Series or One-shots? - GC Forums
community
Series or One-shots?
Is there any data on whether a creator gain more readers through a series or through one-shots?
With the few comics I have released it seems as though it may be better just releasing single short stories in order to attract new readers. But it that only due to the fact I haven't sunk enough time into developing a series and letting the audience grow? Im curious as to which option would be the best use of time.
Has anyone tried both options? What were the results, specifically on globalcomix
Excellent question. My track record isn't long enough to know, but I'm thinking one-shots might come out in front. I'm hoping we'll get a lot of excellent answers. Thanks for asking.
I don't think it has anything at all to do with the format. I think it's simply a case of what the story is and is it free versus paid. Free content, no matter how awful, is generally going to see more engagement. Even then, you're talking about a slow burn no matter what.
Even if the conclusion is that it doesn't have to do with the format and more to do with free/paid, Id love to see some stats on that. Although, I highly doubt that it has to do with the story, there are plenty of metrics that would lead to clicks/reads that could be quantified before story. Such as, cover design, title, free/paid, vertical/traditional etc. I would love to see what sort of stats GC sees and how creators on the platform could improve the engagement of their books through analysis of such data
It would be really hard to get data on that, as a lot of performance has to do with promotion and marketing of the creator as well. There would likely be too many outliers to get a reasonable idea of causation or correlation.
In my experience, creators struggle to promote their own work for various reasons. It could be a lack of knowing how, a perceived or literal lack of time, or they ARE doing it, but not effectively enough to get good results. So if given a chance to choose between the two, most would likely choose promo of the series versus the one-shot.
All of that said, I find that consistency matters more than frequency. Very few of the creators in the overall top 10 for 2023, 2022, and 2021 were weekly. Most DID however post consistently on SOME type of schedule, once a month, maybe every other week at most, or once per quarter or less. What they did do was regularly engage on social media and talk to their viewers and readers, keep them updated, etc. They also put in considerable effort to promote and market their work on their socials. So simply how often you post or what type of story it is, isn't enough information alone to estimate success.
What's good marketing even classify as though? It seems to me that If I put myself out there, people smell desperation, or they view me as a pitiful guy begging for subs. How can most creators avoid that awkwardness?
Perhaps it's a good idea to fake it till you make it? Seems to have worked for a ton of people doing indie work. I don't exactly recall a lot of humbleness from the same people that now got pretty big.
If that's the key, then introverts are screwed big time, unless they are carrying the next big thing.
@GarzaGoose-Comics
There are lots of ways to market and promote other than "hey, go read my book". You don't have to be constantly social and talking with people necceasrily and a lot of promoting and such can be prepared/planned/scheduled in advance with the proper tools.
But to answer your question, "good marketing" can mean a lot of things. Different demographics and different audience types are reached in different ways. You won't market a comic to 10yro girls who like cats who like the same way you would to a 32yro male who likes mecha. I hate to be vague, but each "target audience" you approach with a different strategy and it is a trial an error process.
Additionally, the methods of promotion will depend on what platforms you prefer or are willing to use and what type of content you feel comfortable making. For example, I stream on YouTube. As a creator, I promote my manga while I draw live on YouTube. I also like to post timelapses, and share my knowledge/advice on making manga on Twitter and Reddit. People love that stuff, it helps other grow, and naturally I get some residual reads due to people looking me up, checking out my profiles (all of which have links to my manga here on GC). I've had thousands of reads more than usual due to a Twitter thread I posted over the weekend as an example. At the very end I added a llittle link to Godsbane, had a link in my Bio, and one in my pinned tweet.
All of those things are ways to promote ME as a person without directly saying "hey go read my stuff" and that works for me. It might not work for others. Lots of creators assume they have to wait around to be discovered, or can't promote due to being introverted. If you WANT to grow or gain readership, you need to overcome that or do whatever type of promotion that you can at that time. Start small, maybe once a week. Build up to more over time as you learn more and gain confidence.
So no, the key isn't being extroverted. The key is keeping at it until you find a method that is comfortable and sustainable for whatever you are comfortable with, and then mastering that. If you can "fake it till you make it" that can help, but that's a slippery slope to burnout.
If you want more of a guide, something to read, I have a series of articles here talking about how I've gone about promoting my work and that of others. These articles contain examples and screenshots as well as tools and resources use learn more: https://globalcomix.com/support/education/marketing
@ArtCrumbs
Yea there's definitely more layers to this than I can see. If anything, my frustration clouds my judgement at times. So, I apologize for the rashness of my reply.
I'll have look at the link and will take your advice into heavy consideration. I've always been really rough with marketing myself, I run a restaurant, and I don't even do a good job marketing that lmao.
A bit tangential to the OP question, but similar, has anyone ever obtained data on reader's preferences about length of comic? I see many popular comics about 25 pages. Would this be about average preferred length? I found one yesterday that was 245 pages and continuing to be updated. For me, that's far to long. With big epics, I break them up into smaller chunks like books. I use chapters. I also publish my own stuff on the internet as html and find that I have to break the chapters down to episodes so they load quickly online in small modules - about 4 episodes per chapter. Has anyone got data or opinions about best size comic length? Keen to learn.
Some great questions here. I'll start by saying I have only been posting for a short while and have not posted any one shots as yet. As such I am certainly no expert but I thought I would talk a bit about my experience and how I approach things.
To me I do not feel like there is really a golden nugget to say what type, length, genre, art style or anything else that will guarantee more success. For me I started with what I wanted to make. I've then spent as much time on trying to ensure I understand the fundamentals of storytelling and trying to implement them as best I can as I have spent trying to teach myself the fundamentals of sequential art and trying to improve that. Whether I succeed at any.of these things I couldn't say.
I come from a background of playing in bands (sadly due to health issues I can no longer play) and I learnt a lot from years of trying to build an audience with original work. It is not easy at all but the main thing I learnt was to do the things that you want to do, make the things you want to make, have fun, learn and evolve. I appreciate that it all sounds like gibberish but I genuinely feel that when you follow that route then you stand a good chance of building an audience and if you don't you at least have a body of work you can be really proud of.
A lot of the time getting the work done is the hard part. I know for myself it has been literally hundreds perhaps even thousands of hours of work, but I think sometimes it just comes down to the right person seeing it and sharing with a friend. Word of mouth has really been a good thing for me.
I also feel that the great resources that have been put on this site and the ever helpful words of @ArtCrumbs have been a big help.
I'm certainly no giant creator but I couldn't be happier with the way things have gone for me so far and I constantly look forward to putting more work up that hopefully will be seen.
Apologies for the ramble and I haven't really answered the question but I hope you find it in some way helpful and that you find what works for you.
