An Experimental Life

Building a readership
Art is a form of communication, and the most well-done strip in the world is useless and worthless until someone else reads it. Making a webcomic and not promoting it, yet expecting a readership, is like starting a band that only plays in your basement.

Promoting is not selling out--It is just getting the word out that, hey, you've made something at which you want people to look. Selling out would be if you started making all your art and storyline decisions based on what you think might be popular whether you like doing it or not. (This isn't to say keeping an eye toward popularity is bad--After all, the idea of good writing is to connect to an audience--Just that if you find yourself making creative decisions based only on what you think might be popular, you've sold out.)

Before you promote
Before you promote, make sure you have at least ten strips up. We didn't wait, and had it very nicely explained to us that in most webcomic circles it is considered a faux pas to begin promoting before you have at least ten installments up. Part of this is because so many strips fizzle out even before that point, but mostly it is because having at least ten strips up allows people to get a better idea of what to expect from you.

That said, here are some things you can do to bring eyes to your strip. Some of them are even free!

Some options currently gaining popularity
Check out both Project Wonderful and SpeechBubble, for both selling AND buying ad space.

Webcomics toplists direcories

Okay, I'm not big on worrying about whether our comic is doing better than anyone else's (Some of the webcomic authors I've helped answer questions for when they were geting started have had their strips far surpass BCK in popularity, and I'm happy for them.), but toplists and directories are great places to find new readers.

Register at all of these and put their buttons on your site.
(No, you don't have to vote for us--It was simply faster to copy and paste the button code than to type in all the URLs by hand.)

We've had tons of hits and picked up lots of loyal readers from all of the above sites. Everyone who goes to these sites is either a webcomic fan or author, or both. As more of your readers vote for your site on the toplists, your comic moves up the ranks, which makes it more visible, which attracts new readers, who vote, which moves your comic up further... It goes on and on in a big circle. Don't neglect the directory sites, either. We've gotten more readers from the Belfry than from any other single site.

Livejournal and other online communites
First rule here: Don't spam!

There are many webcomic communities on LJ that allow pimping your own strip. Don't stay just with webcomic communities, though. Look for other communities related to what you're doing. For instance, if you're doing a science fiction strip, look for science fiction communities. If your strip is centered around gaming, look for gaming communities. Rule two of promoting on LJ or other online communities is this: When in doubt, ask the moderator for permission before you post! For one thing it is just polite. For another thing, you aren't going to make any friends or fans by posting to a hostile community.

If you don't already have a Livejournal account, go to Livejournal and sign up (tell 'em worldforger sent you). Then simply search for comic and webcomic communities, and other communities that share interests in common with your comic material. Bingo! Again, though--I can't stress this enough--DO NOT SPAM! If there is even the SLIGHTEST doubt in your mind about whether promoting your comic is okay in that particular community, email the moderator or, if his or her information is not listed, post a query to the community asking if it is okay to promote your strip.

As an added bonus, some of the more established webcomic authors hang out on some of the webcomic communities on LJ, like Howard Taylor of Schlock Mercenary and Rob Balder of Partially Clips.

Follow simple rules of netiquette (no spamming, no flaming, etcetera), and you will very likely be well-recieved.

Join forums
Join discussion forums at the lists above, and those at other sites like Comixpedia and Talk About Comics. Join the forums of other webcomics you enjoy, too! Again--Don't spam! Don't post unless you have something to say.

Advertising
I hear some of you groaning already. The thing is, though, as long as you have a quality product, advertising works. Many of the sites listed above have excellent advertising rates. While we can't afford to do it as much as I'd like, we've bought advertising on several of those sites, and had good experiences with all of them. Five or ten bucks is enough to get started on BuzzComix.

Other Webcomics
Make connections with other webcomic authors and artists. Not only can you learn new things, but it's fun to trade guest art and stuff. And you can promote each other, sort of the way we do with the Toasted Monkey link exchange. While we don't put many people into the link exchange, I sometimes mention strips that catch my eye when I do the newsbox.

Other stuff
Make banners, buttons, wallpapers, livejournal icons, flyers, etcetera, and post them on your site.

We've got Livejournal icons, downloadable flyers, and link banners and buttons on our site for people to download and use. If they look cool and people use them, then every time someone asks, "Hey, where'd you get that icon?," whomever is using it says, "Why, I got it from Joe Blow's comic! Here; check it out!"

There are other things you can do, as well. Look for small local conventions you can go to. If you can't finagle a guest invitation, rent table space or just go and take flyers with you. Or send flyers with your fans if you can't make it yourself. Ask your local comic store if you can post flyers there. You'll come up with other ideas on your own, I'm sure.