What are your opinions on hiveworks?

[heterodont]

The rules in the submission state that you can't upload it anywhere else beyond social media or patreon because, as they state "interferes with (us) promoting the comic and managing the ads." so who knows if the artist got permission from hiveworks to do so, they were uploading before they got accepted into hiveworks and managed to negotiate it into the contract, or if they're doing it behind hiveworks back lol (an unlikely possibility but, hey.)

Frankly I dont know what to think about hiveworks?? I think the only thing that really draws me to it is just the fact if you get accepted you can say that you're part of it, but beyond that it's just kinda like...what else?

[joca]

it's definitely exclusive. if you go to those series theyll probably have a notice "moved to hiveworks"
all hiveworks comics have their own sites, which link to other hiveworks creations.
so instead of it being thehiveworks.com/yourcomic its purely just yourcomic.com

I love a lot of comics on hiveworks and I have nothing against them, I just dont think it's a good fit for me personally.

[joca]

I agree! There's not enough for me to say "heres exclusivity rights to my comic" just to say i'm part of the hive. It's fine if you're just starting with your comic, but I can't find it in me to abandon my tapas fans just because I want to be part of a collection.

[PotooGryphon]

straight from their Q&A page on their website:

Is it possible to submit a comic currently on a hosting site, or must it have a dedicated website to be considered?

We accept comics who are on hosts, who have their own sites, or don’t have sites at all in our submissions. However, please note that comics who do sign up with Hiveworks must have their own sites. The Hiveworks team will gladly help move, design and code comic sites for creators. That is one of our offered services.

If all the updates need to be on the comic site, does that mean we can’t use Patreon anymore if we sign up to Hiveworks?

Creators can still post pages to their social media and Patreons, as they are personal channels that belong to the creator and contribute to their monthly income. We don’t allow comics to be posted on multiple sites simply because that interferes with us promoting the comic and managing the ads.

[Tanisha]

@joca @CyndiFoster ahh I get it now. Welp. Hopefully they decline my submission xDD

[joca]

even if you choose to not become part of the hive im sure you can say "im sorry I've changed my mind"

[Tanisha]

Yeah that too Thanks for the info though!

[Tweekling]

I keep getting told to apply, by so many people all the time but on the off chance they accept me, I wouldn't want to walk away from all the subs I have here. I just don't trust that it would really expand my readership? I want more information, and I want to hear it from someone who's ON Hiveworks, because I've seen a lot of people be really upset about it but never really give a reason why other than what they speculate it might be like. Everything I read has people saying "I have friends on Hiveworks and they like it" and then people who say "I'm not in Hiveworks and I don't like it." I'm so confused I want to know what's going on.

[Anthea]

I'm gonna apply myself ( wish me luck) the exclusive site thing doesn't bother me too much as frankly I have less then 60 sub on both my sites currently (most of those being the same readers) and getting my own site for Fate was always the plan down the line. Promotion on a large scale has alway been my weak point so having someone else helping out with that sounds delightful.
I feel just thinking what it is you want for your comic and what your own strength and weaknesses are is the best way to decided what route to go with. Though having insider info would be great! If I somehow make it, I doubt I'll completely dissappear from the forums so I'll share info then.
I'm very nervous about my submission though, postive thoughts would be greatly apprcaited.

[joca]

@Anthea Good luck love! Yeah I think the biggest thing hiveworks has to offer is advertising, and aide with site work.

@Tweekling Honestly, no harm in applying right? It's up to you how you want your comic to be online. The worst case scenario is that they don't accept your submission. They have a lot of perks too, you yourself have to look at the pros and cons, and what weighs better for yourself and your comic.

[Alli]

Me again! I've noticed a lot of people are confused about what Hiveworks is offering and are scared about losing their number of readers. As an affiliate, Hiveworks spent $2000 to advertise for me my first year. I have a few thousand subs here on Tapastic (after getting exposure through Hiveworks for my other comic) but my other comic site has about 15k individual users this month according to google analytics. Isa (Namesake artist) offered to be my editor and my work improved. They also have an online store where you can sell any merchandise you might have.

They take a cut of your ad revenue only after you hit $1000 a month. It is not reasonable to expect high gains your first few years with ANY webcomic, but I at least can pay a bill or two with comic money now. It really does just depend on how many pages you have to start with and how well you can attract and retain readers. If they think you will earn them a return on investment they will likely take you. Being exclusive is really not that bad, and literally any other publisher would expect the same. Unlike many other contracts, you can choose to cancel the contract at any time. If you do not feel comfortable with the hive you are free to leave and you lose absolutely nothing.

