Hey there,

Well, I'm feeling pretty saddened that my comics aren't recieving too many readers and commentators.

What are solutions to help me boost my comic's readership?

I mean, I'm updating both comics frequently... reading people's comics hoping for someone would read my archive in return... trying to improve my art along the way and it is somewhat slow... and making the plots interesting. Yet, I'm not giving up on them and I will work until the fat lady sings for both comics.

So, what am I missing that my comics aren't getting a decent amount of readership and comments?

Thanks in advanced,
Simon Nader

I don't know man. I couldn't ever figure it out either. Maybe they have to be GOOD first, but I just couldn't ever pull it off. Eheh. Just tell everyone that what happened in the comic "Is based on a true story". Worked for some texas massacre involving copious amounts of chainsawing.

I'd link you too 'howto make people read your comics' thread but... a lot of that info is misleading.

Here's what i've found works 0A0

Advertise with project wonderful:
None of the ways below are going to give you near as many as this, and it's really not costly. (to encourage you i got to rank #4 here with 3$, picked the good spots and kept canceling the bad all day-and i do mean all day*cries*) put an afternoon into creating a catchy awesome ad you can get tons of new readers. I'm going to make a big how-to/questions and answers thread for using project wonderful/creating a great ad sometime later.

Have something unique about your comic:
People are busy and have short attention spans, why should they view your comic out of 10,000 other comics on the web? have something unique about it. The easiest way to do this is fetish (yuri yaoi vampire manga etc) but a unique plot will do as well. Also remember the whole package-A cool flattering web layout, clean images, good panel flow, and readable dialog/sfx will keep the reader eye happy and clicking your bookmark on non-update days.

Forum:
Hey it's free, just don't plug your comic with every post that's douchbaggery. Have a cool link banner somewhere and become a part of that community-people will visit you and you can make friends outside fans and other peers who grow with you.
Alternatively you can be sneaky like Dridick and pretend it's not your comic while plugging it. This is embarrassing if you get caught and could easily backfire on you, perhaps even to dangerous levels, but hey if you get away with it who's telling.

The comic list/vote sites.
onlinecomics.net, buzzcomix, topwebcomics, etc. They will all get you some new readers eventually, onlinecomics has been particularly kind to me.
----------


Overall having something unique and project wonderful blow away the other tactics by a landslide, just get word of your comic out there and people will come- not vice versa.


i sound pretty douchy in this post...wait i sound douchy in every pos---

Sid The Merc
Maybe they have to be GOOD first,

This, combined with what Skullbie said.

Also, you need luck!

For every rule, guideline and piece of advice you'll find here or anywhere else on the web, you'll find a comic in the Top 20 that does the opposite. For example:

Your comic has to be good - Absolutely. Very sound advice. Except that so many of the comics which haunt the upper reaches of the Top Lists have such poor art and/or writing, that quality does not seem to be a pre-requisite. All-in-all, a nice to have, but not a must have.

Your comic has to be unique - Yeah, that makes sense. Except that many of the top slots are filled with derivative fantasy, quirky manga romance and gamer/slacker strips all indistinguishable from one another. The truly original comics are often to be found languishing in relative obscurity near the bottom. If popularity is what you're after, you might actually do better with a hackneyed piece of genre fiction rather than trying your hand at anything mind-blowingly original!

Update often and regularly - Of course! Updating five times a week will obviously get you five times as many pageviews as updating once a week! Except ... the top 10 is filled with comics that update sporadically with months passing between updates and/or are actually on hiatus!

Communicate with your readers - Engage in forum discussions and always, always, always respond to comments when you're lucky enough to get them. That'll build a sense of community and loyalty. Absolutely true, of course, but ... oooh, look at all those comics up there with creators who hide themselves away like hermits at the top of a tower!

Advertise - Like, d'uh! The more you advertise, the more people will be aware of your comic and the more people will come to read it ... Except only about 5% of people who see the ad will click on it and only about 1% will remain as loyal readers after the ad has stopped running. It therefore requires an ongoing financial commitment which you may or may not be able to cover from sales of merchandise. Although you may have accepted that you won't make a profit from your comic, do you really want to run it at a loss?

Don't get me wrong. Everything above is really good advice and you should try it all because, hey, you have to try something! Just don't believe people when they say this will make your comic successful. It might but, unfortunately, you also need a lot of luck!

