Written by
How often should one update their webcomic/series?
Good morning. *wave* I'm planning to start a web comic/series and I'm wondering, how often is too often in updating? Not often enough? Let's just assume I have an entire chapter of a comic done, maybe 10-12 pages. Any suggestion is loved, thank you!
Frequent updates are what readers will like best, as long as you can keep up the speed. I think updating consistently is more important than updating quickly. People suspect that a decrease in the frequency of updates means that the artist's interest in the project is waning.
It's great if you already have an entire chapter finished. Maybe start off doing something like posting two pages for each new page you draw. Like, if it takes two week to get a page done, post the finished pages once a week. That way, you won't always be so far ahead, and you'll have time to experiment a bit with how quickly you want to work while still giving the readers steady updates.
I would also suggest posting the beginning a bit more quickly than the rest of the series, so that you can get to a scene that will hook people. It takes time for a story to reach a conflict or something exciting. This is not a problem for complete works, but can hurt a serialized project. Many people who make a web series need positive feedback to build their confidence and keep them in high spirits when working, and people won't get very excited during the intro pages.
A few more tips:
1. If you ever need to post more than a page a week, post all of the pages at the same time, not separately. When extra pages are posted together it looks like you put in extra work (which is probably true), where as posting more than once a week can look impatient.
2. Having a set day of the week that you always update on is a very good thing, but is difficult to do. It's convenient for readers to have an idea of when to check for updates. You would not have to update on that day every week, you could just save what you finish during the rest of the week until that day comes to post it.
3. Take some time off from updating in between chapters, it builds some excitement for the new chapter and gives you a break.
4. If you ever get worried about not updating fast enough, posting quick sketches in between updates doesn't take much time, makes the readers happy, and can generate some more excitement for the next update.
So, in short: Try to reach an interesting point quickly, but after that aim for a speed that you can maintain. Good luck with your series, and sorry this answer is so damn long.
