I beg too differ. It was novative in that it took a different approach from what Patreon does, which is the reason why we don't want to move to Patreon, because it's not as performing at TSP. We currently do not understand why a service that is built in our home platform, successful, convenient, user friendly, reliable, etc suddenly needs to end in favor of a solution that isn't as interesting. Like @Hobbes said, it's a downgrade for us, creators. TSP is one of the main features that makes Tapastic absolutely more interesting than any possible platform.
The staff seems positive about the fact that TSP is ruled out of the future, so we do have reasons to voice our concerns. Yes, TSP was in beta, but we, creators, are like investers. We joined this program because we believed in it, we put effort in it because we wanted it to be a success for us, but also for Tapastic, because we're partners in crime. Please, don't spite us for our eagerness and hopefullness in trying to be part of something great that we all love.
I kind of want to say "Hello...? Comic artist is a job?" Sure there are many hobbyist here, but there are also professionals and aspiring professionals. Most of all, making comics IS work, and there is no reason why artists should not be rewarded financially for their work. What you just said is basically that stance of "Art is too noble to be tainted by money, true artists do it for the passion and don't need to be paid for their hard work." I always wonder why we don't say that lawyers, doctors, teachers etc shouldn't be paid, because, after all, it takes a calling to do those jobs too >___> But let's not enter this debate here.
YES! I've REALLY been wanting Tapastic to consider adding in an online shop, or to have a partnership with a reliable shop service so to make things easier for creators to market ther merchandise. Printing comics and goodies is easily an issue, especially because of shipping, so I've even been wondering if it could be possible for Tapastic someday in the future, to have partnerships with printers on the fifth continents so American readers buying merch would be provided by an American printing service, Europeans by a European service etc (it would make more sense financially AND ecologically to decrease pollution from shipping!) Maybe something to keep in mind for the future?
I very much agree. I think comics and novels really need to be in distinct sections so not to be in direct competitions (it would be useless) but that they should indeed be bridges. And fanfics are a no-no if you want to give original stories a chance to survive in this wild wild web.
To this I would add that having good feedback tools could make the true difference with other platforms. Here on the forum I love how we can just select text and quote it: such a feature MUST be present for novels, so readers can give specific feedback as they read. ...Wouldn't make sense if the forums were somehow more performing for review than the actual platform.
Currently, when I want to share texts I favor Google docs because of the comment feature. It's so very efficient!