What is more important - subs, views or engagement

[AdrenalineShots]

By engagement I mean likes, comments and so forth

[AdrenalineShots]

The reason so mention is I read that on YouTube views and engagement are a lot more important than subs, is it the same in Tapas?

[Penni]

For me, engagement is important but I want to get feedback to improve my writing but it's no one is looking at it then what's the point?

I cared way too much about subscribers when I first joined Tapas, I felt like I wasn't worth anything if I didn't have those. Now, it's not my main goal but I greatly appreciate all the subscribers I have!

[BobbyjoeX]

believe on tapas its subs and engagement

[DiegoPalacios]

In a transmedia class i had in college, they taught us that what really matters in the end is the engagement. How many people cares about the story matters more than how many people clicks a subscribe button.

This is a principle that applies to any media.

I am not saying subs don`t matter, they do. But the most important thing is engaged and motivated readers/viewers.

[kip]

i think it’s totally up to each publisher and what they put an emphasis on, but i’ve seen most ppl put Subs and Engagment first

[Valbear]

I guess it depends on the person. If you want popularity and are interested in creating a brand and a following, views and subs would mean a lot.
But if you're a person who is into it as a hobby and as an opportunity to grow/improve as a creator, then maybe feedback and engagement would be more important.
I think most people value engagement most of all. It indicates that someone is actually reading and paying attention to your stuff.

[punkarsenic]

i think engagement is more important in the most general sense. its the most satisfying, and the healthiest for your stats - i think having 50 subs who all comment and like is way nicer than having 500 where ten do, and it keeps you in trending and maybeee in popular too? im not 100% on how popular works.

that said, if the goal is to build a fanbase and therefor build a bankable asset - which is it is you wanna do this for a job - then subs is certainly important. but disengaged subscribers, no matter how many of them there are, arent gonna pledge to patreon, arent gonna buy your merch, and arent gonna raise your exposure. from a shrewd perspective, theyre just dead weight.

views is only really important if the ad revenue is on youtube levels of good, which we know it is not. it kinda jus goes hand in hand with engagement, bc you cant really have one without the other.

[daniellekoste]

personally, engagement. When someone comments on my novel or interacts with me, as much as i value subs and views, those interactions count for so much more and make me feel so much more motivated

[UrMom]

YouTubers get paid in accordance with how many people watch and engage with their videos, so I can see how it's more important.

For me engagement is the most important? Since it makes your readers feel more human. Comments are personal, and are good reminders that not all your readers are robots. Sub count doesn't really mean anything since may people read comics on sites like this without becoming registered members, some of your subs are most likely bots, and only about half or so even read the comic. While I probably should care about views, I really don't. My only concern is getting pages done.

[SleepingPoppy]

I'm not a statistics person, so I can't give you the actual sensible numbers, but I think it's not that any one of those is most important so much as they're interconnected. You will have more views than subs, because not everyone who looks at your comic is going to be interested. Ideally you're converting as many views to subs as you can, but as long as you're getting a decent percent and your number is growing in a natural way, you're doing pretty good. Not everyone who subs and reads is going to comment. Engagement is probably the most personally rewarding kind of interaction you can get, but there is an actual statistical number out there somewhere that represents a good percentage of engagement.

There's a balance to how concerned one should be about any of these numbers. I tend to feel like novice creators get worked up really easily by lack of growth. But being aware of numbers and willing to learn can help you figure out where your issues lay. If your views are low, you need a more eye catching thumbnail. If your subs to views is really low, the first impression of your comic/story might not be good enough, which could be a problem with the art level and/or description. If you have lots of views and subs but really low engagement, you might need to address how you present yourself and how to communicate better with your audience.

So it's good to know the numbers and have some awareness of where one might need to improve. But I think it's healthier and more important to have a "doing it for myself!" mindset, because that really helps you move forward early on. Being hung up on the numbers tends to be demotivating.

Also going to toss out there that people using tapas generally have accounts and sub if they're reading a comic, where as on youtube, you may just regularly tune in to certain channels without subbing. Thus views and interaction have a higher meaning. Views on youtube are people actively watching content, views on Tapas (that don't convert to subs) are people looking, deciding they're not into it, and leaving. More or less.

