Webcomics 2.0 - Excuses Excuses

[GroundChux]

Hey thanks, Rob. That's really nice to say! I've grown a pretty decent-sized audience for this early in the game (I think), and am definitely conscious of how easy it would be to screw it up at this point. Always easier to lose an audience in the beginning.

And it does sound like Gar had the right idea, which was largely my theory and what I was hoping to hear, so that's good. I wasn't crazy, anyway! But I should have thought of it a while ago, heh.

[Alectric]

You were actually the one to bring up "burning out".  What I meant was the way I had put it before, straining yourself or sacrificing quality in order to keep updating as you do.  Cutting down on panels and taking occasional breaks are both sacrifices for quality.  I'm not saying you're unjustified in doing so, I'm just saying that what you value as a webcomic author is reflected in your choice of what to sacrifice.  Because if you reduced your updates to allow for more panels for each one, you might lose a few impatient readers, but the ones that stayed would get more out of each update.

I for one have been reading your comic as it updates, but I find it a bit hard to follow sometimes, because each page feels disconnected, and if a conversation spans over too many pages, I find I have to reread the last few pages every time a new one comes up just to remind myself of the context.  So it comes down to whether you prefer quantity or quality when it comes to your readership, and it seems that you prefer quantity.

[GroundChux]

You were actually the one to bring up "burning out".  What I meant was the way I had put it before, straining yourself or sacrificing quality in order to keep updating as you do.  Cutting down on panels and taking occasional breaks are both sacrifices for quality.  I'm not saying you're unjustified in doing so, I'm just saying that what you value as a webcomic author is reflected in your choice of what to sacrifice.  Because if you reduced your updates to allow for more panels for each one, you might lose a few impatient readers, but the ones that stayed would get more out of each update.

I for one have been reading your comic as it updates, but I find it a bit hard to follow sometimes, because each page feels disconnected, and if a conversation spans over too many pages, I find I have to reread the last few pages every time a new one comes up just to remind myself of the context.  So it comes down to whether you prefer quantity or quality when it comes to your readership, and it seems that you prefer quantity.

Not to be pedantic but I haven't actually brought up 'burning out' anywhere in this thread, other than to say that I'm not burning out when Gar mentioned it.

That's cool you've been reading, though! And the contention with uploads is something I thought long and hard about in the beginning. I know enough about how webcomics and traffic work to know that the more consistent and often you are, the more people you'll gather. Ultimately, this is supposed to be read as a book, but I wasn't going to alter the story to fit online, and tried to come up with something that'll work as a middle ground.

This is all completely besides the point, though, and this thread wasn't supposed to be a general chat about my comic, so apologies to the original intent of this thread! If you want to continue this we should take it elsewhere.

[tmoverbeck]

I've had my comic running consistently for almost three years now, never had a buffer, and I haven't had to take a hiatus yet (knock on IKEA particle-board). If God forbid I got in a situation where I had to abandon TLT for an extended period of time, I'd definitely be open and honest about my absence, and try to put something up in the comic's stead, such as scanned rough sketches, historical documents or fan art.

Some people will just abandon their comic for months on end without giving any indication or reason for the absence. At first you think, okay, no big deal, we'll probably get a new strip in a matter of days. Then after a few weeks, you begin to wonder if they permanently abandoned their comic. Then a couple months pass without so much as even a "I'm swamped with critical issues that must take priority over my comic, so I don't know when or if I'll be able to update again" note. And now you're wondering if the person's even still alive. While I can sympathize and understand about having to take care of personal or family emergencies, at least let your audience know what's up, you can be as vague as you want about the cause. I just don't want people losing readers - regular ones or potential new ones - over a comic being AWOL.