Which is more important, content frequency or quality?

[brunoharm3]

this is like asking which is more important, air, food, or water?

[Kura]

For me personally when it comes to creating, because my arthritis is getting worse and I am slowly losing the ability to draw, quantity. I want to be able to tell as much of my story as I can before I am unable to do so anymore.

My comic is a story based character driven comic, and it updates once a day. Some pages are not as well done as others, depending on how much pain I am in or how cooperative my joints are (sometimes they lock, making drawing very difficult) but over all I'm happy with the quality I'm still able to manage (and have even been improving on, if you look at the differences between the first and last chapter)

For reading I'm good with both, I enjoy both frequently updated comics and slower updating comics. Exceptionally long hiatus though can sometimes make me lose interest, but even with those I tend to be pretty tolerant.

All in all, update at a pace that works best for you and within your capabilities. Don't try working at pace you are uncomfortable with/can hurt you just because someone else can do it. (It's a point that's often preached to me when I am attending my therapy for disability )

[Kamikaze]

It's not about content frequency OR quality. It's about consistency.
Of course quality of content and frequency of content play a huge role in comics, but neither really does you any favors if you're not consistent in your delivery. A person who as WONDERFUL art but doesn't post for months is gonna have a hard time (the only person I've seen break this rule is Aaron Diaz who makes Dresden Codak). The person that posts ALL the time but has wildly varying quality of content isn't going to do well either. That's why consistency is king.

If you can post your content at the same consistent quality, at the same consistent frequency (be it a few times a week, or a few times a year), readers will know what to expect and when. If you skip over that consistency, readers drop off, because they don't know what they're getting or when.

This is why sticking to a schedule you can keep, and a style that you can realistically work in long term is one of the hallmarks of successful comics.

[AnnaLandin]

Personally, I prefer quality over frequency, but I can also see why people who prioritize frequency are popular.

If you make good stuff, regardless of how often you update, you'll find you'll gain some serious fans - case in point, Dresden Codak. Before 2015, when the creator got hit his Patreon-milestone that ensured a new update every few weeks, it could be MONTHS betweent updates. Like, half a year, sometimes. And yet he had a bunch of fans, because when he DID update, the updates were amazing.

But there's a certain amount of luck involved in that equation working out. If you want to ensure that people remember your comic and stick around to read it, you need to remind them you're there. And the more frequently you do that, the more likely they are to go "Oh, right! I should read this!". Also, on Tapastic, frequent updates means a higher chance of snagging new readers because you show up in the Fresh-category.

I'd say a balance of the two - quality and frequency - is a good way to go. Figure out how much time it takes you to produce something you're satisfied with, and then pick an update schedule that takes that production-time into account.

[CaptainUfo]

There must be some kind of balance, but I tend to favour quality.

As a creator, I'm currently uploading five pages a week just because I have something like 80 pages of backlog and I want the series here to catch up with the original on Facebook resonably quickly. My natural release schedule is once a week.

[GFalconDX]

There has to be a balance. Right now, I've started uploading a page once every other Tuesday, which will give me the time to ensure the pages will be of a high quality, or at least as high as I can make it. And at the same time, I can keep a schedule that'll allow me to update my comic periodically.

[gateofselidor]

I would rather have a high-quality comic than one that updates very frequently (to be honest, daily updates are almost more of a nuisance for me, because I just don't have the time to keep up). However, there's a limit to how long I'm willing to wait, and when it's time to tidy up my reading list, those once-in-a-blue-moon comics are often the first to get cut.

[rairy]

I know what you mean. I also realized sometimes ago when stumble upon super beautiful comic with only few pages but had huge number of readers. I think its better go for quality or just balance it between quantity. Too long to make reader wait is no good either.

[laneord]

I used to think it's quantity.. but I came across pages that has little pages with lots of subs or people that has been hiatus for a long time but the fans still supports them.. So ultimately, I think quality plays a bigger role in this, and personally I'll feel much more satisfaction from making something of quality than just pumping out work regularly..

[zetina]

I'm pretty much of the same mind as @lizm
Also, I read a lot of stuff so just getting a page or two a week can often be totally lost on me because I don't have the mood in me anymore. I really like tapastic for the episode format because it enables people to update in batches ;v; I do that too though I'm still struggling with discipline (updating consistently and regularly).

Anyway, we should honestly talk about what "quality" is even meant to be. Something can be high quality without being something that takes a week to make. It can be simple but refined. Or stylized for ease of drawing. Basically, as long as it ain't sloppy, ya know.
Personally, I just need to be able to follow what's happening though.

[demthorshie]

Quality has always been a top priority of mine over quantity. I can get completely immersed in to a beautifully made comic with an incredible story that updates just a few times a month. Although I can get hooked to a daily comic as well if it's interesting enough, but i'm usually more inclined to cling to a really good comic that updates less frequently than a daily one. I think if you can find a balance between quality and frequency, that's just fantastic!

[ashriott]

I will opt for quality personally, but it depends for frequency... I'm alright with "once per week" updates with good quality, but if the creator is super slow(maybe sporadic updates, once every 2-3 weeks or months even) would be a problem lol.

[mg78]

quality.
without esistation.

about the "post with frequency" im certain that most of the work go "lost" after being read. with the exlusion of REALLY FEX cases (like one punch man one)
when i found some work done quickly, by an artist who could do good or even great quality, i close it. i refuse to read it. no matter what.

imho u have to see what u re, what re u lookinmg for right now and in the future... then choose it.

