Subscribers that don't read? Sub bots?

[Aims]

Hi, I'm fairly new to tapas but I already managed to get a few subs in all my series.
But here's the thing, one of my series has currently five subs, but none of them seem to be reading. (This started all the way back in January, I verified and the episodes are coming out just fine)
Two of them have their own series so I'm pretty sure they aren't bots but the other three are readers only, so... Yeah does anyone know if sub bots are a thing here?

[KRWright]

No. Some people sub but they don’t check out every update and wait for a bit and binge.

[vothnthorvaldson]

Yeah, there is no "read later" list, so a lot of readers tend to subscribe to keep a record of the comic/novel, but won't necessarily read it right away. And by 'no right away' I mean possibly not before months.

There are a few people who likely will never read, that's the ones who are subscribed to insane numbers of comics/novels. I'm not too sure why they would do that, so I thought they were bots, until I spoke with one of them. Nope, not a bot. Or I'm insane

[Aims]

So there are people who subscribe but then don't actually want to read... I don't get it why would someone want a series they don't like filing up their notifications?
Well to each their own...

[vothnthorvaldson]

My guess is that it's people who bit off more than they can chew. They probably intend to read one day, but if they have 5 000 series and keep adding more... they will probably never go through them all.
While a subscriber with, for eg. 200 series, may read 100 at a given time, and will read the other later.
(Numbers are examples only).

[QueenofBabyLoon]

Och, yeah! That is exactly it!!!

It reminds me of my youth, when I was reading fanfiction. You come across something that appeals to you, something that at a specific moment in time corresponds to what you want to read then. And you sub it (we did not sub, back then; back then, we followed).

But at the end of the day, you never really get the time to read that work. Because when you do have time, something else catches your eye. And that is how you get Ghost Subs, as we call them (actually, as I call them).

Truth is, I can't even read 2-3 series at once, taking into account I want to feel every chapters and then I need to express my feelings (in bold, because we all know how much my feelings are important - Your (sic) not that interesting, dawg. Me to myself) through comments and enter into a cycle where I can't even finish one short webcomic or novel. But the number of works I must read just accumulates and accumulates and accumulates.

As well, there is this something called sub-culture (you see what I did there?!) The more subs you have the greater the chance someone reads your work. So you go and sub someone else's work to induce that artist to sub you back so that your number of subs increases as to give off an impression of success! And thus continues the cycle of Sub Life on Tapas.

We should make a documentary about the Tapas Wildlife.

[snowy]

I think maybe 25% of my subs actually read my comic, and about 10% actively engages with it in the comments. From what I've seen, that's about normal, even for the succesful ones.
As for why this is...I dunno. Maybe it's human nature to fill your cart up to the ceiling when something is free ? Some kind of hoarding thing ?
It's almost comically depressing though, when you work hard on something, do your best, give it away for free, and then even most of the people who noticed your stuff, don't even wanna look at it anymore, lol.

The sub-for-sub thing...can't say I haven't been tempted to sub people who sub me out of sheer gratitude, but I've managed to limit my library to comics I actually enjoy.
It can be a hard principle to stick to, when you get subbed by someone who's really nice and seems to genuinely like your stuff, and then you check out their thing, and your fancy isn't struck, so you don't sub....hate when that happens. Makes me feel like such a jerk.

All that being said, I do have two readers who subbed like 10 months ago, and who only now have started reading, liking and commenting, so that does happen too.

[Chita]

To be honest, I'm one of those binge readers XD. Usually I bookmark comics that I find appealing and if they have lots of updates already I wait until I have more time before I start reading them. Right now I have around 50 comics that I know I like but I haven't been able to sit down and read them (hopefully I'll be able to check them these weeks) but when I do I'll surely fill them up with likes.

[gempompadour]

I'm an avid binge reader. I sometimes wait several months before coming back to a comic and spamming the heart button. It's rare for me to eagerly wait for a single update (especially if it's a 1 page/week sort of thing) and I'm sure I'm not the only one. I do this with tv-shows as well.

So people not hanging on to every update doesn't mean they're not invested your story

[magnavarra]

I like to read a more solid piece like 100chapters at once to retain tension and mood, Or less chapters if it's a finished story., If there is a promissing story I'd subscribe and wait till it has more chapters, However I won't unsubscribe even when I finish it, unless it has some things that I don't personall like ( like to many dogs or children XD). and if i like the story and art is not that good or vice versa I still be there to support creators even though i'm not reading it while thre is something that i like.

[KRWright]

Also, the more subs you have, the weirder your sub to read ratio becomes.

Dreamers of Draiocht - 188 subs - gets around 25-30 views an update
Down the Rabbit Hole - 742 subs - last update got 200 views
The Guardian of the Ghost - 1.8k subs - 900 views on last update.

So like... yeah. Don't be dispirited.

[33rdCenturyCaveman]

It like being nomadic hunter-gatherer. Strip the local area bare, then go away a few months to let things recover.

[Kaylim]

I'm an avid binge reader. I sometimes wait several months before coming back to a comic and spamming the heart button

Sameeee. All of a sudden you'll see me devouring a year's worth of updates in like two days haha.

I will check out a few comics regularly (maybe like 5 or 10), but it becomes hard for me to remember what happened page to page, and to get into the mood of the story. So typically I will wait to binge until I have some time off. Over my last holiday break, I went feral. I binged so many comics on my 'to be read' list.

So don't despair OP You'll have your few regulars who leave likes every update, then you'll have your bingers who show their face once in a blue moon and read through everything you have in a single sitting. (And then you'll have people who hit 'subscribe' and don't to ever come back and read the comic/novel lol. Frustrating, but also normal).

[pilot-obvious]

Most of my subscribers don't interact with my updates. Maybe they're lurkers or maybe they're just waiting to binge read when there's more content. I know a few of my subscribers are only subscribed to me because they know me from a different platform, and I think they forget or don't see when my webcomic updates.

On another note, I've had people subscribe only to unsubscribe when I didn't follow back their comic. I thanked one person for subbing to my webcomic and they almost instantly unsubscribed! lol Some people

[Skaarfy]

For me as a reader, it depends on what I sub to. Sometimes I sub because of the art so I can use it as another source of inspiration for my own art That means I'm less likely to interact with it.

Other times, it's one of those moments where I maybe want to read it later, but it's not high enough in my priority list to read right now in comparison to other comics that I'm more invested in. Though I do stay subbed in case I find the time to read it.

[Kura]

I do this, but it's not that I never intend to read, it's more you series looks interesting and I want to read it, BUT--

• I don't have time to read right now and I will do so later
• it does not have enough pages / chapters for me to read to know if I'm gonna like it past the comic summery (I'm a binge reader) so I'll wait until more are uploaded.

[AmazementComics]

Yes, unfortunately, not all of your subscribers will look at every episode you upload to your series. Not exactly the strangest thing in the world, but when your viewership stays dead for days at a time cough mine, you start to become a little agitated. That's why I continue to create more series. Not only to engage potential subs, but to also get some more views, likes, and comments every now and then. It also gives me more content to put out, so no sub of mine should ever truly feel disconnected with my comics, at least in theory...

[augustinestuart29]

This reminds me of the message I got just the other day asking for a sub for sub. When I went to check out the novel, it wasn’t in English, so I told them I couldn’t read it— but they said they didn’t care, and still wanted me to sub!
That’s just bizarre to me. I at least try to read everything in my library. I at least INTEND to.