I suggest you figure out what your target audiance is and go after them agressively. You can't please everyone so focus your time and energy on those you can please.

I actually ended up finally getting a myspace page, and a website up. Networking is all about exposure and getting your message out. I have seen an exponential growth since I did that, but honestly, I was getting the most readers, (as others have mentioned) by updating frequently and responding to those that do read it. :)

But it's story, story, story. The mechanics, the resolution, the character development, the grit and polish both of a comic that can get it sold onto new readers. Art is a huge factor into it, but I sincerely believe people will accept art in a respectable effort if the idea behind the concept and storyline is solid.

Advertise to a target audience... and basically everything Skullbie said.

I agree with the "Luck" argument. It does take quite a bit. The internet is a large place and people have short attention spans.

I'd actually say DON'T just pander to a target audience. Create what you like, do it well, have fun doing it. Popular comics and genuinely GOOD comics are not the same thing. The good ones are generally the ones where the artist/writer(s) actually love what they are doing and pour their hearts into it.

It takes more luck to get popular but you'll have something award worthy by the time you do. And you'll have a loyal fanbase who care about the work and are not just trying to fill their "half naked girl" quota of the week. (or what have you)

Pandering and targeting are two different things. If you have a comic about fluffy bunnies trying to do exchanges with vampire comics or advertising on a Gothica X web site is probably a huge waste of your time and money, that is focusing on your target audiance not pandering.

That said the question was about how to make your comic popular not good. There is a LOT of stuff you can do that came make your comic more popular while lowering its quality but the two don't have to be mutually exclusive.

Everyone has to decide what works for them. Girl Genius for example has a fair bit of fan services for which is makes no appalogies for but makes sure to keep it classy and in good taste avoiding anything skanky, but it is fan service nontheless to have Agetha show up in her underware all the time; however I think few would suggest that is lowering the quality of Girl Genius.

Meanwhile Order of the Stick is devoid of fan service but certainly plays to the comic and video game geek crowd with jokes only its target audiance is likely to get with much of it's humor; again I very much doubt to many people are going to argue this has hurt the comic overly much given how wildly successful and generally well liked it is.

Loud_G
I'd actually say DON'T just pander to a target audience.

Very agreed Loud, and well said. Going after just one target audience is going to limit you greatly. It's perfect in the short run because you're just what they're looking for- but in the long run your comic is never going to get more popular then with that demographic.

And when it comes down to it.. you're not a very good writer if you've only managed to get one group of fans >w> Good writers and good comics appeal to many take that marvel

well it seems to me that it's not SO much making your comic well rounded but if you keep you story and the presentation of it good, then different people can ussualy transgress their usual genre and read your comic.

Also see, How do you make people read your comics? in Tips and Tricks :)

Skullbie

Loud_G
I'd actually say DON'T just pander to a target audience.

Very agreed Loud, and well said. Going after just one target audience is going to limit you greatly. It's perfect in the short run because you're just what they're looking for- but in the long run your comic is never going to get more popular then with that demographic.

And when it comes down to it.. you're not a very good writer if you've only managed to get one group of fans >w> Good writers and good comics appeal to many take that marvel

I'm sorry but that is just flately untrue. Allen Moore isn't for everyone, in fact he isn't for a lot of people, but Allen Moore's work is very well written and he appeals to people who read comics. You can be a great writer even if you work only appeals to a limited audiance. George RR Martin(SP)'s a song of Ice and Fire doesn't have general appeal, they are written for adults looking for a more serious take on fantasy which is a fairly limted target audiance when you think about it, but they are VERY well written. Likewise Left Behind or His Dark Materials both are very directed at a specific target audiance and given how preachy and extream they are I think it is safe to say they are not even close to being universal yet both are highly successful. They wouldn't have even been a blip on the radar had they been some moderate middle of the road story. I can't tell you how many shows, video games and comics have been ruined by attempts to make them "more appealing to larger demographics". keep in mind One more Day was an attempt to make Spiderman more appealing to a larger audiance.

I'm not saying you can't have a large target audiance or you can't appeal to some people outside your target audiance, but it is just unwise to try and rewrite say "little women" to try and make it more appealing to men. Men are not the target audiance. Oh sure some men will enjoy little women and that is good but the book does not have mass appeal to men nor does it need to. Likewise Jesus Christ Super Star is probably not going to play as well with Budists or Shintoists but that is fine too because Jesus Christ Superstar wasn't written for them. It appeals to its target audiance.

