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

[CMYKat]

Feeling stupid

Basically, I'm treating the episodes of my comic, Peculiar Threads, as chapters, and now I'm feeling this isn't the best way to do it for a number of reasons. If a chapter turns out to be 12-20 pages, that's a lot of scrolling, for one, and I don't want that. I had also been putting out notifications per update, but I realize now that this update still juts you to the top of the chapter. Also undesirable.

Given that I'm quite slow due to a number of common excuses (mostly mental conditions, I have unmedicated ADHD, dyslexia and dyscalculia to fight with), I know I can't do like 2-4 pages per regular update, but I don't know if calling a single page in a chapter an episode makes sense either.

Just looking for formatting recommendations as someone working with a traditional layout and in chapterbook format.

Thanks!

[Rhonder]

As you've already noticed, updating pages into a single episode over time is undesirable due to how updates and also the notification system work. Not only does it take the reader back to the top of the episode, but "update" notifications also function differently than "new episode" notifications- they don't put your series back in fresh and show up under the bell notifications rather than the bookmark notifications. Since updates are usually small edits, not everyone pays attention to those every time an author does one. This may lead to confusion when a reader gets a notification for the next chapter and realizes they're several pages behind.

To the problem at hand, there's no right or wrong way to format your episodes, it's kinda up to you and how you think it's best to present your comic. A lot of hobbyist comic artists do just post 1 or maybe 2 pages per episode because that's as much as they can make regularly and they want to take advantage of the visibility that weekly posting gets you. On the flip side, for story heavy comics episodes that short sometimes lead to an unsatisfactory reading experience.

You could also consider posting longer episodes, but less frequently. For example if you posted every other week instead of every week you could reach that 2-4 page range, perhaps (and that amount lands in my preferred reading range, personally). The trade off is less "Fresh" visibility though.

It's up to you to weigh the pros and cons and decide what's best for your comic I did a 1-page-per-week traditional format comic first, ended up being dissatisfied with the update length, and so my new current project instead only posts monthly, but with about 3-5 pages of content (vertical scroll, but if you count the panels it's about that much).

[ninjashira]

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.

[Rhonder]

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.

Definitely agree on this point! I took the same approach with the page-a-week comic I mentioned in my initial reply- usually updates would be 1 page but there were a few cases where I felt like a page was a little underwhelming standalone and would typically pair it up to bridge the gap a little. Similarly, there were a few full-page panels that I would typically pair up despite being cool/exciting because... well, they're just a single panel

[CMYKat]

I completely agree with this too! Thank you @ninjashira for this insight - it's definitely a problem I'm aware of in my current comic, and I can see how it would be super frustrating as a reader, if I got invested in the story at all.

I think what I'll have to do is wrap up what I'm doing with the prologue of my story now and then announce a hiatus while I build up lots of content, since I'm just too bloody slow to depend on myself to get several updates a week done. I intended to upload everything once I had a huge backlog, but like many others do I got too excited to wait and too hopeful that becoming a fast comic-artist would just come to me because I want to get there so badly. That's definitely not what's been happening. >.< If anything, I seem to be getting slower.

Thanks again for these insights!

[Rhonder]

but like many others do I got too excited to wait and too hopeful that becoming a fast comic-artist would just come to me because I want to get there so badly. That's definitely not what's been happening. >.< If anything, I seem to be getting slower.

Oman, I feel this so much I worked on my current project for like 8 months before uploading and managed to make 7 episodes in that time (at about 1 month per episode with breaks here and there), with enough for 3 episodes up front and 4 months of buffer afterwards. But lately my episodes have been taking closer to 2 months to complete and I'm just like "oh no..." lmao. I think I'll too have to take a hiatus after the 8th episode goes up this summer and build up some more buffer at that point too. Part of it is because I've added a few non-comic side projects to my creative plate that I don't want to give up, but I def gotta try and get that speed back / up.

[ninjashira]

I feel that!! I probably worked on my comic for about four months before posting a single thing online. I completed my entire first chapter (about thirty pages ish) before I started posting it anywhere, so I would have plenty of buffer to keep ahead of my updates, and the whole time I was just chomping at the bit wanting to show it off to people

[Lady_T_Musings]

It doesn't sit right seeing my pages being called episodes either, as episodes are more geared to mobile layout works and gag-a-day type comics in my head and I'm doing a long-form one page at a time haha. I wish I could spend all my time making comics, but that just isn't feasible bc a Lady needs her benefits that her day job provides XD. So actually making weekly episodes isn't feasible to me.

It is what it is though. I work in page format over scroll too bc that's what I personally like and I want to print someday, but I do think about mobile so I try hard to not crowed my pages and tested the readability of my fonts with a few people and across multiple devices. I update once a week and have since November of 2020. I enjoy getting to see folks thoughts on my work as it comes out weekly and I'm dedicated to seeing my comic through so long as I live and have use of my right hand, but unless something happens that gives me more time to work on my comic (without major stress like a pandemic weighing me down) this will be how I tackle my series into the future and I'm cool with that as I know my purpose for creating my comic and have a finish line planned.

