Webcomics and Update Schedules

Somewhere between “all the time” and “hardly ever” lies an ideal update schedule.

I’ve read several times that frequent content updates is one of the best ways to increase traffic to whatever it is you’re creating online, but of course both your audience and yourself need to be taken into account when determining your update schedule.

As a reader, I think that the ideal update schedule is once or twice a week, depending on the type of comic. If I’m reading a story-based comic with emphasis on the art I prefer to see the creator take their time. With a humour-based comic I’ll be keener to see more frequent updates. Three times a week is common among the more successful webcomics but I actually find that it’s a bit too frequent for me with my lack of free time and the number of comics I follow (part of the reason I tend to be a binge-reader these days).

The quality of the art is something that also needs to be taken into account – readers don’t want to see a comic that’s consistent but crappy. Common sense would seem to dictate that an artist who updates more frequently (and thus practices more often) would improve more over time. But I’ve noticed that some comics that have been plugging away for years hardly seem to improve at all (see Penny Arcade), while others are leaps and bounds ahead of where they began (see Gunnerkrigg Court). There seems to be a point at which the artist is concentrating so much on churning out their comic that they no longer have time to work on getting better.

Of course, the final item that should determine your update schedule is related to last week’s newspost about breaks – what can you handle? More frequent content may bring you more readers, but they’ll be disappointed if you get burnt out and quit altogether. Most of us have a lot going on in our lives, so you should never feel badly about catering your update schedule to your own needs rather than the desires of your audience.

How did you decide how often to update your comic? How often do you like to see your favourite comics updated?



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