What kind of fan base do you want?

[jurinova]

For me the best fans are the ones who truly enjoy my comic and look forward to each update. The ones who take time to read it slowly and pay attention to details and notice the little clues I leave behind. I love it when a reader notices a small detail or realizes a connection. I like to hear what people think might happen next in the comic and I also love headcannons of all sorts.

I also would like to have honest readers. The ones who will kindly offer crtitique if something looks wrong or is confusing. I always worry that my comic actually sucks or the font is too small or something like that but no one has the guts to say it, heh.

[mappypaint]

I already like the fanbase I have now. Even if the subs number is small, a good number of them do comment regularly. There will be some days that I receive fan arts as well. If there will be new fans, I hope they're not haters or the ones who want the story to go to a different direction.

[shazzbaa]

I mean, shipping and OCs and theories are super fun and things I definitely encourage!! But honestly..... what I hoped for from the very start was for people to care about these characters. Not in a "I WANT TO MAKE PEOPLE CRY B/C THEY FEEL FOR THEM" sort of way, just... having opinions about these people, as people. Relating to them or disagreeing with them or liking them or not trusting them.

I still remember being very excited when, as a character was introduced by bodily throwing the protagonists out of his home, someone responded to the page with "nevermind, that guy's an ass!" It's weird, it's such a small thing, but it feels like these characters could never have become real until people reacted to them like that.

I always worry that my comic actually sucks or the font is too small or something like that but no one has the guts to say it, heh.

Make sure you tell people that you're open to this!! Crit without being asked for it can honestly be kind of rude, and not all artists react well to it, so a lot of folks will avoid it unless they know it's wanted.
I don't really like unsolicited crit, so something that worked really well for me was putting out a specific Call For Critique to my readers after my first chapter was finished, as basically a "now that you've seen enough of the story to get a feel for it, what can I improve?" type thing. I got a lot of good and really helpful responses from that!

[infectedbloodcomics]

Adults, first and foremost, and good commenters, second. I'm also hoping for as many lesbian readers as possible, given how badly we're represented in any possible entertainment venues. And I absolutely despise shipping, so I'm hoping shippers leave me alone 😂😂😂

[VikiKuli]

shippers, theorists, people who show a true dedication by leaving a comment once in a while. That really means the world for me

[alaingrey]

I like when I get comments that are like 'I remember my dad showing me this band!' or 'I've been to a concert like this!'

I like having a comic that's sort of nostalgic for people, but at the same time quite dark and sad. It just helps when people have the nostalgia from personal experience, so I value those readers a lot.

[69Michi]

Me seconding theorist. Shippers are fine too but my series aren't cater much toward romance genre, but it's still always fun to see which characters people are shipping and why. It shows at least they care for the characters and like them enough to invest their shipper's heart to them. But theorists still take the cake for me. My series is very vague and most of the main plots are shrouded in mystery. It's not rare for me to see my reader proposing possible theories and when one comes so close to the truth, I would always get super excited because I feel like I'm doing something right in throwing hints and putting clues as a creator.

I dislike impatient and entitled people who think they own the author and whine over the smallest of thing like update schedule or updates are too short : ( it saddens me that despite all that effort a creators put to push out update for them, they still think it's not enough.

[KoreanTacos]

I just generally like an audience that likes the work/content I produce because it's my thoughts and my life I'm sharing with people. I think one of the critiques I absolutely hate getting as a slice of life/comedy writer is "I don't understand this situation" and it'll be one of my strips about working at a grocery store/fast food, college, or just existential thinking. The subs I do have now are my favorite people because they take the time to understand what I'm thinking even if they don't agree with it.

I also want fans to feel like they can communicate with me as well I know that was one of the things I wanted to improve on with my work. I want people to feel it's ok to give an opinion on my strips and be an active role in what I do which is one of the reasons I'm starting an event in which my readers can follow me and submit requests I give them and it can appear in future works. I want them to have fun with my work is what I'm basically saying I guess, send me fan art, I love seeing my characters drawn in different styles, I love it when people make character request posts, I've gotten so many interesting character designs from various other artists that I love sharing with my subscribers.

