I learned from experience that my comic Demon Eater was really easy to find a "niche" (small, select group of people that have a very unique interest.)

Yet it was really difficult to find a niche audience for The Planet Closest to Heaven. It's a fantasy manga that doesn't have yaoi, but fantasy manga webcomics are a dine a dozen. There has to be more to it.


So what kind of webcomic niche audiences are out there?

So far I can think of yaoi, yuri, furry, superhero, WG/Vore, swords and magic fantasy, chicks that are heavily endowed and sprites.

Can you think of others?

I'd say there is also a few humor niches:
Clever, Dark, Off the wall/Random.

Also humor niches can be either purely comedy based, or the comedy could be part f it.

As far as non-humor comics:
You could add horror, abstract/symbolic, mystery.

That is all that comes to mind now...

It's smart to keep your audience in mind when you plan out the actual comic, have a niche audience can be a crutch or a virtue.
It's a virtue because when the comic is done well your comic is going to have no trouble gobbling up a readerbase. It's a crutch because if you picked a genre that's too obscure or already oversaturated with Identical ideas your chance for growing is slim.

But really with good art and a unique twist on things the above doesn't matter- People will read it. Make it unique in some way if you must do fantasy.


Anyhow these are my findings on niche's(for comics i actually have read) and their popularity meters and limits(there are exceptions but i only go by the majority):

Genderbender(male to girl only):
This niche does not get a shoot in popularity right away but the fanbase is enormous. It will take a while for the comic to get popular but the number rarely goes down-only up. (unless you don't update, etc)
+Characteristics of these comics include poor art that is mashed out 4+ times a week and a circular plot that strays away from real development.(only pervy situations to appease fans)

Yaoi:
Steep jolt in popularity, the fastest of them all. The problem is this comic has a very low 'max' of readership numbers and an over saturated crowd of competition. Fanbase is undeniably female.
+Characteristics of yaoi webcomics include manga art and sexually attractive main characters who look like women. Authors tend to pair a 'wussy feminine' boy with a tall and dark 'top'. It is a trend now to make the 'bottom' short, emo, and pissy but gets happy when he sees the handsome 'top'.

Yuri:
My Genre, popularity jolt is medium and the 'max' of readership is higher then yaoi(because yuri attracts males i guess) There are few active comics in this category-most fail after 30 or more pages.Readers of yuri comics are constantly looking for something new and unique in the story.
+Characteristics include cruder art then yaoi but the stories are more believable. Cliche's include 'perfect girl wants dumn ugly girl' or 'two girls hate eachother but fall in love'.

Furry:
I've decided to not reflect on this because my views are too biased.
+latex like poorly drawn fur and an abundant interest in sex of all kinds.

Tit and fetish comics(non-adult):
Self explanatory, if the comic has good art the popularity will rise. They are strictly fanservice 'tease and rarely please' types that lure in horny readers with viral advertising techniques. Cons to this is the fanbase is not loyal and your comic may be ridiculed.
+art tends to be unique and pleasing, stories tend to be so stupid you'd rather it not have one. It doesn't.

Humor:
This has the biggest 'max' potential because it doesn't ever stop growing. To succeed in humor it takes time, a heavy update schedule, and actually being funny(good luck).
+art tends to be simple and easy, updates tend to be 5x per week and popular comics are bashed for being unfunny and yet popular.

Fantasy~
The most oversaturated and hard to please niche. Popularity tends to depend on paid exposure by advertising and having good art and a storyline that's not cliche(good luck) The most popular story comics online tend to be fantasy so if you can please them, do so.
+Art tends to be full color and phenomenal, and it better be with so many of them looking to take your place.

Actually original comics that create a niche of their own:
Heh.

theres the superhero niche comic community too, which may takea long time t get a fanbase, but when you do, they are DAMN loyal. even to the point of being scary. *believe me about that one...i was propositioned by a chubby nerd once at NYCC*

I wonder if it's possible to build an "author niche", meaning people who would follow you from one short title to another. This is what I'm hoping for actually (and by short titles I mean comics from 60 to few hundred pages that would feature complete stories).

Something I found out with Due East (DE, for short) was sometimes a niche creates itself!

DE is technically 2 things: a Christian webcomic and a Slice-of-Life webcomic.

Over the last year and a half, what has happened is that it has developed a regular following of people whose beliefs/faiths cross the spectrum (which is what we'd hoped for) and who don't really look at it so much as a slice-of-life comic but as a webcomic with good story and strong, unique characters.

What I think I'm trying to say is, you may tap into a different audience than you set out for, no matter how hard you try. But if you get an audience/readers, does it truly matter where they come from? Just do your best to make a good webcomic and maybe do a little advertising (whether word of mouth/being active in the DD forums or through Project Wonderful, etc.). The rest will happen anyway.

Unless you actually set out to make a comic in a specific and easily-defined genre, I think the best way to discover your comic's niche is by seeing who your regular readers are and the way *they* would categorize your comic. I find that if you try to decide for yourself, inevitably you will miss the target. As writers/artists we tend to have blinders on and bias ourselves based on the parts of the story/art that we think is most important or the artists that inspire us -- rather than seeing the big picture and viewing our comics how others view them.

When I started paying attention to how others categorize my comic, it became much easier to target the people who would like it, advertise properly, etc. I started out seeing my comic as sitcom/adventure, but I realized that comments on my comic, forums, etc. tended to talk about the emotion and drama. I didn't think of my story as a drama, but when I stood back and examined it, I discovered that they were right.

I also found from a site stats thing that my comic had a link on a lesbian blog, which I found rather interesting/unexpected. Many of my hits seem to be "accidental" Google searches for "used books" (especially at beginning and end of semesters), but some of those people were interested enough to check out a few past pages. I know some of my regular readers are were initially drawn by the title (educators, book-lovers, etc.).

So, basically, I believe the best way to discover your comic's niche (to hone your advertising or whatever) is to see what readers think and where your hits are coming from. It can be interesting/surprising what your readers have in common.

I think stick figure comics are a pretty big niche, or at least polarizing. I know a few of my friends read comics drawn in the style, but I can't bear to poke through the archives of them for long.

I found Skullbie's analysis to be pretty well thought out--though missing the Sci-Fi Adventure Niche was an opps... Sci-Fi tends to do very well, if the art and story quality are good. I myself like Sci-Fi because you can include elements of vitually every niche, from Yaoi to Yuri, Furry and Beyond! I have even seen credible christian/religious sci-fi that was very good indeed.
Niches however are self-limiting by their very nature. The trick, I think, is to craft a tale that appeals to you on MANY levels--and hopefully it will appeal to a broad spectrum of readers.
I have tried to do this and will continue to round out my 'universe' which involves reader participation by comments...which, oddly...I seem to get very few of. That is a mystery to me...! The comics closest in ranking to me get 15 to 20 comments a posting, and I get 1 to 3. As I say, a mystery.

just put out whatever your gut/spirit guide/guardian angel/higher self/subconscious mind tells you.

Hope this helps.

Either spend your time plugging via word of mouth. If you have problems determining who your comic is best suited for, chances are you dont even have a firm enough grasp over the themes of your work.

Or just be a dick and spam it all over some popular site like 4chan in it's corrisponding section, or just develop some sort of system to amass an insane amount of hits to quickly bost yourself up on the site.

We're webcomic "artist", get creative (or cheat).

Skullbie
Authors tend to pair a 'wussy feminine' boy with a tall and dark 'top'. It is a trend now to make the 'bottom' short, emo, and pissy but gets happy when he sees the handsome 'top'.

oh man I can think of like... five of those that I read on a regular basis. XD