Important feedback needed from RUNNERS UNIVERSE readers!
As you probably know, I’m pretty new to the whole webcomic thing, so I’m currently having a bit of a dilemma. Unlike a lot of webcomics, which are strip-oriented, my series is long-form and thus requires a lot of up-front development time in scripting each new story arc in its entirety and concepting new characters, locations, and objects. And then, each page of penciled, inked, colored, and lettered sequential art takes a good deal more time to create than your average 4-panel webcomic strip. So obviously, I won’t be able to sustain a 2-page-a-week update indefinitely. I can do it through the remainder of this current arc, “The Big Snow Job,” but I won’t be able to follow that up immediately with arc 3.
As readers, would you prefer to get only 1 update a week starting with issue #3 or a break in between arcs? If I reduce the weekly update from 2 pages to 1, it will take longer for the story to post, but that would give me time to get ahead on the next one. There could then (potentially) be an uninterrupted transition from arc 2 to arc 3. Or I could continue posting 2 pages a week, in which case the story will post faster than I can get ahead on the next one, so there will be a break of several months before the next arc can start posting.
I initially wanted 2 pages a week since I thought 1 page a week might be too slow. But then, that’s me. Maybe more seasoned webcomic readers are accustomed to that kind of schedule for long-form stories. I also thought a hiatus between arcs would be okay since it wouldn’t be that different from titles like, say, Hellboy. Back in the day, Mignola would put out a miniseries as he was working on it, and once that finished, there would be a long stretch of time before the next one since he obviously couldn’t keep them coming out non-stop. So I figured comic readers would be used to breaks between arcs. But again, webcomic readers may view things differently and not want an interruption in routine. Plus, I worry about losing regular readers if the site goes on hiatus. Of course it wouldn’t be totally on hiatus since I’d do regular updates of blog posts and work in progress, but the story continuation itself would not post for a long while.
So my poll to you readers is this: Which would you prefer and think will be best for the long-term success of the site?
Vote either:
1) One page a week starting with “Snow Job” issue #3, with no break between story arcs, or
2) Two pages a week for the current arc, with a long break (potentially 6 months or even more) between arcs
I’d like to get as much feedback as possible so please use the Comment area to cast your vote, as well as any additional thoughts. Even if you don’t normally post Comments on regular pages, if you’re a regular reader at all, this may affect you, so please cast a vote so I can get as good a cross-section as possible to help me determine the course of action.
Thanks everybody! And as always, thanks for supporting RUNNERS!
