Best hosts // Opinion on inkblazers?

[pacifistEvil]

Hey.
So I started developing a webcomic. It's not my first time, but it is the first time I'm really dedicated to go through with it. But the question is, where to publish it?

The first few times I published my comics on smackjeeves. It was years ago, I had no problem with the site back then but now I see it's faults so I'm looking for a new place to start.

So far my best guesses are tumblr (with the comic book theme most people use and the tag system it seems like a good idea, plus people could easily share the pages by reblogging, so it serves promotion too, I guess) But people can't really comment on the individual pages there.

Also I considered Inkblazers (formerly mangamagazine). With the new look the site seems great, and I uploaded two sketches and got followers quickly. (One person even started following my comic which has no pages posted yet). And as I saw there are some neat features there, but I don't really know about the site much.

Or if there are other ways (I'd ask free ways - because I'm poor as frick, and as nice as it'd be to host it on a site run by me, I couldn't afford a server host and free hosts are not really great for this purpose) I'm all ears.

[Silpoid]

I only know about tumblr , and people would be able to add comments by reblogging (you probably know that)

But from what you have said i think Inkblazers would be a better choice.

[Kyousouka]

I do not recommend Tumblr as a primary site for your comic, but I highly recommend using it as a way to tell people that your comic has updated. Posting a small snippet of the page with a link to the comic works wonders. However, if your comic is a strip comic (versus long-form), then hosting on Tumblr could work too.

I'm still partial to Smackjeeves of all the free options I'm aware of. Like you said, it has problems, but despite them I feel like it's the one with the best potential because of the customization it offers.
With a Donator subscription it's particularly good value since that'll remove the ads (the biggest problem on SJ in my opinion), and you could make enough to cover the cost by running Project Wonderful ads on the site for part of the year (my little comic made enough through PW to pay for many years worth of subscriptions in the few months I had it up).

Inkblazers is a good option if you just want to post your pages and not worry about a professional look or monetizing the comic. It is a bit easier to gain fans on there than most other places, but in my experience, the real droves come from external advertising and word of mouth no matter where your comic is hosted.

[pacifistEvil]

Silpoid

Yes, but that's not really a direct communication and easay to miss a comment, and I actually like to go through them. smile But I'll definitely use it for promotion at least.

Kyousouka

Yeah I have my doubts for tumblr too. I never really considered it as a main page but just like you said, it's great to use it as kind of an advertising area. But I found this theme which is widely used by people who post their work on tumblr.

Thanks for the smackjeeves advice, I'll consider it, (and see if I can spare the money) but it sounds great.

As for inkblazers I haven't really checked how the customization works (or if it even works). I'll get into that.


And thanks for the tips, both of you. smile

[Kyousouka]

I've seen that Tumblr layout as well, but even with that I feel like Tumblr's a poor platform for longform webcomics. In particular, there's no way to make a good, useful archive page for longform comics on Tumblr. Wonderful for strips, like I said xP


I never spent a dime out of pocket on my SJ comics, I let the PW ads pay for them. I have enough money left over from that time to get my next (off-SJ) comic started with hosting and ads. My comics might not have paid my bills, but they certainly paid their own.
Until you start doing (presumably paid) advertising outside of SJ, the vast majority of your readers will be SJ members who will not see SJ's ads (and won't see a difference between a subscribed site and a non-sub site). Use that early period to build up funds for ads and subscriptions by running a PW ad or two on your site. You could also keep the ad(s) on your site even after you have a subscription, if you think they fit. If they're distracting, then you could remove them until you need money again.

[Lady Ignea]

♥ ♥ . . .

I've tried both smackjeeves and inkblazers, and that second one is better in my opinion. It looks cleaner, you can easily choose a chapter you want, and get notifications when someone comments or follows your comic (not only by email, by directly on the site).
To be honest, I can't even imagine posting a full webcomic on tumblr D:

. . . ♥ ♥

[pacifistEvil]

Kyousouka

Yes the archive thing bothers me a lot about tumblr.

I'll take your tip, never heard of it before. But that's a really good idea, thank you!

[pacifistEvil]

Lady Ignea

Yes, the notifications on inkblazers are really handy, I liked that feature.
Honestly I too can't imagine how some people manage running successful webcomics at tumblr, but I saw it not once, so I guess that's a thing. :'P

[Lady Ignea]

pacifistEvil

Yes, the notifications on inkblazers are really handy, I liked that feature.
Honestly I too can't imagine how some people manage running successful webcomics at tumblr, but I saw it not once, so I guess that's a thing. :'P

♥ ♥ . . .

Right? and it's quite easy to find new comics to read there. By the way, what's your name on inkblazers?
That's interesting! o uo though isn't it hard for new readers to find the page they've stopped reading at? (when the comic is long and they don't read whole at once)

. . . ♥ ♥

[pacifistEvil]

Lady Ignea

Oh, it's skatuya, but I have nothing but two sketches there. I plan on starting my comic around September.
I checked out your comic, it seems interesting! =u= I haven't had the time to read it through but I will :'D
I never really thought about this problem with tumblr, because I use rss reader to track comics but you're right, that's gonna be an issue.

[Lady Ignea]

pacifistEvil

Lady Ignea

Oh, it's skatuya, but I have nothing but two sketches there. I plan on starting my comic around September.
I checked out your comic, it seems interesting! =u= I haven't had the time to read it through but I will :'D
I never really thought about this problem with tumblr, because I use rss reader to track comics but you're right, that's gonna be an issue.

♥ ♥ . . .

WAIT you are calling those SKETCHES? D8 well you can pm me link to it once you start uploading, will take a look at it :'D
And thank you~! > U< I hope you'll enjoy reading it :'D

. . . ♥ ♥

[pacifistEvil]

Lady Ignea

Yeah well maybe I went a little overboard with them... ^^" Will do, and thanks smile

[Ashenflame]

Comic Dish - Free, full site customization, no ads. I make site templates for them somtimes.
Drunk Duck - Free, some site customization, lots of ads.
Smack Jeeves - Free, full site customization, ads when not logged in.
Comic Fury - Free, full site customization, no ads.
ToonsUP - Free, some site customization, no ads.

Could always go old school and look up Keenspace/ComicGenesis.

Tumblr, deviantART, and such sites don't make good comic hosting sites. Better used to promote the comic and gain new readers.

[pacifistEvil]

Ashenflame

Comic Dish - Free, full site customization, no ads. I make site templates for them somtimes.
Drunk Duck - Free, some site customization, lots of ads.
Smack Jeeves - Free, full site customization, ads when not logged in.
Comic Fury - Free, full site customization, no ads.
ToonsUP - Free, some site customization, no ads.

Could always go old school and look up Keenspace/ComicGenesis.

Tumblr, deviantART, and such sites don't make good comic hosting sites. Better used to promote the comic and gain new readers.

Thank you! I'll check these out there are a few I haven't heard of before! smile

[Valencia Glitterspark]

Comicfury is a good free host, also I just started using Tapastic and it seems pretty nice so far.