I could go to spaced-out updates to like once or twice a month, but as I draw pretty large and take up all the space, I don't see the trade-off being worth it as my page rate wouldn't increase and engagement would probably take a hit as it wouldn't be featured as fresh as much anymore.

I do think it's mad crazy smart to get a buffer going though. I didn't start posting until my first chapter was completed bc I'm not the fastest either, but I am defiantly working on was to improve my speed even more. Some things I did to improve my page-making time were, switched to using a tablet over pc for mobility, simplified my coloring style, got all my character sheets printed and in an easy-to-reach place. figured out all my design stuff ahead of time like logos, brands, and architecture (not all of it but most building stuff as this is my weakest point and takes me the longest to draw).

Something I'm working on to increase speed is making cleaner thumbnails so I can start drawing over them more neatly and not freaking out about them being perfect and going over my lines redrawing and cleaning up 2-4 extra times. @_@

Something I may do once I've gotten a few chapters done of my comic has condensed the updates to have each episode be like 6-8pgs, but I am not there yet.

Your comic looks lovely and I hope you find a solution that works for you, but I wouldn't split hairs about how Tapas labels your updates and would focus on pacing your story with the natural beats that work for what you are trying to achieve over trying to change it to fit what an episode should be, unless you want to reformat your story to fit in a more episodic fashion, then hey, do you CMYKat . That's my 2 cents.

[Teira]

I work in traditional page layout as well.
But I usually update twice a month with 6 page updates that I call Parts. Part 1, Part 2 and so on. My story isn't long so I decided not to do the chapter thing.

I notice most ppl just post a page a week. That seems to get more eyes on their work. But try whatever you think works best for you.

[rajillustration]

So for me I just straight up ignored the fact that this website is built for mobile and I did one page an update traditional style, and that was fine. That was how things were done for like 15 years on the internet, and I think that people understand that different comics don't need to be in scrolling episode format.

So to mitigate that, I had webtoon where I would post a bunch of pages in an episode as a backlog--and I had tapas where it was smaller updates. That way, I had both. I could see how both were doing. I think having more shorter updates worked better, stats wise.

[gabriellabalagna]

Omg, yes, I did a huge buffer too. It's hard updating pages that you drew months ago, but it helped me to never miss an update.

[gabriellabalagna]

It's hard because Webtoon and Tapas seem more geared towards scrolling. But I really do prefer making traditional format, so that's what I'm sticking with for now. No way I could finish 20-100 panels per week.

[gabriellabalagna]

I put out a page per week and simply name them as their page numbers.

There's a successful, self-employed comic artist, Minna Sundberg, who does four page updates a week Mon, Tue, Thu, and Fri. She just numbers them by their page numbers, but also does chapter covers every now and then. I like this format for traditional comics.

[ninjashira]

Yeesss. I have pages that I drew in December that won't be posting online until June. But it's been really nice being that far ahead because I can focus on college and work without having to worry about missing an update.

[Kaydreamer]

I was doing page format, but changed to mobile scroll about 10 pages in. (I still make each page as a page for eventual printing purposes, but re-arrange the panels vertically to post here and on WEBTOON. I started because it's way more popular and likely to be promoted, but I've actually come to prefer the scrolling format now.)

When I was using page format, I tended to just upload one page per week, per 'episode'. (And I titled the episodes with their chapter and page numbers.) If a page was nothing more than an establishing shot, or nothing much of interest happened, I'd upload two at once.

Since you work in vector format and can re-size elements with no quality loss, you're actually well-placed to work in both formats! I'd encourage it. It takes a little extra time, but reformatting for vertical is something which doesn't have to take a long time, and it's not 'hard' work; it doesn't require much focus.) I usually do it while chilling on the couch with my partner.)

[CursedBeasts]

I just post one page per update, like I did on Smackjeeves. I think many people here do so as well.

[artemficta]

I do a page format comic as well and average 6 pages an update, labeling my episodes as chapter # - part #. As a reader I really dislike one page updates. I really can't remember the story very well in any of the comics that are updating that way, especially compared to series that update in more of a bulk at once. Even 2 pages per update is a lot better as a reader than one.

[ButterflyEmpress]

I upload between 1-3 pages per episode depending on what’s happening in that part of the story. If there’s a page where it looks like someone is gonna die or something, I’d post that by itself as sort of a cliffhanger. If there’s a mundane conversation that lasts a few pages, I post them together. It’d be annoying to wait a whole week to find out if a character wanted eggs for breakfast or not. I’d love to post more, but that’d mean doing it every other week meaning less chances to be seen in fresh, so I’d stick with what I’m doing.

Honestly I wish Tapas and Webtoon had a grouping system for episodes. Like, you can combine them in folders such as “chapter 1” “season 1” “arc 1” etc. So instead of a comic having 1000 episodes, it has 1000 episodes split into 20 chapters. This could work for both comic formats.