The Casual Webcartoonist

Welcome back! We resume on the webcomicking blogging, after a well deserved Easter break.

Which by the way, got me thinking about hiatuses, vacations, and all that.

Everybody knows that for a webcomic to work, it needs to have something of a schedule that includes frequent updating on it.

But eventually, even the most disciplined cartoonist needs a break. There are a few notable exceptions out there. I think Chris Crosby has updated daily for a decade without missing a strip, or something like that. But everybody knows Chris is not human, and he’s made of puppies instead. Most of us, however, need the occasional break, either to prevent burnout or to come up for air.

Creative work is actually pretty demanding on the psyche. Pretty often I tell people what I do, and they can actually believe I draw the thing. But then they ask “And you come up with this stuff everyday???” and they make a face like I’m pulling a fast one. I guess that after a decade and more somehow I’m missing the magic of it all, but I’m telling you, at some point it becomes routine. I’m not saying that in a bad way!

Deep down, however, our ideas well tend to dry up from time to time. It’s time for a vacation!

Right here I’m not going to speak about hiatuses that are triggered by external events. There’s no point in that. If you suddenly stop updating because a medical emergency or a computer malfunction or a natural disaster happened, then it’s inevitable. No, here we’re going to discuss *scheduled*, planned hiatuses, breaks, and vacations.

Every hiatus hurts your numbers. Know it, face it, accept it. The shorter, the less, of course, but how can you minimize the damage? Is it possible?

Yes.

1. Time them up with the holidays.

The first and most important strategy is to synchronize your vacations with the rest of the world. Everybody knows that  most people read their webcomics at work, so naturally holidays equal very low audience. There’s also another reason: holidays are opportunities for people to get away and/or spend time with their families. A lot of them are away from their computers or a working wi-fi connection. Others are engaged in activities that involve getting out, going to parties, or traveling. Readers are more likely to be understanding when you take time off your comic when it’s a holiday… after all, no one’s working.

What are the best holidays to schedule a long vacation? AFAIK, it’s the Christmas break. I take time off every year on December. Mostly, around  Thanksgiving audience takes a dive and doesn’t come back until mid January. This might not be such a good idea if you’re moving merchandise, but at least two weeks before Christmas nothing gets shipped in time anyway. Take it off.

July and August are good choices too. Spring Break. You can also take shorter hiatuses during the year on popular holidays such as July 4th. I’m mostly speaking about the anglo audience, of course, but cater to your own.

2. Make “bridges” with weekends.

Weekends suck in terms of audience (actuallyFridays suck too) so if you’re taking days off, time them appropiately. That means if you’re running on a Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule, you don’t take off Wednesday since it’s the middle of the week. It’s best to take Friday off so you get a long weekend and more time to recharge. Even if you’re going on holiday vacation you can take advantage of this: update on Wednesday, miss Friday, start again on a Monday.

3. Prepare material beforehand.

This includes things such as guest strips, recycling, or anything you can put together fast and without a lot of work. If your Dead Piro things are taking more time than your regular strips, forget it.

4. Announce it.

Don’t just vanish off the face of Earth. Let your readers know when the hiatus starts and when it ends.

5. Keep a tight community.

Fan-based communities, such as the ones that exist in forums and the like, are more likely to keep themselves occupied and involved with your comic during a hiatus.

6. Keep an RSS.

I’m totally guilty of not having added an RSS to my comics yet, but I will. This month. I promise! Anyway, not speaking about me: a lot of people completely depend on RSS to follow what they follow. Mailing lists and the like , and also social networks are good to let people know you’re updating again.

Do you have any other tips for taking a guilt-free worry-free vacation? Share in the comments!