When people CASUALLY mention their comic

Michelle 2016-09-09 05:04:16 UTC #10

Yeah, I agree that it's annoying and can come off as being desperate. It's good to put effort into promoting your work, but there's a time and a place for that kind of stuff.

If you can work your comic into a discussion where it makes sense or contributes to the conversation (like, using it as an example to illustrate your point), that's okay. But while throwing it into all of your posts haphazardly might get you the occasional curiosity click, you risk garnering a reputation for being spammy.

youngaustin 2016-09-09 05:05:53 UTC #11

I completely agree. You need to respect where you are, there is a time and place for everything.

Delete 2016-09-09 05:10:28 UTC #12

yeah sorry. I didn't mean pathetic. I didn't mean to come off too seriously. I work retail at an art store and it's back to school and the job has been rough and stressful so I probably didn't read it as humorous. I working on getting a teaching credential so hopefully I'll be finally out of that job soon.

Sorry. I didn't mean to have it sound like an attack on you.

carloswebcomic 2016-09-09 05:12:45 UTC #13

For me at least, it's one of the most off putting things in comic forums, the thinly veiled attempts at promoting comics. I'm cool when people come up and say 'Hey, I'm new here and this is my comic'. No problem there. I've even found some of my regular reads that way, but when it's 'casually' mentioned... uuuugh... it feels slimy.

youngaustin 2016-09-09 05:12:58 UTC #14

That's okay. I can totally understand. When this is what you love it feels like all you have so of course you will do your best to try and promote it. I understand what you were saying.

Delete 2016-09-09 05:16:02 UTC #15

To be honest, I still live at home with my folks while working almost full time (these sf bay area rent prices) and whenever I create some new art I show them it as soon as possible and they usually get annoyed by it

Aspie_Gamer 2016-09-09 05:37:11 UTC #16

Oh yeah. There's a time and place to mention your comic. If you are showing off new pages or if you participate in a "review my comic and I'll review yours" type of thread, then yeah go for it!

@kurapikasuki Wow...some people eh?

@Michelle Agreed. For example my comic Life of an Aspie deals with Asperger's Syndrome so if someone on the forums made a thread about autism, it would make sense in context to talk about LoaA.

mariusthered 2016-09-09 06:19:38 UTC #17

it should be remembered that some people don't do art for a hobby but for a living so promotion of the comic leads to commissions needed to pay bills and such boring things as living.

Michelle 2016-09-09 06:28:37 UTC #18

Yes, but promotion works best when it is delivered to a receptive audience. Over-promoting and spamming your comic has the reverse effect of people avoiding it because it's constantly shoved in their faces at unwanted times.

SpavVy 2016-09-09 06:46:49 UTC #19

I agree that it can get annoying and that people tend to do it in the wrong threads, but just like any other creator they wish to have an audience and I'm my opinion that's okay. I mean this is a website about indie comics after all. The only time when I have a problem with advertising is if people do it on my profile, private message, or in my series comments.

jennula 2016-09-09 08:36:00 UTC #20

This! I have no problem with people promoting their stuff on the forum, but yeah, when they use my comic's comments to promote (if I haven't asked for people to suggest comics) is more off-putting to me :B

purrlpankras 2016-09-09 10:54:34 UTC #21

I'm all for promoting. I mean it's 90% of the work and other is actually making the comic.

There's a time and a place for promoting, I don't think pushing it in a conversation is one of them (maybe in the right context)
Also, people like that probably don't know the best places to promote either.

I find the most annoying people do to promote is, when they send you message to talk, and they just talk about their comic.
Hey it might be great, but I'm not invested enough in you to give a damn. Bad as it sounds.

Go where your target is man

Herofeeder 2016-09-09 11:11:41 UTC #22

i was seriously w8 for a comment like " yeah man people who promote their work like that are so lame , id never post my"insert the name of the comic" comic like that .what a bunch of weirdoos

indagold 2016-09-09 12:04:05 UTC #23

I only try to promote on a post that has to do with promoting your comic. Going on random threads is just attention seeking and really horrible. At least it isn't as bad as commenting on someone's piece of work and going "wow, nice. Here's my comic: please check it outtt!!! XD"

Greg_Dickson 2016-09-09 12:29:19 UTC #24

I may only mention something that's similar or related to my comic (without providing a link to mine), only if the other creator is a good friend of mine and we have already read each other's works (and even then, I try not to go on that long about it). If it's someone I don't really know, but there's some kind of funny similarity I may want to point out, I would PM them so it wouldn't seem like a public promotion (and for such a thing, I wouldn't be doing it to have someone read my comic in return. I've once commented in a PM to someone how eerily similar our comic themes seemed, and we had a good laugh about it).

I really find that the best place to promote is twitter though. If other people like your promotions enough, they'll respond with likes, follows, and most importantly, retweets (which really helps if they have a lot of followers). It's separate enough from tapastic, that you don't have to feel as weird or invasive about just mentioning your comic, but even still on a platform like that, you have to avoid being spammy. I just think you can be a little more open, especially when it comes to comic chats like #ComicBookHour and #WebComicChat.

spadesart 2016-09-09 13:17:28 UTC #25

THIS IS ME AAAAAAAAA

btw have u read my comic ;;;;;;;;^)

(I never really took it as sad or desperate, people just want other people to see their work since it's something they pour a lot of time and heart into. They just wanna share it with people and seeing their views spike after dropping a link is always a good feeling. tbh the only place it's REALLY not welcome is when it's promoted in someone else's comics' comment section. Other than that it's pretty useless to get mad at people promoting their comics on a comic forum.....)

kencoon7 2016-09-09 13:18:06 UTC #26

Does that mean I am not supposed to mention Ken's komics unless I want to promote Ken's komics?

Amymone 2016-09-09 13:59:42 UTC #27

I find the most annoying people do to promote is, when they send you message to talk, and they just talk about their comic. Hey it might be great, but I'm not invested enough in you to give a damn. Bad as it sounds.

^ This is one of the many reasons why I've never been able to make any close friends on this site. All of my private messages eventually morph from small conversations into advertisements and I feel like I'm being denied a normal human interaction.

At least it isn't as bad as commenting on someone's piece of work and going "wow, nice. Here's my comic: please check it outtt!!! XD"

^ THIS HAPPENS TO ME! OMFG! The worst I've ever had of this billboard behavior was when someone went into my comments and kept trying to convince my readers that his work was just like mine and to go check it out. And I'm like sitting there thinking "This is my life now? This is my ACTUAL life now?"

ptrcksnntt 2016-09-09 14:27:27 UTC #28

Ahaha! sure is a compelling thread. If you guys like meta-commentary on webcomic communities, you should totally read my webcomic! It totally has something or whatever relevant to the topic being discussed! For instance, in that it's a webcomic!

But yeah, I sort of figure there's a line of good taste? Attention on tapastic can result in ad revenue, there's money on the line, I understand that a lot of people GO to the forums specifically to promote and there's nothing wrong with that. The stuff I'm seeing about folks shamelessly stumping in comments sections is a bit more shocking though.

elixiadragmire 2016-09-09 14:31:28 UTC #29

...

Ok, I gotta say, this thread a little bitter. The tapastic community is known for being very friendly and open but lately, a fair few threads like this have been popping up that make me very uncomfortable. I can understand sometimes something grinds your gears and you need to vent, I've been guilty of that too but I can't see how this is constructive or help the community. It is rather a hostile approach to curbing activities in the community you disapprove of by making people feel uncomfortable to 'step out of line' .