Questions about the Tapas Creator Incubator Program

[SeraphicMayin]

They said it would have another submission opening in the winter so I'm predicting late november/mid-December.

[PyroToaster]

can I post the concept art on social media that I submitted?

[baka_reader]

Where are the winners?

[Saajing]

Considering it JUST turned August, I doubt we'll be hearing about the winners anytime soon ( I'm sure the winners still have to look over their contracts). I do hope, though, that we here something from the staff soon.

[baka_reader]

I thought they were going to be announced on 1st August

[monikagill524]

Still hoping for that email confirmation,even though its 10th August already!
Please announce the result and put the rest of us out of misery

[eliseswarren]

They said they wanted to give people time to look over the contracts, which I think is a very good thing. They probably don't want to announce anything until they're sure exactly who's on board.

[joannekwan]

Yep! Because anyone who doesn't want to go through with the contract even after negotiations, Tap will most likely contact any runner-ups to fill their spot.

[baka_reader]

Is there any update? :o

[Saajing]

Lol at this point, I'm just wondering if I should contact Tapas staff and ask how I can improve my entry for the winter round :''''')

August is ending soon, though, so hopefully there will be SOMETHING posted.

[spudfuzz]

Question for STAFF

(Unless I have missed an answer to this elsewhere.) Are Incubator series required to use the pay-to-unlock model ? I checked out a couple incubator series and after a few pages they switched to paid reading.

---

For artists/ authors concerned about contracts and particularly the 50/50 copyright share. This is a very good read by a lawyer who talks about this. http://www.ivanhoffman.com/own.html

I read around a lot because so many on twitter were sounding alarms about it. However since these people aren't lawyers, I wanted that perspective. What I found is that it boils down to what was confirmed by some here on Tapas. It's not really as simple as saying signing rights over is inherently bad. Every creative work is unique, which means no two contracts will ever be the same. If you find yourself in a position to sign something and you don't understand the terms, seek out a lawyer to guide you. Contracts shouldn't be treated as an evil bogeyman where everyone is out to get you and sap your worth. Business relationships are relationships. It's give and take. Both parties have something each other want, but what both parties come out with individually is far greater than what they would've gotten if they had tried to work alone.

Business is not bad. Bad business is bad. Don't stifle your growth through fear. Do your own due diligence, don't just take my word for it. Ask around, research on the web. Look at the conversations people are having and listen to all points being raised and/ or refuted.

[LordVincent]

Wait, is there a drama storm on twitter about this again? (It's the conclusion I drew since this thread had been untouched for a month before your reply)

I am so glad I don't use twitter anymore.

[vvbg]

The purpose of the Incubator Program is that Tapas funds you to create a Premium series. It would be hard for them to make back their investment if they paid you to make a comic for free. ^^;;

As for the legal stuff - you're right, every contract is different! We've been pretty happy to speak openly about our experience working with the Tapas team as part of the Incubator. Tapas is easy to work with, they're patient, open with communication, and they never want to do anything that makes you uncomfortable.This was our first ever contracted work, so we were fairly cautious about it, too, and did a LOT of reading around and research before we decided to accept the deal. I'm so glad we did.

This October makes one year since we've been participating in Incubator, and I have to say it's been a wonderful experience. Doors have opened for us professionally that we never thought possible, and it's a great opportunity for anyone serious about becoming a professional comics creator. Like I mentioned previously, Archia and I used to do self-publishing and patreon, and we made our money through those avenues. We've definitely gained from our relationship with Tapas in more ways than we could have imagined and it's a shame if people don't give this program a chance based on some hearsay from people who've never even published on Tapas, nevermind been a part of Incubator.

[spudfuzz]

That makes sense, I was able to gather as much later on from poking around other incubator series that were hosted. xD
I think I was just confused if there was any other way Tapas was monetizing the series. I'm trying to do a lot of digging around too, all of this is very interesting to look at but it seems like it's a very recent/ new model in the webcomic world and there's not a whole ton of insight to the whys and hows of every aspect. Google unfortunately mostly leads to a lot of "how to monetize webcomics" that just talk about patreon and ad campaigns through project wonderful... and I think the ad stuff is outdated by this point. : 0

Wait, is there a drama storm on twitter about this again? (It's the conclusion I drew since this thread had been untouched for a month before your reply)

Sorry I didn't meant to raise alarm. Looking up things on the web brought me to a lot of those old twitter threads and I thought it might be worth dropping the info because afaik the program will open again fairly soon here and this particular forum thread gets brought up a lot in searches/ referenced by people claiming it's a scam. Figured it might help out anyone who lands here outside of Tapas. I mean knowing twitter, I'm predicting the same old alarms will cycle through again, lol.

