SURVEY: 6 months/1+ Year into Webcomic? Let’s help do this collective!

1. How long have you been making a webcomic?
Grassblades5 went live in early March, 2015. So 10 months. I have been posting stuff on the internet before that, and it's not my first webcomic - but my first webcomic was terrible, and we shall not speak its name.

2. How long did it take for your webcomic to start seeing a huge spike in your viewership or subscribers?
I don't know how Grassblades compares to other people's experiences, but I've been on a kind of steady rise since I started posting, gaining subscribers with nearly every update. Sometimes in ones and twos, sometimes in tens. There hasn't really been any sharp upturns on that curve - it's just been sloping upwards. My biggest spike in terms of views/subscribers didn't come until December 2015, when I participated in the Tapastic Winter Fest. It is the single episode of my comic that has the most views by an order of magnitude.

Taken together, counting the "regular" subscribers earlier in the month, and including the people who found me through the Winter Fest, December saw me gain 700+ subscribers over the course of the entire month. It was nuts. I was at c:a 1700 subscribers before December, and I'm at c:a 2400 now.

I have never been featured in the front page spotlight banner, but my comic has made a couple of appearances in the Popular/Trending categories (which are determined by number of views+comments within a given space of time, I think?)

3. What would you do differently knowing what you know now if you're given a chance to restart?
Not much. The only thing I can think of is to maybe group the first five-six pages of my comic together in a single episode here on Tapastic, and then move on to posting single-page updates. As it is, I went single-page from the start. Having multiple pages in the first episode would give readers a good chunk of story as a first introduction.

It's not so much of an issue that I'll go back and fix it, though.

4. Rank the importance of the following in order for a successful webcomic (a)story (b) art (c) genre (d) word of mouth (e) advertising online (f) posting on multiple social media (g) mirroring your comic on different sites (h) webcomic forum engagement

Oh wow, this is a tricky one! This isn't really an exact science, so I'll just do my best here. My list looks like this:

Story and art
Engagement with readers
Word of mouth/Social media presence
Advertising
Mirroring on different sites.

They're ranked that way because no matter HOW much you tell people about your comic, or advertise, or engage your readers - it's not going to matter if the story and art don't appeal to people. Emphasis on story, here. XKCD does super-basic stick figures, but is successful anyway because the story they tell appeals to people. Word of mouth and advertising is important, but if people check out your comic and don't like it, well, all the advertising in the world won't help.

I've had the most success finding readers either through the Tapastic forums, or by participating in the #ComicTalk hashtag on Twitter - and by participating in community-events, like the Winter Fest.

5. What is the ratio of time spend between your art/writing and administration work(like updating site, advertising, forum engagements, fan engagement,etc)
This one is hard for me to estimate, as I work from home and hang around the forums far too much. I would say that I spend more time writing/drawing the comic than I do the admin-side. Not sure about the exact ratio, but drawing a comic is time-consuming.

6. Do you think webcomic is a physical career? Why?
Not sure what you mean by physical career? Do you mean like, something I can make a living off of?

I can't make a living off Grassblades - but I do have some super-generous Patreon-backers3, so I am making some money off of it. And I am, of course, signed up for the Ad Revenue program here on Tapastic. All in all, I make under 100 USD a month on my webcomic. Which isn't bad! 100 USD a month is a respectable sum! But it's definitely not a living wage.

It's possible that in the future, I could make a living off of it, but I'm not getting my hopes up. It's a long way to go, and there are no guarantees. I'm happy for whatever I manage to achieve, and am doing my best to make a living as an illustrator.

7. Name one successful webcomic that you know of.
Off the top of my head - Dresden Codak, by Aaron Diaz. Vattu (and various others) by Evan Dahm, and Mare Internum by Der-shing Helmer. They're all old hands as webcomic artists - with 10+ years behind them - and have built up a massive following over the years, and while I can't put exact numbers on it, I know that they are running fairly successful Patreon-campaigns to support themselves. Diaz, I know, makes enough money to support himself and (I believe), hire an assistant to handle the administrative business. As for Dahm and Helmer, I don't know to what extent they can survive solely on Patreon-earnings, but they do make up a healthy chunk of their income that way.

8. Can you think of one reason for question (7) as to why they are successful?
As stated above, they've been at this for a long time. Evan Dahm's Rice Boy started posting in 2006, and he has been putting out comics consistently ever since. Dresden Codak has been going in various incarnations since 2005. It takes time to build an audience - especially one willing to support you financially - and it takes a lot of hard work.

9. Do you intend to bring your webcomic to print form? Why?
Yes. I intend to collect chapters 1-3 in a single volume, and print them to sell at conventions in 2016. As for why...? Well, I grew up reading comics in a physical format. I like flipping through the pages. I like having comics on my bookshelves. It feels more real. So Grassblades has always been drawn with printing in mind.

10. Follow-up question to (9) If you already have your work in print form, please share your business model.
Grassblades isn't printed yet, but I have printed other comics before, and my business model is fairly simple. I work with a local printer (which means the cost of shipping is less, and I don't have to pay toll fees, like I would if I printed with, say, Ka-Blam), and I do small print-runs, 50 copies at most. This keeps the cost per printing down, so it's not a huge investment each time I do a run. With Grassblades, I might consider dropping down to 25 copies, as printing full colour is super-expensive.

I haven't tried my hand at Kickstarter, because I wouldn't know where to start. D: It's scary!

11. Do you think a comic convention is important to a webcomic creator? Why?
Yes, I'd say so. They're not vital - you can make do without them - but they're a good opportunity to meet readers, and reach out to people who don't already read your comic. It's also a great opportunity to meet other creators in person and make some friends.

12. Name a webcomic creator who has a successful presence in comic conventions that you know of.
I've only been to Swedish cons myself, but I usually do alright, and I have friends who consistently sell out of their stock. Can't speak for creators in other countries.

13. Follow-up question to (12) What did the creator do in the convention? (ex, sell prints, books, other special stuff worth nothing?)
Things that sell well differ between cons. I'll rank them in order of popularity.