There is a good reason why every single publisher wants to know who you think your story is going to appeal to and why different publishers focus on different audiances. Many publishers only stay open in fact because they appeal to a certain market and manage to hold onto it which other companies can't appeal to because they are too focused on mass appeal and can't satisfy.

Evil Emperor Nick

Skullbie

Loud_G
I'd actually say DON'T just pander to a target audience.

Very agreed Loud, and well said. Going after just one target audience is going to limit you greatly. It's perfect in the short run because you're just what they're looking for- but in the long run your comic is never going to get more popular then with that demographic.

And when it comes down to it.. you're not a very good writer if you've only managed to get one group of fans >w> Good writers and good comics appeal to many take that marvel

I'm sorry but that is just flately untrue. Allen Moore isn't for everyone, in fact he isn't for a lot of people, but Allen Moore's work is very well written and he appeals to people who read comics. You can be a great writer even if you work only appeals to a limited audiance. George RR Martin(SP)'s a song of Ice and Fire doesn't have general appeal, they are written for adults looking for a more serious take on fantasy which is a fairly limted target audiance when you think about it, but they are VERY well written. Likewise Left Behind or His Dark Materials both are very directed at a specific target audiance and given how preachy and extream they are I think it is safe to say they are not even close to being universal yet both are highly successful. They wouldn't have even been a blip on the radar had they been some moderate middle of the road story. I can't tell you how many shows, video games and comics have been ruined by attempts to make them "more appealing to larger demographics". keep in mind One more Day was an attempt to make Spiderman more appealing to a larger audiance.

I'm not saying you can't have a large target audiance or you can't appeal to some people outside your target audiance, but it is just unwise to try and rewrite say "little women" to try and make it more appealing to men. Men are not the target audiance. Oh sure some men will enjoy little women and that is good but the book does not have mass appeal to men nor does it need to. Likewise Jesus Christ Super Star is probably not going to play as well with Budists or Shintoists but that is fine too because Jesus Christ Superstar wasn't written for them. It appeals to its target audiance.

There is a good reason why every single publisher wants to know who you think your story is going to appeal to and why different publishers focus on different audiances. Many publishers only stay open in fact because they appeal to a certain market and manage to hold onto it which other companies can't appeal to because they are too focused on mass appeal and can't satisfy.

*applause*

@Nick
Good points! i wish i could retracts my very ignorantly worded 'not well written' and replace it with 'not written well enough for a broader audience'. Ah well i'll take responsibility for it

But with the audience thing I was basically talking about for example a person makes a fetish webcomic that is made only for the fetish- It contains nothing else in the story that would make a person without that fetish read it, nothing at all, and they probably wont. They've narrowed it down to that teeny little audience-The author will become crazy popular with them but in a long run wont get many fans outside that group. I'm more versed with the gl and bl groups and this runs rampant:(
Your example are a bit extreme but very good! :)

i agree wholeheartedly that it's impossible to appeal to everyone if that's what you think i was getting at, but if you can make a comic that appeals to outside that one teeny group then by all means do so.


Everyone has to decide what works for them.
Right-o

Skullbie
But with the audience thing I was basically talking about for example a person makes a fetish webcomic that is made only for the fetish- It contains nothing else in the story that would make a person without that fetish read it, nothing at all, and they probably wont. They've narrowed it down to that teeny little audience-The author will become crazy popular with them but in a long run wont get many fans outside that group. I'm more versed with the gl and bl groups and this runs rampant:(

I see, I see. From my POV I just was looking at that as being more of a one trick pony or a overly gimmicked comic, but I understand what you are saying now and can agree with that.

Thanks for quoteing me. ^_^ "...what works for you" is always the golden rule because even though the tried and true will work for 90% of the people out there, there is also that 10% that will find a way to do everything 'wrong' and make it work. Everyone can only tell you what usually works or what worked for them.

I can only speak as to the two comics I'm involved with. Due East did not take off right away, and it still lingers on occasion, especially when I don't update often.

At first, I uploaded the first book of DE material in a few days, then updated twice a week until I ran through my backlog. In retrospect, I really should have uploaded slower with the initial material but oh, well... It gave people something to read, and DE is story- and character-driven.

