Are kids reading webcomics these days?

Basil Godevenos

Hi everyone,

I've been doing some goal mapping recently and it's prompted this question:

Does a webcomic make any sense at all for reaching a middle-grade or YA audience?

I grew up reading the funny pages of my parents' newspaper every evening. Are kids even reading comic strips these days?

chrisaakins

@Basil-Godevenos Ask @Braden-Hallett he's the local expert on web comics (and marmots).

Basil Godevenos

@chrisaakins this is good to know. My burning marmot curiosity demands answers!

@Braden-Hallett what's your take on the original question? If my end goal is to make a graphic novel for a YA or middle-grade audience (think Bone, Amulet, etc.), does making a webcomic as I build my chops make sense as a way to build an audience?

NessIllustration

@Basil-Godevenos I used to publish a webcomic on Webtoons and that platform is pretty much riddled with teenagers

Basil Godevenos

@NessIllustration That's good to know! Thanks!

K.Flagg

You should check out some of Jason Brubaker's YouTube vids on this subject. He has some good info on this subject as well

braden H

@Basil-Godevenos I'd imagine lots of kids read webcomics these days. All depends on how strict their parents are about behaviour online

What's you goal here? Eventually approach a publisher to get your idea published? Gather a following and then self publish? Just practice making a comic aimed at kids and get feedback?

Coley

my 16 year old basically eats web comics

Basil Godevenos

@K-Flagg I will! Thanks for the tip.

Basil Godevenos

@Braden-Hallett I haven't decided between self-publishing/kickstarting vs. traditional publishing yet for the graphic novel. I don't know enough about the industry to venture an opinion on that yet.

I guess my question really boils down to how to build a middle-grade audience without the help of a publisher. Is it even possible? Or do I just need to spend several years getting good and then start working on the book and hope to sell it to a publisher?

I know I'm getting absurdly ahead of myself, but I like to have a roadmap

Sara Vecchi

I’ve been wondering some of the same questions. I’m glad you asked them!

I am in the very early stages of organization for a YA graphic novel, but I feel very “in over my head” since I’m not yet a working illustrator. I’m thinking of trying to illustrate a mini-comic of sorts that shares an event that happened to me as practice for putting together something more complex than the stand alone pieces I have done up to this point.

I also wonder how to pursue representation when I’ve mostly been planning to do children’s books but I was struck with this idea for this GN. It seems like a big jump in subject matter.

Basil Godevenos

@Sara-Vecchi I'm planning on heading to TCAF in May with the aim of asking a few professionals who work in the middle-grade space what their thoughts on the matter are.

danielerossi

@Basil-Godevenos That’s a good idea. I didn’t even think of TCAF. Been meaning to make it there one day for years

I kinda sorta produce web comics. Well, I draw them and then post them irregularly so I don’t know if that counts One thing that concerns me is my comics aren’t easy to view on smartphones. You need to pinch and zoom, pinch and zoom, pinch and zoom, pinch and zoom... you get the idea It’s worse on social media as the comic gets cuts off in newsfeeds. My goal had always been to build up a following then publish all the comics in a book. But I find that I really like print more. You get something tangible than a digital artifact that’s lost in a sea of Wordpress posts.

Or maybe I have a lot more building to do.

Basil Godevenos

@danielerossi Hmmm... mini-SVS meetup at TCAF in May??

I feel you about the whole figuring out how to format for the platform thing. Instagram is a good outlet because you can post a carousel of individual panels. I've seen a lot of people do it that way. Or they just do a 4-panel square if the work is simple enough.

danielerossi

@Basil-Godevenos The carousel on Instagram is a smacking forehead idea I recently came across, why didn’t I think of that before?

An SVS meetup could be fun!

JoshSchouwstra

@danielerossi @Basil-Godevenos SVS meetup at TCAF would be great! (Assuming open invitation)

And while I'm also starting to researching this topic of web comics, I have noticed that library's are having digital media services available, and the services do have digital comics for kids, so I would assume that teens are reading the digital comics, and by extension certain web comics.

One note about instagram from experience, the reader will be looking at it on a phone so make the text size screen appropriate :).

APHOTICMOTH

I love IG's format for comics.

Here are some I follow:

Also check out tapas! https://tapas.io/ Post, get views, get supporters, get paid. You retain rights as far as I know. Tapas would be the best for kids, and they have a great app.

Over 53k reviews for the app on google play, over 1million installs..

So many wonderful creators on there. Many from my list above also post on tapas..

Then there are web comics that are not for kids that I won't list here.

Webcomics are alive and well.

Basil Godevenos

@Josh-Schouwstra-0 Definitely open invitation

Basil Godevenos

@CLCanadyArts Looks like a great list - I'll have to peruse the ones I don't recognize.

APHOTICMOTH

@Basil-Godevenos To me, most of those would be acceptable for kids, I grew up on harsh stuff and was taught to separate fantasy from reality and such.. Some parents might not like some of those.

Tapas would be the best platform for kids work as it is purely comics, and the mature section is separated. Instagram is a cesspool of everything, not as bad as twitter though. I could see parents installing tapas as it's pretty safe viewing. Could always post on other sites and link to tapas to try and funnel traffic.