Your personal Tumblr journey starts here
I'm going to have to talk about Webtoons(company) at one point, and its... impact on the webcomic sphere too. Trying to find the most eloquent way to say that these companies aren't your friends, and that I am seeing more and more creators getting chewed up and spit out when these places are done with them. I'm legit worried for how The Content Creator model is going to hurt so many more people, who have been led to believe that this is the only way to get their work out there.
If you’re making a new webcomic it’s often difficult to decide where to put it, especially since if you need this kind of resource you’re probably just starting out. So, here’s some info I’ve gathered on some popular hosting platforms and their benefits/downsides. I’m not an artist, so this isn’t an inside scoop, but I’ve put some research into this and I know what artists have said about their experiences. All of these platforms are free and public to use unless noted otherwise.
Tapas is a website and app that is made for hosting webcomics.
Example - Example
Benefits:
VERY well known, one the most popular hosting platforms around.
It’s mostly set up so users check out as many comics as possible -> easier time attracting readership.
Once you start getting subscriptions it starts figuring out what other comics get similar readership. It’ll start recommending your comic and you’ll get more consistent readers.
It’s very easy to use and smoothly designed. Pefect for new artists.
There’s kind of a social aspect to it? I don’t know how to describe it. Every user has a page you can comment on and there’s a robust comment system on pages/episodes.
TAPAS TIPPING. A brilliant, original system. Users can watch ads for “tapas coins”, which they can “tip” towards their favorite artists! This turns into free real money for you. You can also apply to tapas premium to make a comic or novel that’s unlocked per episode with coins. (novels are only acessible on the tapas app, which it seems to be moving towards)
Downsides:
It’s very reader-centered. Not so much on artists.
In fact it recently tried a really sketchy move where it added a clause to its terms of service potentially restricting where else artists could post even the free comics. It was later removed after sitewide backlash and mass comic removal.
No control over how your website appears. You get to make a banner and an icon, that’s it. This could be a good thing, since you don’t have to worry about it and its theme works very well.
Sometimes it’s a little buggy. I’ve noticed a lot of artists post with links to other platforms and apologies because it won’t let them add an update.
How to Join:
Create a free account.
Create your comic.
Example - Example
Webtoons is a free website and app for hosting webcomics.
Benefits:
Similar to Tapas, but with a more high-class feel.
(By that I mean I see very few debut artists and more professionals there.)
It’s about as easy to use, and it’s becoming much more well-known, especially after the mass exodus to Webtoons after the Tapas TOS incident. They also advertise comics on others’ pages with similar readership, but it’s kinda skewed towards comics that already have a lot of readers. I get the feeling that it’s focused on providing a good experience for its users more than reading a lot of comics.
You still cannot control how your site works, but again, what they give you is very good.
Every month the staff chooses some comics to become “featured” artists. Featured Artists make $2000/month as long as they don’t post on any other webcomic sites. As the name implies, they also advertise you more. They really like to mention this benefit.
Downsides:
You might not get any traffic? Mostly the biggest problem is just having to use its framework which is designed for webcomics.
How to Join:
Create a free account.
Create your comic.
Example - Example
Smackjeeves is yet another free host for webcomics.
Benefits:
You get a subdomain automatically, which you can heavily customize the appearance of.
It has a very social format compared other hosts.
Smackjeeves also recommends comics, but not on other comics’ pages. You can explore comics throughtout the site.
Downsides:
I personally find the website very confusing. I can’t imagine it’s much better on the artist side of things.
How to Join:
Create a free account.
Create your comic.
Example - Example
You’re on it! Tumblr is a social media platfrom that is based on users having one or more blogs to create streams of posts with.
Benefits:
Tumblr blogs already have a “page” format for scrolling through chunks of posts. Just set your post per page ratio to one and voila! Already looks very similar to actual webomic sites.
One of the highlights of Tumblr as a social media platform is being able to manually edit your blog’s HTML. There are even publicly available user-made themes for webcomics.
It’s a social media platform! It’s very easy to interact with your fanbase.
A lot of webcomic fans use Tumblr - it’s well-suited to fandom in particular.
