Your Webcomics on Pirate Comic Sharing Sites

[Seaby]

What do you guys think about your work ending up on one of those free manga/comic sites (like kissmanga before its eventual end)?

I suppose opinions would be divided depending on

1. whether you support those types of sites/don't find issue with them
   or
2. if you're not losing out monetarily if your work is shared off of Tapas/Webtoons/e.t.c.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

Honestly, at this point in my life, I'd be honored that anyone thought my work was worth "pirating" (is it really pirating if it's already free to read...?). In any case, I gain nothing from my work but notoriety, so as long as whoever took it and reposted it wasn't stealing credit, I wouldn't care. =/

[TheGentleArtist]

I don't really know tbh, I never really thought about it.

[spadesart]

If I'm not struggling to make money and am living comfortably, I probably wouldn't care. Right now though, I work an exhausting minimum wage job and the small amount of tips and patreon support I get for my comics mean a lot and keep me motivated. I'd be pretty peeved if I found out someone posted patron-exclusive content on a pirate site to draw my support away.
For example, I'm building a huge buffer for my next webcomic and putting them on patreon exclusively until the official release, and I'd be directly hurt from someone reuploading them. If I was able to sustain myself I'd probably let it slide, but I don't even make enough to live on my own right now so I'd be pretty devastated if I found them on a pirate site. They also wouldn't just be taking away income, but also releasing something that I clearly do not want released to the public yet.

[yondoloki]

Considering my comic is already free to read, I really don't understand why people would put it on a pirate site to begin with.

As small as it is, putting a free to read comic on athoner site, would make the creator lose out on the ad revenue and/or the possibility for people to donate ink etc, so it could hurt creators in the long run.

[KRWright]

I saw one creator who showed how much their sales increased once their work was no longer free-to-read on a pirating site, and that for me sealed the deal on what I thought about them. Yes, scanlators were a huge part of what popularised manga particularly in the west, but we're in a different age now and lots of works get localised and translated, and artists are able to upload their works themselves to sites if people want to get hold of them. It's just no longer the case that works are only available in print, in Japan, and have to be scanned and translated for western audiences to enjoy them without a 3-4 year lag.

So yeah, firmly on the side of no piracy.

[HGohwell]

It's just no longer the case that works are only available in print, in Japan, and have to be scanned and translated for western audiences to enjoy them without a 3-4 year lag.

It kinda still is in a lot of cases. Only the most popular manga gets any kinda of quick turn around and free translations online, if translations at all. The amount of Japanese manga I have on my book shelf that will never see a translation because it's niche and no one has heard of it and I've bought to make up for using pirating sites, is ridiculous. Most manga are still years behind in their official translations, and have to be massive to even get those.

That said, for sites like Tapas, there's no need for translations and the only thing that stops people reading is a little bit of ink that barely costs anything. No excuses. It's entirely different to foreign languages and having to wait years.

[darthmongoose]

I'd be pissed. I work hard on my content, that ad revenue is mine, not some asshole who just screenshotted my pages and reuploaded them.
I've had some pieces of content go viral in the past that I posted free online and seen them get millions of hits on sites like 9gag that have ads. Like it's possible you've seen this meme going around Tumblr or Facebook over the years:

I MADE THIS. I have made no money ever from this, and I can only wonder how much the sites it was reposted to made off it, because I know it got literal millions of hits on 9gag alone. Worse, I made it at a time in my life where I was financially really struggling and could have really used the money. I've seen this design printed on t-shirts and merch, shared around social media, used as an image on professional blogs... It's like everyone's making money off it but me, the person who made it. So yeah, I don't find reposting flattering. It's annoying and exploitative, because the people profiting from reposting are practically always way better off than the people who poured heart and soul and inspiration into the actual content.

[Iris-Grimoire]

My content is already free except for very tiny things on Patreon, and any cent I get counts. Pirated/reposted art that I made is getting reported, no buts. They're extremely harmful because they're preying on indie content, not some huge company or country-locked content.

