Jeph Jacques advice for starting a webcomic.

[JGray]

Dude, you're launching a sexy comic drawn by a woman at the same time a site for "filthy comics" drawn by female webcomic artists (http://filthyfigments.com/) is launching?

Yeah, that's gold.

[GaNda]

Done!
Lets all create dirty movie comics! ;)
How to draw silicon anyone :)

[NZSteve]

I didn't say put it up wherever, but to suggest that the only way to do it properly is to have your own domain etc is just wrong, especially for people who aren't adept at coding. The problem is much less that people take a comic less seriously on a host than it is that some hosts look like shit. There are good hosts out there and hosts do come with a lot of things independent domains don't, such as in-house advertising and community forums. I've been on Smack Jeeves since my comic began and I do care about the commercial aspects. Not only has being on a host site not hurt me, it's helped me learn how to build my comic into a moderately successful title. I'm not calling Jeph out or anything, I just think he got it wrong. Hosting might not be good for everyone, but it's definitely good for some of us.

I'm not saying you're wrong, either, but I maintain that in the eyes of many people, not having your own domain name makes them take you less seriously.  There's a reason why even Keenspace (of all places) had an option to run your own domain name if you pointed at their DNS servers.

I'm glad you're having good luck with Smack Jeeves.  I couldn't stand to have the welfare of my site dependent on the whims of comic hosting anymore, personally.

[Rob]

I think 99% of webcomic readers probably won't even notice one way or the other. A URL is a URL and all that. I think there is something to be said for having a kick ass website which may be harder to do with a host (but as we've seen not impossible) and something else to be said about having a site free of technical issues; which can be alternately harder if you have a crappy host or if you go it alone and are clueless.

But I honestly don't think there are enough people out there who will notice whether you are a domain or a subdomain. They want to read comics and if they click on your ad or a link from another webcomic I can't say I think the first thing any of them will do is say "Jesus this clown doesn't even own his own domain..." and then ragequit the web browser.

And would you want those guys as your fans (assuming your comic isn't about major computer nerdery) anyway?

If you are delivering the goods I don't think it matters all that much. And really who cares if people are going to take you seriously as long as you take yourself seriously that will come across eventually.

dis iz srs bizness. ;D

[JGray]

It matters for two reasons. First, if your URL is your title, it tends to be easier to remember in case someone needs to type it in. Typing in www.comichostingplace.com/mycomic takes longer and is harder to remember than mycomic.com.

Second, it gives a certain air of professionalism. Likely not much, but having your domain suggests you're more serious to me. On the other hand, there are comics that have done well on hosts. Pictures of You is one, to be certain. Simply Sarah is another.

[Rob]

It matters for two reasons. First, if your URL is your title, it tends to be easier to remember in case someone needs to type it in. Typing in www.comichostingplace.com/mycomic takes longer and is harder to remember than mycomic.com.

Second, it gives a certain air of professionalism. Likely not much, but having your domain suggests you're more serious to me. On the other hand, there are comics that have done well on hosts. Pictures of You is one, to be certain. Simply Sarah is another.

Not to mention just about every comic on KeenSpot. Goblins for example has the URL of www.goblinscomic.com which redirects to a much clumsier http://goblins.keenspot.com/

But while I agree a memorable and perhaps shorter URL is a mark of a more professional website and is easier to remember for fans, as I just showed you can be in a hosted situation and still have a slick personal URL that redirects to the clumsier hosted one without much issue. And honestly how many serious comic readers are there nowadays who don't use favorites, RSS, or link in from some site? Well... probably quite a few... but still they are probably somewhat in the minority and probably somewhat less of a loyal fan if they won't bookmark you.

[Gibson]

I couldn't stand to have the welfare of my site dependent on the whims of comic hosting anymore, personally.

I'm not clear on why you think comic hosts are so much more whimsical than having an independent site. The only thing my host has ever asked or expected of me is a warning on my site when I started showing full-frontal stripper nudity, and the only technical trouble I've ever had is a couple hours of down time during the occasional server move. If your host is jerking you around or the people who run it don't bother to fix bugs and such, like Drunk Duck, that's a bad host and you shouldn't have your comics there, but that doesn't mean hosts are all like that. Some of them are incredibly professional and offer loads of technical support. Besides all that, unless you have your own server, you're hosting your comic with someone and subject to their whims, whatever that means.

And a lot of the better host sites do offer a unique domain name option now, and the really good ones don't even force a site-banner on you, which makes the legitimacy argument less of an issue. You can have the thin visage of being independent with the community and technical support of a host.

