It’s time to talk about the dreaded subject of THE HUSTLE. These days, it seems the subject of monetization is on a lot of webcomic creators’ minds. If it’s not on yours, we envy your calm and your liberation from the oppressive weight that is modern western capitalism, and you should listen to another episode, please, you can escape the contagion, it’s not too late!!!

*AHEM*

I mean, a lot of people have questions about monetizing their comic – how to do it, how to know when to do it, and whether monetizing at all is right for you. Let us discuss.

Before we start, I want to lay down some terms that we’ll be using throughout the episode. Passive revenue means that once a monetization option has been set up, it’ll keep running on its own without much extra work from the creator. Active revenue means money that requires a creator to be present, either physically or digitally, and working the entire time it’s being earned.

All of us here today have monetized our comics in some way. Give us a quick overview of which strategies you’ve tried!

• Revenue programs via hosting sites like Tapas and Webtoons.
• Having a Table at Conventions
• Ko-Fi and Patreon subscriptions and tip jars.
• Publishers like Hivework that help you make money off of merchandise and book publishing as well as ad revenue
• Project Wonderful…RIP.
• ComicAd.net for hosting ads
• Kickstarter.com to gather funds for publishing and creating merchandise.
• More Conventions!! DO ALL THE CONVENTIONS! If you want.
• Finding adjacent well known concepts that may relate to your comic and allow readers to branch to yours.
• Zines and Minicomics
• Online Stores…a good place to sell the merch that you’ve made via Kickstarter or for Conventions

What methods have you found the most success with, or like the most?

• Conventions! See. They’re really fun. Try it! Do it! Make the merch! Print the books! Go to the conventions. …. . Profit!
• Ko-Fi! A handy website that can embed a tip jar right onto your website. It also has store capability, gallery, and more!
• Kickstarters! A lot of work to do it the right way, but can be fun and a good way to bring merch and books to life. Definitely an active form of income.

What are some pitfalls you’ve run into, or have seen others run into, that you’d like to warn creators about?

• BURNOUT
• Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. DON’T DO IT.
• Seriously. Don’t. DIVERSIFY YOUR INVESTMENTS!
• Don’t force yourself to be like someone else. Find the approach that works FOR YOU.
• Trying to do too much too often. Find a consistency that you can maintain and keep up with.
• Gather data BEFORE you do anything drastic like quit your day job.
• Don’t compare your performance to others. It’s very individualised and there are a lot of factors at play.

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Episode Release Date: May 11, 2022

Episode Credits:

Kristen Lee (@feathernotes) - she/they, ghostjunksickness.com lunarblight.com

Christina Major (@delphina2k) - she/her, sombulus.com

Ally Rom Colthoff (@varethane) - she/they, chirault.sevensmith.net wychwoodcomic.com

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The Intro "DO IT (feat. Shia LaBeouf)", and the Outro "It's Good To See You Again!!", both by Adrianwave, have been used and modified in good faith under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Licensed. Edits include: Fade IN/OUT, and a repeat added to the beginning of "It's Good To See You Again!!". For more information on this creative commons use, please reference https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.