Question about tapastic

Discussion in 'Author Discussions' started by Ai chan, Nov 14, 2018.

  1. Ai chan

    Ai chan Queen of Yuri, Devourer of Traps, Thrusted Witch

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    Hi all, Ai-chan wants to ask you guys a question and hope those who knows can answer.

    Basically, someone suggested to Ai-chan to post my story for nanowrimo on tapastic. The problem is, Ai-chan knows absolutely nothing about tapas (ekusucept for the alcoholic drinks). So Ai-chan needs those who knows to tell Ai-chan about it. Please take note that Ai-chan's talking about webnovels, not webcomics.

    In particular, Ai-chan needs to know the answer to the following question:
    1) Who holds the copyright of the stories posted there? Ai-chan tried to read their documentation, but so far absolutely nothing was mentioned apart from the part about some kind of partnership problem. Since very few will get partnership, the question is still unanswered.
    2) How many authors you know make a living from writing on Tapas?
    3) How does the income thingy work with Tapas?
    4) What are the pros of posting on Tapas as opposed to other platform? Such as wattpad.
    5) What are the cons of posting on Tapas?

    Thanks in advance. Ai-chan tried to read their documentation, but either it's a mess or Ai-chan has no idea how to start reading it. Basically it's a mess.
     
  2. EricBannen

    EricBannen √[To Read or Not to Read]

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    If you are putting effort into a novel why not get it published by a genuine publisher and make physical copies of it... Wouldn't it be better...^^
     
  3. Ai chan

    Ai chan Queen of Yuri, Devourer of Traps, Thrusted Witch

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    Getting published by traditional publisher is very hard. You'll never know what they actually want and you can write the best stories and they'll still choose to reject you because what you have doesn't fit what they want to sell. Even if they accept you, there is still no guarantee that your book will be sold. Ai-chan's lesbian eroticas sat on the shelves for 2 years before the company stopped selling them. American audiences like gay erotica, not lesbian erotica, a fact that Ai-chan learned too late.

    With webnovels, you just write what you want to write and hope people like it. There is no ekusupectations, no burden. Just write and watch how things go.
     
  4. RyouDou

    RyouDou Active Member

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    On tapas the author retains all ownership unless they come to collaboration agreement in which case they help the author to sell their work, but author still is in the loop all the time and basically everything is negotiable. At least that is what I understood from their documentation.

    I don't know how many people are earning a living with it since I am not in the circle of writers.

    I heard that your story needs a minimum reader base before you can start earning with it, but the requirements weren't very large.
    Edit: You start earning from ad revenue from the beginning but tipping is enabled only once any one of your stories has at least 500 subscribers.

    At least from reading their help pages I got a very good impression of them in terms of their attitude and care for authors.

    I hope to see some yuri to balance out all the yaoi there in which I have absolutely no interest.
     
    Last edited: Nov 14, 2018
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  5. Ai chan

    Ai chan Queen of Yuri, Devourer of Traps, Thrusted Witch

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    Just a question, I'm sorry if I got this wrong, but are you my first subscriber?

    I mean, for this story. https://tapas.io/series/The-Hounds-of-Hell

    If yes, thank you a lot. If not, it would be great if you would check out my story. Next chapter should be out in a few hours.
     
  6. EricBannen

    EricBannen √[To Read or Not to Read]

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    Oh nice... I read ekusupectations in the anime voice ... Also, Ai-Chan please become my dealer... I need material for research purposes which are better than machine translations... I have high hopes from you... I don't swing any which way (meaning m straight)... If there is some material with you starring in them I can make space for some girl girl kawaii action :blobamused::blobwink::blobamused:
    :blobnosebleed::blobnosebleed::blobpats::blobowoevil_horns:
     
  7. EricBannen

    EricBannen √[To Read or Not to Read]

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    Ehh I didn't mean anything as a slander... Hope you take things light hearted...
    Please don't misunderstand...:blobsweat_2::blobsweat_2::cookie::blobpeek::blobangel:
     
  8. RyouDou

    RyouDou Active Member

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    Yes, that's me ;)
    A discord channel might be convenient for reporting typos and the like, given that you have the time and energy to spend there.
    Keep up the good work!
     
