The most effective way to market a web-novel?

[foxx1]

I recently stumbled across an article published by Techcrunch, which claims that Tapas has reached an audience of 2.1 million monthly visitors.

Article:https: https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/22/tapas-media/

Given the high number of visitors, it can still be incredibly difficult (even impossible) to get traction for your work as a non-premium creator/author.

I was fortunate to be featured in noteworthy novel/ staff picks, thus gaining a few subscribers. Unfortunately, not everyone has that opportunity, which brings me to the question. What is the most practical way to market a web-novel?

[Pan]

This is a fantastic question.

I was also featured in new and noteworthy, which is the only reason I think I got enough traction for my subscribers to continue steady growth. For anyone just starting out, unless they get incredibly lucky, there's just no way to be visible among the masses.

I think, personally, Tapas could start by disallowing fanfiction on their platform. I see a ton of RPF for BTS specifically, and I mean, I love BTS to bits, but there are other sites where fanfiction can be posted. I don't think Tapas is the place for it. There's a big RPF category on AO3. I see some fanfictions here on Tapas that have triple the readers that some really amazing stories have. Just my opinion, on that matter

As for self advertising, one thing I've noticed is those who are very active here in the forums tend to make real friends, and gain readers that way

I've considered looking into cheap advertisement, but I wonder - is that worth the price, if it doesn't work?

I also think establishing a rapport with the community is important!

[Jenny-Toons]

I think, personally, Tapas could start by disallowing fanfiction on their platform. I see a ton of RPF for BTS specifically, and I mean, I love BTS to bits, but there are other sites where fanfiction can be posted. I don't think Tapas is the place for it. There's a big RPF category on AO3. I see some fanfictions here on Tapas that have triple the readers that some really amazing stories have. Just my opinion, on that matter

I think that holds some water to the case. A lot of times, people do get more popular with their fanworks than they do with their original writings. I remember writing an original story on Fanfiction, and it got so attention. At the same time, I also wrote an old fanfiction for the Slenderman fandom back in 2013/2014. Even today as we speak, I continue to get notifications saying people are following me, favoring and following that fanfic.

[Pan]

A lot of times, people do get more popular with their fanworks than they do with their original writings.

This is the truth! Almost any fanfiction writer can tell you this. Tapas should be a platform for originals only, at least I think so. It'd be really lovely if Tapas staff looked into this and made a decision. Maybe give everyone a few weeks to move their stories to a fanfiction site?

I really think it would at least help keep attention on those authors out there, silently pining for views.

[foxx1]

I do agree with your statement regarding fan-fiction. The reason being that Tapas, if not careful, can fall to the same standards as Wattpad with an oversaturation of fan-fiction and limited original content.

Creating quality original content give the platform (in my opinion) more credibility among readers.

To create more traction for books and comics, I think Tapas should (in my opinion) ranks books/comic popularity based on genre, instead of a general trending list. Therefore one specif genre won't dominate the trending list while the others get pushed to the back. I think Webtoon does that and it seems to be working just fine.

[fleohr]

I think the problem would be how would they know which one is a fanfiction, aside most popular one like BTS hm, and to check every single novel in the entirely site would take a good amount of time

[Luminosophy]

I think Tapas should (in my opinion) ranks books/comic popularity based on genre, instead of a general trending list. Therefore one specif genre won't dominate the trending list while the others get pushed to the back.

I like this idea, it would be easier for me to find series as a reader. I would hope they just don't do what deviantart did which was artificially de-popularize some categories like digital art and anime/ manga. The result caused those artist to submit under erroneous categories in order to just be seen. And of course, nothing was done about it.

[foxx1]

I'm not sure if fanfiction is a genre on Tapas. If so, they can be tracked using thier tags.
If not, then Tapas might consider banning them altogether or creating a separate genre for fanfiction.
That way, they won't get mixed in with the original content.

[Pan]

Perhaps, in that regard, if some still slip through the cracks that maybe aren't tagged, they could always rely on the reader support system to report fanfictions we come across. I for one would be willing to do so, if fanfiction is eventually banned. They do need to be careful, because if a fic reaches over 100 subs and the creator activates ad revenue, Tapas could potentially enter into legal battles that I'm sure would not be fun!

I do think adding popularity by genre would be a fantastic idea! It's just a matter of adding a few extra pages to the app and separating the stories by their main tag.

[djwaglmuffin]

The problem with targeting fanfiction is that fanfic drives traffic to sites like this in the first place.

