Started on Tapas and have been staying here since 2015.
I initially just wanted a nice platform to host my webcomics in conjunction with tumblr. But Tapas definitely brought me more readers and gave me a start on Patreon.
By posting here, it got me to a place that I'm happy with, but now I feel like I've plateaued. In no part do I blame Tapas, it's just a hosting site after all, and it ultimately comes down to me and how far I am able to push myself. It's just my own personal roadblocks really. I can't keep up with the shiny new webcomics coming out every month and by putting my first webcomic on webtoon, that reality is hitting me hard. It's been on WT almost a year and I still have yet to break 1k subs.
I'm trying novels now and am super happy I can have my novels and comics on the same platform. Hence why I'll continue to stay with Tapas for the foreseeable future, even if I do try out other sites and ventures on the side.
I may take a shot at pitching to premium someday, but only if I feel I have a story that can appeal to a mass audience. But it seems with each story I come up with, they become more niche 
A stepping stone, honestly--just an experience to try something different and see how it feels. I mostly chose Tapas because I was tired of hosting comics to my own site and the glitches that followed that. So for me, this is just...this is just a portfolio. But my end goals aren't necessarily comics. It is in story telling, it is in being involved with the storytelling industry, but if it segues into comics that would be cool but if it doesn't, then this was a good practice to teach me quite a bit about how to market a story, how to work with an audience, all that.
I mean especially with lockdown I've sort of gone more ham into comics than I expected I would...and it was mostly because I wanted to see it as an opportunity to try new things. So since my following is small, I did a bunch of different stylistic approaches, I even started publishing a novel--which I never thought I would post on the internet. It's been a fun experiment and I've learned a lot, but my expectations wasn't that I would post and then bam! be on the top of the internet. I mostly wanted to be more comfortable with putting myself out there where my art is completely original and not something I'm either making for a client, or something that was an iteration of another IP to try and get hired. It's just mine.
I don't know if Tapas is a stepping stone into a larger career or a career itself. I write a ton of stuff and at this point I haven't really settled down with any one format or style or even medium--which is all perfectly OK right now because I'm living a pretty easy life with a stable job and lots of free time while I'm here in Japan. It won't be too long before I'll have to find what kind of writing career will really work for me, but I'm glad to take my time while I have the option.
If I can make a Tapas comic that really blows up, and that presents an opportunity for a larger career? I'm sure I'll take it. I really hope that happens!
Wattpad could possibly be a good place to host the novel as well and to do cross promotion. It's where I started, although it is pretty over saturated with fanfics and stuff...
Tapas is def great for experience and learning. And with the forums and community it can help you connect with other artists. I once tried Wattpad forums, but their rules were so strict that I think they were mostly only for promotions, or really specific topics. Like, Historical Fiction, Romance, etc. Of course, I didn't look around too much, because I was so new and already feeling lost xD
You know, I truly believe Tapas could be a career itself. But what marks a successful career in each persons mind are different. So, I guess it depends on the person.
Tapas was the first place where I started posting my writing seriously, so I'd say it's the beginning of my writing career. But I guess it's also a stepping stone in a way? I'm using this place to develop my skills and explore things, and to find an audience and "my thing". I am going to pursue writing more seriously and try to get published, and Tapas will be a good experience with it.
But I don't think I'll be leaving this site in a while either. I do enjoy posting here. But I definitely want more than just Tapas.Or what I'm currently have at Tapas.
As a new creator and user in this community, I would say Tapas is definitely the beginning of my journey. I've always had a passion for writing, but I never really thought of publishing my own novel. Personally, I was much more of a reader than an author. However, when I started my "journey" in Tapas, something pushed me into publishing a novel, but I never really published or wrote anything in Wattpad, Archive Of Our Own, or any other website or program used for writing novels. Basically, I started with zero. No fanbase. No plan. No definite schedule. No experience in publishing. No anything.
