Should I keep writing my webcomic if it keeps losing subscribers?

[lalariin]

hey guys,
I need your advice.
I a new to the world of webcomic and comic making and just a beginner artist, I decided to make my own comic and publish it on webtoon.
the problem is that I am starting to lose my followers that aren't much to begin with instead of gaining.
I really don't know what to do since it's taking some of my time ever since I started it, I want to tell my story but I am starting to lose motivation as I feel that no one is seeing it or cares about it.
should I give up or keep going ?

this is my webcomic :

Harmonica

[Random_Guy]

Honestly? I'm still super new, so I've never really been in a situation like that.

But still, my best advice is to just keep on trucking. If you enjoy making the webcomic, then just keep making it, you're sure to find the right audience eventually.

And even if you don't, then it's whatever. I've got a whole five subscribers, and it's a very rare day I gain a new one, but I'm still making my silly little comic, not out of obligation, not because I make any money off of it, but because I love doing it.

[joannekwan]

Well, you have to consider your priorities. Is your number one goal to gain subscribers and monetize your comic? Then perhaps you should consider changing your marketing strategies or revamping your comic to make it more appealing to the masses.

But is this story something you love and want to work on anyway for yourself? Then don't let the numbers get you down. You're still just starting, it can take a while for passion projects to grow an audience.

[yansusu]

I'd like to piggy-back off what @joannekwan just said: It really takes time to grow an audience. If you're not incredibly lucky, that might even be months for your very first project. So since you've only started this month, I wouldn't worry too much.

Other than that, it's also completely normal to lose subscribers every now and then. Some people may have had a different idea about what it was going to be after seeing the first episode, then came back later to read the others and noticed it wasn't their cup of tea anyway.
That's not necessarily a bad thing since it means that the ones who stay for a long time are very into what you're doing.

[Rhonder]

There are several valid ways to go from here depending on your goals and progress on the current story:

You can press onward

If your main goal is to tell this particular story (rather than like gaining as many subs as possible, or etc.) then go for it! OOOOOR if your story is anywhere near completion (like maybe 2/3 or more done, or like 30-50 pages or less) then I would also recommend thinking about finishing. Having completed work under your belt is a big deal as a creator, even if it wasn't exploding in popularity. A lot of lessons can be learned that way for your future work by working through the full beginning, middle, & end of a story.

You can revise to shorten it down and then finish that

If your story is a ways from completion (like way more than 30-50 pages or like less than half complete) and you're feeling unsure about whether to see it all the way through or not, you could consider taking a break to review your outline and script and see if you can edit it in any way to reach a satisfying conclusion in a reasonable amount of pages, then move forward and complete those. That way you don't spend like years committed to a story that's not doing as well as you'd like, but you still get the above benefits of reaching an ending (as well as added benefits in editing a script down xD) and the readers you do have might be happy to reach some sort of conclusion as well~

Drop it and try something else

Although it might not be the most satisfying solution for either you or your readers, there is something to be said about the time efficiency of cutting your losses and trying something new with hopefully better results. If you're nowhere near an ending point and it would be impossible to create a good early one without it taking way too long for you, then this is a viable option as well. If you're doing this as a hobby/or hoping to break into the profession but not there yet, there's nothing stopping you from jumping ship to a new project.

---

I clicked your comic link after writing this post and see that you're only 4 eps in... at this point you might just need to just give it more time. Keep in mind that comics are a long game and it's not typical to explode overnight. If you decide to stay with this comic though I do advise you evaluate how long it is and think about ways to possibly cut it short in a satisfying way down the road if it continues to fail meeting your expectations for performance.

[jmhenry]

The best advice was already posted ^^;
So, I'll just adda bit to it and say trust your gut. If you feel you need to stop and try something else, go for it, if you feel like things will get better over time, definitely stay. In either choice, the best thing you can do is finish the story, even if you just plan on scrapping the story, don't abandon it part way. Speaking from experience, you'll be able to leave the project feeling more satisfied than you would if you just left midway

[Tanako]

Everyone has a good point so i'll just tell you my experience. I was there once. I wasn't losing subs i just wasn't getting as much. so i had to consider my options. since stories come easy to me, it wasn't a hassle dropping the comic and moving onto something more appealing. My goal was to grow my audience and Patreon and i was not going to do that by continuing working on a comic that didn't help to do just that so what i did was drop it and start a new fresh idea. and let me tell you, it helped "me", alot. so my advice to you will be to try something else. but keep in mind this industry is not fair. you could drop it and succeed with your next project, or end up failing either way, you wont know until you try. the best thing about being an artist is that you just gotta keep finding what works best for you and sometimes you have to fail multiple times before achieving your goal.

[gh0stcr33p]

can't really help because I'm in the same situation, sorry. right now my engagement's just been worse than ever before this year.. sorry you're experiencing it too :[

[jgreene2433]

This may sound trite, but, I think if you truly enjoy making your webcomic then nothing should stop you, even lack of readership. We creators, I feel, we make stories because we burn with a passion to create, even if no one sees us. It's just what makes us who we are.

[ghostmaya]

Just continue on making~ don't stress about the numbers~ on the long run, if you're consistent on uploading eventually you will get subs~ It took me many years before I got a proper community and audience~ ^_^ so stay positive~ It's pretty normal to lose subs at 1st~ I think everybody experienced on what you experienced right now, it's pretty common~ so keep fighting eye's shining with passion~ you can do it~

[dsptss78]

Me personally I would continue with the comic if you enjoy making it. The last thing you want to do is force yourself to make a story you don't have any interest in at all. That's when your creativity might suffer and your story might not even have a well-developed plot. When you have a passion for something your work will always be at its best.