A while back they had to write up some quick guidelines for a previous session of open submissions in which they disallowed gore. This was because they were being sent extremely graphic violence that they did not want to see, and they have since changed submission guidelines. If your comic involves violence that has a point and isn't just gore porn then you still stand a good chance as long as they are interested in your pitch.

I have heard people elsewhere complain that they only sign on comics that are already popular or people they are friends with and that certainly wasn't the case with me. Tigress Queen probably had a few hundred subs at the time and I didn't know anyone who was part of Hive. I was simply a fan of some of the comics on their network and just happened to notice their submissions were open when I was working on a new second comic.

I would say that if you want to make a career out of comics you stand a much better chance on Hiveworks (or at least with another publisher) than you do on any open platform site like Tapastic. This month I made maybe $30 from Tapastic, but about $130 from Hiveworks. Tapastic is great for starting out, it's great for casual creators, but if you are serious about comics then go to a publisher.

Best of luck to those who are submitting!

[joca]

Nice to know all those details! I'll keep them in mind for my more serious comic

[Tweekling]

Thank you so much for the info. I'm afraid of applying because I am afraid of losing readers. I am afraid that if I somehow get accepted to Hiveworks, I'll end up losing my readers and gaining nothing. Do you think this is the case?

[Zanreo]

In my case... it doesn't seem like it's for me. I don't like how I can't keep any mirrors on other hosting sites - I understand WHY, but for me, the communities in places like Comicfury is something I feel a strong connection to and wouldn't feel okay dropping out of. I mean, I could still hang around on the forums and just give my readers a note I moved but still... eh... I would feel kinda bad about it. Getting more readers would be great and I expect most people who liked my comic would just follow me to the new place, but still...
It also seems slightly more "career"-based, and I'm really just making comics as a hobby, not aiming to make money off my comics (as in, I wouldn't mind if I did get some extra cash from it of course, but comics aren't my first choice for career - games are - so making my comics a business isn't a priority at all) And somehow I imagine that might feel like more... pressure? idk
Literally the only thing it could do for me personally is getting me more readers and a bigger fanbase and if that's not even a guarantee... then there's a not a lot of point in it for me

Also seeing how they don't allow fan-comics (which my comic might arguably count as depending on who you're asking)* and seem to require a "schedule" update (since even if I could keep a "same day each week" for regular one-shot pages it would be different for the multipage stories just by necessity) it probably wouldn't be a good fit anyway

For people who are more serious about working with comics and doesn't mind not posting other places, it seems pretty good though

*as in, I'm in kind of a weird position regarding this - it's not a "fancomic" in the traditional sense, taking place in an existing world with existing characters (and the occasional fancharacters) from another series, but it's still not completely "original" - the characters themselves might be my original creations, but they're based on existing game companies, the stories/jokes are mostly based on real events, and I basically consider it "an affectionate parody of the game industry".

[aspiderjonny]

I'm trying to work on my submission pdf for HiveWorks (Characters designs taking a long time) along with comic pages.I'd like to get in to have a better chance at getting a large fan base , but I guess I won't be holding my breath.

If it doesn't work out I guess I could try SpiderForest. Thanks @CyndiFoster for the link.

[nelmathyria]

Thanks so much for sharing all this info! It's really great to have some specific details from someone on the inside. That's awesome that you've had such a good experience with hiveworks and on the off chance I get accepted it sounds like they'd be really beneficial to me too.

[Alli]

Readers are not exclusive to Tapastic. If they want to keep up with your comic, they will follow you wherever you go as long as your site functions.

[Anthea]

Do what's best for you. Like you're doing really well, fans wise so HW just might not be for you. They open submitions every may and June now so it's not like you couldnt ever try ever.

[Anthea]

I sent my submission yesterday. Both happy and super nervous. Even if it's a no, I'm still glad I put myself put there and tried.

[elixiadragmire]

Interesting facts!
I've submitted bit I'm not holding my breath XD
Very cool of Isa to be your editor, she gave me some cool tips last year when I asked for a crit after applications closed. I'm wondering who gets in this year, it's like watching the Oscar's red carpet