Honestly speaking, when I created my novel, I wasn't really planning on having a huge fanbase or earning money or ink, I just wanted to write. I guess getting support is my secondary reason; the main reason would be for myself! Right now, I have 38 subscribers, and my novel has reached 310 views and 61 likes. I'd say it's pretty great, since I'm new and all. Anyway, I'm still looking forward to whatever comes before me as my long journey in Tapas continues! o(^▽^)o
Let's see. For me, I'm at the very beginning of my journey, so I signed up on Tapas to...
- Tell some stories
- Meet other artists
- Find some readers
- Figure out where my comics fit "genre-wise"
- Get a ton of drawing/comic-making experience
- Ask for feedback since I don't have formal art training (admittedly, I haven't done this yet)
There's one unintentional benefit of having joined - I was finally able to see exactly where I am in my journey. So that's really helped combat a lot of success and worth-based issues I have.
In the end, I'm aiming to either self-publish or traditionally publish, but that's still several years off since I'm nowhere close to being ready to work on my flagship project!
I have two branching goals I want to achieve:
- Write, print and publish my own stories from my Dragonfeathers Project. (Blue Star Rebellion is part of this.)
- Work withing the traditional publishing industry to illustrate YA graphic novels for other writers. (Illustrating in traditional publishing is good, stable money.)
Tapas and WEBTOON are instrumental for Goal 1. I'm not sure I'd hand over publishing rights for Dragonfeathers even if a traditional publisher were to offer. I want it, legally and artistically, to remain entirely mine. (I'd be horrified if it received a low-budget, botched Netflix adaptation I was powerless to stop, or something.) As such, I intend to continue publishing it online for the foreseeable future, and organising small print runs myself.
As for Goal 2, what I'm doing with Blue Star Rebellion right now is a test-run for myself in 'how-to-make-a-comic'. While I'm quite certain that graphic novel illustration is the career path which suits me best as an illustrator, I've never made a comic before. I need to actually prove I can do that before any publishing house will hire me, so Blue Star Rebellion is my chance to smooth some rough edges, pick up some solid skills in sequential illustration, and have a product which I can wave at the likes of Scholastic and say "Hey, I can do this for you, hire me please!"
(I should also add, in terms of being paid to illustrate other people's stories, I'd happily be hired as an illustrator by the old-school comic publishers like DC and Marvel as well. I've noticed they're starting to branch out a little, stylistically, especially with their YA offerings.)
I see Tapas as a largely influential middle point on my comic journey. I arrived here right at the perfect time when I really needed some advice, guidance, and know how to re-kindle my interest in making comics. Since then I've learned a lot and gained a lot of perspective.
But it's a middle point because there's a long ways to go yet. I've started to feel over the last year or so that I've kinda reached a point where I'm hitting a bit of a wall with how much more raw information I can garner from Tapas (and these forums, more specifically). I've been hanging around here since 2017-ish so I think I know all of the entry level general advice and tips, and I also feel like I have a good grasp on what a lot of the current more experienced creators have to offer by way of less general unique tips and tricks. I'm at the point where I'm ready to sit down and try to apply and hone a lot of what I now know and see if I can't launch forward.
Another thing that I've been trying lately is spending more time meeting people and establishing relationships on other platforms as well. For example, the last 6 months or so I've started live streaming art and my comic and connecting with a number of comic artists on that platform (who I may never have met otherwise). Interacting with people in a new way but also just with new people brings additional perspective, and that's something that I've appreciated as I've been grinding away at my new project 
Regarding the questions posed at the end of the OP, I would say that so far Tapas has been the main hub of all of my comic-related milestones! My first finished comic began here, my first collab lives here, I made my first money on comics via Tapas' ink program (then coins), I've unlocked ad revenue here first, many of my first readers and friends in comics came from these forums specifically, and I've had 2 paid projects spring up through connections built here as well.
I love Tapas and don't foresee myself leaving anytime soon. But per the above comments I do hope to spread my wings, per se, and expand outwards to see what's possible on other platforms as well I wouldn't mind seeing my next project do better on webtoons, or see my twitch channel continue to grow, put more TLC into my social media accounts, & etc.
