Promoting Webcomics? 69
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."
Nothing to worry about (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Nothing to worry about (Score:3, Interesting)
Nice sig, but it might be in order to credit the source.
Re:Nothing to worry about (Score:2)
Sting, "Englishman in New York", right?
Re:Nothing to worry about (Score:2)
Replying to GP and parent, i thought it's kind of obvious, guess not...
Re:Nothing to worry about (Score:2)
Re:Nothing to worry about (Score:4, Funny)
3 steps. (Score:3, Funny)
Step 2: ????
Step 3: Profit!!
Re:3 steps. (Score:5, Funny)
Cha-ching. You might want to be a little more subtle about it (and lengthen the summary with some quotes), and you'll obviously have to create a comic related to the news story you post, but you should get an order of magnitude higher click-thrus than you'll get with something on the ask.slashdot page alone.
Re:3 steps. (Score:1)
Re:3 steps. (Score:1)
Be patient. (Score:5, Insightful)
Put your URL in your sig when you post here or anywhere--don't expect visitors to do all the work by clicking on your profile to find your home page. And when you visit online boards you intend to shamelessly plug, don't. Just participate in the discussions that interest you, leave your URL in the sig, and make some friends. Assist the people you can, and learn from the people who can help you. If they don't like your work, at least you've made some friends.
Believe it or not, getting a bunch of exposure too early can backfire because you might not have enough content or skill to hook people. I got an interview with the New York Times about my audiobook project when I'd only been around a month or so with about twenty recordings, which just wasn't enough to keep the audience interested. That led to a Slashdotting and a lot of buzz at the time, but if that would have happened now, a year and fifty offerings later, I might have been able to appeal to a larger percentage of the audience, to keep them coming back. But instead I've had to work to steadily attract new people.
I also did a webcomic [alexwilson.com] for just over a year as a learning project. By the time I discontinued the comic I had about twice as many readers as I thought I had, and many of them emailed me to tell me they were sorry to see it end. I was growing my audience and didn't even realize it.
Be patient and do good work. Create an opt-in mailing list and don't abuse it. Send out press releases. Onlinecomics.net is a good thing to be a part of, as is the Webcomics day event. That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Good luck.
Alex.
To reiterate: make a good comic (Score:4, Insightful)
That's how I heard about P-A and DieselSweeties when they were the NKOTB
Think of Fark.com or even Slashdot.com (Score:2)
Pretty much hit the nail on the head. You don't get overnight stardom, Slashdot and Fark were had move of a cult following being they were really popular (I am talking back in the 90's). Even if you have a really good site or funny strip it is going to take time for people to start hitting regularlly. Regular updates and being entertaining are probably best. So of my faovarite webcomics update everyday of the week.
Make it free for a while (Score:3, Informative)
Yeah, see if you can get Slashdot to do a story... (Score:2, Redundant)
Re:Yeah, see if you can get Slashdot to do a story (Score:4, Funny)
Comic (Score:4, Interesting)
For example: http://simulatedcomicproduct.com/index.php?cid=12 [simulatedc...roduct.com]
I don't get it.
Re:Comic (Score:1)
Re:Comic (Score:2)
Obtuse? Not you... (Score:3, Insightful)
Before anybody accuses me of being a snob, I wish to point out that my absolute favorite online comic is the offensive, gross, disgusting, tasteless -- and extremely funny -- Sexy Losers [sexylosers.com].
Re:Comic (Score:4, Funny)
I like it. The jellyfish just wants to be loved and swim with other living things, but when his dream comes true, the juxtaposition between the jellyfish's naive understanding of the world and the painful experience of the human who stepped on him illuminates an absurdity that we can appreciate, but which does not penetrate the jellyfish's joyful nature and appreciation of life.
What's not to get?
Re:Comic (Score:1)
IMO, of course. Not sure why you were modded "funny".
Re:Comic (Score:1)
Sure I do. By both your standards and mine. You might want to consider the possibility that some people appreciate thought in humor. If you go through that comic's archives expecting to think, some of the strips can be down-right hilarious.
As for why jonabbey was modded funny...I think someone figured he was slightly more intelligent than most in his analysis, then couldn't understand why nobody else got it.
Re:Comic (Score:2)
I would hope that the belabored over analysis of a straight-forward joke was what was funny.
Not to knock on the author of the strip at all.. I like his stuff, what there is of it.
Same old same old (Score:4, Interesting)
Now, though, there's not a real audience for new webcomics. People already have webcomics they like, and the excitement's gone in looking for new ones. Most people take an "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach.
The way to make anything successful is to offer everyone wants, but they can't get anywhere else. Your webcomic's material is a dime a dozen; you didn't start soon enough. I really don't see your strip getting off the ground.
Then again, you did get yourself a link off slashdot. That's not gonna hurt.
advertising (Score:1, Redundant)
I went ahead and clicked anyway..
And i'm sure i'll get modded troll.
Shameless Plug... it's not mine :'( (Score:1, Funny)
Um... (Score:1, Troll)
Get a sense of humour implant?
Seriously, your comics aren't funny.
Web comics? like these guys? (Score:2)
Henny Youngman: "Take my wifi. Please!"
Rodney Dangerfield: "I get no respect. I turned on my computer, and the virus checker said STEP AWAY FROM THE KEYBOARD!"
The Smartest Thing(tm) (Score:1)
Nandz.
It's really quite simple (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:It's really quite simple (Score:2)
Word of mouth is geometric, not linear. If 5 people bookmark you this week, 6 will next week, and 7 the week after. And unless you, say, get posted to the front page of Slashdot, you'll need to wait a while to get those numbers up.
A lot of good sites are abandoned before they can reach their full potential.