At small-press cons (i.e: cons focused on self-published/small press comics):
Comics (obviously)
Prints (postcard size to best, but other sizes work too)
Package deals ("Buy the comic, get all of these extra things as well!")

At bigger, non-comic centric cons (anime cons, game cons, etc.):
Stickers
Prints
Bookmarks/keychains/small trinkets
Comics.

Fair warning: I'm, um, VERY long-winded

(1) How long have you been making Webcomic? (a)6 months (b) 1 year (c) 2 years and above

I’ve been making webcomics for 5+ years! I have one completed (4 year) webcomic, one ongoing (2 years+) webcomic, and one more completed webcomic that I worked with a writer on (100 pages).

(2) How long did it take for your webcomic to start seeing a huge spike in your viewership or subscribers? And by spike, how many percentage is that?

It’s hard for me to ever remember getting a spike, to be honest. It was more like slow growth that went up little by little — seeing 400 unique IPs one month watching it climb to 500 unique IPs over the next couple of months. (Unfortunately my beginnings were long enough ago that my statistics archive doesn’t go back that far, so I can’t give any exact numbers xD)
I remember getting one boost when Jennie Breeden linked me as after I cameo’d her in my comic. It was my first big break! But I think it was so noticeable because I was still in my first year. After that, getting linked by others meant I would see some traffic come from that direction, and I’d see that month a bit higher than the others, but there was never a big, noticeable spike in readership that I can remember.

(3) Having been 6 months / 1 year into your webcomic, what would you do differently knowing what you know now if you're given a chance to restart.

I don’t know if I would do anything differently. I’m pretty happy with my webcomics journey!
I’m tempted to say, if I could do it over, I would chill out a little bit. My first couple years, I sacrificed coursework to keep three webcomics running consistently through my senior year of college, and I’m, uh, not sure that was a wise trade. It was so easy when I was starting to feel like I CAN NEVER LET MYSELF SLIP but, I mean, come on man, just finish school. You will have time to build your readership back up later. It’s okay.

(4) Rank the importance of the following in order for a successful webcomic (a)story (b) art (c) genre (d) word of mouth (e) advertising online (f) posting on multiple social media (g) mirroring your comic on different sites (h) webcomic forum engagement

Oh boy oh boy. This feels uncomfortably like a “which one is the TRICK TO MAKING IT” question.
1-2) art and/or story
3) word of mouth. This would be first but you can’t get word of mouth without good art and/or story.
4) update frequency/consistency
5) BEING A GOOD PERSON
6-10) putting yourself on other sites
I can’t rank these any more specifically than that because it’s genuinely going to depend on your comic.
For Runewriters, I’d rank art very high, because art is a selling point. If you’re thinking of buying a RW book, I’m gonna show you the art first, because I’m proud of it and it’s eye-catching. For Today Nothing Happened, the selling point was that it was funny and relatable, so a pitch of what the comic was about, or showing someone a particular strip I thought they’d like, sold way more books than the art did.
Two different webcomics will have vastly different priorities.
There’s also the question of what’s available to you. I don’t think it’s a good idea to separate all these different forms of “putting yourself out there” from one another, as if having a link to your webcomic in your forum signature is different from or better than talking about your webcomic on twitter or posting your comic on DeviantArt. It’s not. And longterm, you’re not always going to have all of these media in a form that you recognise. When you see a new place to engage other people, you lurk for a bit to see how it works, and then you put yourself out there and find out if it works for you and your comic.

Also I added a couple things to your ranking list.
Frequency can’t be helped a lot of times — you can only draw as fast as you can draw — but if you’re able to update often, you grow much faster.

Being a good person is extremely important, in my opinion. You can get by without it, but it’s harder, especially with webcomics — in webcomics, people don’t just want to support your work, they want to support you, as a person. Be true and honest and genuine and kind and you’ll find people excited to help you. Be critical, guarded, negative, fake, and desperate, and you’ll find those are the sorts of readers your work will attract. Your attitude makes an enormous difference.

There was a saying at SCAD: Good work, fast work, nice person — you have to have at least two to make it as an artist. If you struggle with one, you can get by with the other two. It’s impossible to rank them — you just have to have at least two.

(5) What is the ratio of time spend between your art/writing and administration work(like updating site, advertising, forum engagements, fan engagement,etc)

I don’t have hard numbers for this, but I’ve always made a habit of trying to set aside a day for responding to comments and that sort of thing! I had to treat it as something that was just as important as drawing the page.
Other than responding to people, I don’t have a regular portion of administrative work. It’s more like occasional projects (“okay I need to make a flyer for this convention, okay I need to draw a new banner so people will be more likely to click on my comic,” etc) that I need to make time for. It’s not an insignificant investment of time, though!

I don't invest time in social media as though it were administrative, though. I SPEND ENOUGH TIME ON SOCIAL MEDIA ALL BY MYSELF

(6) Do you think webcomic is a physical career? Why?

Unsure what you mean by "physical," BUT --
I don’t think you should go into webcomics because you want it to be your career, honestly. It can absolutely become a source of a living wage, and I know creators who’ve made it to that point — but it’s not a reliable career, and for the majority of people, it takes years to find out whether or not it will ever make you a living. If it’s not something you want to pour 5+ years into before you even know if you can make a living at it some day, then please! Dedicate yourself to something else!!
If pouring ten years of life into something wonderful that might never support you financially sounds like something you’re willing to do, then I think you have what it takes to make a webcomic.

[HERE'S A READ MORE SO I DON'T TAKE UP THE WHOLE THREAD]8

This might be worth checking out if you ever decide to look into kickstarting something2 -- Spike of Templar, Arizona made a little step-by-step comic of kickstarter advice! It's like $5 for the PDF, and some of it's basic stuff, and the shipping stuff won't apply since you're not based in the US, but it's nice to see everything kinda simply laid out by someone who knows that they're talking about.

(1) How long have you been making Webcomic? (a)6 months (b) 1 year (c) 2 years and above
One year and a half.

(2) How long did it take for your webcomic to start seeing a huge spike in your viewership or subscribers? And by spike, how many percentage is that?
I didn't have huge spikes for the moment.

