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Jun 2020

We definitely do want people from the ace spectrum! PM me!

Not at the moment - but the team is up to date on all feedback and is more than happy to make more adjustments as the time goes on and more comments/concerns are brought to our attention. They're super glad you provided your feedback. Since this is the teams first Pride Parade for Tapas, they're happy to learn.

So keep an eye on the upcoming Q&As if you're still interested and let us know if there are more problems we should adress! Thank you!! :tapa_pop:

As somebody participating in the QnA (and might be one of the people you're referring to) I feel like I should respond to this, because I feel like you're making some assumptions I am a bit uncomfortable with.

I'm a nonbinary latinx person who is biromantic and on the ace spectrum---writing a love story about 2 poc mlm. This story is VERY much about my experience as an lgbt person, plus the experiences of other lgbt people extremely close to me. When creating my story, I saw a lot of the bl content in webcomics that can feel fetishized and pandering, and wanted to do my best to invert a lot of those stereotypes and write something I felt represented the lgbt community.

My work is incredibly tied into my identity, beliefs and experiences, and the opportunity to be featured for pride month has meant everything to me. Especially after a lifetime of being told that being lgbt would only hinder my art/career. I see where you are coming from, and am always wanting to boost other people's voices in the community. But I feel like the assumptions you're making about certain creators based off limited information in their profiles is unfair.

Questions about the contest: How will entries be displayed and how will voting work? I'm planning on making my entry in vertical format.

Hi! I’m sorry if you feel attacked by what I’ve said but just as I said in my original post I don’t think there’s anything wrong with you making LGBT+ content as an LGBT+ creator I know that creating content for the community can be a mirror of one’s own experiences even if done indirectly. However, I still think that at a time where the point is to talk about sexuality and gender and give people their place to tell their own stories it’s a misstep to ask someone about a sexuality/gender they don’t identify as. I’m not talking about you personally, as you may very be someone who identifies with the experience of mlm romance, but I hope you understand my point beyond your view of yourself and onto the choice of the people promoted and their comics as a whole.
I stand corrected on my note of white gay men, I didn’t deeply read every single story since I didn’t find all of them to be my taste (as an aro man romance stories for example are difficult for me to enjoy which were a big chunk of the stories), and I was speaking mostly in broad strokes (for example I know the protagonist of Magical Boy is half asian but didn’t feel an exception was important to making the point, which is why i added white in brackets)
And regarding the subversion of tropes I think you may have misunderstood my comment; I was saying that, like you, I noticed a lot of comics that had Bad Tropes that tapas was profiting off them, therefore thought tapas should do better by its lgbt+ creators, not that the creators here are going by those tropes.
I understand this was a personal thing for you but I frankly stand behind my arguments.

P.S.
seeing as this is a criticism aimed at tapas, not the creators, i think it’s important to remember that tapas just like me also only has publicly available information & that the misstep they took was as early as searching for any lgbt+ creators making lgbt+ content. if you understand how I can’t have known your perosnal experiences with mlm attraction as an enby person, that is transferable to tapas themselves

I'd like to ask about the prompt, does it have to be an in-universe celebration of pride? I made an entry with comic characters, but I noticed way in that wouldn't really work within the story itself because of the setting.

Hello Ratique! Is there any way to recommend ourselves or others for either the Pride Collection Feature at the top, or the flag color bands lower down on the front page? (those look great by the way, I thought the color bands made with covers are super cute)

I would also be glad to see novels in the Pride Collection Feature as well as comics, but maybe that's up next.

In case any more pink covers are needed... Here's my LGBTQ+ novel :wink: :heart:

PLEASE FEATURE JAY THEY'RE GREAT!!!! Jay deserves it! More people need to know about them!

Aw thanks @Mithril you sweet baby angel!

Mith's novel is LGBTQ+ and blue...justsayin....just in case you happen to need some more titles...

Hi all!

This is my first post ever so please let me know if I've made any mistakes + am speaking out of line... But I'd love to promote my graphic novel Square Hole6 for Pride Month if at all possible. I'm a queer, non-binary WOC working on a comic that is about a queer POC as well.

I definitely am using it to promote a safe space and absolutely not using bad tropes to "sell" my narrative. Hopefully my work is nuanced and speaks for itself!

I'm also obviously here for any resources -- to speak on panels, hopefully be featured, etc.!

Sorry for the late reply, everyone!!

@DogshitJay

I let the team take a look at both Kiss it Better and The Victorious, and sadly they're both too NSFW for the front page. :cry_02: I'm sorryyyyyy.

@Tinguu
Sadly your comic doesn't have enough episodes right now - we've found that series with more content do better in a feature. So keep on publishing!!

Vertical format works well! They're going to be displayed just like any other series, so both page and vertical is okay - but due to many readers being on mobile, vertical is of course always recommended.

This is the current prompt: Whether it’s reviving an old tradition or finding a new way of celebrating, show us what Pride looks like for you this year in your comic. Would it help to change it to: Whether it’s reviving an old tradition or finding a new way of celebrating, imagined or reality, show us what Pride looks like for you this year in your comic.

This works better, I'll have to change things a bit but it's more clear to me now, thank you!

Hi! I have send a picture for the contest - it's said I can post it in my comic - but I kinda don't want to ruin the flow with random picture - can I post it on my profile instead?

Hi Ratique and Cynthia @desktop_dragon,

Thank you for getting back to me! I wonder if we could have some more clarity from the novels team, if possible?

The reason for my confusion is that neither of these works are "predominantly sexual in nature, or intended primarily as an aid to sexual gratification." In addition, when I look at previous features and staff picks, there have been certain novels that have caught my eye as being very sexually explicit. Is it just this particular feature that we are too NSFW for, or is it all features/staff picks etc? Should I perhaps be modifying my story? I would love more insight into how I can have Tapas' support and guidance in terms of acceptable content.

Thank you so much for your time!

Going off of Jay's thing about Novels in the pride collection I wouldn't mind throwing my Blue cover in wink wink
There are many LGBTQ characters so I figured I would put this here. If it's the wrong place to put this then I apologize

Hello! The main concern is that given the visibility of this feature on the app, and with the way the first chapter of Kiss It Better includes lingerie, BDSM, and nakedness. While I agree with you that the series is not explicit, I worry that an Apple auditor might come across those keywords and make a snap judgement without considering the fact that nothing sexual actually happens in the first chapter. I'd be more than happy to work with you to get the first chapter to a place where the staff would be comfortable featuring it on the frontpage!

Even if Kiss it Better (which is a must-read for anyone who is willing to read the mature content the story is really good) isn't eligible, will there be any novels featured on the front page? Obviously I am extremely biased about this, but there are a lot of LGBT novels on Tapas that feature a wide breadth of content. I've been gathering a lot of suggestions and doing research for my own feature list2, and I've found several on Tapas that are both safe for work and pretty nice, if any suggestions are ever needed.

And of course... maybe my story is too new but it sure does have a very blue cover lol

Following in the footsteps of Jay, I'd like to submit my own novel :blusht: If this isn't okay then I can delete the comment! It's basically a slow burn slice of life BL about two guys falling in love with each other!

And adding my other current story because I felt a bad case of mother's remorse from excluding her other child! :sweat_02:

9 days later

I guess it was a comics-only thing after all :pensive: At least they're super good comics being featured at least!