Webcomics?

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redprincess
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Webcomics?

Post by redprincess »

I have a few Q's for those who read/have webcomics.

First of all, how many of you have a webcomic? How many webcomics do you follow?

I want to start up a webcomic myself but I'm not sure, how many pages should I update a week and/or month? Where do you guys host your comic? like Comicfury or do you have it hosted on your own server? I'm rather poor, how much does it cost to host one? I'd like a domain name too, do you think its important to have?

I ask lots of questions, lol

Thanks for help

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StrateryB
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Re: Webcomics?

Post by StrateryB »

--- I don't have any webcomics up, but I'm writing out the scripts with my sister.
--- I tend to to follow a LOT of webcomics at the same time, mainly because of the fact that webcomics tend to update once a week. Also if a webcomic I'm reading goes on a hiatus, I still have something to read. In all honesty, I've kind of stopped reading manga overall and have just been reading webcomics.
--- When it comes to updating, I would say at least once a week. Most webcomics are a bit irregular when it comes to updates, having a weekly schedule is best so that readers will know and at least keep interest. Some webcomics however, can get away with irregular updates or one update each month. For example, Lackadaisy gets away with it because the comic is pretty high quality and the pages are long as well.
--- Smackjeeves is a good site for hosting a comic for free, though you have to upgrade your account (pay?) if you want your own domain name (regular account gives your comic something like "insertnamehere.smackjeeves.com"). Personally, I would say that when you definitely feel that your comic is good enough to have its own site, then host it on your own.
Another fun thing about Smackjeeves is the community, you can find others to collaborate with and personally, I think it's pretty user-friendly. It's pretty easy to follow a comic and it's a good way to start garnering an audience (when I said that I follow a lot of webcomics, here's what I mean. Even scrolling to the bottom, that's not half of what I follow, haha).

But if you do start up a webcomic, do share <:

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shutupadrian
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Re: Webcomics?

Post by shutupadrian »

redprincess wrote:First of all, how many of you have a webcomic? How many webcomics do you follow?
I'm working on getting one up. More on that later.

I follow at least three on a mostly often basis (Hark! A Vagrant, Dresden Codak, and Lackadaisycats) although Dresden Codak and Lackadaisycats don't update regularly.

Wait. There's also Faith Erin Hicks' The Adventures of Superhero Girl, so that brings it up to four. And - how could I forget? - Bob the Angry Flower so that's up to five.

And there's a whole bunch of others that I check, but not regularly.
I want to start up a webcomic myself but I'm not sure, how many pages should I update a week and/or month?
I think - although I don't have the stats to back this up - the best is if you can update often enough so that people would come back to your comic on a regular basis and keep your comic top of mind. So maybe once a week or once every two weeks, but in any case, regularly enough so that people could grow into the habit of checking your site. It seems to me, with the exception of fairly established webcomics with an extensive archive, that it would be hard to maintain an audience if you go months without an update. People tend to lose interest and forget about you.
Where do you guys host your comic? like Comicfury or do you have it hosted on your own server? I'm rather poor, how much does it cost to host one? I'd like a domain name too, do you think its important to have?
I'll be setting up something on smackjeeves (might officially launch it this Monday with my YenPress submission, in fact). To be honest, I haven't actually even heard of comicfury until you brought it up. Personally, I'd prefer my own site because I'd have absolute control over the design and presentation of the thing, as well as leave advertising off of it. I'm even getting a web development friend to put it together. However, it's hard to get him to prioritize it over his other work when I'm not paying him.

Web hosting provider (server space): You'd be looking at under $10 a month, depending on who you go with. I'll be on bluehost.com. 1&1 was once recommended to me. I've tried iPower. Don't go iPower. iPower is terrible.

URL registration (your own domain name: Most hosting providers have deals that give you free registration of your domain name, which they register at a registrar. But then there are a bunch of issues that I don't really understand myself. Alternately, you can register at any domain registration websites, such as godaddy.com.

At any rate, do your due diligence

sarydactl
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Re: Webcomics?

Post by sarydactl »

redprincess wrote:First of all, how many of you have a webcomic? How many webcomics do you follow?
I have a few, by a few I mean a lot...I've actually made a personal rule... "don't post something online until you have more than 10 pages done"...lately I've upped that to "one chapter" to minimize the amount of abandoned projects. But more than getting abandoned, I always have an unending urge to remake my comics o_o . Both the story and the art style...

