Posting your comic EXPECTATIONS vs REALITY

[amortelito]

We all had expectations before posting our comic/novel, did they turn out to be true? Did the opposite happen? Share your experience!

-I honestly expected a lot of hate and ill-intended criticism, in reality, most people don't care or overall don't complain about my stuff. But hey, it still can be true if I reach a bigger audience! LOL.

-While I didn't expect to be the next comic sensation, I wasn't expecting that it was so hard to even get views. Some days it feels like performing for an empty theatre. I thought that being on the fresh section would help but there are far too many comics to choose from and is a struggle to get noticed this way.

• Expected to like Smack Jeeves more than Tapas because you can customize your page. Then I realized I have no skills to customize the page and my comic just died there. XD

-Thought my "manga page" format would work so well, then I realized that everything looks stiff for the type of style and that making a mobile-friendly color version takes me the exact same effort than Black and white. So... say hello to "reboot".

• I never participated in a Forum before, I somehow thought people would be more critical in reality you are all so helpful and nice. maybe my criticism paranoia comes from University, teachers prepared us to expect to be dragged by clients.

Share yours!

[DasIstWunderblyat]

-I expected the audience will be very astute and critical of even smallest spelling mistakes or plot point, as it was like that where I come from. Turns out they're more forgiving.
- I expected all of you from United States of 'Murica or at least English-speaking country. Turns out many aren't and I'm kinda pleased with it.
- I expected no one would care for my novel, turns out even though my engagement is very low I want to cry, some people still care and it makes me happy.
- I expected we have fully functioning search bar with customizable filter and tag search, the reality...

[qwerty]

I...I expected that my comic would die within a few weeks because I'm terrible at sustaining things...and four months later I'm somehow still here ^-^;

I didn't really expect anything at all in terms of viewers, so... I guess reality can't conflict with your expectations when you don't have any ~

I didn't expect to monetize my comic at all, ever, but out of the blue Tapas decided to be awesome and do the Inksgiving thing and now I have like $2 in tips. I'm totally swimming in money now (well, not really but still).

[LittleMissDevil]

I feel like we had some very similar expectations. Same as you I didn't expect to get a super big audience, but I also didn't realize how tough the competition for views is. I like your analogy of "preforming for an empty theater". I just call it "farting into the void". Guess I am not the poetic type xD

I also expected more critical voices over my comic. I was super paranoid as it covers a lot of topics that are a little...politically charged. With the way the internet climate is right now, I was super worried about that and about people making assumptions about me due to the content of my comic, but it hasn't happened so far. I still get these anxieties with certain scenes, but it has died down a lot with the comic just becoming "business as usual" for me.

One expectation I can never throw off I get with every picture I make, that I am proud of or that I worked on for a long time. Every time I go: "This, is gonna be it! This page/picture took me so much work and the result is awesome! Now I will be widely recognized!" And then I go off daydreaming about success, which hasn't occurred yet. I set myself up for disappointment like that, but I can't help it. ^^ A youtuber I quite like has said "You can do everything right and still not find success" and I try to remember that in trying to stay grounded in my expectations. With mixed results

[BobbyjoeX]

i honestly expected to maybe not be the best thing since baked bread but atleast have a good ammount of interested readers by the year's end... but i blamed my speratic schedule for this already

i never thought i would monetize my comic, like Toad said, i still plan to get a printed version out, flop or not

people seem to not mind that my comic's a trainwreck... i expected to leave this place in tears from a broken dream QwQ

[GesuGesu]

Expectations: none in particular. I did start in an attempt to catch up with my friend, so I guess I expected to gain 1.7k subs eventually.

Reality: got 7.5k subs and now I'm down a webcomics hole I never expected to stay in. I started on a whim but now I guess I'm pretty stuck in this community! ^^;

[dawgofdawgness]

• I honestly thought that people would hate Frances (my MC) in the beginning - she's super brash, impulsive, and insensitive. But some people find her charming so I guess thaaat's pretty cool

• I never finish anything I start if I don't complete it all in one sitting, so theoretically webcomics would be my worst enemy. But it's been over a year and I'm still chugging along! Except my update schedule is completely out of whack now.

• I didn't expect that writing stories would be hard Pixar movies all make it seem so easy for some reason.

[Roshii]

I expected me comic will not get so much attention cause it's nothing but random ideas just putting out there and having inconsistent art style. I did it just to practice how to make comics.

Then in reality:

• Comic gets featured from Noteworthy section despite being a practice random of a mess comic...
• People giving me so much tips/ink.
• Gets so much attention on Webtoons
• Gets so much fan art(mostly people on Webtoons)
• My comic gets dubbed and is on Youtube

Me: "People stop! I dunno how to accept all these good attention I get from my not so serious, inconsistent, suck ass comic!"

I honestly did not expect my comic to get so much attention, especially on Webtoons. It just feels weird and my anxiety went high up, feeling like I should be more serious with this comic or I dun feel like I deserve this much attention in my comic. But I do really appreciated it though!

