I've had a comic for half a year and I've got somethin' like three constant readers. When I visit other comic I'm stunned seein' how many people comment on them. I'm just curious - what's your receipe for makin' people read your comic? I know it's much like buisness and I'm not good at this, but maybe I can learn somethin'?

Well, let's take a look at other successful comics. For example, Craving Control. In its two weeks of life, it garnered huge amounts of readers, and is currently even in the top five strips. Studying this comic, we see what makes it so popular.

Your comic needz more boobz.

Make two boys make out! It doesn't matter if it's canon! Just do it!

No, I'm kidding. Honestly? I have no idea. The way I look at it, every time someone clicks on your page, their impression of your last page is going to be what decides if they stay to read the rest of your comic, or click away to another site immediately. With that in mind, I always try to make the last page I've posted have something eye-grabbing on it, even if it's just two characters sitting around talking, whether it's something interesting in the background, an interesting angle, whatever. Anything to make a first time visitor think "wow, I wonder what this comic is about?".

Subject matter is a factor in a lot of cases (okay, I was only half joking about having two guys make out) but I don't think it's that important, and not really something you can change halfway through a comic anyway. Just make sure that you keep your story interesting and fresh to the readers so that people keep coming back.

Post your comic up on listing sites like www.topwebcomics.com and www.buzzcomix.com if you haven't already, and encourage people to vote there. Post up on www.onlinecomics.net and make sure you update it every time you post a page. Make yourself some business cards and hand them out to everyone you meet who seems even vaguely interested in comics, and even some people that aren't. If you have the option, go to comic conventions with business cards, print out some cheap sample comics and give them away to people. Basically, just get your name out there in every way possible and make sure people remember you.

Also, don't get discouraged. Watch your pageviews, not just your comments. Lots of people read comics and lurk either because they're too lazy/shy to comment or just don't want to sign up for the site.

Boobs alone won't get you that... I don't know, but I suspect on the case of Craving control the creator has got paid advertising to help. That + boobs = success!

You should try it. ^_^

First of all, I'd tell you that the webcomic market at this point is oversaturated. And even in this free "business"... competition. competition. competition.

You'd probably ask next how I did it?

Well, I entered webcomics when it was still in its infant stages back in around 2000-2001. If you wanna take a look at my Sample Art back then to give you an idea of my previous skill level.

And during that period, my English was a bit sketchy since its my 2nd language... During that period as you can see, the quality of art is just... poor.

But in spite of that, I was able to get alot of fanart and fanmail... and had my glory days of popularity. Even though DD was not existent. Even though all I had was a geocities site, MS paint, and limited drawing and writing ability... and joining a few "webrings" in yahoo groups.



If it were possible... to delete all the art skills I learned and setback myself to my 2001 level, and go on webcomics today, I'd be TOAST. I'd be like a WWI plane competing against F-16s (though today I'd say I'm an F-5 vs F-16 lol). Because art is a subject openly taught in the West... because there is SOOO MANY people who CAN draw. So many people know what theyre doing. Making competition extremely difficult.

Ironically, the moment my skills have improved, the more my popularity plummeted. Maybe you can argue that today I'm a busier person with more time working than hanging out in message boards and dedicating my life to webcomics... Maybe you can argue that some of the shit I said in my "authors notes" aka "blog" has offended some people... theres alot of factors involved.




So there. I hope I answered your question. To summarize, here's what you need:

1) Advertising - maybe spend a few dollars on it if you have it.

2) Technical skill - it is 50%. It is NOT everything. I once knew of a DD member who had superb art and good writing skills... but this dude (or gal I dunno) has been pretty blunt at criticizing other people's art... therefore offending alot of people... therefore having only 1 or 2 readers on his/her comic.

3) Politics - webcomics has politics. I'm not too good at it but I can probably give you an idea: BE MAINSTREAM!!! DAMMIT!!! BE MAINSTREAM!!! LISTEN TO YOUR DAILY DOSE OF MAINSTREAM MEDIA AND BELIEVE EVERYTHING THEY SAY!!! Don't be like me who has alot of opposing views to mainstream society. Dont be "politically incorrect". Or be very subtle about it.


4) Do it from the heart - Dont just pull a comic out of your ass just because it is what most people like. Because if you love what you're doing, it will come naturally. Um. This seems to contradict number 3. Just try to balance it out.

I have to say, nice art is something that comic has going for it.

I wouldn't follow it as far as writing goes. Although the art is nice, something about it really puts me off. :/


I'd suggest networking. You have to get new eyes- there's no way everyone who looks at a comic is going to like it and stick around, but the important part is to keep new people coming in. That's why advertising and commenting help. Do gift art for other people, etc, and get involved in other projects if you can. Sometimes those things really pay off.

