Golden Plume Comics wrote:
On Sunday we had the pleasure of tabling with Tapas staff member Josh at SacAnime Gives Back. Over the course of the day we promoted Tapas(tic) to con goers and also asked Josh what was in store for Tapastic down the road. Needless to say we are VERY excited in what is about to happen in the coming months. So excited that we are writing this at 1 am because we want everyone to know how JUICED we are. And, since there was no signed NDA (non-disclosure agreement), we are going to TOTALLY SPILL THE BEANS!
First off we want to say how impressed we are by how committed Tapas is to its creators. Tapastic wants its creators to succeed as much as possible because a "rising tide lifts all boats". Tapastic wants its creators to generate as much revenue as possible. As Josh listed out Tapastic's near term plans it felt like everything it wants to do is with "creators come first" in mind. It was so refreshing to hear this first hand. So you know, Josh is an avid comics collector for decadeS ("with an S"). Talking to him was not like talking to an administrator but to a fan who wants to partner with creators and help get their work out to the world. Having worked with other companies in the past, so many times we felt like we were just a tool, a cog, or a dollar sign to the company, and that they really did not care about us as long as we were useful to them. When talking to Josh it felt like we were valued. It felt like Tapastic was saying repeatedly "What can we do for you?"
And golly is Tapas about do to a lot for us. Hopefully this does not get redacted but TAPASTIC IS PARTNERING WITH AMAZON for creator merchandise. Yup. You do a t-shirt, Tapas pushes it out to Amazon, fans buy the shirt from Amazon, Amazon sends the money to Bank of Tapas and Tapastic and the creator split the proceeds. This is just the beginning, but "merch for creators is coming". We were given the numbers and the revenue is GOOD. Amazon is only letting so much happen at first so Tapas is going to first pilot the program with series that have a large following (5K+ subs), but as time goes on, merch will become more widely available. And more importantly, the more Tapas creator merch that is out there, the more readers who will find other series (your series!) while searching for that GamerCat comic based off the t-shirt they just saw at school.
Talking about revenue, Tapastic wants to shower creators with as much as they can. In fact, TAPASTIC FEELS LIKE THEY ARE NOT DOING ENOUGH for us. Mobile ads are coming. And TIPS are coming! Yes all those shiny coins that people can buy, Tapas is going to let them be bestowed upon creators however readers want to in whatever size amounts. And for readers who are short on $$$, they can instead watch video ads, then take those earned coins and give them to the creators they feel are the most deserving. Then creators take those coins and turn them into cash. Nice! Now teenagers who don't have lots of money can earn coins and give them to their favorite comics!
Pay or wait is also in the works. For creators who want don't want to completely "pay-wall" their work, instead readers can pay to read right away or wait a week or two and then get to read that episode for free. We really like this "hybrid" way of doing things. Now you don't need to risk your work never getting read because its stuck behind a locked pay door, but you also don't have to risk not being able to earn something. It's really the "best of both worlds" for creators.
Second, Tapas wants to grow and they want to grow as big and as fast as reasonably possible. While talking to Josh it felt like we were talking to NASA while standing on the launch pad for a comic rocket that is currently fueling. NASAtic knows about the bugs and they are doing their darnedest to squash them as fast as possible. So you all know, the software peeps at NASAtic work weekends and they work to 1:30 am in the morning on weekdays. They work insane hours because they love us creators and they want us to succeed. Tapas has a sister site in South Korea and some creators are making $75,000/year. Tapas has similar desires for its creators here. Based on feedback from con goers, Tapastic is still relatively unknown in the comics world. Tapas wants to change that. A convention presence around the bay area is something they are seriously considering. Tapas has put in submissions to panel at some large comic conventions in order to get the word out to readers so that creators can get more subscribers. Less than 1 in 10 SacAnime goers we spoke to knew about Tapastic. But when these new readers heard about it, their eyes popped open. 16,000 comics! Mobile app? Free? Everyone we spoke to was extremely positive and very interested, even those who had never read webcomics.
To think, if only 10% of comic con goers/readers currently know about Tapastic, does that mean the site can grow by 1000%?! Thankfully now Tapas has bigger, badder, stronger servers to handle this future growth!
Push notifications are coming. A new form of daily snack is coming. And what was amazing of all is that Tapas does not want to do this in years or quarters but in weeks and months. In a few weeks . . . in a few weeks . . . that was the timeline repeated for everything because Tapas wants to grow gangbusters. The only limit is the company's resources, both human and financial, and the CEO wants to do things that utilize both to the fullest for maximum reward with the least risk. Think of red lining your car. Tapas wants to rev the growth engine just to edge for maximum speed, without the risk of burning up. We creators just need to be patient and let all these great ideas come to fruition and keep turning out our pages while telling others to come check out Tapastic.
Tapas would also like to attract some big names in comics in the future. They also hoping that creators get picked up by publishers and end up going to print. Some examples of webcomics becoming huge include Log Horizon and One-Punch Man. Tapas wants this for us as well. As for POP Comics? Josh said that Tapas is so busy worrying about how it can grow and make things better for creators that any competition is the LAST thing on their mind. Such confidence was very resounding. Tapas isn't worried about competitors, competitors should worry about Tapas. Nice.
Was there more said? Probably so. But after 7 hours of tabling and 3 hours of driving things are a little foggy. Maybe we will remember something more tomorrow. In closing, let us say this:
The future of Tapas(tic) is very bright.
Posts: 1
Participants: 1
Read full topic