Dear Tapas readers, creators, and administrators.
Slowly over the past year, a ceiling has developed in the visibility of comics. Comics that have lots of readers are guaranteed to make the popular lists, the daily snack, essentially ensuring their visibility. This attracts new readers because people see them and check them out. While smaller, great comics scuttle around on the floor hoping someone will look down and see them.
These smaller comics stall out on earning subscribers. There is a small, unknown window of time that lesser comics might break through and it's usually only in the first couple of releases while the comic is still in the "New" sections. Then they slowly float down to the floor with the others. Buried by already established fanbases.
Essentially everything that isn't a joke-a-day strip gets swallowed.
Here's what I'm suggesting.
EDIT: I'm going to clarify the goal of this thread. I don't think any system currently in place should change. This is a thread to suggest possibly additions to Tapas to provide more opportunities for comics to be found. Below is one such Idea I had. This is not our of ingratitude. This is a desire to grow and improve a site that I very much love and attribute to my growth as a creator over the past three years.
We need Tapas to be more involved in the curation of smaller comics. The Snack, or something similar should feature comics, not based on how well they are doing but by the opinions of comic curators. These comics, once visible to the readers, will earn subscribers, and thus will add to the list of popular comics already on Tapas.
I think we need a new class of account. Not a creator or reader. A curator. A small group of selected members, readers, creators, and employees of Tapas, that browse the smaller comics. Take suggestions. Commune directly with creators, and submit a daily suggestion of small but great comics that deserve to be seen but just can't break through the popularity ceiling.
Tapas is still growing. It has the opportunity to be the biggest comic site and app. But we need to help the less lucky comics find their audience. And they aren't going to do that on the 5th page of the "trending" list.
For example: Rainy Days hasn't been featured anywhere in a long time. It's a narrative based comic and today was featured in the Daily Snack. This is the result thus far.
As you can see, it's not that the comic can't draw new readers. It just needs to be in a place where new readers can find it.