What is the difference between a webtoon original and a tapas original?

[smokesalty]

I'm just curious the two sites different ways on handling original comics

[Kaydreamer]

WEBTOON originals are free-to-read, while Tapas Originals are not. That's the biggest difference IMO, as it impacts your potential readership - and a smaller readership will negatively impact the potential Patreon revenue you can pick up from any bonus content adjacent to your comic.

Beyond that, I believe both sites have you contracted for a set amount of panels per episode, on a weekly release schedule. Webtoon pay you for each episode you produce for them, then pay you extra on top based on the amount of pageviews/ad-rev generated, and the amount of fast-pass episodes purchased. I don't know if Tapas pays you per-episode, or if you're only paid a percentage of the coin and ad revenue that episode generates. (If it's the latter, that's not a very good deal. An Originals schedule is a full-time job, and it needs to pay accordingly.)

I know there are a number of WEBTOON creators who signed with WEBTOON early on though, who got a really raw deal. Excessive panel counts, no hiatus breaks written into the contract, not enough pay to accommodate the assistants you need to hire in order to meet those crazy panel counts... that sort of thing. This is more common with older series, as newer creators signing with them have heeded the cautionary tales and been firmer in contract negotiation. (ALWAYS NEGOTIATE.) A good example of a comic which seems to have a more reasonable panel requirement per-episode is 'Of Swamp And Sea', which typically runs between 40 to 55 panels per episode - something I'd consider healthy and realistic on a 6-month-on, 6-month-hiatus schedule. (It's also excellent, currently one of my favourites.)

I know there are people on this forum who have actually worked on WEBTOON Original series in the past, who can likely shed more light. Not sure about Tapas Originals, but if there are, I'd be curious to see them weigh in with their experiences too.

[darthmongoose]

We don't actually have a ton of information behind the scenes on this. I don't have a Tapas original, I'm just on the bonus program and even for that, there's an NDA with guidelines about what I'm allowed to tell people about the bonus program. So for example, I'm allowed to tell you that I get a bonus payout if I hit certain monthly view targets, but I'm not allowed to say how many views or how much I get for hitting them.

I get the sense that webtoon originals have a higher expected panel count, and I have heard some horror stories about artists having to spend a significant portion of their income subcontracting out colourists and inkers just to keep up, but I have no way to verify that. Tapas seems a little more lenient and often has originals come out in "seasons" allowing the artists to take things at a more reasonable pace. Overall it seems to be the case that both sites you get all the usual stuff you'd expect; an editor to check your pages and give advice on your story, the advantage of a bit less censorship than other titles, priority treatment with promotions and probably a very favourable deal in terms of payment in return for exclusivity and consistent output.

So it's kind of maybe Webtoon has higher earning and audience size potential, while Tapas has a bit nicer work-life balance and a more stable overall income. It's really a reflection of the platforms overall. Webtoon tends to be more of a gamble where all kinds of comics could randomly hit it big and be a surprise smash hit, while Tapas I can fairly confidently predict what will grow an audience, but the average audience size and earnings tend to be smaller overall; not so many "rock star" titles here.

[Kaydreamer]

Webtoon seems to be moving to a seasons model now as well, thank god. One of my favourites, The Croaking,' is on a season break at the moment - hopefully a lengthy one - but up to this point, the creator had been releasing 70+ panel episodes with NO breaks for over a year, at least. She has a style which looks time-efficient, and she's experienced, but heck. That seemed insane.

OH, one other thing I should mention that I've heard of with Webtoon, is they don't own the rights to your IP in perpetuity. Their contracts come with a time-clause, and I believe this is standard. They hold the rights for the comic - just the comic - you publish for 10 years, during which time they can negotiate for TV/Animation deals, physical publishing, etc. Beyond this time, all rights revert to you, and you can publish elsewhere.

As someone with a sandbox universe encompassing multiple stories and projects, with a lot of character crossover, the question of IP rights is super important to me. If your comic is a standalone project, it's probably less important. Tapas have been questionable on this issue in the past, and there are old posts about it which can still be googled. While I've been told you can negotiate perpetual licence out of their contracts, the fact that it was ever there in the first place is pretty stinky.

[NickRowler]

Most of the Tapas Originals are English translations of series that Tapas has the rights to distribute on their platform. A lot of these series were originally in Korean or Chinese. There are a few which are original English series. There has been complaints from people over the years about Tapas giving more attention to the translated works which can sometimes feel a bit "same-ish" with how many tropes they share. It is unclear if Tapas to add more verity to the Original series they add or just keep doing what their doing.

[sams_cartoon_shack]

Maybe it's just me, but it feels like even with assistants, most Webtoon Originals nowadays rely too heavily on 3D assets even more so than before which are often poorly rendered and feel out of place.

[rajillustration]

There's also different contracts--so Tapas you have an exclusive contract, or you can be in the non-exclusive contract and still post on both sites despite being paid by the site, and there's a program on tapas to have things be wait-to-read. There's just a lot of different contracts going on in Tapas, so they're not all doing the same amount of work or have the same contract or pay. Which honestly is nice, if you just want a little help but don't want to be under a contract for like a weekly comic. I remember one person on the discord who was a premium (I don't remember their name) did like an every-other week schedule that was like 40 panels. So youknow, it's negotiable.

Something else to bring up is that Tapas has freelance artists that work on their originals that are hired by the company itself. So if you look at the jobs page for Tapas, you'll see them looking for a storyboarder or a colorist sometimes. (right now I see a thing for a typesetter, for instance, in order to localize their comics). I have no idea if every Tapas series has the ability to access these freelancers, but WT will expect you to hire your own assistants and will not give help finding one.

And then, finally there is the cencoring issue, where WT doesn't have an age-gated mature section for their originals. There are some originals that are now put up as mature, but it's not like Tapas that has basically a roped off place for mature content. This is kind of a deal breaker for a bunch of comic creators that make mature stuff.

Like, in the end, you would just have to see where your comic is resonating with an audience and focus on that place. There's definately a different demographic here than there, and any contract you'll make with either company will need to be negotiated with to get it to where you would actually sign on.

[doublemelon]

While we are on the talk about contracts, I think artists should be paid per panel for fairness. In Shonen Jump, according to Bakuman, artists get paid per page as they are in traditional format.

And when you look for assistants in coloring or lineart, they get paid per panel too.

[smokesalty]

If you're gonna be paying people, you probably don't want to be paying extra for background assistants. Relying heavily on 3D assets is still a massive time saver, even if it may look poorly rendered or out of place. The originals have so much pressure to produce a ton of panels but aren't paid enough to hire yet another assistant.

Sucks, but that's why so many of them are like that.

[hakei]

All I know for sure is that both Originals/Premium artists get paid way less than they actually should be But it's an industry-wide problem where all the creatives are paid pennies for the amount of time and effort put in to making each episode.

[system]

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