Downside, which might be motivating enough, is that they can't make money off of it.

One thing I was thinking about doing was posting what fanfiction I make and HOPE that the same people reading my fanfics will go "Oh, wow, if you can do THAT to fanfiction, what are your originals like" but then you get people who are only following you FOR the fanworks so...it's a delicate thing.

I will say, though: Fanfiction over BL NEEDS its own tag and have is somewhat removed from the original content but Tapas does need to take a stand on one or the other: is this a site to hype original content or is this a site that rides on fanfiction. I mean: you guys are right. There are a bagillion other places to read fanfics but...I don't know. As long as a healthy percentage of that 2.1 million is here for fanfiction, we're in trouble.

[Croik]

Fanfiction is already not allowed according to the TOS:

You hereby affirm, represent, and warrant that you (1) own or have the necessary licenses, rights, consents, and permissions to publish Content you submit and publish through the Service; and (2) all such Content are original works of authorship on your part and have not been copied, in whole or in part, from any other work and do not violate, misappropriate or infringe any copyright, trademark or other proprietary right of any other person or entity.

You further agree that Content you submit to a Tapas Media Service will not contain third party copyrighted material, or material that is subject to other third party proprietary rights, unless you have permission from the rightful owner of the Content or you are otherwise legally entitled to post the Content and to grant Tapas Media all of the license rights granted herein.

It's just that Tapas' staff is so small they're not able to go around enforcing that, I assume.

[Zaboem]

@Croik Okay, if I am reading that rule correctly, fan fiction is therefore allowed if none of the actual content (either words or pictures) is copied AND if the Tapas creator has specific permission by the IP owner to create it. This clarification is hugely helpful for my next project. I appreciate how you dug this up and posted it for us.

[YaoiParadise]

I think we kind of lost the topic here and got totally side-tracked with a conversation about fanfic.

I haven't done a lot of marketing recently, but I used to do my best with it. Granted, it was on wattpad, so advice might not work out quite the same here.

A social media presence is very helpful. Appearing to be an interesting person will get people to check out your work. I gained several dozen followers from twitter and tumblr when I was active.
Being active in forums/whatever the best option here to make friends with other writers is also big. Check out other people's work, leave some helpful comments- a lot of times people reciprocate. I've seen threads here that do it the organized way with a sort of critique for critique system like they did on wattpad. Making friends also gives you both the chance to put spotlights on each other's work and share your followers especially if you're in the same genre.

I've found in my years that webnovels have a very strong social aspect when it comes to marketing, unlike traditional novels.

Also, since we're talking about fanfic, that's also a good way to grow your audience. Fandoms are huge, and fanfic grows in popularity by the second, lol. You pull on a huge audience and you can catch dedicated readers for your original novels from that pool of readers. Whether people approve of it being allowed on Tapas or not (I don't, tbh, all my fanfic goes on AO3) it's still a good way to pull in readers and get them interested in your writing before advertising your original works.

Fanfiction is already not allowed according to the TOS:

Fanfic often falls under the terms of fair use laws, so as long as the fanfic is transformative enough it wouldn't violate usage terms because there is no copyrighted material being used (except in any images, of course).
Of course there have been bloodthirsty lawyers who have gone after fanfic in the past (god, I remember that fear, and the poor people who got snagged by some very high profile author's lawyers) but technically fanfic is okay so long as they're not copy/pasting and are relatively original in plot and such.
The only thing you'd have to worry about is earning money from it (ads and tips) because that's where problems usually occur.

[Zaboem]

Correct, we are off-topic, and I am partly at fault for that.

Back to the topic, there are a lot of people out there who want to help a creator promote. Bloggers and netcasters (a.k.a. podcasters and vloggers) are hungry for content. They want creators to interview. Also, your local newspaper and local morning talk radio show probably want to interview local authors but don't know any. Contact a few.

[MariMontoya]

Specifically, on Tapas, there's a second writer's camp coming around and that's a great way to start.

• Competitions like these will gain you, readers, as you are in the spotlight for a while.

• Like others have said have a social media presence including on this forum. Be friendly and respectful.

• Read and comment on other people's works which gets you to interact with writers

• Have an eye-catching cover and know how to write a blurb that can quickly hook readers.

• Use the resources around you a friend of mine, without me knowing, advertised on her Instagram account and I got many subscribers from that alone. So Friends and family can be helpful.
  As one who has never appeared in new and noteworthy or staff-picked I can say the things above really helped me

[foxx1]

All the suggestions here are brilliant.