Tapas vs. webtoon lol

[Fafnir]

it was. It does the more you can pump out comics the better, cudos to those that dont have busy lives and can do that.
ANd yes, I agree. I just cling to my pessimism.

[UrMom]

Oh totally! I don't do banner swaps anymore just so I can avoid repeating that experience, and haven't seen any trouble since. Also I've joined a private collective so even if some dick decides to report me on Webtoons I at least have a place I can go. Stand alone sites aren't as popular as they were in the early 2000's, but it's better than being totally pushed out.

Ironically, if you want to have a higher possibility of being featured on Webtoons do banner swaps with people who have similar comics to yours. There weren't any like mine per se so I swapped with creators who had LGBT+ comics... which were mostly BL , completely my first mistake on that path of unwanted temporary fame since it brought readers who thought my comic was romance. Lol
Keep in mind the type of audience you're okay with if you do a swap, age can play a huge factor, I thought I was fine with BL fans but it turns out I'm only fine with 20+ BL fans. x'D

[Llyrel]

I'd say that at this point the situation for me is pretty even between the two platforms, lol.
On Tapas, I have less subscribers (170), but way more views, likes and comments. Numbers increase very slowly, but the good thing is that people seem to be more willing to interact and leave a feedback

On Webtoon, I have more subscribers (208), but... only 2-3 of them leave likes on my episodes. Everything else is just like screaming into a void. I tried encouraging people to comment and like episodes, asking questions hoping to get a response, I added bonus pics at the end of my episodes with a "please don't forget to leave a like" message, I tried to do banner swaps (out of 8 people I managed to put together, 4 ghosted me and 2 never did their part of the swap), I tried participating to events on Twitter and Instagram & tagging the Canvas staff on Twitter (always got ignored), talking/promoting on their official Discord (got downvoted once)... nothing seems to work to get more people to interact for about six months, I actually kept losing followers with each new update instead of getting new ones.

I'm not giving up on WT yet because, in theory, it's where I got the biggest number of subscribers, but I have to say that so far I'm not very impressed with the place at the moment XD (btw: no, I do not participate in sub4sub).

Which isn't to say that Tapas is this perfect and flawless place where everything is beautiful and gaining a readership is easy, mind you I still think that Tapas could improve some things for community creators (namely giving more visibility to events like the Discord community art board instead of just posting them as Instagram stories that only last 24 hours + more visibility to recently updated comics and novels on the app + pushing the "Tapas Community" socials more so that potential readers can see them, since right now the pages seem to be followed mostly by creators), but overall, I think that Tapas has a far more creator-friendly UI and gives you better ways to help you build a community compared to WT (creator walls, forums, Discord, NOTIFICATIONS). Also, it has less censorship compared to WT.

That said, trying out different platforms and seeing which one works best for you is always a good idea!

[powerplantanimations]

The thing is I'd probably have more attention on Webtoons, but I just decide to only put my Tapas link just because I'm afraid people will choose one for another. Like "I'm subscribed one one, I don't need to subscribe to both". Also I guess hard work trying to get attention on BOTH sites.

From what I understand Webtoon Subs are almost catching up to my Tapas subs.

[smokesalty]

For me, I've managed to get around the same amount of followers for both (but I gained webtoon followers a lot faster.) I've found that if you're promoting your comic elsewhere, people are way more likely to look for your comic on webtoon since it's a more popular site.

I've also found that posting on tapas multiple times a week helps you in terms of algorithm and popularity. Tapas readers seem to be alright with shorter updates (there are a lot of comics that upload a page per update multiple times a week and seem to be doing great on tapas) Meanwhile, on webtoon, readers expect longer updates once per week, so that works on that site.

If you're in one of the less saturated genres (I'm in horror, which has way less featured series) you have more of a chance of being on the popular page and having people find you. However, if you're main genre Romance, Comedy, Fantasy or Action, you're going to have a hard time competing with the featured series and all the other comics on there.

I'm not sure if scroll or page format is preferred on tapas, but I see a whole lot more page comics on here than scroll (or at least the ones I'm reading)

I think the issue with tapas is that even the 'fresh' section, which is similar to webtoon's 'sort by date' section is that it still sorts fresh based on popularity (that's what I've heard, don't quote me on that)

[river121693]

I have a lot of gripes with both, but I lean toward webtoon.
I feel like webtoon's audience is more organic. I don't know who my commenters are most of the time, so I know that they're just interested in my story. My tapas engagements are often other creators, and I sometimes wonder how much of the engagement is out of obligation. I haven't advertise my comic on this forum for a few weeks and I haven't had any new subs, while I gained a few more subs on webtoon just by posting.
Webtoon also has a more dedicated staff that support canvas creators. They have recurring art activities which are good opportunities to get your work out there.