(3) Having been 6 months / 1 year into your webcomic, what would you do differently knowing what you know now if you're given a chance to restart.
I wouldn't change anything. There's nothing I think I could do differently. But I'm still learning, so...

(4) Rank the importance of the following in order for a successful webcomic (a)story (b) art (c) genre (d) word of mouth (e) advertising online (f) posting on multiple social media (g) mirroring your comic on different sites (h) webcomic forum engagement

According to what I see is successful today:

• Advertising online
• Word of Mouth
• Mirroring your comic on different sites
• Webcomic forum engagement
• Story
• Art

(5) What is the ratio of time spend between your art/writing and administration work(like updating site, advertising, forum engagements, fan engagement,etc)
I don't know, I focus more on art and writing and less on promotion, even if I try my best to promote it properly.
I am kinda old school, and I tend to prefer to give a better product sacrifying a bit of promotion, instead of doing the opposite (like a lot of people do, at least here in Italy).

(6) Do you think webcomic is a physical career? Why?
It would be awesome, but it's not until you are paid for it or a publisher carries your comic from web to paper. Now, that would be a physical career (hope to understood what you meant for "physical" )

(7) Name one successful webcomic that you know of. (Please state either popular, financially successful or both and if possible, state the stats. Ex. popular <-- how many fans/ subscriber, Financially successful <--- how much do you think they earn)
I don't know... I don't read a lot of webcomics.

(8) Can you think of one reason for question (7) as to why they are successful?
...

{9} Do you intend to bring your webcomic to print form? Why?
Yes, I will do it when it's finished (so with episode 3) and then try to submit it to publishers. I want to get opinions from them to understand how my comic is seen by people that work in the industry.

(10) Follow-up question to (9) If you already have your work in print form, please share your business model.
No, I don't have works on print form. I don't know how I will print Zoonland, because I don't know how many pages it will have in the end (but I am already at 80pgs excluding episode 3), probably sort of TP with soft cover. I'm not planning to do a lot of copies, so it will be a bit expensive. Who cares, I think I can spend the money on something I did instead of use them only to pay bills etc.

(11) Do you think a comic convention is important to a webcomic creator? Why?
Of course it is! You can meet new readers and spread the word about your comic, very easy if you print some flyers, etc. If you have a physical copy of your work (a book or prints) you can submit to publishers (there are always some that do reviews to find new artists, or a representative that can take a look at your works). You never know, everything counts nowadays!

(12) Name a webcomic creator who has a successful presence in comic conventions that you know of.
In Italy there are Zerocalcare and Sio that started with webcomics and now are super successful.
For the moment.

(13) Follow-up question to (12) What did the creator do in the convention? (ex, sell prints, books, other special stuff worth nothing?)
They do signing sessions (selling their books or signing the ones carried by fans), do free sketches.

Funny you should post this. I started my own survey a few weeks ago. But unlike you, my focus is not on creators. We know who we are and why we do this. My focus is on the readers - the people who read comics. These are the people that we need to understand first to become more successful.

Knowing about other creators is fun, but most likely, their success is individual and tailored to their audience and place in the comics world. It's readers that we need to figure out.

Here are my thoughts on surveys for comics
Johnny Bullet Survey - The Value of Quantified Data in Comics1

(1) How long have you been making Webcomic?
(c) 2 years and above
(but making comic seriously would be 1 + year)

(2) How long did it take for your webcomic to start seeing a huge spike in your viewership or subscribers? And by spike, how many percentage is that?

Right at the start ... like 50 - 60%, due to the forum post (introduction and stuff) and then it went down and stagnant. :/

(3) Having been 6 months / 1 year into your webcomic, what would you do differently knowing what you know now if you're given a chance to restart.

Huh? Sorry, I don't really get this question ...

(4) Rank the importance of the following in order for a successful webcomic

(a)story -------------------------------------------------------------------------- (1)
(b) art --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (3)
(c) genre ----------------------------------------------------------------------- (2)
(d) word of mouth ------------------------------------------------------ (4)
(e) advertising online ------------------------------------------------ (7)
(f) posting on multiple social media ------------------ (5)
(g) mirroring your comic on different sites ----- (8)
(h) webcomic forum engagement ------------------- (6)

I don't really know. I guess art would attract me first but if the story sucks or is a genre I don't like then I won't continue reading.

Mirroring if is what I think it is (having it on your tumblr, pinterest, fc, blog blah ... many sites)... I think its kinda redundant. I think its good enough to have a blog, a fb, tapastic (or any webcomic sites) and probably a main site for it. Esp if you plan on posting the same information on all sites!

(5) What is the ratio of time spend between your art/writing and administration work(like updating site, advertising, forum engagements, fan engagement,etc)

1:1 or 1:0.5. I usually draw more if I've inspirations ... if I don't, I might do more administration work. I've not much comments so I can't comment on fan engagements, but I'll try my best to reply to comments whenever possible.

(6) Do you think webcomic is a physical career? Why?

If I've a successful webcomic then, yes. Else ... nope. I'd like it to be a career but oh well ... ...

(7) **Name one successful webcomic that you know of. (Please state either popular, financially successful or both and if possible, state the stats. Ex. popular <-- how many fans/ subscriber, Financially
successful <--- how much do you think they earn)**

I think http://tapastic.com/series/Brutally-Honest1 is pretty successful with 17.4K subs. How much she makes, I don't know.

(8) Can you think of one reason for question (7) as to why they are successful?

Unique art style, funny (interesting) and probably updating regularly? I don't know, TBH.

{9} Do you intend to bring your webcomic to print form? Why?

I would if it gets big enough, but I am looking at e-format now (as in ebook). But many ebook sites aren't so comic friendly yet.

(10) Follow-up question to (9) If you already have your work in print form, please share your business model.

Nope.

(11) Do you think a comic convention is important to a webcomic creator? Why?

I don't think so. Well, it's pressuring to me. LOL.

(12) Name a webcomic creator who has a successful presence in comic conventions that you know of.

Never been to one.

**(13) Follow-up question to (12) What did the creator do in the convention?
(ex, sell prints, books, other special stuff worth nothing?)**

• None.

