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Aug 2017

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.

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There are 237 replies with an estimated read time of 36 minutes.

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This is awesome!! I would totally send my stuffs in, but I can not move over there. I'll be excited to see what comics come out of this. =3

Looks like a cool program! I'm not able to move to Cali at this point but maybe if this is still a thing in a couple years I'll apply then :V

EDIT: Should have read closer, Still not in a place right now to start doing another comic. :V Good luck to everyone who enters!

Dumb question incoming!

To me it sounds like the creator doesn't need to be in the same city, but do you have to be in the same country?

(because I may or may not be in the works of pitching a comic but need to know if I might have to do it now or if I can wait xD)

Do you have the option to not be in house? Work remotely for those whose situation does not allow them to uproot completely.

this is SO! COOL! not smth id be able to do for a loooong while bc im student but im so glad tapas is doing this

Working in house is not an option for me for several reasons. If there was a way to organize/participate in this project from where I am now I would be interested though.

Such an awesome idea! I live in East Bay, CA! I’m sure if I applied I wouldn’t get picked, but I wish everyone else the best! Good luck, everyone!

Hey everyone!

Working in-house is not a requirement, it's optional.

It seams like a great initiative ! I hope it works well and you'll do it again next year :slight_smile:
(I'm just curious about it, but imagine someone would come just for a couple of month with a tourist visa, will it be illegal to go working at tapas for this time period, even as a freelancer?)

Working under a tourist visa in the US is very illegal. So bad that it could keep you from entering the country ever again if caught.

oh...well...that's what I thought...too bad, but it seems logical indeed.

For those who would need to e-commute, is there a particular time we would have to be available or will the hours be flexible in that regard as long as production is met and communication is timely?

(I have kids so there's times during the day I am transporting them to and from school, and etc)

Is this offer even available for people outside of America? What with the complications of work visas and immigration?

This sounds cool; I appreciate how y'all are always trying new things.

If I understand the Compensation section correctly, selected creators get a stipend from Tapas to cover cost of living during the program period, with the promise of a cut of future comic sales. Is this correct?

Do you have an estimate of how much money the stipend will be? I get that it varies, but a ballpark budget number would be appreciated for those of us who'd have to quit our jobs and/or move, etc. Thank you!