The secret to a successful webcomic

[carloswebcomic]

A successful webcomic. Everyone wants that.
But we often ask, what IS a successful webcomic?
Is it the one that has a lot of readers? Is it the one that gets the most attention? Or is it the one that makes lots of money?
I think that by now we could all agree that there is no correct answer.

Now, if you're anything like me, one day you simply put pen to paper (or pencil to exercise book. I don't judge) and simply threw yourself into the webcomic world just to see where it took you.

That's the way I've always done it. Very little planning, I simply throw myself in and play it by ear.
Unfortunately, it always ends up the same way. I end up in existentialist angst and ask myself "Why the hell am I doing this?!", I feel like a failure, then I unceremoniously stop the comic and immerse myself in video games for a few months before starting all over again.

No matter how many reader, subs or Pokemons I get, I've never felt that my comic was successful.
In all honesty, I don't think that it was a problem with the comic itself. The problem is with me because I did not know what success was, or to be more precise, I did not define it.

If you wonder aimlessly without goals you will never feel your successes.
To avoid this, perhaps it is best to set yourself a goal, something you aim to achieve.
Be realistic about it too. Set yourself a goal of achieving 100 subscribers and see if you can get there. If you can, then great! You're a success! Now you can move on to 200 subscribers.
Don't, however, give yourself stupidly hard goals for your comic like getting your comic made into a movie or achieving world peace. You'll end up a very unhappy chappy if you did that.

No one can tell you if your comic is successful or not. Everyone has their own measuring stick and the one that really matters is your own.
So, in the end, what is the secret of a successful webcomic? Create your own definition of success.

(Waits for rotten tomatoes to be thrown my way)

[WakaXO]

I personally measure my comics success by how much I like and enjoy it. What's the point of doing something I don't enjoy? What's the point of writing a story I don't personally want to read? If I like my comic at the end of the day, then it is a success, becuase I am my own worst critic and thus the hardest person in the world to please. I figure if I put out a comic I am proud of and like other will like it too. With that in mind I don't have to stress, becuase even if no one likes my comic, at the end of the day at least I do. I don't know if that sounds selfish, I don't mean it too, it's just how I cope with the anxiety of putting out what I wish to become a "successful comic".
Also, I hear you about jumping in head first with little planning, I spent very little time actually thinking my comic out too. 😅

[glennsong]

@carloswebcomic I hear ya about the existential angst. I went through bouts of that as I created my webcomic. It's certainly not easy when you're not getting feedback, readership, or the sense that anyone around you cares that you're trying to make something new and unique.

One success to me was finishing my comic. I did it and I did it the way I wanted, and I did it after suffering all those bouts of angst and overcoming them. You're not far off when you say that you need to define the parameters of success.

I wanted to learn new skills -- web design, lettering, storyboarding, etc. and this project let me do all of that. In that sense I think I succeeded there. There's a lot of things that need improvement that I'll work on the next time around, but in order to do that, I had to go through this first comic.

One large negative is that my comic took way too long. I started it over 4 years ago and finished it this past May, but what's done is done...

[Nio_Kasgami]

@carloswebcomic Hum I can agree with ya ...for my comic I don't search it to be sucessful...OKAY yes like most artist I hope my comic get popular or have a lil of success.

I do have a goal honestly I would like to be able to publish a comic , Novel or game in a company or a publishing house and make it as a printed format...
OR
to at least finish one volume of my comic and it's....a pretty motivating goal. (then continue to publish more and more volume of it)

and Honestly....I guess I planned a lots Nyar I.D I mean I took almost 2 years of plannings for finally quitting the concept board to a true manga form.

but yeah my goal is to share comic with peoples and to share my stories if I get popular or gain money for it COOL but I don't want that my motive will be "money" hahah

I know I'm a naive artist >w>"

[insomniascrawl]

Having subs and views would be nice, but I just want to write stories that go against the grain by breaking stereotypes and whatnot, by making people realize that those things don't matter.

I want to make stories that do for someone else what some comics and stories did for me; show characters overcoming hardships. That's why a lot of the times I make my characters kinda wacky and light hearted because I want people to see characters that have faced hell and been able to accept that and move forward while not losing who they were, but growing from their struggles, no matter how bad their struggles were.

I wanted to make stories that portray those things and if even one person gains something from that I'd feel like I had 100,000,000 subscribers I'd be so happy haha.

[El_Psy_Congroo]

I'm not gonna lie, I do love watching my view count go up like a gleeful endangered panda excited to ride a train for the first time

And whenever I get new subscribers I'm kinda like

But I think at the end of the day I really love the story I want to tell and I can't wait to get it all out. That drive has always been there and hasn't waned so much. There are periods I get lazy, but watching my art improve with every page is super motivating. Perhaps I just haven't properly "plateaued" yet (check out George Leonard's book Mastery to know what I mean). I guess time and experience will tell.

