The problem with popular visibility. ( A discussion of new way to be discovered )

Goodness gracious you speak truth! I have been feeling this way for a long time. While I do not like to compare myself to others, I undoubtedly know that my comic has more potential that has not yet been reached because of this invisible barrier. Popular comics will remain popular as long as they are sitting in the spotlight positions of the site + app!

Can there be a way for smaller comics/creators to be seen more frequently besides the 'Fresh' tab? I don't think audiences will be disappointed! If a new concept is designed for this awesome website and app, then communities like mine will grow along with others who may deserve it after the hard work they put in.

This has been on the minds of newer creators for quite some time but if people jump on this train, maybe something can be done. I see Tapas a few years from now being even bigger with Novels thrown into the mix, but overall improvements to provide a balance for artists are long overdue.

Pretty please with a cherry on top let's make magic and give all series a chance.

Making money is not a bad thing, but the tapas team could make two groups, the marketing one and one for the site, the day the big series end, they will get nothing, make more "big ones" from time to time and get a healthy income and a growing site with fair rules, plus it will never run out of money.

To me the home page should be reversed. Like the new comics at the top, the just updated in the middle and the staff pick and popular at the bottom.

Ooh, didn't know that lol. I just go straight to my library

I understand that Tapas need to push the popular ones first to "lure in" new readers and create revenue.
What I suggested was only to make it easier to find other comics as well with a more advanced search bar.

I don't know if this has been noted yet, but I noticed that the "Discover" section on Webtoon allows for somewhere between 130-160 pages per genre, plus a ton of pages (600+) for the combined Discover section!

I think that a change like that for the "Fresh" section could help give smaller creators a higher chance of being discovered. With only 5 pages and so many creators, an updated comic enters and leaves the "Fresh" section super quickly, while on Webtoon, it takes much longer to get bumped, which gives creators a longer exposure to people browsing through active comics. It's also easier to switch between categories, since they are horizontal links and not a dropdown menu.

A higher visibility for the "Fresh" link would help as well (Webtoons "Discover" is at the top of the site!). I know Tapas needs to promote their premium comics, but the link is buried all the way at the bottom of the page, which could lead people to believe that the things promoted on the top of the page are the only things offered on the site. Plus, more users reading non-premium series doesn't = a loss for Tapas, since those readers may be more inclined to purchase coins to support their favorite small creators, and are spending more time on Tapas in general if they have more series to read.

INTERNAL RATING SYSTEM: I figured this site already has an internal rating system that perhaps has all mods/admins rating comics and giving preference to those that they think are appropriate for material on their site, entertaining (to them, only), and worthy of their discrimination.

(ex-- each admin rates comics 1-to-5 and when tallied, the higher scores rise faster. With 20 admins., a rating of 100 will get a 5x boost in hidden stat compilation over a comic with a mere 20 rating.)

I've seen old-old comics that have few subscribers and few views jump up the charts above newer updates with many subscribers and loads of views. It doesn't make sense. The only way that could happen is if the site is rigged to promote certain comics on an internal rating system.

Perhaps I'm wrong.

If there is an internal rating system, it should be abolished. Let the readers' views and votes rule the site, or drop the pretense and just rule "above the fold" with an iron fist that doesn't use terms like "popular" and "trending".

One thing that would help new comics get traction--put in a time-slide system where comics that haven't updated get lesser ability to appear in "popular" and "trending". Freshness should be encouraged. Old-n-complete (not updated for a year, for example) comics should be archived in a separate area reserved for such, and those should be hand-picked by staff to rule out random/amateur work. Make way for the new stuff!

There should also be a category that dredges up the unpopular stuff and provides a grab bag of things which aren't getting noticed, but updated regularly for more than 20 episodes (or some number of episodes) to allow serious contributors who aren't as popular to get SOME exposure somehow.

I've been reading through this forum, and people have brought up some good points. I don't write comics, but I do write stories. From what I've noticed in the novel section, it's completely dominated by premium stories. I don't see novels growing popular here if readers are only coming to Tapas to read certain writers' stories. If I was a reader, and I just wanted to support one writer, then why would I check out the other stories here? Honestly, I probably wouldn't when I know I have to pay for one writer's story, and then think I have to pay for another writer's story I don't know. Also, these popular writers only promote other popular content, so if you are new creator, you even have that against you.

Well, that's just me, but it kind of bugs me that Tapas is fishing for writers on established websites like Wattpad rather than promoting the writers here who want to support this site. Seems fishy and underhanded, but then again, that's business.

It appears all these comic and story sharing websites are just trying to take each others' users. In a way, Tapas is run the same as Wattpad, minus everyone can make money. I hope the Tapas staff can make changes that allow newer content to get noticed.

The reason they fish for popular creators is because they bring in a new audience.

You may think it goes "they only come here for that novel"

But in my experience this is very false. I know readers of my comics have migrated from webtoons and smackjeeves to tapas, and then ended up discovering new comics on tapas and engaging with the community.
I think that's essential, btw. The community. Tons of people come here for a comic they like and stay for the community. Then they get interested in other comics along the way.

Basically, what I'm saying is don't lose motivation over this. Quite opposite, you should be excited about it, because it means there's a larger pool of people that your comic can have a chance at.

Thanks for responding to me!

Tbh, I don't know how comics work, but as for stories, I guess I can't really believe that. However, I'll wait and see.

I guess you could see the "losing motivation" in my post. I get the business side by looking for "popular creators," but it bothers me when a website doesn't try to improve their platform for their loyal users. I'm new here, so I don't know much, but so far, this place isn't run much different from Wattpad.

