#very special thanks to the creator collective for the enthusiasm about this lol

[geisterzeit-art]

Who else up losing their minds about this “reunion”

[tinfcomic]

Okay, so first of all, congrats on 8 years! That's amazing, and a wonderful comic! Since it's been going so long, I wanted to ask, have you always had such a nice readership? I've been running a comic for 2 years now, and as much as I do it for myself, sometimes it's kinda hard to keep enthusiasm up when you only get 1 or 2 notes on a page. Is there any way you kept yourself going, even when it seemed like no one was paying attention? Again, love the comic and congrats! :D

Hi anon ! Thank you so much!! 😚💕🎉🎉🎉

That’s a really great question! I’ve been fortunate that TINF has always had super nice readers, but it did start out as mostly my group of friends...... LOL 😂 the amount of readers I’ve had has seemed to fluctuate up and down since then, and generally I can’t tell if I’m doing better/worse since numbers stay similar in general, so I definitely know how you feel! Especially since I think TINF is one of the smaller (yet older LOL) comics on the hiveworks collective 🐝

It’s important to remember that a lot of readers don’t comment, like, reblog/RT, or interact with posts. It’s very common; we’re all busy, like to read quickly or check the comic on a day that differs from the comic’s update days, or something like that. It might seem lonely, but notes =/= readers. I know for a fact that more people are reading than you think! 😁💕

I have a few things that have really helped me while working on TINF!

Always stay passionate about the work you’re creating! When you feel really excited about your ideas, you don’t ever regret working on them, even if no one else is noticing. I love to joke that TINF is an elaborate fic I’m writing, which... yes. It might as well be, and I love it LOL. Whenever I’m genuine with my work, every reader feels like a special bonus because they’re just enjoying my self-indulgence, which blows my mind. 😂 It makes sense to want validation from others, but I’ve found that when I truly enjoy the content I’m putting out, I shift from being like, “this is good, how come people don’t like it?” to “this is good, and if people don’t like it, they’re probably not the types of people I want interacting with my comic anyway.”

Another tip for this is, are you enjoying whatever you’re uploading? I found when I’m not feeling great about my pages is when I want more validation, and when I’m bored with a scene is when I get down on myself. But readers have the same interests as us--if it’s boring for you (I don’t mean the art, I mean the content), it’s most definitely boring for everyone else--so indulge yourself and speed up the scene if you want to! You’ll feel proud of working hard, for problem-solving as much as you can, and for doing your best, so no one else will matter. 😍 People close to me will tell you that I spend hours figuring out what I want to show on each page, because I get bored so easy, and I hate feeling like a page was a waste of my time drawing/reading it. I don’t know if I’m successful at it, but I’ve gotten to the point where I generally like what I come up with, so I’ve done all I can and I’m satisfied LOL.

If you’re really down, if possible, share your work with a good friend! I always share everything with my bff @thrynnie! She gets excited with me so it feels satisfying as long as the two of us are enjoying it 💕

Acknowledge that, as a webcomic artist (one of the few privileges we have as small content creators 😂 but it’s an incredible one), you’re creating for a niche group vs the general public. Once you believe that your work will only appeal to you and the people similar to you, not having the attention of the general public will make sense and also not really matter. At one point I was like, “what if I’m alienating allo people with my work?” That’s funny, Nicole. HILARIOUS !! Everyone’s welcome, but not everyone will be interested. It’s all good.

Be consistent and active! I feel good knowing that I’m consistent because I know I’m doing my best to make my work accessible. Even if no one clicks my update, I’ve done my best, and maybe I’ll get their attention if I keep going! And, I know for me personally, when I see a comic updating consistently and on time, I’m much more willing to take time to read it. 😉

I also noticed that readers interact much more when I’m active on social media and are less active when I’m inactive. Readers LOVE extras! I don’t have time for extras lately (cue all of us crying in unison), but that’s when my readership is bountiful. So beautiful.. gorgeous.. fabulous 😭💕 just like our friends, they get excited with us and will play along with us when we do more than just update pages consistently. So enjoy yourself and be passionate, the fun readers will eventually join you! 😍💕

It should be noted, too, that the readers who send asks are not always the same as the ones who +likes posts and the ones that reblog aren’t the same as the ones who interact on twitter. Try posting your updates across multiple platforms to reach different people!

And, lastly, be the webcomic artist that you‘d like to support if you were a reader! I find myself easily supporting those who I feel have similar goals to me, but maybe I just feel comfortable with them. 😂💘

This is just as an observation, but since passing TINF’s 8th anniversary, I’ve had many comments about people who’ve read TINF for years. Some of them have been reading for 3 years, 5 years, 8 years in it’s entirety. Not all of them comment or interact with my posts regularly, though! These people are providing me with consistent support and they’re my strongest foundation, so it’s beneficial to really never focus on the numbers we see. 💕

I hope that helps!! I found that, in the past, even though I thought my comic was for me, I was trying to entertain or convince too many people of something, which set me up for failure. Catering to myself (in a way that’s readable to others) has proved to be way more beneficial and I feel excited to keep going, even if others don’t notice. But when they do notice, they’ll be your good readers. 😁💘

If this wasn’t very coherent or you have more questions, please let me know! Best wishes with your comic, don’t give up, and make it everything you love! XOXO 😚💘💘💘