Looking for some feedback on my autobiographic comic strip

[Pam]

Hello everyone!

I am looking for a bit of advice or feedback on a comic strip I've been publishing for about 2 years now (in a consistent basis) on tapas.io , it's an autobiographical comic strip.

I've been considering for a while if I should drop the project since the content doesn't seem to be attractive for others (At least based on the amount of people actually following my work) and even though I do enjoy making the drawing and the inking, when it comes to editing, lettering and translating it (since I make an spanish and english version) it just feels like a chore sometimes and looking at the outcome that is having online, it demoralizes me a bit about doing the publishing at all.

So far I've tried to make changes so that the content is more attractive or fun but I haven't found the "soft spot" for that (if that's the correct expression), and in consequence there hasn't happened a real change in the outcome. In the end it makes me feel like my content is just no good at all.

So I come here seeking for a bit of advice and feedback regarding my project, about how could I improve it before actually droping the project at all.

Here is the link for the comic https://tapas.io/series/An-everyday-story

Thank you for the taking the time to read this.

[NessIllustration]

@Pam I really like the style of your comics! It's fun, simple and clean, I like the common blue background as well. For the strips themselves, some of them are really fun with a great punchline. I really like "Christmas spirit" and "Fear", great comedic timing and punchline. Others just kind of seems like observation or facts, without much of a punchline, like "I don't find babies cute" or "I feel bad when I don't achieve a task in my planner". I find those strips to be less successful than the others in terms of impact,

When doing a comic like this, you have to think how you want people to feel when they read it. Decide what emotion you want to create and then make every element of your story in order to create that emotion. Autobiographical comic strips often have the goal of making people laugh or relate. The "hahaha that's so funny, this is SO me!!" element makes them highly sharable on social media and you should definitely lean on that. They can even go viral.

Check out the comic "Sarah's Scribbles", which is similar to yours but has really honed the power of the punchline. Every strip is an everyday situation, but instead of just telling the story, Sarah has really thought of the way to make it as efficient and funny as possible. Her comic regularly go viral. Another example is "My Giant Nerd Boyfriend" on Webtoons. Her comic is a more long-form than Sarah's, and although she usually aims for a joke (and very well) sometimes she also tells a sad story of a story of learning and growth, meant to give the readers the feels instead of making them laugh. But she really thinks about what emotion she wants to create and goes all after it in every comic strips, that's why it works so well.

In general, this is a great quality comic with so much potential. If you're not reaching the level of readership that you want, I don't think it's really because of the quality of your content and that you should put all your effort in creating or making changes to the content. I think you need to ask yourself what you are doing to reach your readership. The saying "Make it and people will come" is the biggest load of croc in the universe. If no one knows about your comic, no one will read it. You are running in the hamster wheel right now, exhausting yourself creating more content or trying to improve your content, and you're not feeling the rewards for all your hard work because no one knows your comic exists. You need to create an instagram account for your comic to promote it, and a Facebook account too. You need to ask your friends and family to reshare your comics posts on Facebook to attract new people. You need to post your funniest, most relatable strips to Facebook groups that share everyday funny memes (with a link to your site of course!) You need to post your comic other places too (like Webtoons, Facebook, Instagram) to reach people who aren't on Tapas. A LOT of people who would love your comic aren't on Tapas! Why isn't the link to your comic in your signature on the forum so all of us can know you have a comic and know how to find it? You can have the best comic in the world and if you don't promote it well, people aren't going to know about it.

You feel like you comic is just no good at all because of the low readership... But I just think you need to start doing the work to reach people. I think it's good, but it won't get discovered by itself. Don't give up, but do start to be smarter about marketing, not just making the comic!

[Pam]

Thank you so much @NessIllustration !

I think you are right, I haven't put much thought about the emotion I want others to feel so I've been searching in the dark for ideas until now, I'll be more attentive to that and reach out more with my comic through other social media. I do love Sarah's and Fishball's comics so I know they are great with punchlines, I'll see how can I apply that to my own comic and see if it works.

Thanks for taking the time, I really appreciate it.

[theprairiefox]

@Pam you might want to listen to the most recent Comic Lab (either the most recent or one before that) they talk about autobiographic comics.

I am not much into autobio comics (and neither are they) but I think they have some sound advice about standing out form the crowd.

https://comiclab.simplecast.com/

[Pam]

Thank you @theprairiefox , I'll check it out today then.