Last Updated: 05/01/2013
Welcome to Tapastic! At Tapastic, one of our main visions is to provide weekly episodes for our readers to follow, similar to that of a TV series. Our goal is to provide the best experience to our readers in terms of highest content quality and consistency.
With this purpose in mind, we have created the Primetime Publisher Program (PPP) to provide benefits to our Primetime Publishers, or indie webcomic creators on Tapastic who have great stories and are committed to running their own webcomic series by regularly updating the Series with new episodes. The PPP member creators will get a spot on our Release Schedule. In addition, we are offering PPP member creators to earn up to $10,000 per month from May 1, 2013 to July 31, 2013.
For additional questions, please check out the FAQ below or send us an email to community@tapastic.com.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
General Questions
How do I sign up?
Do I qualify?
Is there a minimum page requirement?
What do you mean by “publishing on a regular basis?”
I’m under 18 years of age. Can I somehow join?
Is Tapastic claiming ownership of my COPYRIGHTED materials?
I run my own webcomic website. Do I need to close that down to participate in the PPP?
Performance-based Compensation Plan
What is Performance-based Compensation Plan and how does it work?
Is the payout matrix for real? How can you pay so much for low Total Page Views?
I am new and don’t have many fans. How can I increase Total Page Views for my Series?
I publish more than one Series on Tapastic. Do Total Page Views get summed?
Do Total Page Views for old episodes get counted for the current month?
How do I track Total Page Views?
How do I get paid?
How long will Performance-based Compensation Plan continue?
Featured Banners
What are Featured Banners?
What are the dimensions for Top Banner?
What are the dimensions for Mobile Banner (optional)?
What are the dimensions for Staff Picks Banner (optional)?
Publishing On Tapastic
What is Release Schedule?
When do I upload new episodes?
I love creating webcomics, but I need to take a break. What do I do?
Season 1 or my webcomic series ended. What do I do?
Oops! Sorry, but I missed uploading this week. What do I do?
How do I sign up?
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Completing and submitting a simple request form is the first step to joining the PPP. Click the “JOIN PPP NOW” link below to enter the PPP Sign Up Page.
[JOIN PPP NOW]
Do I qualify?
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- All current creators on our Release Schedule are pre-approved for the PPP, but must still submit a request via our PPP Sign Up Page.
- Experienced creators who are not currently on Tapastic but have a track record of regularly releasing visual stories and committed to publishing regularly on Tapastic are eligible.
- For inexperienced or new creators, we highly recommend that you start publishing regularly and send us a request to join the PPP at a later time.
Is there a minimum page requirement?
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Nope. As you can see, there are many one panel comics in the PPP. At Tapastic, we just believe in power of storytelling; a single panel can sometimes tell a more compelling story than 10+ pages, for example. We advise you to always keep your fans or reader in mind and manage their expectations.
What do you mean by “publishing on a regular basis?”
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“Regular basis” just means consistency. This can be weekly, multiple times per week, bi-weekly, and so forth. We understand that every creators work at a different pace. Again, we advise you to always keep your fans or readers in mind and manage their expectations.
I’m under 18 years of age. Can I somehow join?
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If you are under 18 years of age, you unfortunately cannot participate in the PPP’s Performance-based Compensation Plan. However, you can still receive other benefits. Please send us an email to community@tapastic.com.
Is Tapastic claiming ownership of my COPYRIGHTED materials?
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No. Your materials are yours and we will never take ownership of your materials. We will not stop you from using your materials for your own purpose outside of Tapastic. While you use our service, we may use your materials for some commercial and promotional purposes (just like many websites) to promote our service so we can bring more viewership for you. We also plan to experiment with advertising to maintain our services for your enjoyment. As promised from the beginning, our goal is to eventually introduce revenue-sharing plan with creators. We will do nothing shady behind your back. All use of your materials will stop when you stop using our service.
I run my own webcomic website. Do I need to close that down to participate in the PPP?
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No. Many of our current publishers in the PPP run their own websites. It’d be nice if you choose to exclusively host your webcomics on Tapastic though. 
However, as mentioned, your materials are yours. Do you want your fans to know that you also publish on Tapastic? Below are a couple of widgets that you can use for your website.
What is Performance-based Compensation Plan and how does it work?
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We have created a generous Performance-based Compensation Plan to reward and incentivize our early Tapastic creators who are committed to sharing “awesome visual stories” on a regular basis (i.e. weekly). Each month, we will be providing payment that matches Total Page View Per Month and Compensation tranche in our Performance-based Earnings Matrix provided above. Total Page View Per Month is calculated from the first day of the month to the end of that month by us (from May 1 to May 31, 2013, from June 1 to June 30, 2013, from July 1 to July 31, 2013). Obviously, members who are found to be tampering with the operation of the program or engaging in any conduct that is detrimental or unfair to Tapastic, the program, or any other members (in each case as determined in Tapastic’s sole discretion) are subject to suspension or cancellation of membership and receiving any benefits.
Is the payout matrix for real? How can you pay so much for low Total Page Views?
