money

[Tac00]

for a future reference. i know you cant put up other banners to make money. but what are ways you can make money from your web comic on comic genesis.?

[Ataraxia]

- Open a webstore
- Sell print versions of your comic
- Put up a tip jar
- Sell original art from your comic
- Take commissions for drawings

I'm sure some other people will soon chime in with more creative ways to make money from a webcomic.

[Vulpeslibertas]

I'm sure some other people will soon chime in with more creative ways to make money from a webcomic.

Murder-for-hire. There's always a demand.

Just about the only people making money in the webcomic world are people with merchandise (cups, shirts, mousepads, etc.) and people who sell print version of the comic (which they get away with because they're famous). From what I understand, most people who sell ad space only make back what they spend on advertising, which isn't much. Donations also make a bit, but only the better end comics probably make anything at all off of that.

The webcomic Goblins does a secondary comic. The character's success is directly proportional to donations from readers. Some comics have wallpapers that are only available to donors, and some have bonus material that only donators can see.

So if you plan to become rich and famous off of webcomics, I'd recommend killing the Penny Arcade guys. Then wear their heads arround like some kind of macabre hats. And write comics with their blood while laughing maniaclly. But that's not legal advice, just a casual recommendation. You know, someone could do it. I'm just sayin'.

[Tac00]

and how would u get the merchandise. would u have to find a company or are there people already who do this thing?
how does a tip jar work?

[Birdie]

I kept getting offered money to quit drawing my comics. Is that the same thing?

[Noise Monkey]

Close enough.

Then, you use the loophole and continue by posting scripts for the comics you would've done.

[Tac00]

are u serious????

[Noise Monkey]

...are you?

[Dr Neo Lao]

For merchandise, you'd need to either hunt around on-line for companies that put photos / logos on stuff or look around your local community for people that do the same thing.

There are plenty of places around that will put stuff onto t-shirts (the most popular type of merchandise) but it's always a bit hit and miss. You want to be careful and make sure that the demand is there before you go spending a lot of money. You really don't want to go spending a few hundred dollars on stuff and then have it sit in the garage because you couldn't sell it.

Making money is pretty hard unless you have a big fanbase. 100,000+ regular readers are needed before you will really see any sort of income that actually means anything.

Most of those that actually make any money usually make enough to cover the cost of the comic and that's about it. The vast majority don't make any money at all.

[Ivy]

1. Make a webcomic

2. ???

3. Profit

[Pattyannboyd]

1. Make a webcomic

2. ???

3. Profit

Genius!

I keep meaning to use one of those tip jar kajiggers... does anyone actually make any money off those?

[Blackhole]

Like the user with the hard to remember name said,.. the Penny Arcade guys have filled the only slot that was ever available for "people making money off of webcomics" There will never be another.

[Pip]

Making money is pretty hard unless you have a big fanbase. 100,000+ regular readers are needed before you will really see any sort of income that actually means anything.

You're right about needing a lot of readers, and before anything else the main thing anyone who wants to make money from their comic should do is focus on building their audience, but the estimate you put up is way too high. I'm not sure of where you're placing the "money that means anything" bar but most people making a living off of their comics don't have nearly that many regular readers.

The safe approach to merchandise is to take preorders on something you can order a small print run of. No real risk involved, and you can make more profit than if you use a cafepress like site.

From what I understand, most people who sell ad space only make back what they spend on advertising, which isn't much.

If you look at project wonderful stats you can get a really good idea of how much money a certain amount of traffic amounts to... if you use project wonderful. Some sites sites bring in over a thousand dollars a month, others bring in a penny. If you're closer to the penny side, there's not much of a reason to put ads on your site.

I keep meaning to use one of those tip jar kajiggers... does anyone actually make any money off those?

Yes. Also people donate more if there are goals to reach/progress bars.

[Garneta]

1. Make a webcomic

2. ???

3. Profit

I'd have to say that that's one of the best first posts I've seen in awhile.

[Redtech]

I've seen a violent version of that, in reference to cows and the aliens of Universe at War.

I'll point at poisonedminds.com where he's literally blackmailing people into getting two story arcs for the price of one, but since I paid for art from him, I am biased.

Atraxia hits the nail on the head, but when looking for stuff to waste money on, being the all-consuming capitalist, I'd rather pay for commisions if the art style is something I like, and maybe print comics if the strip overall 'rocks'. Concept art and original art doesn't interest me unless they were something uber or poster-material. Generic merchandise doesn't really gel, no matter how much I want a "Happy penis" thong.

Tip jars are not going to make me as a reader appreciate your work, because unless I was personally affiliated with you, I wouldn't throw money away unless I, really, really did like you. In which case you should run as far away as possible!

[Komiyan]

For merchandise, you'd need to either hunt around on-line for companies that put photos / logos on stuff or look around your local community for people that do the same thing.

There are plenty of places around that will put stuff onto t-shirts (the most popular type of merchandise) but it's always a bit hit and miss. You want to be careful and make sure that the demand is there before you go spending a lot of money. You really don't want to go spending a few hundred dollars on stuff and then have it sit in the garage because you couldn't sell it.

Making money is pretty hard unless you have a big fanbase. 100,000+ regular readers are needed before you will really see any sort of income that actually means anything.

Most of those that actually make any money usually make enough to cover the cost of the comic and that's about it. The vast majority don't make any money at all.

I dunno, I have like 7k readers which is very small potatoes, and I get about $200 a month from ads, but we're talking about not being on Cgen and handling your own advertising there. Just saying you don't have to be Penny Arcade before you can pay your gas bills with your comic.

Donation buttons work as such- sign up for Paypal, if you haven't already. There's a section called 'merchant tools' and if you look there there's a part about donation buttons. It'll give you a code to paste onto your site. Be warned though, expect nigh on nothing unless you offer incentive- say if you get $100 you'll do an extra page that week, or give out wallpapers to donations of $5 or more.

As for merchandise, the simple way is to sign up for something like http://www.cafepress.com/ or http://www.spreadshirt.net/ and they'll handle printing, distribution, etc. but don't expect to turn much of a profit that way. If you want to sell buttons or something you can use someone like http://www.poseurink.com/modbuttons/ and buy a small stock of them and sell them out, you can make a handful of dollars that way.

If you're ultrasuperduper confident, and we're talking in the 15k readers scale here, you can have t shirts printed properly without using cafepress or any of that malarky and get a few boxes of them wholesale from http://brunettotshirts.com/ and I hear that's a moneyspinner.

Basically I'm not sure merch is the way to go unless you have a lot of readers. Either way, money is only meant to be a nice bonus, never start a comic thinking it'll be big bucks or something. Many people slog away for years and never see a red cent.

[GeorgeComics]

Like the user with the hard to remember name said,.. the Penny Arcade guys have filled the only slot that was ever available for "people making money off of webcomics" There will never be another.

Well, they aren't the only ones. Scott Kurtz makes a living from his webcomic. I'm positive that there are a handful of others. But overall, very, very small percentage overall.

[Birdie]

http://www.fleen.com/archives/2008/01/0 ... en-dollars

This might be helpful for those thinking about making money this year.

[Bustertheclown]

http://www.fleen.com/archives/2008/01/0 ... en-dollars

This might be helpful for those thinking about making money this year.

In the words of the Almighty Strongbad:

"404'd!"

[Dr Neo Lao]

When I said "income that actually means anything" I was talking about being able to quit your job and support your family from the comic alone.

I think that there's only three or four people in this category, but it's hard to judge. But if we're talking more along the lines of "pay for hosting and have a little bit extra" then there are loads of people in that category. About 0.1% of all webcomics, at a guess.