Tapas Creator Incubator Program
With a family of over 26,000 comic and novel creators, Tapas has always been a celebration of people like yourself: unique, talented, and highly motivated independent creators.
Now, we're excited to announce that we’ll be seeking opportunities to work even more closely with a select group of creators through our new Tapas Creator Incubator program. Woo hoo!
What is the Tapas Creator Incubator?
Creators will be invited to work in-house at Tapas HQ (located in the Bay Area of California), where together with the editorial team, they’ll create new and exciting original stories. Creators will be paid for their work during the program period and have joint ownership of the stories produced. We’ll not only provide you with full editorial resources, but also help you develop exciting business opportunities such as physical publishing with large distributors or TV/online original series deals.
But best of all, you’ll be surrounded by other creators to constantly receive creative support and feedback. We want to celebrate the creator community by bringing creators closer together in a fun and engaging creative space.
We’re Looking For Comic and Graphic Novel Creators Who...
- Have a passion and drive to create exciting and original stories
- Play nice with others
- Currently publish on Tapas, this isn't a requirement, but a strong plus (wink wink)
What We’re Looking For...
Original Stories
If you have a great, original comic idea that you’ve been dying to draw but have been unable to find the time or money to make a reality, we want to help you! Creators can work on original stories or develop new stories together with the Tapas staff.
Novels-to-Comics
Perhaps you don’t have a comic idea but would like to contribute to a story with your art. Luckily, there are many novels on Tapas, and we’re looking for awesome visual storytellers who can turn these original novels into epic graphic novels.
Mobile-Optimized Vertical Format
Your project must fit our preferred format: full-color, mobile friendly (also known as “vertical scroll” or “infinite canvas”), and be long-form narratives. A single season will consist of 20+ episodes, with each episode being roughly 30 panels.
Time Frame
Approx. 3-6 months for a single season of an original story
Compensation
Creators will be paid a monthly stipend during the project period. The amount will vary between individual contracts (which will depend on various factors).
The monthly payment works as an advance, or minimum guarantee, toward future revenue share from the works. This means that when it comes to potential earnings from the project, sky’s the limit. This is NOT a work-for-hire deal.
Residency
Creators will have the option to work with us out of Tapas' California headquarters, in a full studio space for free during the project period.
One advantage of being physically in-house is the proximity to other creators as well as the Tapas staff, which allows more direct and instant feedback. (Please be noted that Tapas will not cover travel/relocation costs, living costs, accommodations, physical art materials, or visa.)
Apply Now
If you're interested, please send email to submissions@tapasmedia.co with the following information:
Your profile on Tapas (if applicable)
If you're not currently publishing with us, tell us about yourself with links to your websites or social media pages
Whether or not you’re interested in the residency program
Project(s) you’re interested in
For original stories:
Story pitch with synopsis (in 2-3 paragraphs)
Concept art and/or samples of previous/current works
For novels-to-comics:
Samples of previous/current works
Your favorite genres to draw in
Optional: a potential novel on Tapas you’d like to adapt
Please be advised that your application does not guarantee a response from us. Even if we're interested in working with you, due to the volume of emails we receive, our responses might be delayed.
However, we will do our best to review your application and get back to you as soon as possible.
Submissions will close on September 9, 2017.
Our vision is to help create an environment to nurture the webcomic community and hopefully expand to bring on a wider range of creators such as web novel writers in the near future. Having a creative space to let creators explore, experiment and expand their imagination has always been a dream of ours, and we’re finally ready to take the first in the series of many exciting steps to making that dream come true. We hope that you’re just as excited as we are for the Tapas Creator Incubator and we look forward to hearing from you soon.
Always,
-Chang Kim & the Tapas Staff
*Update: We made some amendments to the proposed amount of work. This a guideline and open to negotiation on an individual basis depending on their pace of work.