Thread by @AmandaLafrenais, God, all the frequent YouTube adpocalypses remind me of the big Webcomics [...]

God, all the frequent YouTube adpocalypses remind me of the big Webcomics ones. And it's just a reminder for all future forms of independent online media: slurp that ad money up while you can but KNOW it can and will dry up over night.

I am gross layed up in bed but story time for the babies following me: there was a time in Webcomics where, if you updated frequently and had consistent readership, you could make a living off Google Ads on your comic. And a LOT of people DID.

I started my webcomic in the very last years of this time, so even my tiny readership of like 200 people got me $100 a month.

And then Google changed their rules. See, this is before Google tracked your interests, so ads were generated based on text of a website for relevance

Webcomics were, well, images. And they generated tons of money for views because unlike other kinds of site, people would read EVERY page of your comic. People would binge it.

But there was no text, except for maybe blurbs and author notes, and this didn't work for Google

(and there were other ad networks too that went under, but this is why Google ads specifically tanked)

so Google rolls out new requirements for websites and how ads work relative to how much text was on your website, and no website suffered more than Webcomics.

Tons of people went from making a living to scrambling. And this was before Kickstarter, Patreon, Ko-Fi, etc

Also around this time Google ads wouldn't allow sexual content, so this was also when you saw a lot of free-to-read adult raunchy comics just fade away until later.

So around this time, you saw big changes to webcomic sites. Suddenly there were a lot more blog posts - the site didn't just host the comic, but the blurbs underneath them got fatter and artists were typing up daily blogs embedded in side bars and stuff. Just for the ad context

It was tiring. On top of your comic, which was already time consuming to draw, you had to generate extra content.

Oh and you had to watch your comments section, cuz that's text and it could land you in shit. My webcomic still gets flagged for sexual content cuz of my comments

I have like 4 friends who were making a living off webcomics they were already putting in full-time hours for, who over night had to add a blog to their site and post constant adjacent content to keep up.

It wasn't enough to make an entertaining product.

And there were other networks, but they got squashed by Google. And there was Project Wonderful, but (a story that still makes me mad for another day), a few assholes gamed it and ruined it for everyone.

So until Kickstarter and Patreon people would just ask for Paypal donations

And PP donations went okay! You'd like, have a meter on your site and promise more updates if you hit goals. Send people art and wallpapers for $2. It worked pretty okay.

Until Paypal itself got wild and that became treacherous

like, if your comic got real popular and you got an INFLUX of donations? PP could, and did, lock your account for suspicious activity, give you no explanation, and no appeals. I have 2 friends still banned for life from PP and they don't know why.

so you'd walk this razor's edge of relying on PP donations, wanting to get more readers, but hoping it didn't blow up overnight on you in a way that made PP suspect you of crimes you didn't commit.

and again, this was even worse for people who did sexually explicit content. Woof

if you made sexually explicit comics, only ad network that didn't take giant shit on you was Project Wonderful and well... I bitterly play a violin.

And you couldn't give people erotic art in exchange for a donation because PP might consider that a digital porn subscription.

I'll keep this bit quick but, long story short PP considers purchasing digital erotica, even a 1 time purchase, the same as subscribing to a porn site, which is not allowed by 99% of credit card processors. They make zero attempt to distinguish between the two.

this is why ur fav erotica artists flocked to Patreon, rely on printed material sold at conventions, won't sell you PDF except thru the like... 1 vendor that hasn't kicked us out yet

And ads on your site? You're on your own, buddy. I think Hiveworks is only option for that now.

and not that I'm not grateful to that one vendor, but they do take a cut of your sales, and wow wouldn't it be nice to sell my own hosted PDFs/ebooks and keep that money gosh. But nope.

And people wonder why I am so eager to move on to my YA and 12+ comics, hahaha.

( i mean there's other reasons but the pain of monetization is one )

And lets not forget the days before KS, where you could take PP preorders for a book run and PP would just decide... no that's a suspicious amount of money for you to suddenly have, we're shutting you down.

Anyway. Now ads are just part of a Webcomicker's income, one you can't rely on. And Patreon has replaced the PP meter, but to really make it work for a webcomicker you gotta make extra content on top of your free-to-read comic and its exhausting. And KS helps with preorders.

anyway that's story time over. And it didn't even cover EVERY Webcomic Adpocolypse, just the few I got to see myself.

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