40 / 50
Oct 7

Honestly I’ve been creating comics full time for a few years and never really thought about my demographic. Most of my followers are on Instagram so I get metrics from there that I only check every once in a blue moon. I’ve noticed when I was more focused on a closer to teen comic my demo was more young women ages 18-24 but now that I’m making a more adult oriented comic its gone to women age 25-34.

The only time I’ve thought about my demo was when specifically trying to make work closer to all ages and less mature content but it didn’t really change how I market anything since I always just try to cast a wide net when it comes to finding an audience. I guess that’s less true nowadays since I post less online but it was true once

I've actually had a lot of people do just that for Trespasser, on both Tapas and Webtoons :stuck_out_tongue:

Why not? I like sharing the work I make with the people I know. Tapas and Webtoons are tailor made for hosting comics, so I use them for that and share a link to my work in my social circles. I have no greater ambitions with Trespasser than to grow myself as an artist and a writer. Everything else that I gain from it is a nice extra.

As for the rest of your statement, to me it just reads like you're expecting me or other people to strictly follow genre conventions. But to me that's just cookie cutter and boring. You'll never really know if your work appeals to other people, until you actually share it with others. The best way to then go about it is to write and create with passion, to make something you yourself would like to read or watch first and foremost. You and your tastes are now wholey unique and you'll definitely find folks who want to read more of your work. At least, that's how my experience has been so far.

So many of the best stories defy genre conventions are were just their creators making a thing they loved. Star Wars was George Lucas mixing and matching the movies and shows from his childhood into a single piece of fiction, using the hero's journey as a blueprint. His Dark Materials follows a 12 year old girl in a story for young adults with themes fit for the adult section.

The one caveat being that you need the skill to execute your ideas. A skilled writer/artist can get away with pretty much anything.

@KevinReijnders The fact that many people post on the site as a hobby doesn't change my opinion, because everyone does what they feel like doing, and although that doesn't make sense to me, you don't need to justify yourself.

And man, you completely misunderstood the intention of my topic:

I don't want to impose on you a way of thinking, acting or making any demands on you. I just wanted to make a healthy topic, where people could help each other by sharing advice on how to attract an audience; Thinking that I want to dictate your actions is quite presumptuous of you, what you do is not my problem.

The topic is aimed at people who publish and who have something to add about how to reach their target audience. Your first comment was valid and welcome in the thread, but now, you're just trying to validate your private view and that's really annoying. And I don't intend to stay here arguing so that in the end I can say: "hahah look how right I am and how intellectual I am", I really have no interest or time for that.

In the topic, I ask for the opinion of people who think differently than me; if you think that focusing on a target audience is useless, great, you've already given your opinion! But don't force it on me or want to discourage others. This place isn't Twitter (or at least I don't think it is).

I hope you interpret this answer correctly, because I don't want to offend you or attack your morals, I just want to say that: if you don't agree with the topic of the post, give your opinion and take your own direction, instead of turning this into a boring debate. The purpose of the post is to help authors leverage their audience, if you are not interested in this and have no advice to give, why are you still commenting?

I recommend that you try to understand that not all of us share your goals; if you don't want to attract an audience, there are those who do; clashing with the actions of others will only waste your time and that of anyone who proposes to debate with you. In the same way that you have the right to post here for fun, we have the right to want something more than that.

Either way, be at peace; I really don't want to turn this into a debate or generate enmity.

Now you're misunderstanding me.
My reply does offer insight, in that you shouldn't try to follow genre conventions or what you think xyz demographic might enjoy.

If you write and create with passion your story has a higher chance to appeal to an audience, instead of going by commity on your own work.

If you're looking for discoverability, then well it's kinda luck of the draw. Play by tapas' rules and use their format. Post links, everywhere that'll allow it.

(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)

I also write mainly for the female gaze, both straight and LGBTQ. I'm sure that other people can enjoy my work, but I primarily write for them. Probably helps that a lot of my cast is female, Gunhild is a lesbian and Loki is gender fluid

I'll be a bit of an outliner since I was writing for mostly a male audience since they tend to not be targeted as much for webcomics.

(Not a bad thing, just figured I'd find more of a niche.)

My target audience is anybody who wants to read my story.
Everyone is invited to participate and give their suggestions for the plot:


Content wise, it's pretty much G-rated stuff, so anyone could read it.

@KevinReijnders although I don't agree with you, I think what I said to you yesterday was quite rude and I want to apologize. No one in the world wins alone and, although I don't depend on you for anything, I know that I depend on other people to be able to do certain things that I need, and if I wouldn't give those people the treatment I gave you yesterday, neither should give it to you, since no one knows tomorrow. I'm sorry and stay at peace.

My specific target audience for my story "Ein UFO kommt selten allein" (Where there's one UFO, there are usually more)
was kids between 10 and 14 who like funny european comics in a certain european, funny cartoon/comic style and who are not
into violent or superhero action comics and not into romance comics. Younger kids wouldn´t understand the comic, older kids
would think the comic is boring. It convinced the jury and that was my second target audience
because I wanted to win the contest.

I believe that the more precise you know and name your audience the more likely you have success.
At least when you work for a specific target audience

I don´t think about my target audience when I create something all the time,
because most of the time I am my own target audience. The best things that I created where things
that I created for myself and then other people just happened to like it too.

I'd say my target audience is anyone who likes somewhat cozy romance. It's regardless of where you're from or who you are (Even if you aren't a human. I hope the aliens like it too), I hope you'd like it.

The only way I can promote currently is through here because I can't have social media.

My target of audience is anime and manga fans, cosplay convention con-gers, retro and some newer video gamers.

I´m an alien and even though I can´t speak on the behalf of other aliens,
I can assure you that there is a huge group of aliens who are into cozy romance

Oh I've never met an alien before! Welcome to earth! It makes me extremely happy that an alien and I have something in common. You should check out my book sometimes if it's up to your alien tastes!

Who is my target audience:

Anyone without shit taste.

how do I reach them:

Despite the bowing and scraping to the almighty algorithm, there has only ever been a single path to glory: The audience.

They have friends to recommend the comic to. They have links to share, images to right click and post on their socials, and names to drop. The algorithm depends upon how they act as well. So if your audience isn't paying you cash, they need to be paying you in P.R. otherwise they're failing to live up to their side of the deal and you are dead in the water.