[gh0stcr33p]

I expected to have a small fanbase after uploading my comic to tapas for a year, and that my original updating method wouldn't bother anyone. also, for some reason I thought I'd reach 200 subscribers by the end of the year.
reality: I have a kind of small amount of frequent commenters, but it wasn't the amount that I would've expected to have by now. also, I've been talked out of updating the way I did, so I had to change that. as far as subscribers, I have 106, which is pretty good, but not what I would've thought when I first published it

[Daknight]

I thought people would hate my reboot and think it was me giving up on my original idea. Lucky people where receptive and like the newer version.

I admit, I expected to have more subs in general in either webtoon or tapas. Getting subs is way harder than I anticipated (and keeping them seems tricky too). I at least wanted to reach 100 subs to start (let's be honest...at least a 1k but then reality check hit me and settle on 100 xP), but I haven't gain a single one here since I reach 24. On webtoons I am doing a bit better having reach 64 at least.

I also though many creators would had ignore me or push me away since my art instead the greatest, but in reality I found support far and wide. Honest support at that too that understand criticism is needed sometimes and help me out Also have gotten a loyal number of commenters in my comic that I am always looking forward to their comments!

[LittleMissDevil]

Uuuuh right, now that I think about it... I definitely didn't expect to still be drawing my silly comic still after three years. I was sure that I
a) would not finish it
or b) be done after three years.

Now I am expecting to finish it (hope that doesn't turn out to be false, lol) and even to draw the "sequel" comic at some point. But I have a much more realistic idea of how many pages it will take and how long that will be in drawing time.

[BobbyjoeX]

yeah, i also expected to have MORE than one chapter done in a years time >:l... now that was a shameful thing in my book

[Rodimus13]

hubby expectations:
we'd eventually get fans.

reality:
so many fans!

my expectations:
hubby will draw this so fast and we will do short strips.

reality:
he spends 1-2 hurst's a night working on the comic and we can't shorten it

[kittyblueeyes]

Expectations: thought I would be posting to the void with only like 3 of my friends reading my comic semi regularly. Never get subs and probably just drop the comic all together

Reality: 200 subs and a year of posting and ITS KIND OF COOL

[unknown_user]

Expectation1: Some people will read my comics (I didn't actually have concrete expectation in numbers because I had no idea about how these webcomics things works)
Reality: Well, some people read my comics

Expectation2: Some people will like my comics
Reality: Some people like my comics

Expectation3: A huge part of people who read and like my comics will become my patrons on Patreon (I had no idea about conversion rate between readers and patrons )
Reality3: Umm... NO.

[PaulDevers]

Honestly, didn't expect to make it past 50 strips! And here I am, about to approach more than triple that!
That, and I didn't expect much of anyone to actually read it, much less subscribe. Happy to say that was proven wrong too, and that makes me real happy.

[Azifri]

Expectation: only my friends and family will read my comic.
Reality: just as above, but adding ~10 strangers that for some reason decided to regularly spend time reading my stuff. I love them.

Expectation: no one else besides me and my friends will understand my amateurish narrative and drawings.
Reality: a few people have made comments that indicate they are actually following the plot!!

[Shanny8]

Expectations:
I expected to have an engaging comments section

I expected to slowly grow, after observing this site for a number of months.

Reality:
The comments section isnt as engaging as I thought it would be- but I'm good with that. Sometimes I never quite know what to say so I let the comment "marinate on my mind" until I have the right thing to say

My comic is growing as expected. Because my comic is a superhero oriented series, I expected my growth was slow but steady- and I'm good with that.

[travelercomic]

My expectation vs reality was kinda weird I guess.

My initial expectation was that I'd get maybe 100-300 subs after a year of working on it.

Then in reality we got a staff pick and that blew up to over 600 subs after a month!

Then I got a new expectation of reaching at least 1k subs by the end of the year.

But in reality I leaned that after someone's been on the staff pick, they tend to lose a decent chunk of subs who came on because it was in the staff pick and I've been floundering around 630 subs for the past chapter and a half and that was pretty disheartening.

I got over it though and I'm just happy people are interested in it at all.

[amortelito]

@kainatarma me too I expected the audience to notice some mistakes, and fortunately, they didn't! I messed up the color of someone's hair in my intro...which is kind of a spoiler and was able to correct it without them noticing XD. The bad side is that if you put easter eggs they are not likley to remember or have noticed it.

@A_Toad XD I didn't know you could make money, I currently have $ 0.75 I'm swimming in money too!

@LittleMissDevil I hope that I'm as consistent as you after such a long time! Maintaining your comic after 3 years is definitely is something to be very proud of! "You can do everything right and still not find success" this is so true, many of the greatest painters in history died in poverty and being rejected by the art elite. Let's not die in poverty...but at least know that subs and numbers don't define how good you are as an artist. By the way, I checked your comic your traditional art is beautiful!