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You are absolutely correct that we are offering a lot of $$$ for relatively so little Total Page Views. But, this is not a shady scheme. Our service launched in October 2013, so this is a short-term offering to reward our early publishers who are sharing their work and helping to bring traffic to our website. We plan to adjust the numbers periodically, but we will continuously reward our top users as our traffic grows. Our promise to help artists monetize will never change.
I am new and don’t have many fans. How can I increase Total Page Views for my Series?
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“The Tapastic platform offers those artists a purpose-built distribution engine for webtoons. And since it aggregates content from multiple artists, Tapastic provides an opportunity for artists to find new audiences that might not have stumbled across their work on other platforms.” – TechCrunch
The U.S. webcomic market is extremely fragmented where many talented webcomic creators are running their own websites. This means that they must not only create visual stories but also learn to design and market their own websites. It is extremely challenging for a new webcomic creator to build readership and we fully understand that. We built Tapastic for the purpose of becoming a catalyst for readers to easily discovering new webcomics. For example, we have a built-in feature to recommend similar Series. This does not mean that you can expect to get a large audience from day one. Top indie webcomic creators spend a good amount of time managing their fan base. However, the time you spend on your fans is to build your personal brand that will benefit you for a lifetime.
I publish more than one Series on Tapastic. Do Total Page Views get summed?
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Yes. If you publish more than one Series, Total Page View will be the sum of all the series.
Example
If you publish 3 Series on Tapastic and the sum of Total Page View Per Month count for those Series between May 1, 2013 and May 31, 2013 is 252,000, your compensation is $3,000. The max compensation is $10,000 per month.
Do Total Page Views for old episodes get counted for the current month?
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Yes. All episodes published including the ones uploaded before the effective date will be counted.
How do I track Total Page Views?
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We publish Total Page Views by each creator on a monthly basis. You can visit our Primetime Publisher Stats Page by clicking the link below.
[SEE TOTAL PAGE VIEWS STATS]
How do I get paid?
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All payments will be made via PayPal within 30 days after each month.
How long will Performance-based Compensation Plan continue?
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We plan on continuing Performance-based Compensation Plan until we introduce a revenue-sharing plan for our Members. We have been offering Performance-based Compensation Plan since February, which means that we’ve extended the plan. However, please note that our current Performance-based Compensation Plan is short-term offering, and hence, may either be revised after April 30, 2013 or terminated if found to jeopardize our business continuity.
What are Featured Banners?
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From time to time, we rotate the banners on our home page to feature certain weekly scheduled series. Top Banner and Tapastic Picks sections are selected by our Editorial Team in their sole discretion. Most Popular section is objectively updated based on site statistics.
For an opportunity to be featured, please upload banner images in JPEG format in the PPP request form. Alternatively, you can also email them to community@tapastic.com.
What are the dimensions for Top Banner?
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- Dimensions: 940 x 360
- Please submit a clean, beautiful image.
- Please leave some room on the bottom-left (pink box area) for Series title and a short blurb about the series. PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE ANY TEXT IN THE BANNER.
What are the dimensions for Mobile Banner (optional)?
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- This is optional. Tapastic staff can create one if necessary with a quality Top Banner image.
- Dimensions: 620 x 300
- Please submit a clean, beautiful image.
- Please leave some room on the bottom-left (pink box area) for Series title and name of the creator or a short blurb about the series. PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE ANY TEXT IN THE BANNER.
What are the dimensions for Staff Picks Banner (optional)?
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- This is optional. Tapastic staff can create one if necessary with a quality Top Banner image.
- Dimensions: 300 x 140
- Please submit a clean, beautiful image.
- Please leave some room on the bottom-left (pink box area) for Series title and name of the creator or genre. PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE ANY TEXT IN THE BANNER.
What is Release Schedule?
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Once you join the PPP, your Series will be added to our Release Schedule. This page features dynamic ranking where the order of the Series thumbnails are based on “popularity.” What does “popularity” mean? We are starting out with a simple algorithm combining recent trends in page views, ratings, and others. We plan on continuously improving this algorithm in the future.
When do I upload new episodes?
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We ask our Primetime Publishers to please upload your new episode between 12:00 A.M. – 9:00 A.M. PST on the weekly release date. We now have Scheduled Publishing tool to help you upload your episodes on future dates. For example, for a Monday scheduled series, we expect you to upload their comic within this time period on Monday (not before or after).
I love creating webcomics, but I need to take a break. What do I do?
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If you are taking a break, we recommend appending a short message at the bottom of the latest episode (e.g. Unstoppable: Season 1 – Episode 13) to communicate with your readers. In addition, we recommend communicating via your social media properties (e.g. Facebook, Twitter).
Season 1 or my webcomic series ended. What do I do?
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Similar to Taking a Break, when the series or a season ends, we recommend appending a short message at the bottom of the last episode (e.g. Falling: Season 1 – Episode 20) to communicate with your readers. In addition, we recommend communicating via your social media properties (e.g. Facebook, Twitter).
Oops! Sorry, but I missed uploading this week. What do I do?
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Please DO NOT upload on an unassigned day. When life throws you a curve ball and you unexpectedly have to miss a week, please skip that week and continue the following week. We recommend appending a short message at the bottom of the next episode to communicate with your readers. Uploading double episodes the following week would work as well.