(1) How long have you been making Webcomic? (a)6 months (b) 1 year (c) 2 years and above
(C). A whopping 4 years so far!

(2) How long did it take for your webcomic to start seeing a huge spike in your viewership or subscribers? And by spike, how many percentage is that?
That spike came on February in 2014, so about 3 years after launch(1 year for Tapastic). My viewership doubled over the a few months after.

(3) Having been 6 months / 1 year into your webcomic, what would you do differently knowing what you know now if you're given a chance to restart.
Improve the first two chapters and tie them in a bit with the plot more.

(4) Rank the importance of the following in order for a successful webcomic (a)story (b) art (c) genre (d) word of mouth (e) advertising online (f) posting on multiple social media (g) mirroring your comic on different sites (h) webcomic forum engagement
1) Art(As much as I wanna say story, lets be real. Story helps, but art helps get your foot in the door...)
2)Story
3)Social Media(sigh....)
4)Advertising online
5)Mirroring
6)Forum Engagement(Not sure how effective, but it helps)
7)Genre
8)Word of Mouth(Should rank higher, but only effective if you've been around for a long time, afaik)

(5) What is the ratio of time spend between your art/writing and administration work(like updating site, advertising, forum engagements, fan engagement,etc)
Practically all over the place....

(6) Do you think webcomic is a physical career? Why?
It could be a career if you want it to be. It ain't an easy one.

(7) Name one successful webcomic that you know of. (Please state either popular, financially successful or both and if possible, state the stats. Ex. popular <-- how many fans/ subscriber, Financially successful <--- how much do you think they earn)
A Better Place. Over 4k Subscribers, super successful, loads of money.

(8) Can you think of one reason for question (7) as to why they are successful?
Really interesting story, years of experience, design degree??

{9} Do you intend to bring your webcomic to print form? Why?
Yes, and because that's always been the dream, even if it's not a really big dream. There's just that feeling of "You made it" when you're able to physically hold your blood, sweat and tears in your hands. Eh, call me old-fashioned =P

(10) Follow-up question to (9) If you already have your work in print form, please share your business model.
I don't..... T^T

(11) Do you think a comic convention is important to a webcomic creator? Why?
I've never gone to one, but yeah they're important! It's a chance(at least one of many) to get your comic out to the public. It's like the big time for indie comic artists.

(12) Name a webcomic creator who has a successful presence in comic conventions that you know of.
I..... Don't know any.

(13) Follow-up question to (12) What did the creator do in the convention? (ex, sell prints, books, other special stuff worth nothing?)
N/A

(1) How long have you been making Webcomic? (a)6 months (b) 1 year (c) 2 years and above
Shadowbinders has been going on for over 5 years now. Prior to that we did other comic work for years. My husband has been around webcomics since about 1999-2000
(2) How long did it take for your webcomic to start seeing a huge spike in your viewership or subscribers? And by spike, how many percentage is that?
We mirror here, but on our own site it was within a year. When we mirrored here we gained readers fairly quickly, within a few months. I really don't have percentages to post.
(3) Having been 6 months / 1 year into your webcomic, what would you do differently knowing what you know now if you're given a chance to restart.
Honestly, we wouldn't have done it at all. We would have gone directly to publishing, because we learned a lot about publishing in the last couple of years and it isn't what we expected. But if we did do it, I think we would have been more consistent in the art and story. Now we tell people to start out with something smaller first and not a giant story like we did. That way you can learn and understand more about what you are doing before you put up a large story that you are attached to.
Also, a buffer would have been a good idea. LOL
(4) Rank the importance of the following in order for a successful webcomic (a)story (b) art (c) genre (d) word of mouth (e) advertising online (f) posting on multiple social media (g) mirroring your comic on different sites (h) webcomic forum engagement
Art and Story first because if neither are done well it doesn't matter how much you engage or advertise it won't grow.
Advertising. I can't stress this enough. To get to some readerships you have to pay money. It was key for us. To be honest, when you spend all your time on forums for webcomics you are just preaching to the choir. You need to reach other creators, sure, but you mostly need to reach readers, people who will enjoy what you do. That being said I do both advertising and being on webcomic forums, but I am on the forums because I really love the community and talking to other creators, helping people out, not because I'm angling for readership. Same goes for reader engagement. I think it is important, but I like it for selfish reasons, it makes me happy personally. I don't really look at it as a step to building my comic up bigger, more as a "thank goodness I can get to talk with people because it gets lonely sometimes and my work makes them happy and in turn their joy makes me happy"
Posting on Multiple Social Media- again, like advertising, I think it is very important. Just don't constantly be posting about your project.
I would tie Word of Mouth into advertising, social media, and forums. That is most likely where that will happen.
Mirroring on other sites. I do think this can be important! It looks low on the list, but I consider the social media, and word of mouth advertising. Mirroring is a great way to help your comic grow, just remember that audiences tend to stay where you find them. If you find people on your site, they will most likely stay at your site. If you find readers someplace like Tapastic, they will tend to stick to Tapastic. I know some creators don't like mirrors because it takes away people from hitting their main site (and cuts ad revenue) but I disagree, I think mirroring can be a big help.
Genre- some genres do seem to become more popular than others. I think genre can be important, but I don't think it will make or break a comic. Not if you implement other things like , story, art, advertising, etc.

(5) What is the ratio of time spend between your art/writing and administration work(like updating site, advertising, forum engagements, fan engagement,etc)
Art takes up the largest amount of time. Pages can take many hours. Luckily, I am part of a team, so we split duties. Writing takes up far less time than the art, so I can do things like run advertising, forums, reader engagement, social media etc. There is a reason why I am out on the interwebs far more than my husband is, but he is funnier. People would probably lit it better if he was doing it more than me. His background is marketing so he is spending more time in contact with people and setting up meetings and such too. Plus, we don't just do the webcomic, we have active podcasts, other projects, youtube stuff, etc. He handles a lot of the behind the scenes on those too.

