Slashdot Mirror
Promoting Webcomics?
krf asks: "Have any other Slashdot readers ever tried to get a webcomic off the ground? What promotional tricks have you used? I've been doing my strip for a couple of months now. Traffic is good, but not great. I think that most of my visitors are friends or people who heard of the site via word-of-mouth. I'm looking for ways to bring the strip to a larger audience. I've submitted links to most of the big webcomics pages, but a lot of the 'top 100'ish lists seem pretty tacky - kind of like linking pyramid schemes. I've paid for some very targeted advertising, but not many people click on ads any more. I've even tried getting in to local print outlets, with very limited success. I enjoy writing and drawing the strip, but it's always nice to know that other people are reading it. I'd appreciate any advice Slashdot readers might have to offer."
1) be good
2) be novel
3) get on the various webcomic lists
4) you will get readers
The most common fault of webcomics is an utter lack of #1 or #2. Most webcomics are sloppily drawn, plotless, lacking any characterization beyond stereotypes, and using hur-hur sarcasm, nonsense, and gross-out as a substitute for humor. And they all have the same damn "wacky flatmates" formula.
Amongst this dross, even moderate quality stands out and gets noticed.
If I'm reading your site right, you have all of twenty-one comics online.
Compare the twenty-first Sluggy Freelance with the most recent one (note the current Saturday is another artist), or the the twenty-first Penny Arcade with the latest one.
You've barely begun. You've barely begun to refine your style, you've barely begun to find your voice... and you're in direct competition with the comics I just listed, along with a lot of others.
If you're honestly offended that the world isn't beating a path to your door after 21 comics, either get out, or stop caring about your audience numbers, right now. It doesn't work that way. Comics are an opportunity to fame and some modest fortune, but it is hardly a guarantee.
Everybody starts out slow. Frankly and honestly, having seen your site, I'm in no hurry to go back. Your comics aren't that good yet, and your drawing style needs some refinement; right now you're giving me that "ouch, that looks like it hurts" feeling on a lot of your humans as their arms bend in wierd ways and their proportions are off; everything is off model. But... like I said, everybody starts out slow. Sluggy freelance is horribly off-model by the modern standards and the Penny Arcade comic almost seems to be two completely different people than the modern main characters, with only their clothing to indicate continuity. This should be both an encouragement and a challenge.
If the fact that you're going to need to put years into this before seeing any kind of payoff bothers you, you need to quit now and try something else. If this doesn't bother you, ideally because it is something you want to do anyhow, then keep going. If you simply reject this criticism, or it really ruins your day, comic drawing probably isn't for you, either.
One last thing: This needn't be your last comic ever; this can be a "practice" series and nobody need ever know. If you get a better idea, drop this one and start a new one. In particular, I'm not sure you've got the humor chops to pull off single-shot jokes; those are probably the hardest comics to create, and even the masters like Larson did an awful lot of repeating themselves and got in a rut pretty quickly. Consider a more, although perhaps not entirely, character-based comic, with one-shot jokes as you come up with them.
Give yourself 5 years, which seems to be how long it really takes to get going with comics, with continued improvement up to around the 10 year mark where you level off. (This closely parallels the development of any skill; programming works almost identically to this.) Re-assess your progress honestly. I for one would most likely be forced to rationally concede at about year two that I'm not going to make it; only you can decide where you stand.
(Note to people offended about the percieved negativity in this message: Committing to a comic is a serious undertaking... despite what they may have told you in school, which strives to be a Happy Fun Place, not everybody can do everything, and encouraging somebody to do something they shouldn't, which results in a major waste of time (the only non-replenishable resource we have) is evil, not nice. I don't give a flying fuck about "nice", I care about good, and being good here requires some feedback to the poster that isn't all ooshy-gooshy and nice. If he can power through this, then maybe he has what it takes, and he can gain strength from this. If this is enough to de-rail him, that is a strong net good. Don't mindlessly encourage, you think you're being nice but you're really being evil.)