[JR]

When I first started my webcomic-career (such as it is), my plan was to start off as a sub-domain to a site host.  Once I thought that I was ready (presumably, having a large fan base), I was going to move over to my own domain.  I've changed my thinking over the years; a domain is a domain regardless if it's hosted by Smackjeeves or by Go Daddy.

The only caveat being that the more words in an URL can make a site forgotten easier if it's not bookmarked or whatever.  Having an extra tag like "drunkduck.com" can make your site's name less memorable.  Thankfully, some hosts out there have been offering a premium subscription for your own domain name (if it's available, of course).  I've been meaning to partake of this subscription, but I've been lazy.  Maybe for my birthday...

[Gibson]

It should also be noted that there is a distinct difference between sites that have subdomains (comic.comichost.com) and sites that have separate pages (www.comichost.com/comic) for their hosting. The latter tends to be bogged down, laggy and buggy all to hell. DeviantArt functions with subdomains and still manages to be a pretty solid site even with six jillion people all posting their Sailor Moon fan art. If someone is going to use a hosted site, they should be careful to choose one that works. Of course, the same can be said for any kind of domain hosting.

[NZSteve]

I'm not clear on why you think comic hosts are so much more whimsical than having an independent site.

Experience, mostly.  To be sure, webcomic ASPs have come a long way since Keenspace/Keenspot was the only game in town.  I looked around at many of them when figuring out if I wanted to move NZ from its independent shared hosting when I relaunched.

However, when considering independent hosting vs. a webcomic ASP for a comic, I consider things just as you say in your post.  i.e. I'll never have to tell about or clear my content with my service provider, for example.  Or, say, if I don't like how the merchandise system works, I can swap it out for a new one.  I'm not limited by templates for layout if I don't want to be.  I know exactly how my site works internally and can tweak it any way I wish.

As for whims: when it comes to hosting here's what a more general purpose host's whims are: pay your bills, don't abuse our network.  With webcomic ASPs (especially the very low cost or free ones) they need to make money somehow, and historically they're not that great at doing so on a consistent basis, so they begin to put in little ways to pull away from your revenue, or require ads they run that you (might) get a cut of, etc. 

Look, I'm glad your webcomic ASP is working for you.  For me they were more problematic than I decided it was worth and so I went it alone.  At first it feels like you're out in the wilderness alone without the streamlined internal advertising, ranking and tracking of an ASPs' system bringing in page views and visits, but for me (and for a good number of other creators), the trade-off is worth it in terms of business independence.

[Gibson]

I know I had nothing but problems the entire time I mirrored my comics on Drunk Duck, to the point that I couldn't take it anymore. I can imagine it's the same on a lot of sites, but I've never had to deal with any of that on Smack Jeeves. I don't have to clear my content, the only requirement has been that with adult content I was asked to have a warning...and that was only when I started showing graphic nudity. There was no concern at all with pervasive vulgarity, drug and alcohol use and even a bit of light nudity, including full frontal male.

I believe there are hosted ads on the FREE sites, but for $19 a year, I have a membership that ensures, among other things, that there are no host ads on my site. I have a custom-designed template which is even more customizable than I know how to make it, and all the merchandising and ads are my own. The coding is pretty simple too, and the way I know this is that I know nothing about coding and I've still been able to make changes to the site on my own. There's a membership upgrade I can get for $60 that has more features than I can remember, along with a unique domain and a bunch of email addresses and storage and junk.

Maybe Smack Jeeves is the only host that runs quite so open an operation, but I've never had a problem with hosting the comic there. Any limitations I've experienced have been due to my own knowledge. I've been tempted and continue to be tempted to move to an independent site, but I keep finding it difficult to leave everything that I get by being there.

Anyone who enjoys being independent, hey, cool, rock on. The point wasn't that hosting sites are better, but that they aren't worse and the mindset that they're all crap is as foolish as thinking that a comic with an independent site will do better than a hosted one. There are a lot of reasons a webcomic will or won't do well, being quality of the comic, frequency of update and effectiveness of its marketing, along with a certain amount of luck. A .com address might make it a little easier for some people to remember the name, but when you're talking about WEBcomics, most people are coming to your page via links and bookmarks anyway, so how much could it really matter? If your comic is crap, the address won't make a difference, so the concern that some (possibly many) will read that instruction and think that having a domain is more important than having a comic to post there.

[Gar]

I have my own domain, but I don't think it really matters. Most people will come to your site for the first time by clicking on a link (or Stumble. Gods I love Stumble.) and then add it to their bookmarks if they like it. People who actually type in the URL probably aren't that large of an audience subset these days.