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Last week, we had a reader leave us. He (and I will presume the gender simply because I don’t feel like typing ‘they’ or some clunkier pronoun option throughout the article) expressed a lack of satisfaction with our once-a-week update schedule, with the last straw being our late posting of Comic 118. There was no excuse for such affairs, he voiced, especially when there were other people out there updating their comics on a daily basis.
Now ironically enough, we did have the comic done on time, only to experience an unforeseen outage of our hosting service that took our whole site down for several hours… so if one was in the mindset to consider excuses, I reckon that does seem like a pretty good one. What was more worthy of thought is that he then left a follow-up statement that made it clear he felt it wasn’t just a matter of being late, but that there was no place on the Internet for story-driven webcomics that updated at the rate of a single page a week. That it was an impossibly slow pace for anything dependent on continuity. Zombie Ranch had been entertaining so far, but he was done with us, and I suppose also felt obligated to leave behind a warning, like a Dickensian spirit, in hopes we would mend our ways before it was too late.
It’s easy to get angry or defensive in the face of such comments. My blog last week was all about the idea that creative arts are a matter of taking your inner thoughts and perspectives and throwing them out to the public, and criticism in response can sometimes feel like your soul is getting kicked around, particularly if you’re not getting any significant financial benefit as a buffer to the slings and arrows. As W.B. Yeats wrote: “But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams”.
But the plain fact of the world is, if you put your dreams out there, there will be treading, and some of it may be wearing cleats and a heavy hat. If art is, as I argued, a way for people to communicate between disparate selves, then the manner of communication can matter as much as the audience. What frequency are you tuning them to? How much static is on it? And if they’re not satisfied, you better believe you may get some static in return. Some may, to put it even more colloquially, be all up in yo’ grill.
Frequency of course has a double meaning here, because I like to pretend I’m clever in that way. Dawn and I made our decision at the very beginning to run on a weekly schedule, on the basis that we’d witnessed far too many examples of webcomics attempting more ambitious schedules and failing to meet them, or worse yet, burning out their creators entirely. Better to go at a steady “every Wednesday” rate, possibly ramping up later if we felt we could handle it, than to start off three times a week and then have to give up and scale back after the readers were used to the faster pace. That always seemed to me like a much bigger recipe for disappointment, which would lead to reader complaints at just the wrong time (i.e. snarking on a creator or creators who were already by definition feeling overworked). In fact, a variation on this could be said to be exactly what happened in the ex-reader’s case, as it appears he was fine as long as he had archive comics to go through as fast as it suited him, but once he hit the end of those the sudden slowdown was too much to adjust to.
Now it’s entirely possible that we’d be more popular if we tried to update more frequently, but it’s also entirely possible that I’d just end up spending a lot of days making apologies and excuses. We do have weeks where we post artwork instead of story progession, but I always make a point of warning people ahead of time so that they’re not unpleasantly surprised. I don’t beg forgiveness for such breaks, but on the other hand I never want us to be one of those webcomics that just leave their readers hanging, or worse adopt the attitude of “You’ll get your new page when I damn well feel like it!”
Is it enough? It is what it is. Bizarre as it might seem to say, I actually do appreciate the former reader expressing why he was leaving us. I have to, because haven’t I lamented many times on how much of a vaccuum webcomic creators exist in despite all our statistic trackers? Having someone specifically express why they’re not satisfied is hardly as pleasant as having someone express why they think what you’re doing is great, but at least it’s feedback. Just in this case, stating that weekly updates aren’t enough happens to be feedback I really feel unable to address for the foreseeable future, even if I were to accept his opinion as fact. For the record, I do not, and I could list several webcomics with audiences who seem just fine with the slow but steady drip-feed diet, including critically acclaimed offerings like The Abominable Charles Christopher.
Interestingly enough, in my original, longer draft of last week’s blog I had intended to discuss a facet of “the insider perspective” that might have pertained to all this. As a writer, it’s pretty much my job to remember every character and every situation I’ve introduced as clearly as possible. Every few months I re-read the comic from top to bottom in a no doubt futile effort to not go off the rails with the narrative. So I have every line of Deputy Jimmy’s dialogue fresh in my head, when many readers would probably just wonder: who the hell is Deputy Jimmy?
And why not? His last appearance was not that long ago in terms of the comic, but in real world terms he hasn’t graced the page since 2010. So in that sense, yes, if it weren’t for the success of other weekly story comics I might succumb to that nagging feeling that I’m fooling myself anyone besides me has a sense of continuity about what I’m doing. I still don’t expect any of you, even Dawn, to have it to the same level I do, because I’m sure you all have better things to do than try to keep all this stuff straight over the years. Mind you it doesn’t stop me from doing subtle or even not-so-subtle callbacks to previous comics, but I knew better than to throw a fit because no one commented “Oh!” when Rosa answered Frank’s snark with some of her own. The two strips in question were originally published five months apart… it’s something that probably would only be noticeable in the print issue or an archive dive, assuming anyone noticed at all before I brought it up just now.
Speaking of which, I feel like it’s a valid point to consider that as every new comic is published, the time separations between them disappear. It’s a reason I don’t begrudge those who skip off for a few weeks or even months before returning to “catch up”. It doesn’t do our daily traffic counts any good, but that’s a perfectly viable alternative for those who aren’t comfortable reading at the pace of a page a week, and I’d much prefer that to anyone feeling they had to stop reading entirely, particularly if they were enjoying the story!
