How do I get people to actually COMMENT on my comics? I get plenty of views, but the comments don't even begin to reflect that. I want people to feel involved in my comic, sort of build a community around it, but I can't do that unless people feel comfortable enough to comment.

How should I do this? How do you guys do it?

I used to care about that, especially when id go see someone elses comic and theyd have 20-30 comments...but i dont really care anymore. I have my core 8-10 readers (who completely fucking rock) and im happy with that.

Talk in your authors comments;
Talk about positive stuff and interesting things that happened to you, not rants and begs for asspats. Make the readers feel connected to you and that you're a positive person.

Put the comment form in an easy to see place;
even scrolling down 6 comments can be tedious, place your form in an accessible place.

Remember people need an account to comment;
the places you're advertising will not always attract DDers

People tend to comment when you comment on them. Its like Kharma but with meaningless words :D

I'm talking like 1500 views and 2 comments. Seems odd, doesn't it?



I try to do that, but with a daily comic it gets old quick. I'll give that more of a shot. Let them in more on my life and all that. Good advice! :D



I'm talking specifically about Id here, and the comment form is directly below my authors notes, which is pretty easy to find, I'd think.




Ah HA. There's my problem, I think. A lot of my readers migrate over from Allan's site (due to our frequent collaborations), so I guess that's why my views don't correlate with comments.

If that's your DD stats, keep in mind a hefty chunk of that may be people reading through your archives (at which point, they won't want to stop to comment)

I've also found that having some sort of conversation with them can help. not just sharing a bit about yourself in the author's comments, but using the next days' author comments to reply to specific people or comments. People are usually more willing to say stuff if they know the author is listening and may have a reply. (That can get time consuming though if there's a lot)

I do that and it works quite well. I may not get tons of comments, but people at least know I read them (and in some cases the comment will be to my reply).

I used to do daily updates and didn't get many comments, I slowed it down to 3days per week and i was getting 12 comments, then i slowed it down to once a week and got 30-40 comments

Keep in mind the quality of the pages went up greatly when i did this, but daily updates don't get comments much is all i'm saying

I'd like to add to this. As I've noticed that some people visit my comic to look at the stuff I put in the authors notes.

Ideas on what to put in author's notes:
- Talk about the particular page. What part was difficult to draw? What challenges you had... how many times you redrew the page? etc.

- Make it like a blog. I sometimes talk about pointless bullshit in my authors notes (but I've toned down alot on that because there's more important things to talk about).

- Talk about current events and rant about what you think of it. Take a news article or a news clip, then make a commentary on it. Or anything that can be interesting.

- respond to reader comments.

Your avatar is hypnotizing.



Will do.

Out of curiosity, kyupol, did you go to WWTX 2007 (the one with me, riot, zac, and wingnut)? I feel like I should recognize your name, and that's the only place I can seem to associate it with.

I know my readers like to get replies a lot. Some of them come just for the conversation sometimes I think.

I wouldn't worry too much about comments though as long as your stats stay consistent. That's more important really. Although, if you really do want to get a community thing going, you could try adding a forum to your page.

I actually think it's just what a lot of the others have already mentioned on here. Get a dialog set up with your readers. It took a while to get comments to accumulate on mine, and I don't respond all the time, but I certainly try. Most are from people whose work I also read on here. Which is cool.

I try not to be off topic about other stuff I am doing, or get caught up in being late to get an update out, and then apologizing for it.

I just try to make sure that the story leaves enough interest for someone to jump in and start from there, and hopefully go back and read the rest.

The thing about comments is, its puts a face on your readers a bit, which is nice. You could have a million people reading your comic, but if no one comments, it feels like NO ONE is reading it. For that reason, I try and comment on comics I like to read whenever I can... I try and shoot for interaction with my comic, too, but I don't let it get to me if that sort of thing gets ignored or whatever.... no biggie!

But yeah, i think making readers feel like their involved, plays a big part.

Even at this sort of level: I'll just mention in my page comments "this might be in the future for this character" or "what do you think this character is up to?" stuff like that and people will kinda give their thoughts. IT gets people interested in the story at the same time too.

I do that.
Except for the stuff I feature.

It does help to have stuff in your comment though. I don't like a comic without author comments.

comments help when they are reciprocal, any other way the act as nothing but more code in the html, yes, i'm grateful to receive all "lols" "XD" and "greats" people give me, but when someone enters a conversation it becomes a deeper phenomenon