[RocketAxxonu]

It definitely feels like it's hard to attract new readers through Tapas itself; my memory's fuzzy now but I think when I first posted on Tapas I had maybe six subs for months. Most of the subs that came later came through links advertising from other places. On Webtoon, I only had work up there for about a week, but got like a hundred subs in that time, which seemed incredible in comparison to my experience on Tapas and other platforms just posting something for the first time without an established audience.

(Of course, my comic is a fancomic and after that first week on Webtoon I got notice it had been taken down for apparently copyright infringement, lol. So, my overall impression of Webtoon was that, it has a huge pool of potential readership and strong visibility for new work, but the environment kind of strict creatively speaking, perhaps more geared toward creators looking to make money off their work, and just kind of unfriendly in general. I've tried doing searches to find out if any other fanartists had the same experience, but couldn't find anything, and of course contacting Webtoon help directly isn't going to get a reply.)

Also something I didn't realize about Webtoon until seeing it here, that it doesn't provide notifications for comments--knowing that it's just as well I got kicked off; that just kills any sense of community. (That was one of the many crippling aspects of new Smack Jeeves that helped ensure its demise.) I would choose Tapas as a platform based on that alone.

[river121693]

theres a browser extension for webtoon comment called "comment wizard" made by a canvas artist that shows you comments. I highly recommend it.

[rumpenstiltzkin]

I also dont have my comic in scroll format so I guess thats a downer on webtoon

[redfish]

I hope you're still uploading even if it isn't meant for scroll!
Tbh I just prefer having a full scroll of even manga since it's just faster and easier to read and go back. I think people will read it! Just make sure the writing is readable there.

[rumpenstiltzkin]

ah yeh im still posting over there, i guess maybe a few prefer webtoon so it doesnt hurt to post it in more places to read

i myself have a hard time enjoying scroll format, altho i get that its easier to read on mobile, i myself always read on desktop and is just a more fan of traditional comic pages
I hope my writing is readable, i hade some feedback when i started postnig my comic here on tapas from the readers i have that is on mobile, so i changed the font size to make it a bit more readable and havent heard anymore after those changes so hopefully its good enough xD

[Nada]

I'm really confused about the type of readers on both sites, don't get me wrong, I have twice as many subscribers on Tapas as on Webtoon. When I published episode 4 of my comic, which had a realistic theme, the number of subscribers on Tapas increased, but on Webtoon it decreased.

[BlairFujin]

I have no concrete data on it but the vibes I get are that tapas has mostly late teen to early 20s readers while webtoon mostly teens

[redfish]

I also agree with @Animefanka that webtoon probably has a younger audience. Their rules around censoring adult content look a loooot strictier.

[Fafnir]

I dunno. Id say the audience on webtoon is mostly... literally everyone. Its just massive.
I heard the censoring is primarily cause its a korean company and they more conservative there. From a busniess perspective its probably also partly to maintain a level of respect/quality.

[migxmeg]

I usually read Djinns on my phone before I get out of bed lol - your font size is fine!

[migxmeg]

My experience is pretty similar to yours, with about 5x the subscribers on Webtoon and they are organic. Though I really can't think of a good reason not to post on both. It's just a bit of extra effort and I think it's nice to have a choice for readers that prefer one platform or the other.

[darthmongoose]

I have over 1400 subs on Tapas and 65 on Webtoon.

It's good to be on both platforms, and I'd definitely recommend cross-posting if possible. Even if one platform vastly out-performs the other, you can still use one to advertise the "main mirror".

There are certainly some concrete things in favour of the Tapas mirror like:

• My comic isn't proper long scroll, more like two normal comic pages stacked and spread out a bit (four on webtoon). Webtoon seems to have a big preference for "true" long scroll while Tapas is kind of less bothered.
• I started on Tapas first and reluctantly added Webtoon when friends urged me to cross-post. I did that because I was fairly certain my comic was going to appeal to the Tapas audience more from the get-go just based on the fact that IRL friends of mine making comics for a similar audience (like Alien Heart and Buuza!) were doing well.
• My links on external sites and social media pretty much always go to the Tapas version because I just prefer the site and already have more readers here.
• I take part a lot in the Tapas community and events. I think there's a chance that was how I got my first feature- by being nominated for a community pick and catching the eye of the staff.

So it's entirely possible my following is bigger here because I put more effort in here. I could speculate other reasons to do with style, audience and stuff, but they'd be just guesses.

[Fafnir]

I think take away im hearing. which is kind of a no brainer, and has been repeated many times on here and other places. Is post to as many places as you can, cause you never know which one will take off.

[ButterflyEmpress]

I came across this on the webtoon subreddit that's raises some concerns about the site.

Time Gate: [AFTERBIRTH] - CANVAS COIN DAY AND YOU - THIS ISN'T A PRIZE.

It's about an event where readers get 3 measly coins for subscribing to 30 Canvas webtoons. Unfortunately most of these "readers" will leave after they received their coins.

I don't want to come across as a downer, but just don't feel down if you get a sudden boost in subs that all leave in droves. They weren't most likey reading.