Pay-To-Read Model

[Hodge]

If there's a will there's a way man. We can try to say it's theft and wrong, but there might always be people who simply don't care. That's when legal action seems to be the only way, and in recent times that's the route Korean publishers are taking.

[SeraphicMayin]

Like @vvbg mentioned, it important we shift the thinking of web comic readers.

I challenge the idea that comics have to be fundamentally free. The good ones take just as much work, time, and effort as a novel or movie

The Premium comics and Incubator comics have, generally, more quality stories and art than comics made as a hobby.

Yes there are high quality comics that get support via Patreon if there is enough popular support for it, but I'm not going to focus on those for the purpose of this topic.

I don't like the term Paywall. It's like saying I want to see this movie but there's a paywall of buying a ticket.

Ideally I see this "paywall" as buying an ebook. Once it's bought (incrementally or not) you're free to read it however much you like. This applies to an innumerable number of books, why can't it apply to comics?

And its high time we the creators start telling our readership that. We can share our process and how long each step along the way takes. We can show in a behind-the-scenes everything created that didn't make it into the story but had to be made for the sake of the story.When people understand what it takes to make a story, we begin to bond and empathize with one another.

The thing is, it's the story that we're selling and that's the thing of value in a webcomic. Those who create these stories in the web comic medium as a living are no less professional than best selling novelists or movie makers.

It's a new and growing industry and so we face the task of getting readers to understand that supporting quality stories not only helps the creators make more stories but Tapas itself. And the bigger Tapas gets, the more opportunities they can give for creators who don't want to sell the digital comic itself but some other methods of earning from their work.

I don't think the model is bad on Tapas, considering how cheap the comics as a whole end up being. And if you make it clear as to what it is (premium/paid comic) then there are no surprises.

What's needed is a fundamental shift in how we treat creators of quality content. And the only way we can do that is through educating the readership that, yeah, if you want quality stories you have to treat the comic like you would other beloved entertainment.

There will always be those who will never want to pay, and that's fine. It's not in my locus of control.

I happily support the stories that I enjoy and $5-$20 really take you far. My Incubator Comic won't be published for a while but I have no qualms with the modest pricing because I know the story works, and those that enjoy it will have even fewer qualms about supporting that content. It not only helps me but the entire Tapas team and future creators. Don't we want this site to thrive?

On advertising/marketing: that's just placing the comic where people can see it.

All you have to do is go out and share it everywhere you can, as regularly as you can, and in an interesting manner. That last one is important. It answered the question of "why should I click on this link to your webcomic?"

Present the premise of the story concisely and if the story is good it will hook people in. It all comes back to first and foremost having a quality story to tell.

Movies and novels have no problem selling if they're good right? Web comics can be the same.

[fleohr]

It's Line Webtoon....

[TomDellaringa]

Oh! LOL, I didn't get the abbreviation. Too funny.

[kaiwang868]

I recently got interested in some of the Premium novels and to unlock all the chapters, it costs maybe around 5-6USD? Considering taxes, Tapas's cut, a cut to the bank, the creator makes maybe 2USD at best (ballpark figure, if anyone can confirm the cut the creator makes, please tell us ^^) Considering how most Yenpress novels cost more than that due to higher overheads, I think Tapas's revenue model is pretty solid. I'd say the only drawback of Tapas is that they don't have the same capacity as Yenpress or J-Novel Club and can't have novels coming out at machine gun rapid fire.

Although I think a big issue with Tapas's model is that both on Tapas and on Webtoons, there are comics and (in case of Tapas) also novels available for free. It's tougher to justify a paywall if there's so much stuff available for free on the same platform. Maybe a better strategy would be to move faster in licensing high performance non-premium content, or to invest into licensing more Korean and Chinese and Japanese webcomics/webnovels.

My Big Sister Lives in a Fantasy World seems to be really doing well. I hope Tapas brings out more novels like that.

[ratique]

if anyone can confirm the cut the creator makes, please tell us ^^

Tapas and creator share the revenue 50/50 after fees - and fees are about 25-30% (That's an estimate, I didn't do the math lately).

[seru]

Fees are a killer which suck.

[ratique]

Fees pay employees of other companies, which isn't a bad thing either. Annoying, yes, but we can't complain about readers not being willing to support if we don't want to do it ourselves.

[LordVincent]

Revenue share actually depends on the individual agreement! However I think 50/50 is the most common one.

[hjfsdh2222]

Because webtoons has it for free:/

I have never come across a webtoon that wasn’t free:/
Once someone does it for free, everyone wants it for free:/
People like free:/
I think Tapas should keep the paywall (wait for free options is very nice) but they should market more of the free stuff to get more readers:/
I personally don’t like buying webcomics unless it’s a physical copy. Otherwise if my account crashes or something or I forget my password then I lose that webcomic forever. That’s just my reasoning for it.

[SeraphicMayin]

I understand the worry of losing your password, but because it's a digital product hosted on Tapas servers (and hopefully it's creator's hard drive), you'll never truly "lose it forever."

If you enjoy the story enough there are ways to reset your password or send an email to the Tapas team should something catastrophic happen to your account. They are nothing if not fair and there are plenty of records documenting any purchases you make.

Now...
The only reason Webtoons has it for free is because they're a sponsored by a massive company and have had deep pockets from the get-go. Their goal is to corner the market in the west. Tapas doesn't have that silver spoon, they're a start-up based in the U.S..