I posted around the forum a lot. And in the process of doing that, I made a banner to go in the signature line. My pageviews definitely went up after that, especially on days where I posted on numerous threads.

Due East also has a spiritual story but doesn't bang you over the head with it, which is unheard of on most spiritual comics. Then it uses "real" looking characters and multiple mixed-race characters. Moreover, it has a slight air of mystery ("what's going to happen?" ) that keeps people coming back.

Later, I created the Off Hours comic, a DD community comic, along with about 8 other DD webcomic creators, and we linked to all the participating comics on the Off Hours template page. All of the participating comics also link to Off Hours. Most of us put links for Off Hours in our forum signatures. So every time we updated, each participating comic had a chance at new pageviews. Then Off Hours got featured and that helped everyone, too. As we add new webcomic creators, we also tap new potential audiences. It's the gift that keeps on giving! B)

So, sometimes you make your own opportunities out of something unique. Off Hours is a light comedy that is parody of the very webcomics characters it features. And it appeals in both a broad sense as well as to the target audiences of all the webcomics involved in the project. It's designed to be both entertaining, pleasant to the eye and a cross-marketing method. It's been very successful in that regard.

As far as DD popularity, participation in community projects in a big help. You get to network, and the other members of the project usually link to the project, so their fanbase gets to see your work too. The same goes for fan art. Make fan art for the comics you read -- especially ones with similar genre/content to yours. Creators love to get fan art. They'll often post your gift somewhere, and that gets you seen too.

Most of my readers (at least the DD members/commenters) found me through community things (DD Beauty Contest last year, Comic Remix, Off Hours, etc.) or fan art.

simonitro
Hey there,

Well, I'm feeling pretty saddened that my comics aren't recieving too many readers and commentators.

What are solutions to help me boost my comic's readership?

I mean, I'm updating both comics frequently... reading people's comics hoping for someone would read my archive in return... trying to improve my art along the way and it is somewhat slow... and making the plots interesting. Yet, I'm not giving up on them and I will work until the fat lady sings for both comics.

So, what am I missing that my comics aren't getting a decent amount of readership and comments?

Thanks in advanced,
Simon Nader

Hey there. I know you've been friendly to me and all, so no hard feelings with this crit of mine. I'm just being honest here. Feel free to do the same with any of my comics.

Just a few things I noticed:

a) The art doesn't really have this "addiction" factor. While I respect your art style and all, the art styles that tend to draw people in are the japanese manga style (because of the glowy eyes, shiny hair, and narrow faces) and the marvel comics style (doesnt matter if they draw muscles in places that dont even exist and are anatomically incorrect).

In your case though, your characters tend to have rounded faces and sometimes look too old for their age.

Aside from the art, things like the way you color and shade help. You know, I originally used to do a "pillow shading" or "airbrush" kind of style. But when I modified it a bit to make it look cell-shaded, I noticed an increase in readership.


b) Could be just the theme of your comics. Face it, man. Just because you find something cool it doesnt mean everyone else would find it cool. Thats just the way it is. Don't have hard feelings... just because a comic that you think is dumb/boring and shouldnt even be in the top 10 just so happened to be there and slip through the cracks. This isn't a perfect world.


c) Maybe its just your expectations. In doing webcomics, don't really expect to be popular within a few days or months. You're not the only one. I've seen other promising comics here in this site that stop it after 10 pages because the author thinks that nobody is really reading it (even if there's 1 or 2 people which is acceptable for a comic that young).

Doing webcomics (in my opinion) isn't really about trying to be popular.



d) It couldn't really be your fault. There are tens of thousands of webcomics. How do you expect to get noticed?!? It doesnt matter how good your art or your story is. Its just the way it is. In order to expose your comic to people, you gotta be active in so many different forums and newsgroups that talk about webcomics. You have to have no life.

Thats how I got people to read my comics five years ago when my art was 1/10th of what it is now. Too much spare time in vacant periods in class. What else can I do to kill time? I'd just go on messageboards and keep talking there even if its just a waste of time and complete bullshit.

You know you're spending too much time on the internet if you start getting people to have some form of personal vendetta against you over some disagreement in a message board (anywhere from political to religious to simply just thinking that your genre of music sucks).



Hope this helps. :)