I follow about 20 or so...but if I'm in an 'active webcomic-making mode' then it can go up to 40. Not a lot, but I'm really picky, and I read regular manga on top of comics, so it gets a bit much to keep track of. Smackjeeves at least makes it easy to see when sites update :Y .
I want to start up a webcomic myself but I'm not sure, how many pages should I update a week and/or month?
Update as often and regularly as possible. MWF or MWS is a good schedule to start on, if you can handle three pages a week. Also, always make sure you have a buffer, in case you have exams or work or vacation or emergencies or social life (etc) that keeps you from drawing. So draw maybe 1-2 weeks ahead of schedule, and ALWAYS back those files up on a flash drive or something. Ultimately update as often as you're comfortable updating, don't get ahead of the buffer, don't overwork yourself/make sure you get a break and freetime...it's fun :> .

I'm kind of embarrassed to put this here, http://www.smackjeeves.com/profile.php?id=12600 , the art is so outdated...also, I am really 20, don't pay attention to the age on that profile.
Where do you guys host your comic? like Comicfury or do you have it hosted on your own server? I'm rather poor, how much does it cost to host one? I'd like a domain name too, do you think its important to have?
Host on smackjeeves! I actually had my own domain name and site. It got significantly less traffic than smackjeeves, very little comments compared to smackjeeves, and was an overall hassle. Also, for unlimited hosting for one year and a domain name for two years, it cost me $275 (it was a package). That was back in 2007, so it's probably more expensive now. I /really/ suggest smackjeeves for the community, because it's no use having a comic in it's own place if there's no one to read it =/ . When it gets big enough that you want forums, or detailed side pages, or extra features, THEN get your own site. But otherwise, it's not really worth the expense...

Also, smackjeeves is kinda awesome.

I tend to post pages both on Smackjeeves and deviantART, because there's two different crowds in those places, and the more people that can read/comment, the better :> . Also, deviantARDs tend to be too lazy to check anything other than deviantART, even if they're curious and checked the first few pages.

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redprincess
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Re: Webcomics?

Post by redprincess »

Also, deviantARDs tend to be too lazy to check anything other than deviantART, even if they're curious and checked the first few pages.
I'm totally quilty of that. I follow a few on DA only, I always forget sites and when I bookmark them they get lost, so I find its easy, although if they redirect I'll go to a site, as long as it has a notice. I may post on both.

How much of the story should I write before hand? I've always wondered that with artists. Like with long running manga, Bleach, One Piece, Naruto for example, I'm sure they dont have the whole script finished before they started chapter 1. However I know both Bleach and One Piece authors are good at foreshadowing (I think Tite Kubo may be a bit better)

Like right now I have 2 chapters written and a general idea of what I want to happen and how it will end when it does, but there is alot in the middle I dont know.

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StrateryB
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Re: Webcomics?

Post by StrateryB »

redprincess wrote:How much of the story should I write before hand? I've always wondered that with artists. Like with long running manga, Bleach, One Piece, Naruto for example, I'm sure they don't have the whole script finished before they started chapter 1. However I know both Bleach and One Piece authors are good at foreshadowing (I think Tite Kubo may be a bit better)

Like right now I have 2 chapters written and a general idea of what I want to happen and how it will end when it does, but there is alot in the middle I don't know.
Personally, I prefer to have the entire script done before I start drawing it. First, the initial write-up (basics, rough ideas, everything that comes to mind, etc), then an edit (removing unnecessary scenes, fixing dialog, rearrangement, etc), and then a final edit (additions, final is final). Afterwards is the story board for the first/current chapter and so forth.

Most people I know will write a volume ahead of time.

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shutupadrian
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Re: Webcomics?

Post by shutupadrian »

Coincidentally (and conveniently) Aaron Diaz of Dresden Codak just answered a question about timing.

http://dresdencodak.tumblr.com/post/545 ... ng-latency
You’ll never have a steady stream of readers without an archive, regardless of what kind of comic you’re doing. When you get started, no one will read your stuff, and they’ll continue to not read it for months, sometimes years. That’s just part of how it works. You have to have a body of work that people enjoy, and that’s universal and independent of whether you update quickly or slowly.

What isn’t universal is how you keep that traffic going once you have that archive. In the case of my comic, I have large, substantial updates with a lot of content, so people who enjoy it have a reason to return. Updating more often is always a goal, but never at the expense of bringing readers what they expect from my work. Bringing readers what they expect (and frequently exceeding those expectations) is at the core of having a growing, vibrant audience. Daily strips achieve this partially through their regularity, which is essential for the format, though I personally think a some people who go this route become complacent and forget that a regular schedule doesn’t excuse you from challenging yourself and your readership.

Archangel
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Re: Webcomics?

