Monetising a webcomic

CDarklock · 09-27-2009, 10:11 PM

Anyone ever done this?

Slightly over 9 years ago, I had a reasonably popular webcomic with the unfortunate anniversary of September 11. I've been planning to revive the comic on its tenth anniversary, but I'm unsure whether this should be a just-for-fun project or a bona fide business venture.

Suggestions? Experiences? Ideas?

cclou · 09-27-2009, 10:23 PM

You probably already know about it, but I would get the book How to Make a Webcomic. I don't have a webcomic, just read several (including the ones by the people who made the book).

Ken Strong · 09-27-2009, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CDarklock

Suggestions? Experiences? Ideas?

Are you looking at what other webcomics are doing? For instance this one: Out There - Saturday, September 26, 2009 has a PR of 4 and a traffic value of almost 4,000. They've got a combination of ads, AdSense, a regularly updated blog, and other stuff on the site.

Then there's the Comics Curmudgeon -- one of my favorite sites, looks like it gets a lot of traffic. He's built it up to the point where he routinely gets a couple of hundred comments every day. (You could also buy an ad for your webcomic there, but he regularly gives free plugs to webcomics he likes.)

Just a couple of ideas...

Justin Jordan · 09-28-2009, 10:06 AM

The way most webcomics make their money is through sales of collection and merchandising. Things like ad sales and donations tend to be secondary sources of income, although obvious there are exception.

Collections - Obvious enough. You either do a print run or you a Print On Demand service like Lulu when people order. These days, you can also do ebooks and have them available on itunes and the like.

Merchandise - Like collections, you can either do it yourself, or you can a CafePress type service to fulfill the orders, or a mix of both. Tee Shirts and the like seem to be the order of the day, but also mugs, shotglasses, buttons and whatever.

Ads - Some webcomics do their ad arrangements, but the usual thing in webcomics is Project Wonderful, an Adsense type thing geared towards comics. Some of the big performers actually make decent scratch from it. Last time I look getting a banner on Girl Genius was something like twenty five bucks a day, and they have a bunch of spaces.

Donations - Or you can just ask people for money. A lot of people give their readers some kind of gift like a wallpaper or whatnot, but having a tip jar is pretty common.

You can see a good mix of techniques at Girls With Slingshots - Girls with Slingshots: Two girls, a bar, and a talking cactus, five times a week! - where Danielle Corsetto does all of the above.

Or my webcomic, for very little monetization - The Assignment 01 • R&R Publications

Kezz · 09-29-2009, 01:06 AM

You should also check out Project Wonderful: https://www.projectwonderful.com/

It's a bid for advertising setup, that was created by a guy who also developed a web comic search engine. As a result, it's almost completely dominated by web comics.

Some of the web comics on there make pretty solid money from this service alone. The current top earner Questionablecontent.net gets $59.50 per day, so that's $1785 p/mth from just that revenue stream. Worth a looky I think.

09-27-2009, 10:11 PM	#1
CDarklock AT gmail DOT com War Room Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Kent, WA Posts: 6,932 Blog Entries: 4 Thanks: 1,734 Thanked 5,468 Times in 2,503 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Monetising a webcomic Anyone ever done this? Slightly over 9 years ago, I had a reasonably popular webcomic with the unfortunate anniversary of September 11. I've been planning to revive the comic on its tenth anniversary, but I'm unsure whether this should be a just-for-fun project or a bona fide business venture. Suggestions? Experiences? Ideas?
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09-27-2009, 10:23 PM	#2
cclou HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 121 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 36 Thanked 8 Times in 8 Posts	Re: Monetising a webcomic You probably already know about it, but I would get the book How to Make a Webcomic. I don't have a webcomic, just read several (including the ones by the people who made the book).
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09-28-2009, 10:06 AM	#4
Justin Jordan Advanced Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: The wilds of Pennsylvania Posts: 769 Thanks: 45 Thanked 118 Times in 61 Posts	Re: Monetising a webcomic The way most webcomics make their money is through sales of collection and merchandising. Things like ad sales and donations tend to be secondary sources of income, although obvious there are exception. Collections - Obvious enough. You either do a print run or you a Print On Demand service like Lulu when people order. These days, you can also do ebooks and have them available on itunes and the like. Merchandise - Like collections, you can either do it yourself, or you can a CafePress type service to fulfill the orders, or a mix of both. Tee Shirts and the like seem to be the order of the day, but also mugs, shotglasses, buttons and whatever. Ads - Some webcomics do their ad arrangements, but the usual thing in webcomics is Project Wonderful, an Adsense type thing geared towards comics. Some of the big performers actually make decent scratch from it. Last time I look getting a banner on Girl Genius was something like twenty five bucks a day, and they have a bunch of spaces. Donations - Or you can just ask people for money. A lot of people give their readers some kind of gift like a wallpaper or whatnot, but having a tip jar is pretty common. You can see a good mix of techniques at Girls With Slingshots - Girls with Slingshots: Two girls, a bar, and a talking cactus, five times a week! - where Danielle Corsetto does all of the above. Or my webcomic, for very little monetization - The Assignment 01 • R&R Publications
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09-29-2009, 01:06 AM	#5
Kezz Kezz Bracey War Room Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Australia Posts: 1,291 Blog Entries: 5 Thanks: 323 Thanked 593 Times in 291 Posts	Re: Monetising a webcomic You should also check out Project Wonderful: https://www.projectwonderful.com/ It's a bid for advertising setup, that was created by a guy who also developed a web comic search engine. As a result, it's almost completely dominated by web comics. Some of the web comics on there make pretty solid money from this service alone. The current top earner Questionablecontent.net gets $59.50 per day, so that's $1785 p/mth from just that revenue stream. Worth a looky I think.
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