[mappypaint]

For me it's engagement. I never really had a huge amount of views and subs in Smackjeeves (where I started) and Tapas. But with the few subs I have I can say they are the most engaging. I look forward to what my readers comment whenever I update my story and I make sure I don't ignore them. There's nothing like waking up one day getting a PM with a fan art attached. It's like a person you don't even know IRL took the time to draw your character(s). If you give too much importance to subs then you'll never be satisfied. At first you want a hundred, then when you reach it you'll want to get 500. Once you get 500 you want a thousand... so on and so forth.

Recently I abandoned webtoons because the only thing it had was more subs and views. But the engagement just wasn't there (for my story at least and the majority of the sports genre there) and it felt like a big amount of the subs are just bots... I dunno, maybe I was just spoiled by my readers in Smackjeeves and Tapas.

[Jenny-Toons]

For me, it's always engagement. I prefer having a small but loyal readership than a large but disengaged readership. If all I have to show is views and subs but no one is readily talking about my work and saying how much they enjoy it, what's the point?

I could have like 4 or 6 people only like my work, and if those 4 - 6 people are always excited when I update and ask questions and are active and enjoy themselves, I'm happy.

A lot of people get caught up in the numbers and think they mean everything. But unless I'm trying to make money off of Tapas or wherever I'm posting, numbers are just numbers. And honestly, numbers can also be bots and people who only saw but wasn't interested. so I'd rather have a few people liking my stuff but being interested than just having a big number of people who happened to peek in and just leave.

[375]

i think having 50 subs who all comment and like is way nicer than having 500 where ten do, and it keeps you in trending and maybeee in popular too?

this was me. I had 420 followers and barely received a second glance(or it seems that way). Ever since the tapas writing contest started I've had more engagement with my followers than ever before. Sometimes it was like one or two people but this time, Im getting constant engagement. Engagement is super important because it shows you that people honestly care and enjoys the series that you're making.

Of course the subs and views adds to the happiness to keep the balance.

[gh0stcr33p]

I think engagement is more important because it shows which people really care and do a bit extra than just subscribe. it's nice to get a subscriber once in a while, but engagement is just more honorable to me since it isn't as frequent

[Tycade]

Comments for me mean the most. So, I guess engagement? I love talkign with readers who read my comic and I love to see what other people are working on because of the comments section. It's crazy fun to me to talk about our comics and what we think of eachother's work.

[TACOBERTO]

Engagement, hands down.
It's one thing if you get views and subs. But getting comments means the people that read your work are actually invested and willing to give some time and effort to leave their thoughts and opinions. It's a good source of feedback and a good indicator of your audience's investment in your work

[scythe]

I don't think you're going to find anyone who isn't looking primarily for engagement. Usually more subs means more views which means more engagement generally, but not always. If you got your subs ages ago and they've all since moved on, or you got them the 'easy' way, by going viral or being promoted by someone/something popular, then you can also end up with 15 minutes of fame situation, where basically you've got a large number of subs, but a relatively small number of regular, engaged readers (which is what's happened to me on Webtoons I think).

[dawgofdawgness]

My ranking would be - engagement, views, subs.
I know for a fact that a small amount of my subscribers don't actually read my comic, so I don't really fuss about the number. I think if you're trying to measure your comic in terms of how big your audience is, you can get a good idea by looking at the views since that's really how many people actually read your pages.

However, the whole point of making a webcomic (at least for most) is to make your audience laugh, cry, and stick with your characters throughout the plot, so it's nice to see them actually discussing the story in the comments. At the end of the day I don't really care about the views or subs or popularity or anything - as long as I know that some people are actually sitting down and reading my dumb story makes me happy

[gidland]

In a perfect world, of course its engagement. In the real world it is too, but that will never happen unless you have the subs. The people who sub are typically the people who do word of mouth about your work, AND usually the people who engage with comments, etc.

Its a paradox, but I'd rather have a few dedicated readers than a lot of subscribers who dont participate in my imagination with me. hehe.