Your updates would in reality be posts on a blog. Readers might reblog them and share your work with other people. It’s by far the best platform for word-of-mouth advertisement.
If you’re reading this you probably already know how to use it.
Downsides:
Tumblr is just … not made for webcomics. At all.
Archiving in particular is very counterintuitive for webcomics. Page urls are not static - “page 2” is the second-most recent update, not the second page. In order to find an individual update you have to actually page back to it or scroll through the default uneditable archive.
How to Join:
Get a free account.
If you already have one, you can simply create a sideblog. But you might want a whole account just for the comic - outgoing likes and asks show up as your main blog, so if you’re using a sideblog it exposes your personal/main blog whenever you interact with fans.
Edit your blog’s theme extensively.
Begin posting your updates.
Example - Example
No external host. Make your own website, just for your comic!
Benefits:
ABSOLUTE CONTROL. You decide how it looks, how it works, and what features it has. Most webcomic sites have similar formats: prominent centered pages (and usually the current update on the “main” page), first/previous/next/recent buttons, an archive, an about page, information on when it updates, etc. But in general everything is 100% up to you.
I cannot stress that ^^^ enough.
No license or restrictions of any kind. Except, like, laws. Obviously.
Many features are easy to add to your website. Disqus (Insertable commenting platform. Sorta structured like Reddit) is getting more and more popular and I haven’t heard anyone mention it costing anything.
You can get ad revenue from your site, and 100% of it goes to you.
Downsides:
Unless you have the skills to make a functional professional website on your own, it costs money. Plus, there’s the relatively small monthly/yearly cost of reserving a domain name.
Finicky and difficult to fix problems. When Tapas eats your update, you wait a day or two before it works again. When the commenting system disappears, you have to call whoever made your website or fix it yourself.
There’s no real way of attracting readership (and ad revenue!) other than word-of-mouth or paying for ads. No handy recommendation system in place. This is ONLY a move for someone who already has a guaranteed reader base. However, almost every popular comic artist eventually gets their own site so it must be worth it past a certain threshold.
How to Join:
Get a domain name and a website.
Post your comic on your new website.
Advertise the heck out of it.
Example - Example
SpiderForest is a collective of comic artists, not a public service. You must apply to join.
Benefits:
The application process isn’t very strict; it’s there so that it isn’t flooded with low-quality comics. Not sure how I feel about it but it works pretty well for them.
You get the benefits of any vetted group. They advertise you on their main site, and being a member adds credibility to your work.
Even though it is an exclusive group, its policy allows unlimited mirrors, so you can still use anything else you want.
Downsides:
In order to be a member you have to have at least one mirror on a custom site they can link to or host directly on their site. Not much of a downside but still.
Your comic should already exist somewhere else. They generally won’t approve pitches for potential projects, unless you’re already an established creator with previous work to show instead.
It’s not as well known? It’s still pretty high up there.
How to Join:
Apply using the link at the top of their main page.
Be accepted.
Post your comic on your associated Spiderworks site.
Example - Example
Hiveworks is a for-profit professional organization. You don’t ask to be a member, Hiveworks asks you to join. There’s like a 95% chance you should SAY YES.
Benefits:
Hiveworks gives you a free website (see: custom website benefits)
All Hiveworks sites have a little sidebar advertising other hiveworks comics. They also advertise your comic on their main aggregate site.
They look for good comics, it’s their job. Having their logo on your site is a testament to the quality of your work. You’ll get so many readers and comissions, trust me on this one.
Downsides:
You do have to provide some art to them. They’ll sell merch of your comic (which you get a large cut of!), and you need to provide icons and banners for them to advertise you with. When they do well, you do well, and vice versa.
If you are a member you cannot host your comic any new sites, especially their biggest competitor, SpiderForest. This contract lasts a while. Sometimes you get to keep your existing ones, though.
^^ Contracts. There’s still the tiniest bit of risk, but it’s a reputable organization.
How to Join:
Be asked to by Hiveworks.
Negotiate a contract.
This is all of the things I have been able to learn as a reader. If one or more of them sounds promising for you, try and send a message asking an artist who uses these platforms for what they think. Good luck!