[Dingbat1991]

I definitely go a ways to make each strip from Lento presentable but I always try for a weekly release (that's all the time I can allocate for anyway.) I am a person who favors quality over quantity myself but not just for the art but the story and dialog too.

The traffic will likely come from your marketing and just getting the world out personally. When I came to Tapastic, I was on maybe my 35th comic? (now up to 47.) episodes prior to the 35 I released daily and while it keeps my comic floating to the top, it didn't help my traffic.

[ToonDoctor]

Both. You could spend a month drawing one page (I have done this once) but it won't matter if your readers have given up on you. It's not one or the other for me. It's both and having the skill and experience to adjust to your current needs in order to achieve your ends. It is a web comic after all where readers only get bits of the story. You can't drag them too long but you can't put crap out there too as that goes against you goal to entertain your viewers.

Never an easy juggling act!

[eagle1]

I come down totally on the side of quality. Period.

Since all of NO-Earth's comics are designed for print, they are written and drawn with that in mind. We have no deadlines (except for those concerning print runs) so the artists turn in pages when they are finished with them. We have enough pages coming in to where we can post something new every week (I am in the process of posting the newest Law of the Jungle page today), but there is no rush on the pages.

In fact, if an artist sends in something that looks rushed, they are likely to get asked to bring it up to the standards they have been working at. I doubt that would ever happen, since anyone working on NO-Earth understands that from the start. Right now, we have a two week buffer at a page a week, and that just has to do.

EDIT: Removed something I thought better of.

But NO-Earth is always going to be about the quality first, and the quantity will come in time. The frequency of posting for our individual titles is never going to be high, but as a CO-OP, we're posting once a week, and are moving towards twice a week as the CO-OP grows.

Eagle
(Like herding cats!)

[Aspie_Gamer]

As long as I'm entertained by the new update, it doesn't matter to me when a new update is released for my favorite comics. I've tried to be more consistent in updating my long form comic Life of an Aspie, but I've never been much for following deadlines either since it begins to feel more like an obligation that it does something I'm simply doing for fun (and for fame and money to a lesser extent). Because I'm an aspie irl, I find myself wanting to do whatever I want to do at any given moment instead of what I should be doing. Like one day, I might be like, meh....I don't want to play video games today and the next day I might want to do nothing but put as much distance between me and my mom in Fallout 4 level wise as possible.

What frustrates me the most is that I can do the work when I put my mind to it. I've noticed that as soon as I can sit my ass down and NOT spend all day surfing the web, it doesn't take all that long to whip up a few new pages of my comic. Granted, I take it all in steps. What I mean by that is I draw until I get bored so some days I might be drawing on and off for several hours while some days I might only draw the bare minimum of what I need to draw i.e I might want to draw rough drafts of six new pages, but I only do about four and then play Smash Bros or whatever.

I guess its not all a waste to be fair as I often formulate ideas for my comic by listening to music on youtube for example. Still, I want to be able to get more done with my comic even if it means updating once in a blue moon with like 3 new chapters to compensate the excruciating wait. I

tl;dr As someone here with Asperger's Syndrome, (which is like autism) it frustrates me to no end how some days despite wanting badly to draw some new comic pages for Life of an Aspie, I don't actually get around to it and instead waste time bullshitting on social media or fire up the Nintendo/PlayStation and binge play whatever video game I'm in the mood to play. Other days, I can draw like nobody's business almost like my brain's been briefly re-programed to do just that.

[JigokuNeko]

It depends on what makes you happy as a creator. Some creators are more art-oriented and love to present pages like polished jewels. Others- myself included- are in it for the story and art is a secondary consideration. Granted, I could make each page really pretty but that is way too exhausting. Working on a long-form comic is like running a marathon so you need to conserve energy. Producing pages that are 100% of my art capacity takes the joy out of it simply because it takes too long to draw and burns me out. I'd rather work at a lower capacity in favor of speedier output. Not only because I want to get the story out to readers faster but also because I myself have a limit to how many months I can dedicate to one particular story and characters before I itch to move on to something new.

[AffectedMind]

Some artists just have a buffer so they update frequently with high quality content (I'm going for this method as well). Frequency is important but if you put more often updates over quality, better update later with your art and story more polished.

[PixyByte]

@shazzbaa Wow you make a lot of sense. I think I'm just a perfectionist lol

I'd say it's definitely tougher to make a weekly humour comic work. Because gag-a-days tend to be less "engaging stories" and more just a quick laugh, getting only one a week feels like eating one single potato chip and then stopping. Not very satisfying.

This is what concerned me when I first came up with the idea for a gag-a-day comic. You're essentially coming up with a very short story/scenario each episode, entirely from scratch. Nothing flowing from one comic strip to the next. There's nothing wrong with that, as a reader, I really enjoy them. As a creator, however, it becomes a challenge having to come up with something brand new on the spot every time. I enjoy the challenge, but it comes back to having no flow, no continuation from the previous episode/strip.

Look at your comic imagining if you were a reader, and think about whether, if this was all you were getting for a week, would you feel satisfied?

You're absolutely right. This is a great way to think every now and then about your comic/art. As a reader, I wouldn't feel very satisfied. I'd want maybe 2 a week, and less of a gag-a-day. I think I'd like more of a comedy story instead of a purely gag-a-day kind of comic. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how to do that right now as I'm already several comic strips in and I don't want to redo/delete any of them.
Thanks so much for making me really think about this very helpful