"Too many coins! Why's it so expensive!" reviews on premium content

[lunaartemisasama]

I think it is because people love free things specially in the Internet. I mean why pay when you can have pro level quality free webcomics here or in webtoons?

I have no smartphone right now and can't see videos ads for my country but I bought $2.00 of coins and I am glad I can use it from time to time. I just hope they can activate tipping on the desktop version

So that's it.

[FleurRene]

True! Totally agree.

Do you still get mobile or desktop ads? It's been pretty difficult for some of us to earn coins lately. I only get around 100 coins per day before ads stop appearing. Then, I have to wait 24 hours or so before they return. It wasn't like this until recently. I miss earning coins.

[echotokki]

Some people genuinely do not know that they can get free coins, or where to get them. Since I have a premium comic I've noticed there are different types when it comes to these complaints:

Desktop users who don't even know how to unlock episodes. (Even though it's clearly stated to get the app)
Desktop users who don't have a phone and don't know emulators exist.
People who don't know how to earn free coins
People who know how to get them but get little to no ads.
People who get a shitload of ads but just don't want to run any ads on their phone when they eat or watch tv or whatever.

Number 4 are the ones I sympathize with the most, but since tapas has a lot to gain in the free coins system I am going to assume they will keep trying to improve it for all kinds of users.

This is one I've had issue with the most as well when trying to access premium comics. Sometimes even after I've purchased coins myself...theres always alittle leftover or its an uneven amount because some comics cost more coins then other comics. Ads can help make up the difference or help you read some chapters now and then at all.

Here is where the issue comes in. What ads get placed to who and where. I live in South Korea.I've only been able to get Coins off the Tapas APP ads twice. Other then that, they are deemed unavailable. Both of my ads were mobile games.

I know the ad system is based on a variety of things but I wish it was more based off of what language the comic or novel is in rather then where you live. Just because I live in South Korea doesn't mean I can't read or be advertised to in English, I read english comics and novels on tapas. Its my first language.

Regardless, it's a sad thing but as professional creators we need to learn to handle these things calmly and with politeness. Same with any kind of audience communication really. Some people are spoilt, some people are straight up rude or make the comments look spammy (which in those two cases I would suggest to delete the comments and leave it at that), but I've learnt that responding with kindness can actually make them change their attitude. And if it doesn't, it's still better than getting angry with them to their face. If you do that, you might scare away kinder commenters.

This is a different story entirely. Its a problem I don't think will change anytime soon due to how comics were marketed, especially in the U.S. from the very beginning. Comics have always been marketing as being cheap, quick, and easily digestable content even in Japan, the only industry thats tried to elevate comics in its industry practices is the Franco-Belgian Industry. And this easy, quick, digestable, and cheap content is practically what tapas is named for, a bite sized snack. So while i think people like this can be rude, its not like they aren't looking in the right place for what they want.

Unfortunately, digital entertainment are non-tangible items that is like on the bottom of the list of most people's priority in life when it comes to spend money,they can live without it more than they can't live without stuff like water, food, clothes or random crap you gotta pay for to live in real offline world.

To be honest, a huge barrier for me when it comes to tipping and purchasing premium comics on tapas is that its sold as a service in a sense, not as a product. Theres nothing permanent to gain. Maybe if I purchased an entire webcomic series or novel series through the coins method I could unlock a pdf of the entire series. I would be more willing -- its just that if Tapas disappears, so does all your money and your access to those comics. It doesn't even have to be physical, even if its digital, a more permanent product I think could go a long way.

[GoldenPlume]

a more permanent product I think could go a long way

We don't push the idea of tipping much regarding our series. Perhaps when we get closer to finishing a volume we might. Regardless, we have mentioned to readers on several occasions that tips will be redeemable for a free print copy when that time comes. We haven't yet calculated out the Tapas coin redemption rate because there are too many unknown factors right now, but its safe to say if someone in North America tips $20 in coins we're going to send them a print copy. It only makes sense.

