen to that. I love making comics...I love making money. Sure I like drawing, but that doesnt mean I want to do it forever as a hobby; if I can make some money doing the very thing that I love to do(drawing & making comics) then I'm gonna try my damnedest to do so...