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  9. tides

    tides Well-Known Member

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    thats weird. so you mean you got traditionally published but it did not sell well?

    what about online sales?
     
  10. Rumby

    Rumby Rumbly Tumbly

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    Uhh I only heard about tapas, not really looked into it especially the novel part. From what I remember Tapas likes to feature popular stuff and those in their program more than the newbies, and yeah comics get more attention than novels.

    4) What are the pros of posting on Tapas as opposed to other platform? Such as wattpad.
    I remember Tapas is a generally friendly userbase, and at least tapas won't be filled with fanfics like Wattpad has, so you won't have to compete with fanfics.

    5) What are the cons of posting on Tapas?
    I remember there was some drama about Tapas changing their TOS last year, due to adding the "Right of First Refusal" (like if an author wanted to publish / make merch, they had to check with Tapas first) But I think that was changed and removed, because some artists left Tapas as a result
    And I just remembered this tweet https://twitter.com/shingworks/status/865229380653432833 they used to take comic's from ppl in the past so kind of fishy honestly
     
    Last edited: Nov 29, 2018
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  11. Ai chan

    Ai chan Queen of Yuri, Devourer of Traps, Thrusted Witch

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    I got the signing bonus of course, but very little in royalty. They eventually pulled my titles from the shelves and kept the remaining copies in storage. That was the last Ai-chan heard about my books.

    If there was online sales, Ai-chan wouldn't know. The only thing that matters is that if a copy is sold, Ai-chan would get the royalty for each copy. If you mean digital sales, there was no digital sales. Kindle was not a common device outside of the US yet and those who did have kindle were mostly hipsters or rich kids. Most people still read actual books. This was before Barnes & Noble died or while it was dying, I think.
     
  12. tides

    tides Well-Known Member

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    oh damn..
     
  13. lnv

    lnv ✪ Well-Known Hypocrite

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    So... have you managed to get any income from Tapas publishing there? I don't particularly care about the money, but wondering if its enough for me to say "Anyone want to do editing? You can keep all the Tapas earnings". Something like that.
     
  14. Ai chan

    Ai chan Queen of Yuri, Devourer of Traps, Thrusted Witch

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    No, most readers go there for webcomics. While there are novel authors who seem to be making money, they post like every day. Ai-chan doesn't have that kind of time. You need to get 100 subs before you can get money from ads income sharing and that's going to take a long time.
     
  15. lnv

    lnv ✪ Well-Known Hypocrite

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    Hmm... is subscribing to a novel free? or costs their points?
     
  16. RyouDou

    RyouDou Active Member

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    It's free. And one can get free ink by watching some ads.
     
  17. 31russ

    31russ readitt.com

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    Psychical copies are dying. More than 60% of books are sold digitally now. It's not me it's numbers from Amazon. And .... Mmm... Readitt is still better ))

    Jokes aside how things going with tapas?
     
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  18. Ai chan

    Ai chan Queen of Yuri, Devourer of Traps, Thrusted Witch

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    Got some views. Got some subscribes. Fairly well for a lazy author lol
     
  19. 31russ

    31russ readitt.com

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    53 views and 1 subscriber. I thought tapas is more popular than this. Well, I guess it's normal if you consider that it hard to find new works and they're more into webtoons. Also, you can't expect much from just 2 chapters, but still even posting the link in the sub-reddit group will get more views. Wish you good luck, I will be cheering for you. You can always come to me if you will get bored there )
     
  20. Ai chan

    Ai chan Queen of Yuri, Devourer of Traps, Thrusted Witch

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    Hahaha. No, the other title. Hounds of Hell was a nanowrimo title, which I couldn't summon the motivation to try complete because I couldn't keep up with the other authors. My story kept getting pushed out of the 'fresh' category so quickly by other older titles by more known authors who prepared the titles months in advance instead of writing it in november.

    There's another title that I still write regularly. I can post that on your site too if you're fine with that.
     
    Last edited: Dec 20, 2018