Yeah, I personally have quite specific milestones with income before I can consider my career a "success" just because I want to do this full-time for the rest of my working life. Tapas could very well provide that, but I have no idea! I'll keep all options open until I find what works best.
I agree with this. While I do like the atmosphere here and my readers/fans on Tapas, it seems like other than exposure, it doesnt do much of anything else for me. Not saying that Tapas has to be doing something for me, but it seems like a lot of the opportunities to expand & monetize beyond making the comic have gone away...and I'm not in a position to pack up and run to Tapas central to make their dreams my dreams.
I'm at the point where I do want to put my own site together coz eventually either Tapas is gonna go south after a period of time or I'm going to become bored with it and then it's time to move on...but for right now I'll deal with Tapas more than Webtoon.
To me, it's just stumbling in the dark. I have very few readers and grasp at straws when trying to get more. I thought that maybe mirroring my stories on Tapas would help but nope, it didn't. Tapas is all about promoting romance stories, so, naturally, it attracts a certain type of readers. Since romance is not my thing, it means that there are very few readers here that would like what I write.
I haven't experienced success yet. I hope to one day but I doubt that it will happen on Tapas.
I´m new to webcomics and haven´t published anything so tapas is just a place where I´m trying to get some information
and to talk to people. My long term goal is to publish my own printed comic book which I also want to publish
in some way on the internet, webtoons, tapas. So I don´t see it as any stepping stone
I was hoping for Tapas to be my main "home" for my current comic project, and I still wish it could be, but unless they change direction a bit, it'll be impossible.
Changes to the algorithm and a huge marketing focus on licensed comics have made it way harder for a mid-sized comic or novel to grow. I used to see top bar promos of my friends' work and think "oh cool, we've been friends and peers for years on the UK comics and illustration scene, placed in the same competitions, that kinda thing, so if they're up there, I could be up there!" and now it's completely dominated by imported Isekai comics so I feel like I missed my chance by getting in on the platform too late.
Ultimately, platforms and publishers come and go, rise and fall. As a creator, I've outlived Hyper-Comix/Awesomenauts, Smackjeeves and Drunk Duck (I mean, "The Duck" is still there, it's just.... not really relevant any more), hell I even placed in the finals of Tokyopop's UK Rising Stars of Manga the year before they went down in flames. It's best not to get too attached or to think any one publisher is definitely your path to stardom. I've done work for Penguin-Randomhouse and it didn't result in me being permanently taken on as a superstar illustrator. It was one thing I've done in my career. Maybe I'll work with them again, maybe I won't.
Tapas is a publisher that I like and I want them to succeed. I think their contract has some of the best terms I've ever heard of, and I don't say that lightly; it really does blow most of the other publishers I've worked with out the water. I like that they do host and celebrate LGBTQIA+ content and try to boost PoC creators. I would love to build a nest here, I really would, and if these "Tapastry" changes pan out, maybe there's still a chance. If they keep down this road of importing shedloads of content and burying us under it though, with an algorithm based on recent likes that means the only way to be visible is to be promoted on the main page because that'll also put you at the top of all the other pages anyway so the translated content they're promoted is literally on top of all home-grown "community" creators... well, the platform stops doing what I need it to. I need hosting, yes, but the main advantage Tapas has over just building my own website is being on an app that gives notifications and being discoverable as part of a database of comics. Currently I have the hosting and I'm on an app, but the app uses the notifications to aggressively market other comics that make my work hard to discover, so... currently it has no particular advantage for me over Webtoons or similar.
Hopefully that'll change and they'll realise that flooding the site with content like this that's available elsewhere and makes the site both homogenous and less valuable to the very original creators they're looking to interest so they can get exciting new content to adapt for TV is only going to hurt them in the long term... Otherwise... well, it'll be just another "platform that I used to know," and I'll move on to whatever comes next.