What would happen if you woke up and your comic/novel exploded in growht overnight?

[Caro]

This has happened to me a few times and it always takes me by surprise. I get excited for a minute then i get a little overwhelmed and afraid and have to turn off the internet for a few days.

I think most recently n notably for me was a couple months ago my twitter (that i hardly use) went from 3k followers to 20k in the span of a few days because of a strip I started posting semi-regularly. I ended up getting a handful of really good job offers from it too and 1 of my favorite comics publishers reached out to me about it. So naturally I freaked out And briefly retired from twitter.

[jkb4753]

well if you blew up overnight you wouldn't need my honda. you would have your own bmw corvette.

[purrlpankras]

This actually happened to me in real life few years ago when I was on chapter 10 on my comic, I was in class at university, and I just happened to check Tapas, and I remember there was a smily face where the notifications are, so i clicked it and I suddenly got 1k subs. I was very confused where all these people came from. I don't know for sure to this day, but I think it was in new and noteworthy for awhile? or one of the Tapas staff members shared it. I'll never know But I was very greatful :3

[FafasMcMelt]

I'd move into the next step in my plan for world domination

[Yulek]

uhhh based on my experience with my one viral tweet (which was a comic actually. just a really short 3 page one that's also up on my tapas if you wanna take a look)

.... I would be happy, then overwhelmed and then hide under my covers until the sun goes away and not be able to create anything for several months out of fear to disappoint.

uhhhhh... yea. no I need that steady growth or I will cry.

this was the fist thing I made after two months of internal screaming of having my inbox blow up.

I hope I don't sound like I'm bragging. because even tho this was cool in the moment, it really fucked up my twitter with mostly dead and passive followers, completely blocked me for two months and then some.. and people also started to judge it very differently the bigger it became? like... they expected more it should have been better, deeper, more meaningful, better executed to "justify the popularity"

and I think this would happen on here as well, and I don't know if I could handle it.

I CAN handle critique and even hate to a degree... but if it came out of nothing and I didn't have time to grow into it.. I'm not sure how well I would do

[LittleBlueberryCake]

To be honest I probably wouldn't believe it. I would think that it is some bug or system failure or something along those lines. Since, until now, I have walked a pretty straight line in life I never had anything extremely good or extremely bad happening to me so something like that wouldn't be part of my world view at all.
If it really would happen and I would have triple checked every day for a week to make sure it wasn't just a system bug or something else I would probably go back to continue writing the next chapter as if nothing happened since by then I would have already told myself that now after something so big and positive happened something negative needs to follow and I would be to stress about the other shoe to drop to even enjoy it.
If on the off chance that no other shoe dropped for another two or three weeks I might actually finally believe that it happened but honestly I don't know its just something that has little to no chance of happening to me so I would doubt it till the end. And once I finally believe it I would secretly celebrate by myself and not tell anyone because if they haven't seen it by then what's the point in telling them?

[Stargazer31]

I would be over the moon! I'd probably release some merch on Sharkrobot or something, and I'd do some art giveaways to readers. I'd prolly start a YouTube channel too, to keep interest.

[R.n.P]

Go to the psychiatrist to confirm whether or not I'm having a psychotic episode

[Iridium]

I'd be OVER THE MOON! I don't know what I'd do, but I'd keep working, trying to engage and interact more with fanbase and prepare all the physical merchandise I always wanted to do xD

I'd also rush here and thank every single soul who subbed to my story and kept it alive xD

And, of course, keep working. After all, my comic is almost all written down in script, so I already have an ending to it, and I intent to do it in the most fitting, respectful and deserving way to honour my comic!

[Hambonous]

If my comic blew up over night I would be happy, however realistically I think it's gonna be a slow burn but I'm okay with that. I'd rather have an audience that is actively engaged with my work than thousands of views and likes all at once.

[jensrichard77]

Then.. then I will think ... hmmm??? I actually hanve no idea of how I would react.
Let me get back to you when it happens, then I can tell you all about it.

[Yulek]

I actually think you have a reaaaally good chance of getting noticed. here or on webtoons.
your style is super unique, colorful and engaging.

I might be biased since I'm already a fan, but it's the type of comic where you go "I have to show this to friend XY they are gonna love it!" (me, irl, sending it to two friends who appreciate the heck out of cool creature designs and worldbuilding.)

it's probably not everyones cup of tea, but it does stand out to attract those who will love it.

[mrtoontastic]

I'd ask who the hell hacked my account. Then I'd celebrate!

[thedude3445]

When my story Hands Held in the Snow was put on the front page for a week back last July, it actually did get something like 100 followers in a single day, which is incredible for a novel. All the likes and subscribers were crazy cool and I was elated all week. Almost no commenters, though; Tapas readers are really shy lol

[DiegoPalacios]

Step one: watch the numbers in astonishment......

Step two: see them again to see if it's true

Step three: victory dance!

Step four: look at readership comments and reply when i think it's fitting

Step five: tell the closest people about it

[noenoh]

make a deadpan face, open my mail and write Tapas help desk asking if theres a bug in my account.
seriously

[djourner]

Probably cry tears of joy for like a straight hour.
Make a twitter post about it,
Talk to EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY FRIENDS ABOUT IT... Like non-stop.
Cry some more.
Get ultra motivated for a week or two and write a whole month worth of chapters during that time.,,, maybe more.
Open a discord server so the fans have a place to hang out.

Slowly get back into a normal routine over the course of a month
Depending on how well it goes and if I get support, quit my day job (I already work for minimun wage so it's not that hard)

[Kittyfox]

My initial reaction would probably be to pull out the ban hammer due to me thinking they're all bots here to spam links to inappropriate websites, but then realize they're real people. I would then quit everything else that happens in my life and solely focus on the comic. I'd open up a merch shop, a discord server, and a twitch and yt channel, and then that will be all I talk about to my friends for the next year and a half XD

[joannekwan]

First reaction: shout "YES! THANK!"
Second reaction: shill my socials, my store, ko-fi, and patreon links

[Rhonder]

Oof, I don't even know tbh??

Celebrate, double take and pinch myself to make sure I'm awake, celebrate some more and tell my friends and family and then... I guess try and ride the wave as much as possible??? Reply to comments, think about a celebratory illustration or live stream or something and... yeah xD

If it was just a single day or two then it would be fun but fleeting. If that was suddenly the new normal, I couldn't even imagine.