Another Webcomic Platform Exits

Tapas - the webcomic and webnovel platform is shutting down. Their parent company shifts their focus to AI as the comic platform hasn't proven to be beneficial for them.

Which makes comic creators and authors really upset because it wasn't communicated to them clearly enough.

And Tapas shutting down will leave many comics and writers without a place to host their work and without a potential source of revenue.

WebToon has their own fair share of negative reports as well.

This is where the problem lies. You're at mercy of the platform you are on when you don't diversify. It's a double edge sword actually. If you post to these big platforms, you abide by their rules in exchange for readership and discoverability. It makes sense, it's free to use too! Which makes authors and artists hesitant to host a website of their own - because you won't be seen.

Leaflet is trying to offer a solution for that. Though new to the scene, they cater to artists and authors ailke, as mentioned to their recent post. You can read the whole thread as you click to the post.

Will this be a solution to the platform problem? Artists online need discoverability in order to widen their reach and for their work to be visible to potential readers and supporters. But if a platform has nothing to back that up? Are we just shouting to the void?

So as an artist, in practical and reality, where do you position yourself?

I don't have an answer to that for now. That's why I'm trying to spread the reach of my work to multiple platforms. The problem with that is, you get to be spread too thin. Which is dangerous line to tread for burn out.

Over the years, these kinds of scenarios will be common for artists online. Heck, it's even happening the last decade. We will be like nomads jumping from one platform on to the next.

Just to find a safe space for our works.