I have to say that as losing readers goes, “I like this but there’s not enough of it” is one of the mildest, if not one of the most positive, criticisms there can be. There will be more — and even if the frequency doesn’t satisfy, if the content connects there’s always the possibility they might tune back in down the road.
9 thoughts on “Static on the frequency.”
yornma
I can understand the reader’s frustration, but as an amateur writer who just started finishing her stories and posting them on the web I can’t imagine the amount of things that have to be done prior to getting a webcomic posted. There’s a story, drawing, re-drawing, scanning, editing, etc. If you and Dawn find that once is a week is the most you can handle then so be it. One can always come back a month or so later to catch up if they don’t feel like waiting for the updates, I personally like the once a week update because it gives me something different to read from the other webcomics. If I don’t remember what happened last week, there’s a back button.
I understand the reader wanting it to progress quicker but the creative process takes time, as the comic creator you have decide where the storyline is going to go and what’s going to be the next post. Plus you may have a 40 a week job or a convention to go to or some family emergency, not everyone has the spare time to sit there and draw their comic and maintain a website every single day. It’s a shame that the departed reader did not understand the creative process. But thank you and Dawn for you creativity and wanting to share the world of Zombie Ranch with us. I look forward to the next post.
Dawn
Thank you for bringing up having to maintain the website, yornma. A lot of people forget that I’m not only the artist, but also the web designer for the site and all the time I put into maintaining it. :hugs:
Cat
And here I was thinking that I enjoyed the strip as it is… I wouldn’t mind more comics during the week, sure. But I would also like the authors of the books I read to put out more than one or two books a year. I mean, I read them in less than a week… (grin) Seriously, I happened on your comic by near happenstance, and have enjoyed it, *and* the pace. I guess I am old enough to have some patience. (Oh, and I like the zombie horse toy, too.) So, I am quite sorry that said person left. I won’t. Thank you for your comic!
Clint
Yeah, when there’s only one or two people “on staff” you end up wearing a lot of hats.
I completely agree that where things you enjoy are concerned, it’s only natural to want more. Hell I’ve been waiting for A Dance With Dragons for several years, and actually am still waiting because I want it in paperback form. I’m patient though because I can only begin to imagine the Herculean undertaking each of the Song of Ice and Fire books represents, especially as the story continues to progress and unfold. I half suspect GRRM’s habit of killing off characters is a sanity reflex just to keep the amount of people he has to devote time to in check. 😀
Sarrah W
We’ve had a few grumblings along the same lines. I’m crazy proud to say we’ve never missed an update, but in all the time we’ve done our comic, we’ve been trying to produce two pages a week – and we’ve yet to be able to do so. Trying to promise two a week would be an inevitable disappointment to our readers. Instead, we offer an extra page now and then as a bonus, and that seems to help matters. It’s not something we can do all the time, but it’s fun when we can!
I’ve come to consider long form webcomics more as an act of watching a graphic novel in progress. The finished product will always be there, and I absolutely agree that it’s pointless to act offended if someone only drops by once a month to catch up. Heck, I’ve considered offering a special RSS feed that only informs someone when an entire chapter has finished! If I’m enjoying a comic, chances are I’ll go back and read from the beginning now and then to reacquaint myself with what’s going on.
Bearing the grumblings can be difficult at times, but the alternatives are sad and unthinkable. Burning out? Keeping the comic offline until it’s completely finished? Bleh.
Out of curiosity, is the title a reference to a Rush song? I know it’s a common phrase, but it reminded me of “The Pass”. Figured it didn’t hurt to check. 🙂
Clint
Do I sound smarter if I say “yes”?
Nah, I do have a habit of sprinkling references here and there in titles and the comic itself… but this was just me enjoying the double (quadruple?) puns on static and frequency. And I think the current slang usage of static for giving someone trouble post-dates “The Pass” by several years. 🙂
yornma
Dawn, No worries I run my own blog, facebook page and website.. so I get the joy of not only editing my writings, but researching for blogs and editing and posting photos. Plus working a full time job. I understand and respect the fact that it takes a lot of time and effort plus you both do conventions and what not so it’s not like you just sit around and draw all day. *hugs back* PS: I can’t wait to see how this chapter ends. 🙂
Sarrah W
Hehheh, no worries Clint, you don’t lose any cred with me for it not being a Rush reference. 🙂 I liked the play on words!
Bobcat
Waaaaah! I’m going to abandon something I get for free because I don’t get it fast enough! Waaaah!
Fork ’em. It’s hard making a living off art, whatever the media.
Until your art pays you a living wage, you need another job to make bills, and that takes time. Then, unlike zombies, there’s the whole “living” thing – taking care of family, cooking dinner, doing laundry, buying art supplies, watching kung fu films, etc. – which takes even more time. Then there’s sleep, which you need once in a rare while to stay healthy and continue your art. At least this is my situation; yours is none of my business, but it’s a common lot. And there’s 2 of you, which doubles the trouble.
So fork ’em. Blow their safety cap if they wander too far. As for me, I’m going to keep enjoying your delicious braaaaaainssss. I mean art. At your pace. (brains)
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