So if you have a webcomic, have you ever received money for it via:
+Donations
+Ads
+Commission
+Begging(lol)
+Print
+Selling
+Other (please list)


What worked and what didn't-
And overall was it worth the effort you put into it?
+Or do you have personal issues for not receiving money. (Feel not worthy? Guilt?)

I'll admit I've got a growing interest in it, but if any of you have found it's not worth the effort-I'd love to hear your side :)

I want to get paid for my comic! It'll be a long time before I'm at the level of getting paid, though.

If you love making the comics, well then the money is really just an extra bonus.

I've made about ten cents total off of Project Wonderful ads. Then again, I haven't done as much advertising as I probably could, but that's mostly because it costs more than I have and the free places, well usually I never get any attention.

First off, let's look at donations. Misfile, The Wotch, You Say it First. All these people get several hundreds in donations according to the donation bars. Mostly, they have incentives. Then, you've got comics like Drop Dead Gorgeous and Super Stupor, which only update when you donate a certain amount, which seems to work because they can be expected to updated every week or two. I'd say, if you want donations, offer something for them.

Ads. I've made about ten cents off of mine. It's not my favourite method, as it takes away attention from the comic and such, so we'll move on.

Commissions are probably a good idea. They could be used as a donation incentive, like I mentioned above.

Begging has done well for many people. Some who need to pay a hospital bill or something, maybe they're about to become homeless. Whatever it is, if you have a good reason to ask for money, people will send it in. Something Positive actually did a few donation drives and from the sounds of things, Milholland did quite well from that.

I don't know what you mean by selling, so I'll just interpret that as merchadise, which I'll throw in with prints. Some people like to have something physical with your characters. A printed copy, a shirt, a mug, even a figurine. It can all work out.

And as for anything else, you could always auction off a cameo for someone or their character in your comic.

Hope I helped out

I'd sell if I believed people would actually buy.

Depends how far you want to make it.
If its like to CAD and PA standared then its a very long way but if its just part time then its just regular updates.

Because of my readers asking I've set up a small store front offering t-shirts for Last Words. I doubt it's made any sales yet since I only set it up a couple of days ago and I don't really push it a lot to get people to go to it, but it's there and it's a little bit extra if someone decides to. It's mostly just an extra bonus on top of doing something I like.

I've made a little money from advertising on Project Wonderful, not a whole lot, but again, it's really nothing more than an extra little bonus that doesn't require any work from me. It's not something I require, or pay much attention to it's just there and if it accrues, then so be it.

As for commissions, I've made an ok bit off of them. It's the big one for me, although I suspect I'm fairly unique in that manner. Several design commissions I've gotten in the last couple of months have been as a result of prospective clients flipping through my portfolio and assorted works, looking at some of the comics and deciding they want something similarly styled for their jobs they wanted done.

I don't ever want to beg if I can avoid it. If it comes down to needing cash in a short period of time, I'd rather find another way, like selling some old comic books, video games or other possessions than begging.

i'm with drasnus if I could I would

I've made a bit of money from comics. I've created and sold some Rent-A-Thug merchandise, specifically hats and books. The hats don't sell particularly well and I doubt I'll make more after the first run sells out, but the books have done well so far.

From a purely monetary perspective working for others tends to result in better pay. I'm currently working as the artist for a local writer's comic for some pretty decent coin and have a couple of other pay projects on my plate.

At this point, Rent-A-Thug stuff is a nice supplemental income, but most of my comics-related income is coming from other projects.

I personally think that making some money from your comics sound pretty good. It will most likely be an engine that will keep you driving with creating your comics, and the money is still a nice bonus to your normal income (if you have any).

Me, I've only started with my work recently, and even if it lasted for years my comics wouldn't be qualified for donations anyways. I don't people donate to stick comics (Except for Order of the Stick), especially if they're made in paint. lol!

Skullbie
Feel not worthy?

