What are different ways to earn money with a webcomic?

[Itsjustdrawings]

I’m currently working on a webcomic and I know you can earn money on tapas when you’ve hit 100 subs and more at later points. But are there different ways to earn money with a webcomic? And if yes, how much would it roughly be?

Here’s also my comic for anyone wondering

Read It all starts with a picture | Tapas Web Comics

[Kelheor]

Depending on how lucky you are and how worthy people consider what you do, it can be literally any amount. You may get a thousands of people donating, or just a few. Or a few, but very generous donors. Not to mention it will depend on if you will sell your comic on cons or online shops, make merch, do Kickstarters or just have a lot of people reading your comic and maybe getting you a ton of ad revenue.

[RedLenai]

Well.... first I want to mention that... no, you don't get to earn money on Tapas by hitting 100 subs, you unlock the ability to do so, but to actually have people donating ink (Tapas's app/website currency) is a bit rare, and you'll need to gather an important amount in order to be able to withdraw it.

The most common way to actually earn money with a webcomic is by printing it and sell it as a book or fanzine. And then is you having to do the effort of going to Artists Alleys, Art events, Comic Cons, Anime Cons and try to sell it.

The other common way is by selling it as a cheap PDF or Kindle on Amazon or similar online reading platforms.

The good thing about going to Events is that at least there the merch can be sold better than if you tried to do it online, especially if the Merch is not extremely especific and can be bought without actually needing to read the series, it's all about having catchy and attractive designs, be it characters or stylization of assets regarding your series.

For example, I had a comic that sold well on anime conventions, not only because people liked the character and felt quite unique but aesthetic as either a sticker or poster. But since the comic also was about pizza, well, a few pizza stickers or merch with pizza pattern sold well too.

[BlairFujin]

Other options are
-patreon/subscriberstar/koffi subscription (I can) for early access and/or some additional illustrations
-selling pdf on itch.io once you have some more
-having your own website (can be one provided by comicfury, important part is you being able to edit its html) and putting ads on it yourself (through comicad for example)

[darthmongoose]

Errant makes me a bit of money. Not enough to live on, but some money on the side, so to break things down...

Ad revenue: Not worth focusing on as your main income. At 2800 odd subs and good engagement compared to comics of that subscriber count, Errant still makes me less than a dollar a month from ads. For this reason, I'd strongly urge people not to use sub-for-sub to rush up to 100 subs as fast as possible. You need people actually reading your comic to generate views and so get revenue, and even then, it won't be a lot until you're up in the tens of thousands.

Donations: This is where I've made most of Errant's income. I've had regular donations and I take part in Inksgiving as a visible member of the community, so I've made like $800 this way.

Patreon: I run a patreon where readers get pages a week early and access to a private discord community. It makes me about £30 GBP a month (I think that's around $45 USD). If you want to make money off a webcomic, having a Patreon is a good idea, but don't expect to get a lot of patrons immediately.

Kickstarter: The Errant Book 1 Kickstarter made over a thousand pounds last autumn, so after paying for all the printing and stretch rewards and stuff, I was left with a few hundred quid profit. Not bad! Plus I make more from selling them at events too.

Merch: I make a little off merch, mostly stickers at events. It's not worth focusing on too much until you have thousands of readers. Merch that looks cool, cute or is funny without needing knowledge of the comic tends to sell best.

[moontokkym]

I echo what others have said:

• AdRev is non existent at 100 subs, and you don't unlock ink donations until 250 subs. I've had what I feel like is good traffic compared to similar comics to mine but since march when I unlocked 100 subs i've made less than 10 cents, and you have to have $25 on your account to be able to withdraw anything.

• I won't repeat what everyone else has said about kickstarter, patreon and selling pdf/online versions, just acknowkedging that they're viable options if you put the work in

• Merch is where I've made the most money from Petrichor. I've made a couple of hundred off of Petrichor prints and badges so far this year and I've got some other goodies planned too, and this is despite not having a physical copy of volume one to sell yet. My best selling products are actually prints from my romance novel that is yet to be published anywhere, so as long as your merch looks cool enough and finds the right audience you'll get some sales.
  However I have to stress that I'm in my country's anime convention circuit which is flourishing, if I had the energy I could in theory do a convention every weekend from January to May without having to take any train trip longer than 4 hours, if you don't have that available to you or you don't want the hassle of doing shows... online sales is a different beast.

[llobucervallince]

@moontokkym to be honest I'm trying to have extra episodes ready so that later I can make the patreon thingy where they can unlock sooner

[moontokkym]

I do that too, Patreon is always a month ahead on posting compared to Tapas. It's also just a good way to try and get some concistency going. If patreon has to be ready by x day so that tapas can be posted 2 weeks later, it can motivate you to get some much-needed buffer.

[DominicRutherfo]

If you're open to it, you can take commissions from your readers, creating custom art or comics for them. As for how much you can earn, it really varies. It depends on your fanbase size, the quality of your content, and how well you market yourself. Some creators make a comfortable living, while others do it as a side gig. It might take some time to see substantial returns, so stay patient and keep creating what you love! You can also try exploring https://wealthofgeeks.com, which has helpful articles and tips on how to solve your situation. I think it will be important for you to see it.