- Update regularly and keep filler to a minimum.
- Take it seriously; write it, plan it, use decent tools and materials... basically draw it as you would if you were preparing to get published... then if a publisher sees it, great! You're set to go!
- Sign up for webcomics ranking sites and OnlineComics.net and post on art/comic forums. Commenting on other people's comics that you like will attract people with similar taste to you and is likely to draw in some fans - remember, every time you comment you're leaving a link right back to your own work.
- Paid advertising~ I haven't done this yet (I'm waiting until my book comes out XD) but it does work.
- Link exchanges, web-rings... see what people are offering. But if you're doing a epic romance getting a link exchange with someone who does a random strip comic isn't likely to attract the sort of people who go for your work.
- If you make banners/avatars put in your best work possible! And make them BRIGHT! If I have to make an avatar for somewhere (say a forum) I always use my best and most eye-catching images. An avatar is as good as advertising - it comes up and displays your work every time you post. Make it as interesting as possible.
- Um... boys making out helps things too...


I forgot to say, your attitude and enthusiasm will draw people to your work too~ I'm a pretty depressing person... XD I moan a lot and am often unhappy about everything but I try to make my forum posts and artists' comments cheerful and upbeat~ save my moaning for DeviantART... XD But just being generally friendly will warm people to you and your work. ^^ (I'm not saying you've got a bad attitude or anything!)



The art is good but I think it's the fact that it seems to be targetting a niche audience that has got it attention. People will look at it just out of curiosity as well~ I know I did. XD

Another tip: DONT BE AN ASSHOLE


Dont be like this other author of this other comic (ok I wont mention names cuz I dont wanna openly start shit in this forums cuz of a personal dispute)... who deleted one of my comments for no reason. I didnt flame him, I didnt spam, nothing yo. And he/she just deleted my comment for no reason. So there. Its a turnoff. lol

you can always do it the clockwork orange way

(not the actual image, but if you've watched it, you'd get it)

but the other ideas sounds very good.
-paid advertising works if you wanna get up to the top of dd, but that doesn't mean they'll come back for more.

-IMO first you have to hit them with good or interesting art, that latest page must make the viewer want to check out the rest of your archive. then that's when they see that you have a good story.

Man, I wanted to say that!

Post on the forms and do link exchanges!

I wish I knew the answer to that question

You could follow the advice here, but a lot of it is luck too.
I find a majority of my fans were very "shy" and didn't like to post in my forum. *shrug* You may have a flurry of wallflowers.

On the other hand, don't care too much about popularity. It will take the fun out of it. Make it for yourself, see what kind of audience you get and THEN cater to them if you are serious. (You don't have to be serious.)
Web-comics was a great way for me to learn about who my audience really is and what they like. Now I'm working on material for them.

For my current anthology project, we are being more conscious of who are audience is, based on the sales of our previous volume. A majority of people who randomly bought my comic at a convention were male, but our online sales or private sales were mostly female. A majority of our target audience for our current comic are females, but we keep in mind that guys bought many comics too. Our current project features many more female characters than our previous title.

But even after all that analysis, you still can never tell. I advertise. a lot. I joined art exchanges and did link exchange. :3

like this

Do you think there's such a thing as a receipe for a successful comic?

No! There is a recipe though for being a successful business person. Which in turn could possibly bring you a successful comic. I've always said if your in this for the fame and fortune, your in it for the wrong reasons. You have to keep in mind your readers are customers. Customers that are after a particular product to meet their needs. So discover who your customers are (and if they are frequenting your site..half your battle is over.)and make your product available or tell them where they can find it. From a personal standpoint, as long as your seeing some form of improvement in your hits and not necessarily your comments, then your moving in a forward direction...AND just to put things into perspective. Less than a week ago I was in the same boat as you. Thanks to getting featured (which I still don't understand how that happened.)my readership increased dramatically...And with that, alot of the comments were if it hadn't been for the feature they never would have found me. Keep in mind their are alot of comics on here as well as out there..so don't get discouraged. If your concept, the core of your story and/or art are good you'll get there evetually. However you need to get your product out there so everyone knows it's there. A web presence is a must. And pimp like there's no tomorrow. Jim G.

You're speakin' like my friend. But she says there is a receipe and, what's more, every original concept can be changed into a successful comic. And about gettin' featured, yeah, that solves all problems, doesn't it? Commentin' like mad is kind of hard for me. I do as much as I can, but that pisses my parents off.

huh?

Scott McCloud put it best:
"Just because you've sold out...Doesn't mean people will buy."
In other words, making a comic which you make specifically with appealing to certain reader groups, or trying to please everybody is a bad idea. You're best off sticking with doing a comic which YOU would like to read. Sooner or later, you're bound to get at least a few people finding your comic who also want to read something like that.
There are things that can really help advertise your comic to others:

1. Try to make it clear what kind of a comic it is. Things like the navigation, what kind of banners you use, taglines and stuff will tell readers immediately what the comic is, and so attract people who are interested in that stuff. Right now, unless I read a lot of pages, I have NO idea what your comic is about.

2. Good, simple, clean, easy navigation is a must-have. Also, a page design which harmonises with the comic. Right now, your page doesn't harmonise well with your pages, there's a lot of busy feathers on a white background, which really draws attention away from the comic, which is also predominantly white and has a lot of linework. Your style is detailed, so dispose with the busy backing and go for something plain and classy, maybe in a colour or in grey to prevent the amount of white overwhelming your readers?