Re:It's really quite simple (Score:1)
Re:It's really quite simple (Score:1)
The site listed didn't have that many previous attempts for me to view. when I look through the back strips, something has to make me laugh my ass off before bookmarking the site and trying to remember to visit again.
My list of comic requirements:
1) Must make me laugh.
If your strip does that, then someone somewhere wi
You have barely started the process of beginning (Score:5, Insightful)
Compare the twenty-first Sluggy Freelance [sluggy.com] with the most recent one [sluggy.com] (note the current Saturday is another artist), or the the twenty-first Penny Arcade [penny-arcade.com] with the latest one [penny-arcade.com].
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.)
Funny? (Score:1, Troll)
Nandz.
Re:Funny? (Score:1)
except
when the french guy says "fuck you, your mothers a cunt, and she sucks on my horse cock for 20$ because she's so ashammed to have you as as son, mr bush."
it says that exactly.
where was the old translators, the people, used to say, "he doesn't agree with you."
computers aren't always better, star trek 101.
Ask Slashdot: Postmodern Edition (Score:2, Funny)
I'm having a hard time bring traffic to my website. I know that getting a link posted on another high-traffic website would be a boon, but haven't figured out how to get it to happen. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
just make it funny.. (Score:4, Insightful)
don't base the decision if you're going to keep doing it on if the pageviews are on rise or not.
get returning viewers. make so rude and good jokes that they'll get posted all around irc and bbs's.. that way new people find your page.
btw.. some funny stuff in there
Good God Almighty (Score:2, Troll)
Re:Good God Almighty (Score:2)
Yours is definitely not a bad comic...like those stupid sprite comics with no plotline. But yours isn't a great comic. And at this early stage, of course you shouldn't expect it to be a great comic, but you haven't set a path yet for making it great. Let me give a few examples.
Penny Arcade [pennyarcade.com] has a very creative sense of humor and excellent skill in satire of the computer industry.
User Friendly [userfriendly.org] has a very in-depth plot line and pokes fun at the co
Re:Good God Almighty (Score:1)
And an artist.
I don't much care for your comic. (Score:5, Insightful)
I am not--in any way--a humor professional. So my not liking your comic may not carry any weight. But the comics mostly seem flat, with the occasional tasteless pterodactyl-snatching baby gag thrown in out of desperation. Visually, I'm not sure what you're trying to accomplish.
My first instinct is to tell you to give up. But since you'll most likely ignore that advice, my second piece of advice is to ditch the 'variety show' format and go with a more character-driven approach. As you develop the characters, they give you new ideas and new directions, and they carry past humorous triumphs with them. When you have to spend hours and hours fumbling for the next idea, it's a great relief to know that you can just fall back to, say, drawing Dogbert in a silly hat.
Gary Larson succeeded with the variety show approach. But he had so many brilliant ideas to work with, every comic could stand on its own. Also, his art was distinctive, so the people in each comic felt pleasantly familiar, even when you'd never seen them.
You need to be putting out new product daily, if you want to become part of a person's daily routine. this "when I get around to it" scheduling. Weekly is only good if you have a lot of content to put out every week (ala The Onion).
Again looking at Gary Larson, you'll notice that his art, while seemingly clumsy in an earnest ninth-grader sort of way, greatly added to the comic. Your visual style is all over the map. It doesn't have to be good, but it does have to be catchy and consistent.
So introduce some actual characters, discipline your artwork and your production schedule, and if the end result is good enough, shameless self-promotional Slashdot submissions won't be needed. Get people laughing, and they'll want everyone else to laugh along.
Re:I don't much care for your comic. (Score:2)
Actually, I really do quite like his stuff. A lot of it does remind me of The Far Side, except with a bit more of a vicious kick in the teeth attitude.
Thumbs up on the daily schedule thing. I hope he can commit to that.
If he's really lucky, he might manage to turn his masterful Slashdot self-promotional idea into a good readership.
zerg (Score:5, Insightful)
Great webcomickers who are solo acts are the exception, not the rule.
WebComics.com (Score:3, Informative)
Re:WebComics.com (Score:1)
2 steps (Score:2, Funny)
Works every time.
I can see why.. (Score:2)
Which could be why your traffic is 'good, not great'.
Not to be mean... (Score:1)
I think your problem might be that people just aren't interested. Unless you are one hell of a salesman, you are going to have a tough time selling a product no one is interested in.
Them's the breaks, kid. Don't quit your day job.
I say this (Score:3, Interesting)
I've tried some creative ventures, but I had never had the drive to keep anything going. If you want to learn from my mistakes, check out My attempt at a series of short stories, updated once every 4 months or so. [wackiness.org]
Pokey the Penguin! And friends! (Score:2)
http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/ [yellow5.com]
Chinese Dentist Ono Holiday was almost as good!
http://www.fat-rat.com/ONO/ [fat-rat.com]
HOORAY!
RSS Feed (Score:3, Interesting)
My response (Score:1)
It's amazing how much traffic a post to the backpage of slashdot can generate. I feel sorry for the people who get their small university-hosted site posted to the front page without warning
Anyways, thanks to everyone who gave advice. I think that I will commit to a more frequent update schedule. I'll start at two a week, and see how hard that is. I do the strip in my spare time, and I'm trying to write up my Master's the
A new idea in promotion (Score:2)
Xcomic... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Xcomic... (Score:1)
Kinda funny (Score:1)
Humor will always be hit-or-miss. The funniest comedians out there have some material that doesn't work too well but is still part of their repetoire...
Re:Kinda funny (Score:1)
Front Page (Score:1)
Should get you a few hits, but your server could take a 'bigNewsAgregatoring'
Learn to be a sleaze! (Score:1)