The site does have their loyal users in mind, that's kinda what i'm saying ^_^ thing is: without site traffic, the small users suffer too. Tapas can't spotlight every creator that thinks they deserve it, that's impossible and it would ruin the effect a spotlight has in the first place. Therefore, a lot of marketing strategies will be reserved for popular stories in order to attract new readers, which are beneficial for the site at large and raise reader amount for small users too.

The one thing i'd like to see is a thumbnail scroll from the fresh section on the front page. I get that they're trying to avoid stolen comics or porn that has yet to be taken down finding its way to the front page, but i feel that the exposure it would give to small creators is definitely worth the risk.

Especially now that the algorithm has been changed in the popular section to benefit premium content. I definitely understand why they do this; premium content often updates weekly meaning they would be put at a disadvantage when battling in a category that benefits comics that update daily. A disadvantage that would be financially bad, since premium comics are a huge income source both for creators and (if what i heard from GoldenPlume i think it was is correct) the site at large. I agree with their choice, but i would like to see the fresh section being better represented to weigh it up a bit for non premium creators.

Thanks for the information!

Since I'm new here, I can't say much; I can only comment on what I've seen. However, I don't have much faith this site will be any better, but we'll see. I've gotten some good info from you and GoldenPlume, so I'll rest this topic for now. All I can do is see what happens.

The day I get a spot light a hah hah hah hah HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!

But a more serious note, the ideas you present really sound swell but they would have to higher more staff and or I don't really understand the whole popularity thing to be honest. There would be some kind of weird debate on who gets featured and even though the story is really pretty and not so many pages but man oh man it's amazing! but the pages are short and there's not enough for me to digest ( this is one thing I will never accept when reading or watching anything, BINGEING) it kind of feels like you won't get noticed because you don't have that said amount of content of say someone who has 26q73w4etsyht4237645371734 episodes. When I first signed up here, I did in hopes of hey! my comic is in color! AND ITS COOL! and maybe people will like it? maybe I will get featured? But that is totally the wrong way to think about it. I mean phhfff yeah that would be awesome to be featured on there...uhh... (snacks) or front page featured. Point is it really does suck and I agree. Just draw the comic for you, not for anyone else. And people will love it! If they don't that's there loss. I don't want to sound mean or anything but you gotta do this because you love to do this, stop worrying about the numbers kid, the stars are your goal. Yah know what I mean? and besides when you are finally noticed it will be worth all of it. Aim for the stars but don't fall. Create your dream.

I get the same comment that my comic, taking a long time to make because of school, that I should get more subs. But because of the amount of time it takes to make an issue, I'm unable to update on a basis of any kind. Thus I lose the ability to gain subs at a rate I wish to have. But because of my desire to gain more subs, I often find myself using other tactics to gain subs, which work in the short run, but not really as the view count on some comics strangely stay consistent through each month. With the exception of the more serious comics.

For example, My Darkling, although not updating for 4 months, still gets an average of 200 views each month.
But this could be because each issue of the series is just a short panel, making it easily digestible. And because of its cute/creepy aesthetics, it can draw readers to come back to read and share amongst other readers.
If you're curious, you can take a look here.

Action comics on the other hand, have the opposite effect, as viewership will go down the less you update, but stay consistent as long as you update on a basis. With the exception for that one moment when someone popular shares your comic on the basis for that one shocking tweet, but the people looking a the comic will leave after seeing the spectacle.
It plagues me that this page has the highest view count of the series of around 1.9k whereas the average view count of the other is 250 (0.25k) views on the promise of man nipples.

But all in all, I feel like I need to work on my marketing abilities and try to find a way to streamline my work in order to keep my subs and views, as well as engage readers to sub to want more of what I got.

Yeah, I've noticed that the progression on my series is basically zero. It's not like Webtoon, where each time I post something I'll slowly gain 5-10 subs, and get a bit more views each time. There, I actually see IMPROVEMENT each time I upload something, because there´s always people on the Discover section. Here on Tapas, no matter how many or how frequently I upload episodes, I will get similar amount of views (or less) and, therefore, no subs, which then again translates into no views; like a vicious cycle.

Where am I going with this? I think that the most popular comics that are on the main page plus the daily snack all cover the "entertainment needs" of the readers; when they finish reading the popular ones, they don't feel the need for more. On Webtoon, people read the daily features (maybe up to 10-15 series of different categories) and then some go on Discover, probably because their demand for entertainment hasn't been fully fulfilled.

To summarize, Tapas should change the structure of the site so that there's a more clear "Discover" section in addition to maybe lowering the amount of space and quantity that the popular series take up. That way, more people would be drawn to the Discover section and smaller creators would get their stuff viewed more often.

That's it, thanks for reading

I think Tapas should have some sort of "relevance system," in which, after reading a certain amount of comic/novel chapters, a recommended list appears which showcases other series of similar genre to the one the reader is currently engaged in or what fellow readers tend to read along with that said series. Think of it like an "other users also read blah blah..." kind of system where the site recommends other (hopefully lesser known but otherwise great) content based on the taste compatibility of the audience.

Another option would also be a "surprise me" button which randomly selects a series out of the current tapas database in which gives higher chances of showcasing a lesser known series that has potential, momentum, or compatibility to the certain audience's taste in genre and style.

All in all, I think that the creators are responsible for promoting their own works but the site's aid and assistance are definitely welcome to have anytime. Let's all work hard everyone and continue helping each other out.