International shipping is such a disaster though that will be much more difficult but we'll do our best to make sure that readers feel like their financial contributions matter.

[echotokki]

Yea I can see International shipping being a complete nightmare, especially from the U.S. or Canada. Since living in South Korea it amazes me how different shipping rates are per country even when comparing similar time frames and services.

And I think the case of you willing to offer a permanent product after people have tipped so much is commendable. But in that case for example as a customer, I would rather just purchase it from your store directly rather then using the tipping system at all, this would be also applied to pdfs or digital purchases as well. I would rather know that 100% (minus credit cards and taxes) are going towards the artists responsible rather then 85%. As a portion of the tips are taken and given directly to Tapas.

In terms of PDFs I was more putting the responsibility on Tapas itself, especially in regards to its Premium content that its been pushing a mile a minute lately. I would be more willing to pay for it, if I got something in the end of both my time and money.

[GoldenPlume]

I would rather just purchase it from your store directly

Well our "store" eventually will be Amazon. We're not going to establish our own e-commerce site because the time and expense isn't worth it. Plus the value added to having an Amazon ranking and reader reviews is hard to beat, not to mention the "legitimacy" bestowed by being on Amazon vs. only your own site.

However something that Tapas offers that Amazon doesn't is the watch-to-earn program. Many readers have little disposable income. This way they can earn a free physical book by watching 100s of ads and then tipping that amount. Plus Tapas did do that 1000 coin event if you downloaded the puzzadventure game. Maybe they will offer more things like that in the future or offer other earning routes like using Peanut Labs or surveys as has been discussed in other threads. This way of earning a free physical book is ideal for the type of readership that frequents Tapas.

In terms of PDFs

Given the recent success of certain premium series getting 20,000 subs in a matter of days, it seems that there isn't much reader demand for something more than just reading the content on their phone. As long as you don't lose access to your Tapas account and Tapas doesn't go out of business you can read any comic you purchase whenever you want to wherever you have an internet connection. That seems to be enough of a "digital purchase" for many. Having to add a PDF distribution to the mix would be pretty resource intensive for Tapas, not to mention how would you do only one or two episode downloads vs. an entire series. If you bought 20 episodes one at a time you'd get 20 PDFs? Messy.

There's a large slice of Tapas that only buys premium content with the free bonus coins that are being constantly given out. This week alone was 500 and then another 250. There's only a few premium series that we're interested in and we keep using those coins to buy those series, so eventually they will be entirely free. Since many people are getting the stuff they want for free there's not a big demand for a PDF copy too.

[lunaartemisasama]

Video ads are never available for my zone *cries in Spanish

[LordVincent]

Given the recent success of certain premium series getting 20,000 subs in a matter of days, it seems that there isn't much reader demand for something more than just reading the content on their phone.

^This right here; The average reader has no interest in PDF's and would probably think they are messy and annoying to keep track of. One of the benefits many people see in a site like tapas is that all of their favorite comics are in one place, along with a community enjoying the same kind of content as they do. It's quick, convenient and can easily be read on the phone - and now also offline.

No fan has ever asked me to provide PDF's... not as patreon rewards, not on tapas, hell not even for free. They simply don't want it.

[Masterman]

Part of the problem in a larger sense is that people don't understand digital pricing on an intuitive level. The difference in production cost between a digital comic and a print comic, for example, is basically zero. Lot's of people have a really hard time getting that: in one, you get a tangible, colorful object, while the other is just a file you are allowed to read. What they are missing, I think, is how little goes towards the actual paper and printing in a traditional floppy comic book; often less than a quarter of the total cost. And digital can easily have the same or more in it's unique costs (usually storefront access, like Apple's insane fees). So really, the products should cost the same, but many people feel ripped off getting digital for the same cost.

Also, in webcomics land, free is so ubiquitous that not-free feels expensive. It's a hard issue to manage, and I don't think there's any easy answer.

[FleurRene]

I feel for you. I wish more ads became available. I hope the ads return before the year ends. I hope you get ads too. Maybe desktop ads will be more accessible in the following months to come.