(6) Do you think webcomic is a physical career? Why?
Okay. Can you make a living off of webcomics? Honestly, I don't think it is possible for like 95% of webcomic people. Even print comics don't pay as much as one would thing (we did podcasts on this) Have we made money? Yes. We make money and we make enough to pay our mortgage most months. . I think Patreon is good, but it seems to have gone stagnant, because you are monitizing existing audiences and not really building anything. It's great for the people who were already making enough on a huge audience that could support them. Most of the ones making a living have been around for years and have a gigantic fan base, and even now, they are diversifying out into other things that pay more. They have to. Ads are NOT what they were, traffic is either down or spread out over far more comics (although hubs like Tapastic I feel have an advantage so it is good to be here) but money isn't exactly raining down. Is webcomics a career? I think you can easily put far more hours into it than you would a regular career, but the payoff isn't equivalent financially, it might be rewarding in other ways though.

(7) Name one successful webcomic that you know of. (Please state either popular, financially successful or both and if possible, state the stats. Ex. popular <-- how many fans/ subscriber, Financially successful <--- how much do you think they earn)
I know people are going to think of Penny Arcade and the Oatmeal, but again, you have to consider that the webcomic part is a very small part of what they do and where the money comes from. They do much more than just the webomic, and the other stuff pays better! SMBC, Girl Genius, Questionable Content, Homestuck, etc. All of those have been around for years and were able to build the audience they needed to move forward. I don't think the same things will apply today as it is completely different today, with many more challenges. The other ones I can think of really think outside the box and stand out for some reason.
ONe thing I do want to add here, as someone who has been around this for awhile, sometimes things can appear one way, but remember, there are a lot of things that can be bought or faked. So just because someone says they get XXX traffic or XXX money, or XXX alexa, that doesn't mean they legitimately do. So "success" isn't always success, just FYI.

(8) Can you think of one reason for question (7) as to why they are successful?
I pretty much answered that one.

{9} Do you intend to bring your webcomic to print form? Why?
Already did. We did it to have books to take to conventions and sell. I think the point is to try and reach a different audience.
(10) Follow-up question to (9) If you already have your work in print form, please share your business model.
I'm not really sure if it is a business model, but we take them to conventions, sell them online to readers who want copies, and we sell them on Amazon.

(11) Do you think a comic convention is important to a webcomic creator? Why? It can be, but it isn't necessary. We do a lot of conventions and the webcomic is part of it, but mostly we do it for the print work my husband has done or for the stuff I make. Book conventions aren't as big as they used to be and anymore they seem more geared to popular IP. Webcomics can do well, but it's harder now I think.

(12) Name a webcomic creator who has a successful presence in comic conventions that you know of. Girl Genius team does, Danielle Corsetto, our friend DJ Coffman, T Campbell, and I'm sure there is more but I am drawing a blank (need caffeine) To be honest, and I don't want to sound arrogant, because anyone who knows us will tell you we aren't, I know we do ok. We are lucky enough to be brought in as guests at many conventions and we get to do panels helping people with webcomic issues. So we must be doing something right. LOL (Doesn't feel like it most days though)

(13) Follow-up question to (12) What did the creator do in the convention? (ex, sell prints, books, other special stuff worth nothing?) Usually books, sketches, commissions and prints. Plushies sometimes.

Nice idea and good read!
Ok, if this info helps someone, here's my bit. First, I make two main webcomics:
Trivia from Nature
The World of Wishes

(1) How long have you been making Webcomic? (a)6 months (b) 1 year (c) 2 years and above

I've been making webcomics for almost a decade - in high school I had my own website where I posted my comics. After a big break of drawing without posting online, I started here at Tapastic again about a year ago.

(2) How long did it take for your webcomic to start seeing a huge spike in your viewership or subscribers? And by spike, how many percentage is that?

Trivia had nice following for the first two episodes, but with the third episode it went from 300 to 1700, I suspect it was in the staff picks section. Afterwards there have been a few more spikes, one from being featured on the front page (though this peak was surprisingly notably smaller than the other peaks), and in Daily Snack. As for other peaks, I have no idea where they came from ^^;;

World of Wishes has a different story of peaks, since I launched it after Trivia have become more or less established, and the trailer made it into Daily Snack, so it got some 2000 subs right off the bat. Another peak was when one episode of Trivia was in the Daily Snack and I had a "check out my other comics" banner at the end of the feature episode. I recommend doing it, people surprisingly don't expect one creator to have more series

(3) Having been 6 months / 1 year into your webcomic, what would you do differently knowing what you know now if you're given a chance to restart.

I would tell myself: "People don't bite."
As a very shy person I was afraid to engage with readers and other creators, but I gradually found out it's actually fun talking to them

(4) Rank the importance of the following in order for a successful webcomic (a)story (b) art (c) genre (d) word of mouth (e) advertising online (f) posting on multiple social media (g) mirroring your comic on different sites (h) webcomic forum engagement

story and art
word of mouth
engagement
social media and ads
mirroring
genre (though some genres indeed are more popular than others)

(6) Do you think webcomic is a feasible career? Why?

I don't think so. Unless one has enormous luck, I don't believe there is anyone who made more stable money than they would have earned in a normal job with the same time and effort.

(7) Name one successful webcomic that you know of. (Please state either popular, financially successful or both and if possible, state the stats. Ex. popular <-- how many fans/ subscriber, Financially successful <--- how much do you think they earn)

Tethered by Natasha Dancy. The comic has over 5000 subs. She has a day job but she also has Patreon.

(8) Can you think of one reason for question (7) as to why they are successful?

She has been working on it for years and the hard work is visible. The story is engaging and characters are lovely.

{9} Do you intend to bring your webcomic to print form? Why?

Probably, for the sake of it existing in a physical form, in case readers wanted it. I don't plan to print it in big since I can't handle shipping and such, so I would probably go for a service that prints the book on demand and sends it to the reader directly.

(11) Do you think a comic convention is important to a webcomic creator? Why? (12) Name a webcomic creator who has a successful presence in comic conventions that you know of.

I want to believe that it is, but there are no conventions in my country so I've never been to one TT.TT

Let's do this.
My comic: Drugs & Wires1

(1) How long have you been making Webcomic? (a)6 months (b) 1 year (c) 2 years and above
It's gonna be a year in March, so I guess I'm pretty new to this - but I have been drawing irregular comic strips/short stories for 2-3 years prior to that.

