Twilight Lady Archives
For the sake of this comic being able to continue and stand a chance of financially sustaining itself, this site is being streamlined in the following way:
Our latest tale, “The Indwellers”, is free on the site. The rest of the Twilight Lady library will be available for sale in print and/or ebook format.
I understand some of you may have been in the middle of reading through the archives and were interrupted. Which is why this coming weekend, starting Saturday July 2nd, the archives will be back up, with the exception of the very earliest chapters which comprise Twilight Lady Volume One: Demon Corridor, the print collection available at Indyplanet.
All subsequent chapters and storylines will remain up for the duration of July 4th weekend (including Monday).
You know, this is going to discourage any new readership big time. Just saying.
Why? The current storyline stands on its own, and doesn’t require any knowledge of previous continuity.
If anything, new readers are being encouraged because “The Indwellers” starts with a clean slate. Visiting previous story arcs is a choice, not an obligation.
Many other webcomics have done just fine keeping the archives available — it does provide a better entry point for new readers, and helps to sell the early books even when later ones become available. (Otherwise people may hesitate to buy volume one out of concern that it might not measure up to later work…)
So, personally, I’d suggest waiting a bit to get a sense of what sales are actually doing before you close things down… and then monitor what happens to the sales rate after that.
It’s your strip; your decision. I do hope you aren’t making a mistake, after all the work you’ve put into this.
Thanks, I know what you’re saying and appreciate the sentiment. I also appreciate your contributing to the single copy sold so far of the print collection. (At least, I’m assuming that was you?) 🙂
I really don’t see how this will turn out to be a mistake, though. At worst, it won’t make any difference, and months later I might find myself re-instating the archives and things will be as they were. Though how long things can continue “as is” I’ve been wondering for awhile now.
A bit of history…
I began making this comic roughly 9 years ago. It ran online for a few years and was fairly obscure. I re-launched it in 2008 and ran some ads. The readership size increased quite dramatically and has stayed pretty much the same since (despite further promotional efforts), averaging just under 2000 unique visits a day.
For that reason, I just don’t see this decision having a great impact on the comic’s readership. I am, though, hoping it has an impact on sales. And if it doesn’t, well… the fat lady (not our Lady) will truly be singing.
The goal – the dream – was always to create a series that could be self-sustaining. If not a profitable venture, at least a break-even one. Too much work, and time, goes into making this comic for it to remain simply a fun hobby. It has most certainly been fun, but it’s also been costly. I mean, 9 years is a long enough time to wait for a dream to come to fruition, right?
Um… have you taken the art change into consideration? If someone sees the current comic and buys the previous chapters expecting the same style, they’re going to be rather surprised.
There are 6 preview pages for Volume One at Indyplanet where it is on sale.
Or should I include a “WARNING: VERY DIFFERENT ART STYLE” disclaimer somewhere?
I must unfortunately agree with evvee here. In fact, not only will this discourage new readership, it also will discourage current readers who, as I said, find themselves unable to reference the previous story — without, at best, reference to a physical book, and without benefit of hyperlinks, cross-references, and the comments that make your readers into a community.
I apologize, deeply, if you’ve found your fan base unsupportive. I realize I’d be as guilty as anyone in this regard, and I wish you’d said something sooner. But the approach you’re taking here — and I truly hate to say this — makes a purchase into something other than a gesture of support.
If you no longer wish to make your work available for free, that’s your decision, and something we can all certainly respect. But that is the question. Are you trying to attract readers? Or customers?
“if you’ve found your fan base unsupportive. I realize I’d be as guilty as anyone in this regard”
Not at all. You contribute interesting and regular discourse, and in the past you’ve donated and/or paid to read works. You (and others like you) are an example I wish many more would follow.
The frustrating thing is, it really wouldn’t take much in terms of regular donations for this comic to be self-sustainable. What I would ask of each reader is – how much is a year of Twilight Lady worth to you? Compared to, say, the last book you bought or the last movie you paid to watch. If you think you enjoyed Green Lantern ten times more than a year’s worth of this comic, then (assuming the movie ticket cost you $10) donate $1 to this comic (and any other webcomic you follow, for that matter, if you can afford it) for each year’s worth of updates that you choose to read. It’s a simple model which would help a lot of webcomics stay afloat (and save many creators from eventual disillusionment).
