The Casual Webcartoonist

Howdy neighbors. Today I’m going to discuss strategies to earn yourself a bookmark.

Althought a first impression of course starts with the main page and the comic in said page -which should of course be the latest one- right now we’re going to focus on hooking that potential new reader.

Now, there’s two kinds of people in this world. The kind that goes to the first comic and reads everything forward, and the kind that reads a whole archile trawl backwards. While this might seem like an idiotic idea, I’m telling you it’s true. (I should know, I do this sometimes!) It’s also a particularity of webcomics: I don’t think anybody out there reads comic books or graphic novels backwards (unless they’re manga and they’re read right-to-left).

A good webcomic is enjoyable in any direction, but of course you can only think forward. Since you can’t control exactly what comics are the first that are read by a new reader that is a backwards reader, then you can only hope they’re good. But you CAN control what comics are read in the other case. That means you should be particularly careful with the first five or ten comics in your archive.

What should you aim for? Your best case scenario is one where 5 strips are good enough for the potential new reader to bookmark your site, or to keep them reading further into the archives. The more they dig, the more likely they are to bookmark your site or become your reader. Bookmarking doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve got yourself a new reader, but it’s at least a hook you get. Lots of people see a new site, decide it’s interesting, bookmark it to dig in later, and forget. While it’s possible the bookmark stays untouched, the fact  is, it’s there. Come a slow day, a boring day, or one of those dreadful sick days, people will quickly run out of options, and maybe then they’ll decide to give it a go.

If this sounds tremendously serendipitious to you… well, it’s not. Fact is, most people are way too lazy to clean up their bookmarks from sites that are no longer relevant to them from time to time.  At least you can be sure you’re just one click away.

Ideally, your first five strips should be hooking. This means not boring, not slow, and not text. It’s a great temptation to make intros  or maps or heavily  texty or introspective things. You can do this of course, but it’s a better idea to just jump in the middle of a scene.

Do you remember in the old times, movies would start with the credits? You got a solid few minutes of nothing but names of actors, producers, and stuff. To easy the boredom they would put a striking music score, breathtaking views, that sort of thing.

They no longer do that. What they do is they start with a scene, and when the scene ends, they make a transition scene, and during that they show the credits. Quite muted and subtle, yeah, but we live in fast times, and let’s face it: the internet has LOTS of shiny things waiting to rip that new readers off our claws hands.

So skip that intro or make it two, three pages at most. If you’re making a funny, make those first comics really pack a punch. You’d be surprised how many people remember that Sluggy’s first strip is about satanic possession and trying to install windows on a mac. I assure you, it’s a LOT.

Generally speaking you should be giving a bite of the general tone, pacing, and rhythm of the strip. You can’t exactly showcase character chemistry in such few pages, so try to focus on one character -either your main character or a likable one- and go to town. Do your best. If you’re a case of art evolution and don’t like people reading the first archives, you should be setting a guide where you steer new readers into reading a particular storyline that you think works well as an introduction to your comic.

Common First Comic pitfalls:

*Don’t make the comic about writer’s block. <— seriously, NO. It’s your first strip, for God’s sake. Not a good sign.

*Don’t make a strip about how your strip sucks <— this is EVEN. WORSE.

* Try not to break the fourth wall. You gotta be very careful with the fourth wall: once you break it, you turn your characters into actors, and it kills the suspension of disbelief. This is not to be taken lightly. Stay away from it. Also, almost every fourth wall joke or gimmick has been done to death.

* Don’t mistake “intriguing” for “incomprehensible”. People should know what you’re talking about. It doesn’t matter if they don’t fully understand it: they should be able to follow it. Forget about showcasing an alien language there.

*Avoid spoilers. It’s a big temptation to reveal something important as a way of saying “”Wait! This farmer kid is really going to save the world! It gets good, I promise!” You’ll come to regret it later.

*Avoid featuring yourself, guest art, or a strip that has little to do with your actual strip or main characters. No “character design sheets”, please.

*If possible, avoid to give a wrong impression. Don’t use toilet humor if you’re not really planning on making it a regular feature. Same goes for making gaming jokes, featuring sexy stuff, or whatever. The point with these strips is that they’re supposed to REPRESENT.

*Avoid generic landscape shots. Establishing shots are sort of boring, you can get into them later. Focus on the characters or domestic scenes, better.

*Avoid text titles. You’ll only elicit a groan from your potential new reader. “Can we get to the comics already???” Not good!

*Avoid covers. Unless they’re breathtaking, just skip them for now. Later, when you have a following and a reputation, you can think of including them.

In short: stick to the meat. You have few strips to make an impression, don’t waste them!

Stick around in the next few days for the Weekend Smallish Tip!