(2) How long did it take for your webcomic to start seeing a huge spike in your viewership or subscribers? And by spike, how many percentage is that?
We've been pretty steady since I already had a small follower base. I'd say we started doing particularly well on Tapastic about 4 months in. Our website's main "spikes" mostly come from reddit mentions, Russian social media (after posting translated pages), and occasional advertising. Tumblr's also been consistently great at getting us new readers.

(3) Having been 6 months / 1 year into your webcomic, what would you do differently knowing what you know now if you're given a chance to restart.
I'd work on a bigger page buffer! I particularly regret starting Chapter 2 with no buffer at all - it's been really tough some weeks.

(4) Rank the importance of the following in order for a successful webcomic (a)story (b) art (c) genre (d) word of mouth (e) advertising online (f) posting on multiple social media (g) mirroring your comic on different sites (h) webcomic forum engagement
Story, art, social media, word of mouth, mirroring, engagement, genre. Allthough these are all quite different.

(5) What is the ratio of time spend between your art/writing and administration work(like updating site, advertising, forum engagements, fan engagement,etc)
Probably 60% art, 40% the rest. I social media a lot, ok?

(6) Do you think webcomic is a feasible career? Why?
I wish, but at the moment it's just not happening. You need a massive fanbase to make things happen.

(7) Name one successful webcomic that you know of. (Please state either popular, financially successful or both and if possible, state the stats. Ex. popular <-- how many fans/ subscriber, Financially successful <--- how much do you think they earn)
Gunnerkrigg Court - I don't think asking how much they earn is very correct, but I do know Tom's working on it full time now. He's been growing his fanbase for many years, so I'm glad it worked out for him!

(8) Can you think of one reason for question (7) as to why they are successful?
Hard work and dedication.

{9} Do you intend to bring your webcomic to print form? Why?
Already doing it.

(10) Follow-up question to (9) If you already have your work in print form, please share your business model.
I have the first issue of my comic in print, which I sell online and bring to a couple of conventions.

(11) Do you think a comic convention is important to a webcomic creator? Why?
It's been working great for us. There's a lot of people that just don't read webcomics online but will happily pick it up at a convention - we made quite a few readers just by doing London MCM. It's always nice to see people come back for more!

(12) Name a webcomic creator who has a successful presence in comic conventions that you know of.
Well, I tend to see quite a few at London MCM, one would be Hemlock. I buy their stuff in any case

(13) Follow-up question to (12) What did the creator do in the convention? (ex, sell prints, books, other special stuff worth nothing?)
I think it's mostly books.

(1) from april 2014
(2) dunno, rly no idea.
(3) as point 2.
(4) story, art. mirroring your comic on different sites because more its better lol. about the rest... i create and draw. PR its not my buisiness.
(5) no idea
(6) nope. because time its not ready. maybe in the next future...
(7) the comic strip crazy/funny from Asaekkiga by Yang Young-soon. this guy its a fuc*ing genious.
(8) too damn damn funny
{9} i think yes. i have to see in the next future how ll go GRUNK. why pubblished? because comic, when loved, MUST be printed and OWNED in a real collection.
(10) no print here atm.
(11) right there u can find
(12) 10 years ago i knew this author who published her comic, dont remeber the name. the successful? after some conventions, a big editor acepted to publish her comic (most because the editor realize that the copies printed was enough to take it aboard)
(13) for what i know, just her comic plus some easy sketch to every buyer

(1) How long have you been making Webcomic? (a)6 months (b) 1 year (c) 2 years and above
I've been making Webcomics in general for around 3 years. I stared back in 2012 with a scifi comic called Dionysus that wound up falling through for multiple reasons, inexperience and pacing being the two biggest I think. My current webcomic, Aetherwing1, has been up since April of 2015, so it's around 7 months old.

(2) How long did it take for your webcomic to start seeing a huge spike in your viewership or subscribers? And by spike, how many percentage is that?
Still waiting on that one, I'm afraid. I've managed to amass a small audience thus far and seem to be slowly inching along in gaining subs/views/etc. But I've been at this for less than a year so I try not to let it get me down!

(3) Having been 6 months / 1 year into your webcomic, what would you do differently knowing what you know now if you're given a chance to restart.
I'd probably start with a much bigger buffer.

(4) Rank the importance of the following in order for a successful webcomic (a)story (b) art (c) genre (d) word of mouth (e) advertising online (f) posting on multiple social media (g) mirroring your comic on different sites (h) webcomic forum engagement

This may make me seem cynical, and this isn't necessarily what I believe should be important, but here's what I've observed.
1)Art
2)Genre
3)Story
4)Social Media
5)Word of Mouth
6)Forum Engagement
7)Advertising
8)Mirroring

(5) What is the ratio of time spend between your art/writing and administration work(like updating site, advertising, forum engagements, fan engagement,etc)
I probably spend the most time on drawing the actual comic. I have a co-writer that writes the scripts for Aetherwing and helps with ideas, although the majority of the story comes from me. As far as updating/forum engagements/etc, I tend to do all of this inbetween comic work, and probably far too often (whoops.)

(6) Do you think webcomic is a feasible career? Why?
At this point I am unable to support myself off of my comic, and I know of very few people who can. It is definitely plausible but I don't know if it is feasible.

(7) Name one successful webcomic that you know of. (Please state either popular, financially successful or both and if possible, state the stats. Ex. popular <-- how many fans/ subscriber, Financially successful <--- how much do you think they earn)
The first two that immediately come to mind are Homestuck and XKCD. I have no idea what the stats of these comics are just that they do make enough to live off of. I know Homestuck made like 2.5 million on a kickstarter within a week.

(8) Can you think of one reason for question (7) as to why they are successful?
Both writers are very intelligent, have a large network, and have been at it for quite awhile.

{9} Do you intend to bring your webcomic to print form? Why?
I have already printed issue one of my comic. I want to be able to sell at conventions and network with other artists there, plus spread the word.

