Possible differences between popular and not popular comics?

unknown_user 2018-10-28 14:58:54 UTC #1

Some comics gain readers very slowly, and some become popular very quickly, even when there are not much pages in them yet. And I want to sort out differencies between them.
Of course, I noticed that comics, which are made professionally or by the author with the big fanbase, likely will become popular more quickly. In the other hand, roughly drawned and bad-produced comics likely will remain without attention...
But sometimes I just don't see the difference in quality of two works, one of which is very popular, and other is not popular at all. That means that there should be also some more subtle reasons behind this. What do you think?

DiegoPalacios 2018-10-28 15:07:54 UTC #2

There can be a mix of many factors. Here are some:

-Obviously, if the art is visually appealing, it increases the chances of people seing the comic.

-Other factor is the content itself. This is the reason people stay.

-The author`s behavior and statements. This can attract or drive away people too.

-Advertising/marketing skills and if they advertise at all: good advertising can make your work more visible and attract the audience that may be interested in your story.

-Trends: Trends come and trends go, but some stories may currently appeal to what people is seeking. Sometimes is a memorable story the one that creates a trend.

-There may be many more, but those are the ones that come into my mind for now.

Jenny-Toons 2018-10-28 15:12:35 UTC #3

@DiegoPalacios provided some key ideas on why these things happen. They all link back to the efforts of the creator and how they're getting their work out there. I think the trouble with only seeing from the outsider perspective is that we only see that and not the behind the scenes.

Some comics that gain a lot of popularity with few pages and are seemingly popular "overnight" have creators who've been at it for a while. They've created other stories, some that probably weren't popular, and learned from the experiences to improve themselves. Then there are creators who were able to bring over fans they've earned doing other works (fanart, fancomics, another comic, etc.).

At the same time, the comics that are gaining readers slowly might not be doing the advertisement they need or aren't really engaging their audience/other creators. They have the art, the story, but no one really knows who they are or have seen any of their other work. It might even be hard to find them, and if you do -- they might not have a lot of art/creations posted.

Even with this, skill isn't always going to be the thing that drives people to you. There are a lot of professionally done comics that are online that have little attention. At the same time, there are comics that are roughly drawn that are getting more attention.

It really depends on the efforts of the creator to get out there (and maybe a little bit of luck along the way). When you put yourself out there, people will notice. After all, even if you have work DaVinci would love, if no one knows who you are or if you don't have a presence, people won't know what you're offering.

beta1042 2018-10-28 15:34:08 UTC #4

I think overall the people who are getting ontop fast verse the people with similar quality comics who don't, are getting some boost somewhere, the most likely being one of the following
-The platform promoted the comic
-The author is well known and promoted their own comic somewhere else(perhaps even under a different penname so you didn't know)
-They have a friend who helps promote them who is well known.
-They paid for some sort of adverting or are just good and promoting themselves.

Then there is also the Thumbnail, your thumbnail needs to be of a good enough quality, with interesting character designs to attract people to pick it out and click it over others.
Then your first Chapter has to hook them right off the bat.

I've seen great comics with meh thumbnails. And also a lot of stories just can't give the hook in the beginning (Honestly the story is better off with the slow start) but unfortunately not everyone is gonna get into that when some other comic hooked them immediately.

Samuraiflame 2018-10-28 15:36:59 UTC #5

Diego and beta basically covered most of the stuff about content, but I'll add a few more points.

Scheduling and consistent updates: Depending on the platform, updating daily or weekly is more beneficial.Someone who takes hiatuses constantly might have amazing work, but people will still subscribe to the comic they see that updates consistently. Even the time of day that you update can give you a boost.
Length of episodes: Readers can also be turned on or off by the length of updates. Some people don't mind single pages, while others prefer episodes in big chunks.

shazzbaa 2018-10-28 16:10:59 UTC #6

There also a luck factor, I think, to finding your audience. It's not like one comic's readership would translate effortlessly to another comic and it's just a matter of which they see first -- no, I think it's more like, in this group of comic readers are some people who would enjoy your comic and some people who wouldn't, and while you can signal what kind of comic you have and increase the odds of being looked at by those Potential Readers, it's still a little bit up to luck when you'll find them. A random sampling of readers sees your comic every time you update, and gaining a readership isn't just "get as many people as possible to look at your comic," but more like "get as many people as possible to look at your comic in hopes that some of the people who look will be Potential Readers"

Like, all else being equal, sometimes you stumble into that audience quickly, and those folks share with their friends and you grow surprisingly fast. Other times you just don't happen to be noticed by the folks who would love your comic until later.

keii4ii 2018-10-28 16:23:07 UTC #7

One of my aunts bought a large set of biography books (like 70+?) about famous people for her kids, i.e. my cousins. You know, people like Beethoven, Thomas Edison, Gandhi. The set was called the complete collection of great people. When I was little, I thought that meant every great person throughout history must be included in these books.

Then one day, it hit me: could it be possible that some great people aren't included? I asked that to my mom, who enthusiastically replied that yes, there are lots of great people who deserve to be remembered and learned from, but aren't included in those books -- or even completely forgotten!

Life isn't meritocracy. Sometimes you have amazing gems that are perfectly accessible (i.e. not too niche) yet never rise in popularity. Like @shazzbaa said luck is definitely a factor. Don't expect popularity to be proportional to the merit of the work! Some popular works are great, others just okay. Likewise, some obscure works are amazing, others not so amazing.