TWCL

[raines80]

So.. I downloaded a few mobile webcomics on my tablet this evening. I read a couple of them and they weren't half bad. I guess my question is... is it worth it?

There is a site called RobotComic or something like that... they say you can submit your comic to them and they might use it. They didn't say if it needs to be in mobile format or not... but they do take a cut (once again.. no mention of how much) if you plan to put a price tag on it.

Has anyone looked into this world of the webcomic? Any thoughts?
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[Luke]

Don't let somebody else publish your work for you. Not in that context, anyway.
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[citronrobotlord]

Moonshot comics seams to be doing something unique.

You actually get into a contract with them from what I can tell. and they publish all your work and advertise and all those good things.

some guys from... Nickelodeon, I think. started it. was promoting it on Linked in pretty prominently late last year.

[ewomack]

I'm guessing this is what this thread refers to --> Moonshot Comics
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Ed Womack

[raines80]

ewomack wrote:

I'm guessing this is what this thread refers to --> Moonshot Comics

I was actually just wondering what everyone else thought about mobile comics. I am thinking about contacting that robotcomic or one of the others to see what it is all about.

I am just not sure if it is even worth the trouble.
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[citronrobotlord]

I think for indie artists, digital distribution is the best way to go.

Unless you have a few thousand dollars to make print comics cheep enough to sell at industry standards (anything below 3.00-ish), then digital distribution really is the only way you'll sell anything. (at least in my experience...)

even then, weather you go with a digital distributor like robot comics, it all comes down to, do you want to bother advertising? if no, then go with a distributor then will advertise for you. If you don't mind spending most of your time marketing, then do it on your own, the profit will be greater.

That's my two cents....

[MGS]

I don't remember where I read this, but I did read that reading comics on mobile devices like phones is getting to be huge in Asia and that creators are finding a lot of success converting their comics to versions that can be read on a phone (I think they were referring to more long-form comics than strips, but, as I said, I can't remember where I read this).

Personally, I prefer reading on my computer and in print because I like to look at the overall page layouts, but, as for a more general audience, and especially the younger readers, I think reading on mobile devices is the wave of the future. I just can't wait unit my mobile can generate a holographic image of the entire page. But, still using a flip-phone that does not surf the net or even stay on on it's own, my guess is that it'll be a long time before I'm reading holographic projections of comics on my phone.

[citronrobotlord]

You could also consider the size of a phone screen as a new page format.

how can you get an engaging story across on such a small screen? could you use the small size to your benefit? adding in surprises whenever you want because they can't really look ahead more than a few panels?

could you use it to focus on one panel at a time? making each panel fit in at least one dimension (height or width) to the screen so that scrolling is kept to a min. and the art is fully visible?

also consider that many people carry a tablet-PC (clarified for us art folk) with them now. Which can fit a page somewhat better. it's still small, but there are always possibilities.

I'm obviously preaching to the quire here, we all understand the comic medium.

but I thought I'd just throw all of that out there anyways.

[Super Average]

IMHO, If you were going to go the mobile route, and I agree that self-distribution is the best method, you can try making a mobile app.

Sites like www.appmakr.com make this decently easy, but if you have a little bit of scratch you could hire a developer.

[raines80]

Super Average wrote:

IMHO, If you were going to go the mobile route, and I agree that self-distribution is the best method, you can try making a mobile app. Sites like www.appmakr.com make this decently easy, but if you have a little bit of scratch you could hire a developer.

I actually wouldn't mind doing that.... but... I don't want to spend 100.00 to become an Apple App Developer when I am only going to be creating one free App.
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[Super Average]

I guess in your situation something like Robotcomic may be the best route. But it looks like they require you to have something original for them. I think mobile only works if you have a built in following you can direct them to.

Pardon my hastiness...I'm new here.