What is The Best Webcomic Platform To Promote Your Work?

[Juwan_Buchanan]

New here. Feel like others have asked this question on here for some reason already, but I got to ask anyway lol.

I'm an american aspiring comic writer looking to eventually make his way into the mainstream comics industry and get into a major publisher like Image, IDW, DC, Marvel etc, but I'm aiming for DC. I'm currently am doing fanart on popular DC characters for fun and even doing a DC fancomic for not only fun, but to help practice on my writing on DA. I have Twitter, DA, and Instagram to post my DC related stuff there and other projects, and even my own personal website which acts as my online portfolio, so I do feel I'm doing the right stuff to get my name out there. I even have plans to self-publish a few of my own webcomics projects online to build up my portfolio and present it to a publisher, and maybe even get one of them printed as a book, but my question is what is the best platform to self-publish my comics and to get biggest chance of being noticed?

Would it better to post on Webtoons since it does seem to be the place where everyone is posting their work right now or on Tapas? Both sites seem good, but what are the pros and cons of each? For me I don't care about making money because my goal is to get into mainstream comics as a writer. I'm more focus on creating good comics that people will enjoy and build me an audience if I get lucky. If I do make some cash among the way, that's cool, but that's not my end goal, and I'm not expecting to get really big anyway unless I get into the mainstream and start writing on the good stuff. Any tips?

[Kelheor]

Both. Tapas audience is 10 times smaller, but people are more lenient to traditional page format comics here, WT readers read pages really unwillingly, you need to cut a comic for them (not a must, but this is what people read there). Also readers cross-platform rarely, which means you will find some readers both on WT and Tapas that are not on the other platform.

[honeyandcreambutter]

There are a few list of websites which could work well for Western type comics:

• Tapas
• Webtoons (difficult to gain as much audience but they do exist)
• ComicFury (they give you your own domain name)
• HiveComics (a more professional publisher but the qualifications are pretty high)

Some other places to consider:

• Facebook
• Reddit
• Twitter
• Instagram

Make sure to use plenty of relevant hashtags and don't be afraid to tag DC studios or creators who work for DC comics. It's a long shot but it doesn't hurt to give it a try! You might feel overwhelmed with the thought of cross-posting to so many places but the more exposure you do, the better your chances are at getting noticed. Good luck!

[skicoak]

Just from the cats I still know in the American comics industry...

Your odds of being found by editors by doing webcomics is slim. They use to try to recruit more from it but my understanding was there were some high profile flops in creators who couldn't adapt between the formats, time crunch and more compartmentalized process of the big publishers.

It doesn't HURT you to have it in your portfolio/work history but you're definitely going to want to get into the indy comic scene at some point to show you do exactly what they want.

[Juwan_Buchanan]

What if you're just a writer because that's what I specialize in. I'm not really an artist, but thanks for this advice, which is why I do want to try at least printing at least one indy comic book before putting it in my portfolio to further better maximize my chances.

[skicoak]

Writing is a bit more complicated.

They're really drawing writers from multiple mediums but if you find a place taking submissions... You're better off doing that than waiting to be discovered. Then you're establishing a relationship with editors you hope to work with.

[skicoak]

Just make sure you're working to whatever guidelines they have.

A lot of places closed off open submissions for legal reasons. Cats would sue over similarities between their submissions and what the company was already doing.

[Juwan_Buchanan]

Got ya. Thanks for the help!