[vvbg]

Tapas has a lot of ambitious goals for monetizing the series that you create with them under Incubator Program - like optioning it for TV, film, Netflix series, Crunchyroll, print publication, translating it and selling it overseas to other comics platforms....but all these things take time to develop and we haven't seen any of them come to fruition yet. xD I'm excited for the future, though!

And although everyone's contract is different, I know a lot of people were curious if there's a reversion of rights clause, and it's stated pretty explicitly here:

Tapas also doesn’t hold onto IP rights indefinitely. We include a reversion of rights clause in our contracts: if anything happens to Tapas, or if we're not able to make a deal for a creator within an agreed amount of time, then all rights go back to the creator.

If you're curious (or if you come across any more misinformation) they actually wrote a blog series detailing all of this!
This post talks about IP, IP sharing, what a contract with Tapas usually looks like, and what they have to offer creators. Sadly it was just a Newsfeed post and it's gotten buried on the site, but you can inform yourself (and direct anyone with questions) here.

Edit: also you're right, Spud, this is a very new model in the webcomic world, and it's very exciting! Because it's a great opportunity for indie creators to get properly paid for their work, and if it's successful, then the industry will perhaps pick it up leading to more opportunities like this!

[Croik]

I'm really glad you guys have had a positive experience, but I think it's also only fair to point out that a lot of the Twitter criticism people are talking about here really was coming from comic artists who have been in the industry for many years, looking out for their fellow artists. Tapas may be a lot more open with its creators now, but it wasn't always that way. It was only about a year ago (?) that they snuck their "Right of first refusal" clause into the TOS without telling anyone, and then reversed it without properly discussing it with the community. This wasn't long before the first incubator, too, and everyone was already wound up. So it's not as if people are negative about Tapas for no good reason, it stems from their past behavior.

Not saying they didn't learn their lesson and have improved communication since then. Honestly, I do hope they do well, because I'm here, lol. It sure beats coding your own website. I am glad their premium artists are being treated well. But I also think it's important that people new to the forum know where the caution comes from.

[joannekwan]

To be fair, Tap did announce the new ToS that included the right of first refusal publicly on the site with a notification, they didn't specifically say 'look at this new clause' but it was there. People even talked about it on the forums at the time as there was a thread for it if I recall correctly. It was only a few weeks later after the update went live that some lawyer brought it up on twitter and it blew up.

[Croik]

I can't find the thread now, but as I remember it, someone in the TOS announcement thread brought it up as something for people to be concerned about. Several artists I followed at the time made announcements on their walls that they were considering pulling their series from Tapas if it wasn't changed. At some point folks on Twitter caught wind, it became bad press, and Tapas removed the clause without really addressing everyone's concerns, hoping it would be forgotten.

The whole thing was bad PR and Tapas did not handle it well, is what I'm getting at They've definitely improved since then but the internet has a long memory.

[joannekwan]

Yes the thread had a civil discussion where people were wondering what the implications of the clause were, I was among them, we waited patiently for a response and the staff did answer our questions after a while (presumably after internal consultation with the staff leads and legal team, etc.). And then after some back and forth was when Tap decided to revise the ToS again, removing the clause. Could it have been handled better? For sure. Hindsight is always 20/20. But at least it was a learning opportunity. Some folks did get heated in the thread amongst themselves, but nothing the forums here haven't seen before. The dumpster fire was all on twitter is all I'm saying.

[Croik]

Sure, it's true that Twitter was more aggro about it. It's just that every once in a while on this forum someone asks, "Why does Twitter hate Tapas?" And the answer isn't, "Twitter is just like that." It's more like, "Tapas once did a thing that several popular Twitter personalities called out as shady, thus influencing their followers, and Tapas didn't address it that well so their reputation in that space hasn't recovered yet."

Which isn't to say that Tapas should bear that stigma forever. I just think it's important that people know where the rift started, especially if they're hoping to draw people back to the platform.