Creators vs. Readers

Creators and Readers are two groups that go hand in hand. In a very substantial way when it comes to art, one cannot exist without the other- Art is created to be seen, heard, felt and read or otherwise enjoyed (including eating it), even if the only one doing that (thus consuming it) is its own creator in the seclusion of their own room.

And due to this function of Art, creators of it need their respective consumers: visual art like paintings and films needs viewers, music needs an audience, and books and webcomics need readers.

But how much and when and where do creators cater to them?

Pit-Face brought up a very interesting thing when I asked her for any ideas for a newspost- that she thought it interesting that here in Drunk Duck, the forums and the newsposts cater to creators, rather than readers.

As creators we definitely cater to our audiences in our webcomics’ personal sites, here on the Duck and beyond it: we make them attractive and optimized showcases of our work, we provide the comment section and extra supporting pages with information, cast listings and other goodies.

But what about elsewhere? Could we engage readers in the forums, or here via the newsposts?

One definite policy we’re told in lists of advice about how to draw in viewers is to comment on other peoples’ work and post in forums like the one we have in DD. But those viewers, those consumers will be also other creators in their vast majority.

So in essence we don’t really expand our community with new readers that aren’t part of our circle of creators, as much as recycle each other’s function as a reader- and don’t get me wrong, that’s wonderful to have (it taught me how to make something that actually looks like a webcomic) but perhaps we’re undermining not only ourselves as a creator but all other fellow creators commenting under our pages since we’re depriving ourselves of a chance to use hubs like DD to grow big audiences of non-creators; in short, we may not be bringing in consumers.

DD is a shopping mall full of amazing webcomics. But are we inviting anyone in by creating niches and extra events and stimulation that will intrigue a non-artist, or are we only expecting fellow artists to walk in?
Maybe my next newspost should be “10 Reasons Why You Should Read DD Webcomics”.