3. Commenting on other people is a given...BUT...Quality over quantity! Don't just go around making piles and piles of banal 'this comic is good' or just dropping silent 5's. When you comment, make it a comment that counts. Say specifically WHAT you like, maybe even offer advice, and make specific storyline or character-related comments. This says to the creator 'hey look, I really read your comic and payed attention, I'm a cool person who's comic you want to check out!'

4. Get a banner to go at the bottom of your forum posts. An interesting banner will move a lot of people to click it and check your comic out.


Other things to think about:
-Colour. I know it's really rather unfair, but colour DOES make your readership go up. If you're not interested in colour, I'd suggest giving your comic a stronger black/white balance or use finer hatching for your tones in order to give pages more visual punch. At the moment there's a lot of white, and some black lines, which makes your pages look less interesting than they ought to be coming from such capable draftsperson. Vary the line thickness, be a bit more confident with tones and black, and the pages will look more interesting, drawing in more readers.

-Pacing. The faster you update, the less you need to put on a page. If you update a lot, you can get away with run-on pages, few panels and very slow pacing. If, like me, you barely manage to update once a week due to real life getting in the way, then you need to try to make pages stand alone well, make plenty happen per page and make every single page special. Think carefully about pace when compared to speed of updates, and whether seeing the latest page that's up will make people want to read all the back-pages.

Good luck!

I don't really think I'm in much of a position to give advice given the tiny, tiny readership of my own comic, but I have noticed a fairly noticeble jump in page hits since I began posting on the forums. So you could always try that as an approach.

Well, thats my two cents, good luck!

Doesn't work. Look at my post count.
Now look at the amount of comments I get.

Community projects will get you readers, but only in the comics associated with said project. For example: The Five Gods is a DD Civil War Event, so it has a small number of readers. However, HVH and Deus, my two main comics, have only a few readers.

the way I see it, webcomics are an impossible market - oversaturated and no real chance of "success" - certainly no chance of making any money!

That's too bad - but it's also totally liberating. I make my comics for myself, there's really no temptation to make it for someone else. Sure, i want people to read it and like it - I'm as vain as the next person (or even moreso) but in the end, it doesn't matter - webcomics are for love.

Of course, I read topics like this one because Im thinking - hey, I more people should read my comic!

So, I have promised myself that if my comic makes it to #50 I will get more serious about promoting it. Im on #36 so who knows? I might get there after all!


- stacey
http://www.drunkduck.com/Rocketship_A_GoGo

I'm having a similar problem, and I really do think that subject matter is a huge ordeal. For The Pirate Terminators, it's all over the place - we basically have cutesy pirates, which I think is the biggest issue; it's appealing to an audience that virtually doesn't exist online. I'm going to try my hand at an experiment later on.

Does this actually work?

I'd agree with the above. Talent is 50% and exposure is the rest, with perhaps the artist's personality playing a minor, but important role as well. Likeable, active people get read more.

Also, comics like this do a good job and should be read more. lol

~Jerome~
(Outland Angels)

create websites. do a freewebs, a bebo, a piczo, anything like that. make the story good. a lot of comics i read have action sequences. A LOT. if you have an action scene and the latast page uploaded is in the middle, the reader will read the whole comic to understand it better.

I advertise mine of MySpace and I tell my friends about it. All my friends read it whenever it comes out. My suggestion, spread the word.

Try your luck with projectwonderful.com
Advertise.

About advertising, don't just advertise, do what I've seen some posters do in this thread: Advertise shamelessly.

Though some of it could be luck. I've advertised on three (Four, if you count this one) forums and my comic as already jumped in rank from the very bottom to #823 in Comic Book/Story #1,328 Overall in just three days. I blame it a little on posting the first three pages on the first day, rather than just one, along with using an icon in the browse menu that's easy to look at and attractive, rather than relying on the image on my first page. Making your comic look clean and attractive to outsiders is a big help.
<- My Icon

Though the art has definitely given Craving Control an edge, good art isn't necessarily the most important thing. Look at Peanuts for example; nobody can call the artwork in Peanuts particularly revolutionary, and yet it's appealing. Presenting your comic as clean and giving it appeal beyond the artwork is how you make it good. A good sense of humor and perspective as well as some good knowledge on making movies and other forms of entertainment can all contribute to making it successful.

I agree with this. Having great art will definitely make people stop and look at your comic for a while, but if there's no interesting story, people will probably leave and not come back (unless, I suppose, they just want to look at the pretty pictures).

I also agree with the guy up there who mentioned projectwonderful. ^ I absolutely suggest trying your hand at it; you can often get advertising for free, or for a few cents a day. You don't have to spend hundreds of dollars on advertising to get your name out. It's absolutely worth it.

Using the information gathered here I made a new avatar with what gets attention ^^

Too bad this character doesn't come in for some time, I should get plenty of views when she does =P