Powerful, we stan a creator with confidence in their work
I don't really see what sub for sub has to do with the quality of art--that's kind of assuming everyone with low numbers can't draw, which isn't always aligned. Yes, better art makes better chances for higher numbers. But, it does not guarantee it. Being an artist is not the same career as being a social media giant, those are two separate jobs.
But yes, sub for sub has always been just busywork and it makes no sense to do it on a forum as small as this. You'd get maaaybe 100 followers. Maybe? So even if your only goal is numbers--you won't get it from sub for sub. Most people on there are first timers, who start a comic, make 4 or 5 updates, and then never use their account again because the next semester of High School started and they got distracted. It's not how networking works, you need to actually form connections.
Nowadays I just mute the promotions category and I don't have to see those posts anymore.
It makes no sense to do it period tbh, there is no value even in a gigantic forum cause you're not converting real readers
Oh, I wasn't inferring that haha. It's better to just...promote the normal way. On twitter or insta and the normal places readers are.
Not singling you out @rajillustration, your quote was just closest to link to...
The larger issue is the site has tied various opportunities and monetized goals to subscriber counts. I'm not a fan of sub to sub but it's more of a side effect of the site mechanics than anything.
I've been thinking about this topic for the last few days and the more I thought about it, the more heated I became and I had to get it all out. Partially as a rant to others and partially as a way to tell this to myself because I often need to remind myself of some of these points especially when I get down in the dumps..
It is in fact also on reddit on r/unpopularopinion because I want to see more opinions on this haha
oh yeah, big agree on that one, especially when they just give away the ability to receive ink every Inktober.
1
Pretty much says it all.
..Yeah, we know this already. We made several threads ranting about it before, and it doesn't stop people from making new sub-for-sub topics so like..?? Whatever lol
Real talk, I'm kinda over this. No one's really adding anything to the conversation, and everybody's just regurgitating the same sentiment over and over. We get it. Sub-for-sub is hollow, the numbers aren't real, the subs are barely readers, but hey, numbers go brrrr..
Could someone please instead recommend how to improve your online presence so that your comic or novel looks more appealing?? The whole process of posting episodes of a comic or novel goes deeper than just hitting upload and post, and I really wish people would actually try to help instead of just complaining and advising against a trend that doesn't work.
I hate it when I get offered a sub for sub and agree because I'm bad at saying no, but I don't even like their comic, so then I'm subbed to a comic until the end of time that I never even read. ._.
I know all the glitter of internet fame and glistening same-y looking series promoted in the front page has blinded us, making us to desire more of the glory. But in the end of the day, why we cannot just tell a story that people enjoy?
Absolutely this. Unfortunately it is the very nature of social media and content aggregator sites/apps that promote a frantic obsession with just the numbers themselves.
Shouldn't we be creating for the sake of creating? And because we love doing it?
You know there are tons of resources out there to help with this that you can read. I think at least one mod6 has posted a thread on this and frankly there are countless twitter threads2, tumblr threads, youtube videos and legally freely available and not so legally available books explaining design and brand management. Fuck Steak-umm runs an account that basically does that on twitter and so does the Fall Guys brand manager Oliver Age 24. We should probably be harder on a persistent situation than worry about something that we can find millions of solutions to
I think it's worthwhile. I've found a few nice comics that I would never have read just because they were in my reading list from sub-for-subs, such as @mcarrowolga's stories. Yeah, the vast majority I will probably never end up reading, but I'll never read the vast majority of stuff in my reading list regardless, so that's probably OK.
It really pulls you down cause you think you're doing something wrong when you don't include yourself in these especially if everything else just isn't working due to a lack of luck. I get the pain
I tend to see sub for sub situations with those who are early in their art journey. It's not always the case but it's more common. Not to mention, art is very subjective and people perceive quality differently.
I personally think 'dead' (ie people not liking or commenting) sub for sub is useless and never do that; however I'm not ok at all that one has to focus on non-artist readers.
Not everyone has ambitions to become professional. Not all artists are asking for validation in a unhealthy way.
Subs from artists are very helpful to me and I never got into arguments over ego or exagerate susceptibility.