(10) Follow-up question to (9) If you already have your work in print form, please share your business model.
Business... model....? I guess my plan, well, wishful thinking plan, is to start a kickstarter sometime after completing issue 6 in order to get those to print.

(11) Do you think a comic convention is important to a webcomic creator? Why?
Yes! I think it's important to network with other comic creators/readers in person and in your area (and out of your area for that matter. Just networking.) Also it can't hurt to attend panels and learn from others' experiences.

I don't really have answers fro 12 and 13! Sorry!

(1) How long have you been making Webcomic? (a)6 months (b) 1 year (c) 2 years and above
about a year and a half.

(2) How long did it take for your webcomic to start seeing a huge spike in your viewership or subscribers? And by spike, how many percentage is that?
when i started advertising.

This is a timeline of my comic's life. Those spikes in april exist because I spent boatloads of money on advertising. None of those people who visit my site wouldn't exist if I didn't throw down the dime to show that it exists.

(3) Having been 6 months / 1 year into your webcomic, what would you do differently knowing what you know now if you're given a chance to restart.
make a better hook to catch readers. my first chapter sucks and while our team thought the prologue was good, some internal stuff caused the first chapter to be shitty and I feel that makes people drop off. Sometimes people stay because they like your art, even if they dont know whats going on, but I feel I could have gotten more people to stay and less bounces on the site if I made my first chapter a better hook.

(4) Rank the importance of the following in order for a successful webcomic (a)story (b) art (c) genre (d) word of mouth (e) advertising online (f) posting on multiple social media (g) mirroring your comic on different sites (h) webcomic forum engagement
advertising, genre, word of mouth, story, art, social media, mirrors, forum engagement

(5) What is the ratio of time spend between your art/writing and administration work(like updating site, advertising, forum engagements, fan engagement,etc)
i spend about 8 hours rendering a page, several hours to sketch the whole chapter, the rest of the things listed are almost non existent in my time schedule unless i'm doing something like updating my site (which I just did and took 5 days).

(6) Do you think webcomic is a feasible career? Why?
only if you hit a niche. some people might call me out or say i'm ruining someone's dreams, but honestly what i'm seeing is that a lot of popular/successful comics either got that way because they have a niche (furries, fetish, fandom, etc)., or they got themselves known by some means (fanart or advertising).

(7) Name one successful webcomic that you know of. (Please state either popular, financially successful or both and if possible, state the stats. Ex. popular <-- how many fans/ subscriber, Financially successful <--- how much do you think they earn)
one i know for sure because i saw the actual $$$ funds on their patreon is a christian comic called Adam4d. this dude makes 3k+ a month on patreon drawing some kind of christian-related gag comic. i don't feel particularly connected to it because i'm not religious nor do i care for its humour, but it apparently hit some kind of niche to where he is able to live on making this comic.

(8) Can you think of one reason for question (7) as to why they are successful?
see above. they hit a niche goldmine, kind of like how christian music has a pretty specific demographic, this person has successfully established themselves in that niche.

{9} Do you intend to bring your webcomic to print form? Why?
i already did though i don't feel like i will print past the first chapter (what I have printed right now).

(10) Follow-up question to (9) If you already have your work in print form, please share your business model.
I don't really have a business model.

(11) Do you think a comic convention is important to a webcomic creator? Why?
yes and no. it helps spread the word, most definitely, and helps you get connected because you meet a LOT of people, but I don't think it's required to "get big".

no answer for 12 or 13

(1) How long have you been making Webcomic? (a)6 months (b) 1 year (c) 2 years and above
1 and a few months

(2) How long did it take for your webcomic to start seeing a huge spike in your viewership or subscribers? And by spike, how many percentage is that?
From the get go, I was fortunate to be feature in 'New and Noteworthy' and 600 readers off the bat. That's a big starting boom

(3) Having been 6 months / 1 year into your webcomic, what would you do differently knowing what you know now if you're given a chance to restart.
I wouldn't. I've learnt a lot and wouldn't want to 're-learn' that and i think I've made good progress. I personally not like the idea of 'what if I re-do/ reboot' its springs demons, doubts and undermines what you currently have. think positive and look forward!

(4) Rank the importance of the following in order for a successful webcomic (a)story (b) art (c) genre (d) word of mouth (e) advertising
online (f) posting on multiple social media (g) mirroring your comic on different sites (h) webcomic forum engagement
Heh, thats a trick question. its all important, none of its MORE than the other. The difficult part is learning to balance it all

(5) What is the ratio of time spend between your art/writing and administration work(like updating site, advertising, forum engagements, fan engagement,etc)
70% art and writing 30% promo

(6) Do you think webcomic is a feasible career? Why?
The PA guys did it. I think the term 'content creator' is more apped since I think solely webcomics is hard. you need to be an entrepreneur to making a living, that takes smarts, dedication and drive

(7) Name one successful webcomic that you know of. (Please state either popular, financially successful or both and if possible, state the stats. Ex. popular <-- how many fans/ subscriber, Financially successful <--- how much do you think they earn)
PA guys, jeez huh well .... they made PAX East and West and it replaced E3 ..... thats massive and they have a charity called childs play so .. millions, of all of the above

(8) Can you think of one reason for question (7) as to why they are successful?
They were first, simple really. Plus they have good business sense. They turned theyre 3 panel videogame comic into an enterprise

{9} Do you intend to bring your webcomic to print form? Why?
Yes, print sells. Its simply put, it just does. People scream 'PRINT IS DEAD' and yeah a lot of us are on the net but ... a lot of us dont see a penny from web readers, because the content is there for free. I raised more money in one comic con than a year online, plus the interaction with people is awesome!!

