When making a traditional-format comic, how do episodes work?

@ninjashira Ninjashira
Fri, 19 Mar 2021 19:03:32 +0000

@ninjashira wrote:

I do a pretty successful traditional page format comic here. I upload one page per episode, and I update twice a week (currently three times a week with a promotional event, but it's usually twice). I would definitely not suggest uploading an entire chapter as a single episode, it's too much for people to read in one sitting. Some comics (like Heartstopper) will upload 2-5 pages at a time in one episode, though that means comics like that tend to update less frequently.

I personally prefer the single page per episode approach, because it's easy to keep up with, and I get to update multiple times a week for increased visibility. And it gives my readers a chance to comment on things as they're happening and as the tension is building up, instead of just at the end of a scene.

That's my take on it, anyway.

The one thing to watch out for with the "one page at a time" approach is to make sure that each page is worth it. If you have too many nothing filler pages in a row, people will feel dissatisfied with the reading experience. Whereas if you have five pages in a row with nothing happening, but are sandwiched between four episodes of cool things happening, and upload it all in one episode, then readers will barely notice that nothing happened in five of those pages.

If I ever find myself scheduling a page that I feel "isn't worth it," (which has only happened twice in over 150+ pages so far), then I'll upload two in one episode.