So I got a little to excited writing all this, I''m going to stop it here. But I hope you guys know where I'm going with here.

[keii4ii]

I want people to GET my characters. To truly understand their motives, etc. I want them to truly understand what's driving them and why they act the way they do, even if they don't necessarily support their actions.

And I want that understanding to matter to them. I can relate to this:

Not in a "I WANT TO MAKE PEOPLE CRY B/C THEY FEEL FOR THEM" sort of way, just... having opinions about these people, as people.

Basically that, but add the whole understanding thing to it and that's what I want.

I mean, hopefully there will be people who love my characters? But love without understanding wouldn't be as meaningful.

I also want people to express that understanding, so I can see whether it's happening, and to what extent. If no one says anything about it, how am I to know?

[punkarsenic]

obviously i every so often daydream about a fanbase, but overall im not that interested in that? its uncommon for webcomics to gain a Fandom, capital F (i can think of maybe three examples?) and theyre extremely stressful anyway.

that being said, if TWAW did develop a fanbase, id want it to be a... mature one? ideally like, a diverse fanbase of gay girls who love and appreciate cath as much as i do. i can understand people leaning towards relating to balor, because its from her POV so theres more of her but i worry about the mistreatment of darker characters. thats my responsibility too though; i have to make sure i treat cath (and characters to come) right.

[JKNNKL]

you know actually even if i turn out to have. fanbase that just draws tentacle xxxx fanart of my characters 24/7...i'd probably still be happy...to actually have a fanbase...#lowstandards

[indagold]

Any type of fanbase would be nice. Just please for the love of god don't become corrupted and draw fucked up porn or try to start a witchhunt over politics like every single fanbase out there.

[GesuGesu]

BL fangirls/fanboys??????

[joannekwan]

A kind and respectful one.

Like sometimes I wish I had as many fans as Snipster who not just comment the hell out of her episodes but also shower her profile wall constantly with fanart and nice messages but I recall some months ago some readers started some discourse and a shit-storm happened and Snipster had to write a lengthy post defending her work on her tumblr.

As nice as it would be to have so many readers, that many more eyes on your work will eventually bring that many more opinions. :/

[azureXtwilight]

I really want to have people who makes theories, and the ones who ship. Having shippers is a personal goal imo :') I think the last one is achieved.

[ryoko]

I'm happy that people are enjoying what I'm posting and I'm happy drawing and telling my story. The fanbase I have is awesome. They all have great comments that either help me improve or they contribute fun thoughts on what's happening on a page and I make a point to reply to each of them. So, I guess I already have the fanbase that I want? ^_^

[SpavVy]

All I want is a fanbase that isn't full of toxic people that bully others so bad that it drives them to attempt suicide.
(I'm looking at you Steven Universe fanbase)

Other than that I don't really care what kind of fanbase I have as long as people are kind to one another.

[ahhvecadoes]

I'd like a fanbase that's invested in the characters as well as the lore built into the story! I don't have a huge mystery being solved, but I do think that the hints I'm going to drop about the demons' world will be fun for people to speculate on how things are run, who's in charge, different origin stories, etc. If the fanbase asks, I'll make certain tidbits public or make one shots about certain characters' pasts, but I'd like to see that involvement in headcanons.

[Mocha]

I'm not sure what kind of Fandom I would want, but I do know what I don't want to happen.... I'm really hoping that in the future when I actually get around to posting my comics that I don't get a following that's obsessed w shipping all the characters together since romantic relationships are not the focus of any of my stories. Though I have a bad feeling that this is probably going to happen anyways since my main story has a few important male/male and male/female (platonic only) friendships going on between the main characters.

[Herofeeder]

one that is constantly offended but still come watch my comics...to spice it up a little