(10) Follow-up question to (9) If you already have your work in print form, please share your business model.
Go to cons! XD I haven't fully gone deep into the rabbithole yet. I'm gonna be setting up a storenvy for online sales too but cons are where the moneies are at. People go to con to BUY instead of trying to convert someone like you do online which is harder (i need to learn more on how)

(11) Do you think a comic convention is important to a webcomic creator? Why?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
all of the above
basically, actual sales, fan interaction (and motivation), presence, finding new readers

(12) Name a webcomic creator who has a successful presence in comic conventions that you know of.
I'm not familiar with the US con circuit where i can see thats where the biggest success story would be ... but Noelle Stevenson is a big one

(13) Follow-up question to (12) What did the creator do in the convention? (ex, sell prints, books, other special stuff worth nothing?)
They sold signed prints and books

(1) How long have you been making Webcomic? (a)6 months (b) 1 year (c) 2 years and above
I started my first comic back in 2008, so about 8 years, though I didn't start really working on my current comic until 2010.

(2) How long did it take for your webcomic to start seeing a huge spike in your viewership or subscribers? And by spike, how many percentage is that?
It pretty much spiked as soon as I joined Tapastic (though it's still not massive compared to a lot of comics on this site). I had a fairly slow following on DeviantArt for first chapter (Which started in March 2015), then thinks rocketed on Tapastic 4 months ago when I was submitting pages nearly every day to catch up on this site. I apparently got in the Daily Snack and Trending at some point too which also helped with the spike.

(3) Having been 6 months / 1 year into your webcomic, what would you do differently knowing what you know now if you're given a chance to restart.
Ahaha, seeing as my comic on here IS a restart already... I guess still add more buffer pages and smooth things out a little more in the early scenes.

(4) Rank the importance of the following in order for a successful webcomic (a)story (b) art (c) genre (d) word of mouth (e) advertising online (f) posting on multiple social media (g) mirroring your comic on different sites (h) webcomic forum engagement
Aaahh. Hm. Probablyyy Story, art, word of mouth, posting on multiple social media, advertising online (Aren't this and the last one the same thing?), mirroring your comic on different sites, then webcomic forum engagement.

(5) What is the ratio of time spend between your art/writing and administration work(like updating site, advertising, forum engagements, fan engagement,etc)
90% writing/art, 10% engagement on forums and other sites, which I'm actually trying to change. That's a new years resolution of mine ahah.

(6) Do you think webcomic is a feasible career? Why?
If it's what you're REALLY determined to do...maybe. It's kind of like saying do you think being the next big pop star is a feasible career. Like, well, it is if you can actually be one of the few who make it there.

(7) Name one successful webcomic that you know of. (Please state either popular, financially successful or both and if possible, state the stats. Ex. popular <-- how many fans/ subscriber, Financially successful <--- how much do you think they earn)
I'm aware there are more successful comics out there, but I'm going to say King's Folly, because that's basically where I'd like to be with my own comic some day, where I can get a nice little amount in my pocket from Patreon, and have people who actively want to buy merchandise from my series simply because they love it so much. I'm not looking to make a career out of my comic, but it'd be nice if I could at least reach the point that comic is at.

(8) Can you think of one reason for question (7) as to why they are successful?
Knowing the artist personally, it's 1. Because they are a work horse when it comes to art (They're one of the fastest artists I've ever met), 2. She's smart. She knew what popular series to draw fan art of to hook in a lot of watchers on DA and Tumblr before revealing her original story to what had become a very big audience because of the fan art, and 3. She knows helpful people. Not to say she couldn't be successful without them, but I know she's gotten a lot of programming help with her websites and store and knows people who help her out with making her merchandise.

{9} Do you intend to bring your webcomic to print form? Why?
Yes, mostly so I can eventually sell copies to my readers and maybe at cons in the future some day.

(10) Follow-up question to (9) If you already have your work in print form, please share your business model.
N/A

(11) Do you think a comic convention is important to a webcomic creator? Why?
I'm not really sure? I think I'd need to experience one and do more research on what the benefits are before I can properly answer this, as most of the cons I go to, even if they are selling a comic, they're also selling loads of fan art that people are most interested in.

(12) Name a webcomic creator who has a successful presence in comic conventions that you know of.
Once again, Whispwill (King's Folly). I'm sure Yuumei is there too, though I haven't seen her since she really got started on Fish Eye Placebo. Now when I see her booths at cons, it's run by some company where she's not actually present.

(13) Follow-up question to (12) What did the creator do in the convention? (ex, sell prints, books, other special stuff worth nothing?)
Whispwill, from what I know (I've never actually been to a con where she has a booth), sells a lot of charms and other items of popular series, in addition to her own comic. I'm sure she probably sells copies of the comic as well. Yuumei, I don't really know. Like I said, I haven't seen her at an actual con since before Fish Eye Placebo, and now when I do see her art at booths, it's just her art, not her comic.

1. I've been making Shadosassins1 for a year as of Jan 1st.

2. I don't know about HUGE spikes, but I'd say I got about 25% of my subscribers 3 months in, I just got a ton of them out of nowhere in May 2015.

3. If I could do one thing differently it would have been to formally introduce myself AND MY COMIC to everyone on the forums when I first joined. I didn't really get active until about three months in.

4. Ranking in order for a successful webcomic in my opinion is story, art, webcomic forum engagement, advertising, posting on social media, mirroring on different sites, and word of mouth. I put word of mouth last because that will spread on its own if everything else is up to snuff.

5. I spend about 6 hours a day on art/writing. Administration work I fit in as I can. (and I should do it more often to be honest)

6. Whether or not webcomics are a feasible career, I'd say yes. However that depends on what you define as a successful career. If your looking to be the next Frank Miller or create the new Marvel or Shonen Jump, than this will be a VERY difficult road for you. If you just want to make enough money to live, this will also be difficult but not impossible. It'll just take a lot of work and patience.

7. It think Penny Arcade, SMBC, Dr. McNinja are the ones that come to mind. Any webcomics where the creators can "survive off of their comic" whether that be through ad sells, prints, merch, etc.

8. Other than quality work and consistency, I honestly cannot tell you why they are so successful. Every webcomic gains their following differently which also makes this genre tough as there is no REAL blueprint to success outside of obviously working hard.

9. I think I would put my comic in print form if there was a demand for it, which right now there is not. So I guess no.

10. N/A

11. I believe comic conventions are very important to a webcomic creator just to engage with other artists and readers and find another avenue to get people to view your work.

12. Can't really answer this question at the moment.

13. N/A