Updating the Fresh Category--Change it for Comics Under 2000 Subs

[JRHoch]

It becomes pretty clear to anyone who spends any time on Tapas that the Premium and Popular comics get a lot of attention, which makes sense from a commercial angle. However, it's an imperfect system for helping launch promising new talent.

Many newer comics rely on the Fresh tab to find an initial audience. Unfortunately, most comics stay on the first page of Fresh for less than an hour. Perhaps it's time to remove comics that have more than 2000 (or 1000) subs from this category so that it is less crowded and newer comics have more time to shine.

How would you revamp the Fresh category, or any category for that matter, to better showcase the vast array of hidden talent on Tapas? What else could be done for Tapas to create a deeper bench, where readers have more viable options and the same comics aren't recycled over and over again?

[DasIstWunderblyat]

That would negate the function of "Fresh," though. It is for a comic/novel which are freshly updated, no matter their statistics. It's to show readers which works are readily updated.

Would be nice if Tapas have a separate collection specified for those purpose, like "Undiscovered" thing on Wattpad. The thing is, there must be a strict subscribers and view limits for fairness, you can't be featured there more than once, and comic/novel that are featured in another section except fresh can't be featured in it.

I actually want Tapas to have better library system, such as making multiple reading lists, make a private reading lists (like Wattpad), and make shareable/discoverable library or showcase some library like Spotify playlist for readers. Tapas' staff collections is not broad and specific enough, it mostly consists of popular comics everyone more likely to know, and not personalized enough. With shareable/discoverable libraries, we can see themed lists closer to our liking

[skicoak]

Would be nice if Tapas have a separate collection specified for those purpose, like "Undiscovered" thing on Wattpad.

I won't lie...it'd be nice for some people, not so much for others.

It'd likely end up curated exactly like Tapas staff collections and feature more of the same thing that already dominates the curated categories. It's a simple form of economics, and I ain't mad over it, but Tapas isn't in the business of finding the "next big thing" as much as monetizing the current thing.

[JRHoch]

Nurturing the next big thing can be lucrative.

[JRHoch]

It would still feature only comics that are newly updated but would remove some of the big boys to decrease traffic congestion.

[skicoak]

Nurturing the next big thing can be lucrative.

Not arguing that it can't be... but that doesn't seem to be the business model here.

[DasIstWunderblyat]

@skicoak
The curated and featured one by staff? Most likely still so. What about the one individually curated and shared in social media?

It's like when spotify people sharing their playlists on social media, or Wattpad people having multiple genre-curated reading list that their followers can peek. Because the many of individuals who make and curate the list, the more it will be diverse. Not everyone will like popular or mainstream things, some like it in moderation, some never heard of it (like me), some even vehemently against it (because if it's popular it must be bad). Plus, like-minded people follows each other and that way they can get good suggestion.

It's not perfect, but I think why not? I don't know though.

@JRHoch
I get it, but will it still can be called "Fresh?"

I think it's not ideal in the first place to not have a specific platform to promote the unknown.

Maybe make a separate "Fresh" with your concept called "Undiscovered"? Or "Fresh" will become separate with a section called "Newest" which includes all works. I don't know. I just think a separation would be more ideal so it can stand out more, I don't know though I rarely check the front page.

Although if making a new menu is too much of a hassle, then your idea will be a good use.

[vothnthorvaldson]

@kainatarma idea's of a undiscovered section sounds great to me.
Now I'm not sure how popular it would be. How many persons would actually check it? No idea.
I know that would be useful to me (to be honest, after 38 years of finding no relatability in the most popular material, I need a really good reason to check something popular; by default it's screened out). But obviously by definition it must not be a common case, so the question would probably not be how many persons would be interested in avoiding the popular stuff, but how many persons would be actively looking (also) for less popular things.

[DasIstWunderblyat]

Hmm... Good thinking

For me the reason I ignore some popular stuffs are because it's goddamn the fucking same thing featured the billionth time since fish crawled out of the sea or It's just not interesting for me, mostly romance with smoochie smoochie blushing people cover

I don't know, the low variety and repetition of featured stuffs and popular section can be a point people seek something different. Doesn't meant featured popular thing is bad, but there's a thing called hype aversion and sometimes people don't like being fed the same thing over and over.

[JRHoch]

I'm open to it! I think there just needs to be a change.

[JRHoch]

I've noticed some people who started out on Tapas and then blew up exclusively on Webtoon.

[malverav]

I'd love to be able to get personalized recommendations by genre, myself. Or, a more in depth tagging system would be fantastic, so that you can hunt through really specific tags to get what you want.

An "undiscovered" section would be amazing. If you could submit your work for a weekly "new/unknown artist" feature and be featured for a week or so that could be useful.

Looks like tapas mostly wants to plug their premium comics most of the time though, which personally aren't really my cup of tea (I actually hate most of it don't get me started -) but it seems enough people like them for it to be good business. It doesn't make them any money to plug new artists, they seem to make their coin on selling episodes of the premium stuff, which is disappointing as a new creator.

Now that tumblr's a wasteland, there's not many places for people to post their comics (I guess there's webtoons?). Tapas' UI has the advantage of being slick, there's loads of people on here, and I love their forums, so here I am!

[skicoak]

What about the one individually curated and shared in social media?

I mean the closest thing to that is we can go to various creators pages and see who they subscribe to on Tapas. Individually, that's more useful than a random staff member (who may or may not be allowed to pick their own list, free of economic concerns).

We're only considering this as a plus because it comes with exposure to Tapas-centric readers.

[malverav]

As another thought I'd have the 'fresh' section actually be, like, in your face on the front page. Maybe where the premium comics are have a selection of what's new. The Duck might be direct from the year 2005, but I'd format it similar to that.

[JRHoch]

Webtoon might be even less inclined to promoting new stuff--and the rating system has people giving other comics 1-star ratings to knock down the competition.

[malverav]

Sounds just like reddit. That's really disappointing!

[JRHoch]

It is just like reddit.

[skicoak]

I've noticed some people who started out on Tapas and then blew up exclusively on Webtoon.

I can't speak on each example but I'm willing to bet that most of that is due to Webtoons pushing/exposing those creators to new readers at some point.

That's the inherent problem of being a creator on a site... if they're not invested in pushing you, you're pretty much out of options on growth. No disrespect to some of the wonderful creators on these forums but when the key advice to folks trying to pick up new readers is to "get active on the forums" it should come with a warning label.

[JRHoch]

Agree. I think you had mentioned that advertising on Top Webcomics doesn't translate to Tapas because people will read but not sign up on Tapas and then sub and comment.

[skicoak]

...doesn't translate to Tapas because people will read but not sign up on Tapas and then sub and comment.

I say this more in regards to hyping a project on social media. It's simply a recruiting drive for Tapas... people who read off the Tapas app don't count in Tapas internal algorithms so... we need access to people who are ALREADY on Tapas to build numbers.