Post by Archangel »

I have a question. I am new to this how do you even start a web comic. I started one on paper ,but.... help?

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yesterdayshero
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Re: Webcomics?

Post by yesterdayshero »

I have webcomics, I just don't bother updating them, I mean I complete a chapter or something and just post it to Pixiv or dA, I don't bother most of the tyme posting elsewhere. I don't follow webcomics either...

@Archangel

Sign up at smackjeeves.com and you can post it there for everyone to enjoy~!
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MrUnReady
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Re: Webcomics?

Post by MrUnReady »

redprincess wrote:I have a few Q's for those who read/have webcomics.

First of all, how many of you have a webcomic? How many webcomics do you follow?

I want to start up a webcomic myself but I'm not sure, how many pages should I update a week and/or month? Where do you guys host your comic? like Comicfury or do you have it hosted on your own server? I'm rather poor, how much does it cost to host one? I'd like a domain name too, do you think its important to have?

I ask lots of questions, lol

Thanks for help

I have a few web comics up~ I also love reading a lot of them too. :B
I think once a week for updating is awesome. That’s just me though. Once a day is cool to if you can keep up with it….But it’s a real hassle! As for hosting, I mainly host in a web magazine and SmackJeeves, though I do like to move my work around to other hosts to test the waters there. So far I get the most feed back on SJ. I have a friend that host his web comic on his own domain and that was, like $200.00 or something….IDK really though. @_@ I have seen ppl do it from their own domains for free too… but they knew ways around things. XD; I’m clueless really when it comes to fixing up sites and stuff. XD;;;

Archangel wrote:I have a question. I am new to this how do you even start a web comic. I started one on paper ,but.... help?
You scan them into your computer silly. <3


Me personal have tested out a few web hosting sites…Here’s what I think about them. C:

http://www.smackjeeves.com/ Best place by far if you don’t mind the ads. The site was made for hosting and watching when web comics update. It’s a magical site. You can customize the pages, update multiply pages at once, And there are already a lot of ppl ready to read and love your work. The only downside besides the adds are “fan” bar. It can be a HUGE turn off to some when they see it’s not over 200 fans with so few pages! I’m for real on this. XD ppl only go to the “popular” stuff. There are such awesome gems out there waiting to be found! Thank GOD SJ knows this and came up with a comic spotlight thing with comics that are awesome that need more love. But yeah….

http://www.webcomicsnation.com/ Very bland~ Nothing wrong with that... Just hard to figure out what you want to read… They don’t let you have a banner to show your work unless you have a lot of pages or something…… Also, It was kind of a pain to update multiply pages at a time……So it wasn’t very user friendly on both ends… Still…… It is just another place to update~ Can never have enough of those. C:

http://www.mangabullet.com/
Not so customizable as the other sites, but they have ppl there ready to read your work. Another place anyone would be likely to leave comments and fallow your work. It wasn’t so bad updating either.

http://www.deviantart.com/ only problem I have with hosting there is that it’s a hassle sometimes when there’s not a link to the next page.

http://www.drunkduck.com/
Bad…..SO BAD OH GOD! It’s…… Not so customizable first of all, second of all, IT’S HARD TO NAVGATE! FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF Never again! The only thing this thing had going for it was that uploading a lot of pages at once was a snap…..But that’s it.ffffffffffff….

http://comicfury.com/
I really love this site!~~~ It’s like, SmackJeeves younger brother that went to collage or something. XD There are no ads on there and you can fix up the layout to your site to how ever you wish. <3 Uploading was awesome as well~ “Flawless victory!” when you log in and other things is most welcoming. X3 You also get feed randomly time to time…which is nice…. The down side to all this…. *manly face* Like all younger bothers… they do something embarrassing In this case, some of the futures seem kind of redone dent…..Also, the banners are kind of small for the front page. And for those of you who go to your watch and read web comic on there, There is no “preview “feature to see if you already have read the latest update. That could be just me though. XD; I still like the site a whole lot!

http://www.comicgenesis.com/ I heard they ask for your phone number and stuff when you join… I have never done it but I heard nothing but bad things from friends who had there web comic on there. X_x

I really do love web comics. I have learned a whole lot from the ppl who made them. I have learned a lot from making them. It‘s really awesome!. Also .…It’s really awesome to say you know ppl before they got published. *-*b
ⓛ____ⓛ;

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Re: Webcomics?

Post by Reven »

My bro and I are almost near completion for the first chapter of our manga. Its been some time since I last uploaded some new art. the first chapter is over 40+ pages and is full of action. I'll provide links to it near the end of this month/early next month.

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