That's the one. :-P I actually print books for me and my friends. And I've gotten a couple other little things through CafePress, but I've not actually sold anything to other people, and I wouldn't feel right if people spent money on my ugly doodles.

I make a tiny bit from PW ad space. I don't feel bad about that since it's money for views and hits, so the content of my site doesn't have anything to do with it. I usually just put that money back into advertising on PW. (It is weird making money from free webspace, imo...)

If I did need something drastic, I still wouldn't feel right asking for money. My online friends/readers are probably as broke as I am -- and if they're not, who am I to take away that hard-earned cash?

Well, not making any money yet. Hopefully in the future, but not off Din Krakatau most likely. Although I do have at least two people who announced that they want to buy it in a book form once it's completed, so who knows. My art has been steadily going up in quality, so there's hope that the second half of the storyline will look decent enough to charge money for it, haha.

It's hard to plan any sales when your daily average constantly keeps at the level of 41-42 views.

Now, seeing that the second title to come after Din Krakatau will be most likely more planned out, and will feature better art (at least as good as the pages I'm drawing recently, which are a tiny bit better than what is available on the last few uploaded pages), I might hope for some profits. Maybe even it'll be good enough to get picked up by a proper publisher, but right now it's still a fantasy :)

So no, no money made, but also not that much money wasted and a lot learned. In a way this is a free art school, just bring your supplies :)

I'm an artist alley geek. If you want to make money sell at conventions.

Make prints of your comic in the cheapest and best quality way possible and sell at comic and anime conventions(Anime conventions really recommended if you have that style). Also commissions there are a pretty good money maker.

For online stuff I've only sold 2 books online. Made $10 through PW. Donations tried it and failed.

Cons I've sold 50 plus books and a good amount of crafts and extra stuff. Paintings are my biggest profit maker sadly not as much comics.
Through cons I can make about $200 at a con easy (but..cost of hotel and travel and buying stuff there...not much but I'm getting better at making a profit.) I recommend going local for selling at cons for making a bigger profit.

Also I recommend the book: How to Make Webcomics by that PVP guy and 3 others. They go real deep in how to make a profit off of your webcomic.

EDIT: I just want to say this straight up. No, you can't make a living off of selling at conventions. I don't plan to. :) It's for promotion and fun.

JillyFoo
I'm an artist alley geek. If you want to make money sell at conventions.

Make prints of your comic in the cheapest and best quality way possible and sell at comic and anime conventions(Anime conventions really recommended if you have that style). Also commissions there are a pretty good money maker.

For online stuff I've only sold 2 books online. Made $10 through PW. Donations tried it and failed.

Cons I've sold 50 plus books and a good amount of crafts and extra stuff. Paintings are my biggest profit maker sadly not as much comics.
Through cons I can make about $200 at a con easy (but..cost of hotel and travel and buying stuff there...not much but I'm getting better at making a profit.) I recommend going local for selling at cons for making a bigger profit.

Also I recommend the book: How to Make Webcomics by that PVP guy and 3 others. They go real deep in how to make a profit off of your webcomic.

EDIT: I just want to say this straight up. No, you can't make a living off of selling at conventions. I don't plan to. :) It's for promotion and fun.

Hey, if I gave you the money to do it, would you sell some WotN stuff for me at the next convention you go to?

I've made about a buck fifty on adspace on George the Dragon. Which is pretty marvellous, I think. I get about 3 cents a day, which really is enough to advertise on the really cheap sites. ;)

I made one merchandise sale of which I supposedly earned $1.50 but zazzle.com (very similar to cafepress) hasn't cleared the sale.

I would love to get George bound and sold one day. I personally would buy a copy. :)

As to whether or not its right? It isn't my aim to make money, but if I do, well, that's cool too. :) Who am I to deprive people of silly dragon merchandise :D

Aussie_kid
Hey, if I gave you the money to do it, would you sell some WotN stuff for me at the next convention you go to?

Sorry.
I only do flyer exchanges with online individuals.

If we were to meet up IRL at a convention then it would be different.