[VibrantFox]

I think it's already happened once but I never heard anything more about it or the site. As for my opinion I don''t fully approve of it but I'm also fully aware it's gonna happen anyway. Personally I admit to reading from scantalation sites but I also try to support and pay for official releases if I have the money.

IMO i think it's a bigger issue when the theft or pirating is done to small indie creators or companies and what have you but if it's a major publication company or some megacorp then it's not too detrimental. Yes pirating is "illegal" and heavily frowned upon but at the same time lots of people do it. Given most of the work we upload here is free or accessible for a fairly low price it seems pretty dumb to go and post it to some scan website but it still happens.

I've come to a point of accepting that people are gonna do what they're gonna do and even if I don't like it there's only so much that can be done to stop it ( I mean look at what fanartist have to go through with stolen art and those bot generated merch sites)

[Zino]

my comic's free to read and I'm not making any money out of it, so I don't really care where it ends up. Then again I've never cared about art stealers/reposters (when it comes to my art), since this is only a hobby of mine.

[rajillustration]

I would be VERY upset and would do what I can--but honestly what can you do? We are powerless to sites like that. As it stands right now my comics aren't making money so I'm not in any danger of this--but if comics were my main money source (and especially if I were doing something Premium or showing pages through Patreon) then I would be LIVID if someone was distributing locked pages for free. Takes years of your life to make this stuff, takes them like maybe 10 minutes to steal it, and then they're pretending their Robin Hood or whatever, as if comic creators are rich?

[Kura]

It bugs me because my comics are already available to read for free, so it's not like there is a paywal obstacle in their way.

I lose not only revenue but traffic, and traffic is very much what I need to justify working on a comic to the people that demand numbers from me if I am to be allowed to continue. If traffic gets too low, I can't justify to other parties that this is worth my time over whatever other project they want to throw me on, which will result in cancelation of the comic.

[Coati]

Well, since my comics are 100% free, I won't allow any repost in their already posted languages (English and Portuguese), but I won't mind if someone translate it.

[magnavarra]

so Uh how do you know about this sites? Aren't you obediend person who pays for every comics they read?...

[Seaby]

I assume they are rather well known, especially after the kissanime/manga take down. It's fairly easy to find them (if you're not against risking your computer to viruses), and they've always been a source of controversy in the anime community. With the recent rise of popularity in webcomics (especially after the handful of anime adaptations that have come out) I know that there are going to be a ton of popular/decent quality webcomics that are going to be ripped right off of Webtoons/Tapas and posted onto pirate sites.
(But tbh I'm not going to pretend I've never used them I'm a lot more conscious of piracy now).

Which leads to my original question, which I asked because I legitimitely don't know how I'd feel to come across my work on one of these sites, whether I'm making money from it on Tapas or not.

[magnavarra]

well if you do make money you can come by here and then and ask them to take down your comic as the rights owner. I've been reading killing stalking on one of these sites but it got taken off and I went and bought in on lezhin. It was my first purchased comic after I bought the silent grove on Dark Horse. i don't feel like buying any other soon. despite reading tons of them I can't even recommend other works since they are very generic or even lower quality

[Rhonder]

My first gut reaction was similar to Doki's reply up at the top, in that it would be along the lines of "lmao, someone thought my work warranted pirating? what flattery"

but realistically yeah, generally speaking the types of content that get uploaded to those sites are content that is otherwise paid somewhere or another, and I agree with the sentiments of several of the other replies in that as a small creator if people were trying to deny me my tiny slice of the comic-money pie, it would be rather detrimental.

In fact... It's extremely unlikely but I almost wonder if the short story I submitted to an anthology last year exists on one of those sites? It's the only purchase-exclusive content I have so far But there's no way... right?

[Legendofgenii]

It would probably never happen with my comic - but saying that my artwork has been stolen in the past and it hurts. In fact TK Maxx were selling a doormat featuring one of my cute pug illustrations once. I had to do the whole cease and desist shindig to get them to stop (they did, but no apology or anything). I bet they sold loads too.

[darthmongoose]

Oh my god, TKMaxx!? That's so awful! I bet the cease and desist was a pain to wade through too. Sorry you had to deal with that.