[niinasalmelin]

For me success right now is that I have readers enjoying the story and giving me their thoughts over it. while I get new readers in steady pace. Current goal is to finish the first arc, then the second and third ones. After that I can think of printing it. More than everything I want to finish it with care. It's pretty personal project that I've been planning for so long I kinda owe it to myself.

[eleoza]

This, so much hahah.
I agree and I've been saying it before, the most important factor is liking the comic yourself, besides if you don't like your own comic it'll be a drag to continue drawing it even if you have a million fans.

[scullpanda]

I set goals for myself like 1k views ,20 subs, 50 subs and I measure my success by how much fun Im having and my own personal goals

I just actually reached my first goal and I'm super excited O/////O

[scythe]

Honestly, it's never something I've ever thought about, I just focus on the next page ad infinitum.

But if I had to give it a meaning, I'd say, I'd consider my comic successful when it's sitting among other big webcomics and holding its own, i.e., similar sub counts, similar like counts etc.

[shaneoid77]

I think you've just got to tap in to the zeitgeist of the time really, which appears to be right now comics dealing with the inanity of modern Western life.

[Kayke]

You've been writing some good topics lately about this kind of stuff!

I think this kind of goes for all art. I always see people comparing them selves to others when it comes to posting art on the internet and that can be pretty damaging. You might think "oh this person is more successful than me because they have more twitter followers" without realizing your art makes you more money. Or "this person's comic is more successful because it has more followers" but not realize that person's followers never comment or engage with the writer. You can never really know anyone else's full situation.

I've been doing just this since I was in college, the setting reasonable goals thing. I'd look at my comic and my social media and stuff and think "Okay I want to have followers by next year" or "I want to have a new mini-comic printed before the next con I go to" and usually if you set that goal and actively work toward it you can make it happen.

You can even break the goals down into smaller chunks. Like instead saying "I WANT TO FINISH A GRAPHIC NOVEL THIS YEAR" say "I want to finish the script for my graphic novel in the next two months" and then move on to the next step.

[acealmansoori]

I do believe in setting goals too, people fail to realize there are forums everywhere and people to help them along the way and keep them company.
From personal experience Nanowrimo helped me tremendously with my novels, the forums there is pretty active, especially during November. Now Tapastic has become my second home since the release of my comic, i'm frequently attending the forum here to encourage and be encouraged.

[Michelle]

I think actually producing my comic in the first place has made it successful by my standards. I see a lot of people talk about doing a comic but never actually produce anything, so I'm happy to have actually made something I can show people.

And I feel successful when people get involved in the story and its characters. I'm not trying to do anything revolutionary or make some grand statement, I just want to put something out there that I love and others can enjoy. As long as I'm putting my best foot forward with every page, I can feel happy about my comic.

[joannekwan]

With each page I do I'm closer to completing my story, that's adequate for me.

But of course subs and views are nice too, for every hundred subs, or every 1000 view I smile to myself and keep on going on.

[kazukitakamura126]

Seeing my comic come to life is how I define success. I had a moment of accomplishment today when I realized the next major arc of my comic is about to start and the ideas I wrote and coming true. Also like people to read my work and talk about it. Even if its only one or two people I feel my work; I am glad my comic is putting a smile on someone's face or making them think. I also do plan on publishing my comic Seishin Patona into an eBook so I can make it more easily accessible and I want to make a little something from my work. (Well that's if I sell enough copies that is XP)

[eslameldeeb]

i measure success by the ability of achieving only 2 goals:
1. realize your potential joy while doing your work (i think this is the most sacred value one could ever obtain)
2. enable your work to pay the bills and put food on the table

** drops the mic*

[inkythoughts]

Well, I personally do feel successful if I can increase the views/subs (I just reached 100+ subs which is very great, next goal would be 200!) and when I get feedback (which surprisingly has been always very positive??), I always am so incredibly happy,
BUT the progress of creating something is worth so much. I feel very accomplished when I finished a page, and aim for enough pages to get printed compies of the first part. Still a way to go, but if I get this far, I know I can do basically anything if I just actually stay with it (this honestly has always been my biggest issue - I tend to abandon projects, so I really try to get this done, just to prove it to myself)

These are two different kinds of success, but I guess I couldn't do it without these two. I need a pat on the head, and be able to see what I've actually created, then I'm basically happy (if the pat on the head comes in form of money, I don't exactly complain either, heh)

[JustRigo]

The only goal apart from improving my art and storytelling skills is to post on a consistent basis. Once a week is what I'm aiming at and I hope to maintain that upload schedule.

[Louistrations]

Don't, however, give yourself stupidly hard goals for your comic like getting your comic made into a movie or achieving world peace.

I really want to see a My Pet Succubus movie, just sayin'!