My hesitation with Line's model is that they could change their TOS at any time and put up paywalls once they've reached a saturation point and need to find a way to make an income that doesn't come from the sponsorship of Naver (their parent company, based in Korea). By that point their audience might be so large that they'll be able to get away with that. What I mean to say is, I don't think they can keep growing and stay free forever.

Tapas is still a start-up with a relatively small team. So in a way they're just like us creators who are trying their best to create a community that has a drive to create good webcomics.

They have always been open and transparent with what their mission is and how they operate. I believe their goal of a spirit of collaboration with creators is what will make Tapas out-last the 'competition'.

Please give this article (https://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalkowitz/2018/03/08/digital-story-platform-tapas-builds-big-audience-with-bite-size-content/#64ac85ec4612) (an interview with the head of Tapas) a read for insight.

I know people like free, but in the end that is a point of view that hurts creators who do this for a living.

At the core, one doesn't (and shouldn't) make webcomics for the popularity of readership, they make it to touch the audience, to connect to people, and to present how they think about the world and humanity through their story.

If they learn to craft the story well and share it where people can find it, the large readership will naturally follow, paid or not.

Not many realize this and even less appreciate it.

[bakasama25]

"Tapas is still a start-up with a relatively small team."

I'm not so sure if they are that "small" like they were in the past. They bought Webtoon Live, a popular fan translation group that fan translated "Girls the Wild". Have deals with Daum, Kakao, and Nate, South Korea largest webtoon companies after Naver. Have deals with U11 and Tencent Comics and Animation, China's largest webtoon companies.

[LordVincent]

....which is impressive for a startup with a relatively small team.

Webtoon still started out with bigger money in their pockets and it's the reason they can keep things free for longer and toss money out in contests etc for marketing purposes. Tapas doesn't have that advantage, and they still make great success because they have great ideas and business concepts.

[SeraphicMayin]

Having these deals are great, I'm not denying that. I just want to point out that a deal is not the same as the sponsorship that Line has from Naver.

It's only been 5 years as well since Tapas started, and that's the minimum amount of time a business needs to grow before they see any significant movement. Unlike Line, they didn't have a big company like Naver to provide all the money to keep comics free, they had to and still have to generate their own income.

The way they're doing that while growing is to have healthy partnerships with creators to cultivate long term relationships and sell the comics. I believe Tapas is still building that foundation made of a strong trust between them and the creators that will help them in the long term.

That's why they still have a small number of staff relative to, for example, Line Webtoon.

Tapas has 24 people total according to a newsfeed article they posted in July this year. I don't know the exact number for Line, but considering their traffic appears to be like 9 times what it is on Tapas, and that they began in 2005 when Tapas began in 2012, I'm willing to bet it's a lot more people.

[seru]

I could go on and on here on how to maximize Tapas' growth potential but they ain't paying me so I will keep my strategies for myself and my own start-up company.

My advice to creators is to treat yourself and your work as a small business and your product. You have to be knowledgeable about business not just creating comics. Your readers are your potential customers after all. Build a brand around you. Market your product. And then sell it.

A lot of creators, even those who have 200k+ subs on Webtoons and maybe 30k+ subs here on Tapas, don't know how to properly sell their comics. It's evident on their Patron count if they use Patreon. I might start a video series tackling this topic when I do find the time. Business is so complex and it's different for everyone.

As for me, pay-to-read model has been gradually successful.

[Lady_DarkStar]

I look forward to the videos. Hopefully they apply to novels and short stories as well as comics. I would really like to fix whatever I am doing wrong on Patreon, long before I actually publish the novel I am working on.

[hjfsdh2222]

I wasn’t saying that what webtoons is doing is better. I was just saying that’s why people feel that way.

At the end of the day though the winner is the best business man, not the one with the most “heart”. And so far I think Tapastic has done pretty good on its business. The people who always complain about episodes not being free are just a loud minority really. As long as the company stats are good it doesn’t really matter what anybody SAYS is going on.

[turtleme]

Going back to @spudfuzz original question about whether creators prefer the standard Patreon model vs. the premium content model, allow me to put in my two cents.

My novel is hosted on different sites and on Tapas, it's pay-to-read. A lot of my readers have found this out but still choose to pay and read on Tapas simply for the convenience and community. For the readers that have stuck with me since before I was contracted under Tapas, I have a Patreon system where readers can choose to support for extra chapters.

After the novel catches up to the current chapters on Tapas, I plan to still take advantage of the Patreon system and allow readers the option to subscribe for extra chapters. This is what, I guess, having a model that "does both" looks like, but it would only work if you're under a nonexclusive contract with Tapas.

Many of the premium content is under an exclusive contract, meaning you can't gain money from the premium work on any other platform (otherwise, we'd probably see some premium content on Tapas being hosted on LW for their benefits as well).

With my comic, like @vvbg said, there have been some negative reviews solely based on the fact that it's pay-to-read, and while it's upsetting, I try not to dwell on it too much.

As for the common complaint about free-to-read comics having less visibility, I totally agree. Tapas is actually working on a lot of stuff that's focusing on giving more of the creators visibility but since the entire platform is based mostly on the front screen of a handheld device, the "real estate" competition is high.

Even premium contents have to fight for the better spot (which is the top few rows on the home page) so there's no question that the layout and content being shown needs to be improved.

I'll stop here for now since it feels like I'm babbling at this point but yeah, you get the idea. I'm not a "veteran" like some of the commenters here on Tapas since I've only been here for around two years, but I'm pretty close to my editor at Tapas and we talk a lot so feel free to ask and I'll try to answer the questions that I'm allowed to.