I also want to ask where you draw the line regarding whether to feature a novel due to it having "sexual content".
My novel is primarily a romance novel, and while it doesn't have any sex scenes currently, there will definitely be sex scenes in the future. It is practically an industry standard nowadays for romance novels to have same form of "sexual content" in it. Sex sells, always has.
The sites you mention place certain restrictions and disadvantages when it comes to "porn". But not on things that just have sexual/mature content. There is a difference between "porn" and something that uses swear words and occasionally has sexual content. I am writing a novel to bring joy and enjoyment to readers, why should I be forced to compromise and negatively alter my initial creative vision due to discrimination on things that are not PG13?
I haven't tried the mobile version of tapas yet, but the web version leaves a lot to be desired in terms of finding novels you want to read.While browsing for a novel, there is no filtering option other than the genre. You can't even see some of the prominent novel tags without actually clicking on the novel. Which then redirects to first chapter instead of the novel details page.
I'd like to search for tags, but then again, I don't even know what tags to search for to find what I want to read. There is no suggestions of popular tags, and even the authors don't know what tags they should be using.
All in all, I've used most of the novel reading sites and this is the first time I've felt this confused and helpless when trying to find my next read.
You mention that you won't feature mature novels, but why not provide users the ability to find mature novels themselves? If I wanted to read a novel that had sexual content, how would I even find it?
It seems to me like novels simply get lost in the dust without an effective way to be discovered by users.
I understand that you are a small team that has to prioritize things, but this is not an issue that affects "a small population of authors of mature content". This is an issue that impacts all readers and authors, with a higher impact on those with mature content (or looking to read mature content).
You've added the mature section of the site, yet when I clicked on that, what's this? Only 31 comics are there?? Where are the rest? Where are the novels?
I don't want to go on into details about how all of this can be improved. Just look at any of your competitors, Webtoons, Webnovel, Wattpad, Mangatoon, etc. Each of them have their own problems, but they are all aware how important it is to serve users the content they are looking for.
Tapas as a company seems to be the friendliest towards creators, wishing to grow together with them, I respect that and I would love to join the ship, but I can't do that if other sites provide me with a much better discoverability. In the end, it is the readers that fund my work, and if other sites such as Webnovel can get my novel in front of a larger number of readers, then I'll have no choice but go there, even if I'll constantly have a bellyful of anger due to them using my hard work to pocket 80% of the money the readers pay.
Update: Installed the android app, and things are a bit better there on first glance, but there is no ability to view trending novels? There is only a trending comics feed? And there is no mature section here? Then... not actually better?