As I’ve said, this site gets roughly 2000 visitors a day. So there are at least 2000 regular Twilight Lady readers out there (conservative estimate, as not everyone visits on a daily basis). If every reader (or even half the readership) contributed in the manner I described, this comic and site would probably be able to break even and this archives thing wouldn’t even be an issue.
It still wouldn’t make any money, but that’s not even a consideration at this point. Sarah Ellerton, creator of Phoenix Requiem and Inverloch, recently remarked on her twitter that she has not been able to find a way to make money doing webcomics. If someone as talented and successful (in terms of readership) as Sarah Ellerton can’t make a decent living making webcomics, what chance do the rest of us have, really?
I just think there’s a flaw in the standard webcomic model, which is – give your work away for free, and trust that you’ll be compensated for that work.
I tried that for 9 years, and it’s been fun, but as I said it’s also been costly. And it continues to be fun. And costly. I don’t know how long I can keep carrying on like this, but I want to be able to because I love this job (and it is a job, make no mistake. It’s time-consuming, at times exhausting, and challenging, and pays nothing… in fact, I’m losing money doing it. And yet I love it. Is that crazy or what?).
So I’m trying to find a way to carry on. I’m trying to save Twilight Lady.
“Are you trying to attract readers? Or customers?”
If I had to absolutely choose one – readers, of course. But frankly, it would be cruel (and extremely unfair) to force any writer to pick one at the expense of the other.
Ideally (and practically), I want both. In fact, I need both, if I’m to continue doing what I love.
Oh, alright… you guys convinced me. I didn’t quite agree with your arguments, but the fact you cared enough to make a fuss was enough for me.
The archives will remain up.
Can we all hug and kiss and make up now?
Thank you, Mr. Chen. Again, I wish you’d said something sooner. I know I’ll do my part, much as I’m able.
Wow…. Yes, there has got to be a better model.
How to encourage subscribers to pay $1 – $2 for updates?
Suggestion:
– See how the new series goes.
– Meanwhile, plan for a sign-in page.
Then, 2-3 months from now (plenty of time for adjustment, and observing traffic trends):
– implement a system which tracks by cookies and/or IP address
–> after X number of comics have been viewed (maybe 50?) — or better yet, after someone has returned to the site three times on three separate dates to continue reading — ask for donation!
–> bring up a prompt (to those readers who have hit the tracking limit, and are clearly returning/loyal readers) saying, “I can’t break even doing what I’m doing — I would love to give this to you for free, and I can *almost* do that… I have 2,000 readers. So please, donate $1, and I’ll give you a username/password to login and continue reading — for the next half-year. It’s the cost of one soda! $2/year for access.”
… or whatever pricing model you want to use. Keep it very cheap, though; you’ll retain far more readers that way. (Bear in mind that some of your readers are on food stamps, etc.)
…… What do you think about a model like that?
(Sorry if it’s obscure / unclear; it’s late and my brain is sleepy.)
Thank you for the suggestion (and donation).
It sounds basically like a subscription model, which from what I’ve heard, seems to be anathema to a lot of people. That whole thing about “everything on the internet should be free” and all that.
It was never my intention to raise the ire of the long-time readers here, hence why I would hesitate to implement something like this. (Besides the fact I would not have a clue how.)
To be honest, I never realized it would matter that much to those readers that I took the archives away, seeing as they’d already, you know, read those stories. Their reaction moved me to reconsider, as I’ve always believed that if people care about what you’re doing, then you must be doing something right.
My aim was mainly to 1) trim the site so as to make it less daunting for newcomers and, in the longer term, 2) increase the chance that those enjoying the current storyline who haven’t read the previous tales would perhaps purchase them (in whatever available formats).
Ah well. C’est la vie.
I applaud the decision to leave the archives online, I’m now a regular reader because if it. I followed an ad that started me on Vol 4 while the archives were offline. I read slowly, not really hooked but willing to give it a chance. When the archives came back I read the entire story from the beginning, and now I’m actually enjoying the story. The current story line, which before seemed only mildly interesting and somewhat trite, now has depth and meaning. Coming across this discussion finally pushed me into donating (plus I want the missing “Twilight Lady Sings The Blues” chapter). Thanks for sticking with this project for so many years.