TWCL

Thinking Ape · Joined: 17 Aug 2005 Posts: 80

Hey folks:

In the effort to give readers more content between my weekly Tuesday comic (which is a print comic in The Boston Weekly Dig newpaper in Boston), and in a shameless effort to pimp THE THINKING APE BLUES by boosting it's rankings on various webcomic website lists, I have started a new feature today. Inspired by Tanya Higgins of BetaPwned , I am offering an every Friday single panel Thinking Ape Blues comic as an incentive pic when you go to my site and vote on for TAB on the various webcomic ranking sites using the buttons below the normal weekly comic.

This won't be some quicky sketch or some throw away art, this is a real companion comic strip only available by voting. I'm treating it as a whole new comic to such a degree that I'm giving it it's own name, THE THINKING APE BLUES: APE SH*T. It will be a little more gag oriented and one-liner-ish, kind of like a New Yorker cartoon on acid. It will give my readers more content to tide them over until Tuesdays without messing up the structure of the regular strip (that is a print comic by nature) and hopefully grow my readership (while shamelessly vote whoring).

I know the whole voting thing is annoying and sometimes mystifying, but it's a useful tool to build readership and a necessary evil, I guess, so at least this way we both get something out of it. So swing on by www.thinkingapeblues.com, read this week's comic and then vote to see the first installment of THE THINKING APE BLUES: APE SH*T. Thanks!
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GingerDead · Joined: 17 Oct 2006 Posts: 230 Location: behind you

genius idea. most voting things give you a sketch and i'm willing to vote to see it. besides, it's nice to support a comic you enjoy. but getting a single panel, fully inked comic? that's really cool. i enjoyed yesterday's and will be popping over on fridays from now on to vote and get my ape shit fix. ewww.
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Thinking Ape · Joined: 17 Aug 2005 Posts: 80

Thanks Ginger .....

So, you don't think it's too tacky or manipulative? Like, should I just post the Friday comic and hope a reader who likes the strip goes and votes of their own volition? I've really battled with this in my head the past 24 hours.

I'd love to hear others' input on this, positive and negative. This is a newly created ongoing experiment, so people's opinions will help me formulate a better idea if this is a shrewd move or a scummy one or just plain dumb.

Lemme know, folks.
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Traitorfish · Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 5:07 pm Post subject:

I don't think it's manipulative- several artist do it (Like you said, BetaPwned is one), and it's a nice alternative to the standard sketch (although I like sketches too). As long as you're keeping the main attraction up, which you are, there's no really problem with it.
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Traitorfish.deviantART

WriterWhoCantDraw · Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 6:17 pm Post subject:

Hey, the more the better! I was already voting for TAB over on Webbed Comics, so now I'll have even more reason to do so. I might have to ask Fesworks if he could do something like this once a week for my comic, in fact. It's a great idea.

Phantosanucca · Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 355

While one could consider offering a voting incentive a lame attempt to curry the favour of readers who want something for nothing, I still think it's better than just asking everybody to vote with the only reward being a boosted ego for the author.

Besides, I usually like what we get for voting on certain comics, so it's fine by me. Art, Comics, sketches, doesn't matter. Content is content, and the stuff found in voting incentives usually involves more effort in the first place than the standard product. =)
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Half-baked, half-assed,

~Half-Masked~

Thinking Ape · Joined: 17 Aug 2005 Posts: 80

Thanks for the input, folks. I'm still really conflicted by this experiment and it hasn't even been a week. In general, though, what I've been hearing here and at Hyatt Forums is most people think it's OK and some people think it's great. And I'm with you, Phantos, I really loathe asking people to vote, especially since I don't know if in the end selling a small chunk of your integrity even equates to more readers. I mean, I just put them on a month ago and I've had this web site for almost 6 years!

So, when in Rome ... do as the Romans as you can stomach while still being able to look at yourself in the mirror, I guess. Oh, and thanks in particular, Phantos ... I know we butted heads over the Penny Arcade issue, so it's cool you chimed in.
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Jeanine · Joined: 29 Oct 2006 Posts: 422 Location: Colorado

Damn, I wish there was some way for you to release these things for T-shirts without voiding the whole purpose of an incentive. Fargin' hillarious, you are. I'm loving them.

Oh, and butter is good on anything. *grins*

t
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Phantosanucca · Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 355

Thinking Ape wrote:

Oh, and thanks in particular, Phantos ... I know we butted heads over the Penny Arcade issue, so it's cool you chimed in.

Yeah, I couldn't stay mad at someone who creates this much awesome every week. Besides, I admit I get a bit too passionate about things like that. Head-buttings just sort of come with the package.

I don't quite get the hobo bus-stop comic, but it's not the end of the world. There'll be other strips... I think. Unless you're still having those doubts of morality. But the way I see it, just be glad you're in a position where your stuff has developed enough to the point where you can start thinking about these things in a manner that actually corresponds to reality. We all think about how far we'll go for things like readership. You're just in a spot where the choices you make might actually affect your comic in some way. The possibility of going somewhere beats being stuck in the mud, if you get what I'm saying.
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Half-baked, half-assed,

~Half-Masked~

GlenGoldentree · Joined: 02 May 2006 Posts: 653 Location: Boise, ID USA

Phantosanucca wrote:

I don't quite get the hobo bus-stop comic

Abe thinks the hobo is lucky because, while he has to go to work on a schedule, the hobo gets to lie around and drink all day.

Because we take for granted that we have security, a roof over our heads, etc. Most people are too quick to say "I envy that person" for whatever reason, because they fail to recognize how good they themselves have it. But most of those people we envy have plenty of stuff in their lives that they'd rather do without too.

Do I get a cookie? I want a cookie.
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Pagan Comic - The Many Moons of Astra

Phantosanucca · Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 355

Ah, Prince and the Pauper eh? Thanks for clearin' that one up for me. Pretty good one, now that I think about it. =)
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Half-baked, half-assed,

~Half-Masked~

Thinking Ape · Joined: 17 Aug 2005 Posts: 80

You're both high. It's just being mean to the homeless.

Naw, actually, I had that gag seriously 10 years ago and drew it as a sort of a New Yorker cartoon, with this real snotty looking business man. I just found it so tasteless and cruel. In retrospect, I can't believe I unearthed an old gag from a decade back ... weird.
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Debt On · Joined: 07 May 2005 Posts: 247

That gag is killer. The New Yorker would be fools not to run it.
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Primary Source News | Spinzone Comics Collective

Thinking Ape · Joined: 17 Aug 2005 Posts: 80

Thanks, Debt .... this Friday's one panel is going to be rather disgusting, so I'm trying to branch out, y'know. Really spread my wings. Let's just say it involves tropical diseases from Nantucket.
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Thinking Ape · Joined: 17 Aug 2005 Posts: 80

And the new single panel voting incentive comic for this week is up at Top Web Comics, Webbed Comics and Buzz Comix. Check it out, be offended.

Thanks.
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