Which is more important, content frequency or quality?

[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

[PixyByte]

@kurapikasuki I'm sorry to hear about your arthritis. I have a ganglion cyst in my hand, so I kind of get where you're coming from as far as pain and cooperative joints go. Your comic looks very very good and once a day is a good pace for you because I can tell you don't rush and everything still comes out looking awesome. I think I'm going to see how often I can upload comics comfortably and without sacrificing too much quality.

@Kamikaze

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.

I agree, and I've seen some comics go down hill because of random upload times. I'm happy with the quality my comic is at for once a week, and it's getting easier drawing all the characters. I think I might try for twice a week as long as the quality doesn't completely turn to poo. Quality does mean something to me, at least that's what the perfectionist side of me says, or else I'd be posting stick figure doodle comics daily. lol

@AnnaLandin

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.

Very well said. I plan on trying for 2 comics a week, trying not to let the quality go down the toilet lol. As far as frequency, for a gag-a-day, I was thinking of turning my comic into a comedy comic, although I'm currently trying to figure out how to turn it into a story when there is not long term storyline.

@zetina

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.

Oh I know quality means something different to everyone, I just don't understand the people who post sloppy stick figures daily when they could have something easier on the eyes had they just taken the time to draw.

@toadsteroven I have ADHD and I'm either super productive or not at all, so that's why I really need to figure out a good schedule for my comic because if I don't, my comic won't go anywhere and I eventually hope to have a large fanbase some day

[zetina]

I just don't understand the people who post sloppy stick figures daily

Pretty extreme example. Like, that makes me go "QUALITY > QUANTITY" - it's that kind of example. I thought we're talking about whether to colour/shade/paint a comic or not, that sort of thing. Because to me, I'll always prefer the option that results in faster updates.

I imagine the sloppy-simple-figure style applies in something where the joke is the main thing. Or where the person can't really draw yet.

[PixyByte]

Quality in the general sense too, the daily stick figures are just ones that I've seen lately that confuse me. I get Cyanide and Happiness, because yes that's just stick-like figures, but the jokes and art are good and clean. Well the jokes aren't exactly clean, lol but I meant the lines and coloring.

[jessiepolfliet]

In my opinion a good balance of both.

You can have a beautifull comic, but if it takes you a 2 months to make a page, subscribers will leave.
YOu can update frequently but sometimes it is at the cost of the content.

As a comic book artist you need to draw fast, and sometimes that means it can't be as beautifully perfect as you want it to be.Especially if you have to draw your characters over 200 times.

(note: this doesn't apply to all comic book artists)

[imagni]

I wonder/overthink this a lot too. But then I stop feeling bad about spending longer on the art and being fussy when I know i'm going to put it into print later. So i either spend the time now or later on. I think effort means more personally. Though it depends on the story/style too I think.

[PixyByte]

I agree. The more time spent on it seems like the more you care about the quality and the readers. I mean, who would want to wait a long time for something that was thrown together at the last minute, or looks like it was? I'd think no matter the kind of comic, you'd owe your readers at least some decent quality.