But I’m not really writing this article to talk about the Keenspot “fiasco.” I’m writing this to clarify some terms that are being used synonymously when they are quite different indeed. Since I started off with Keenspot, I suppose I might as well define what I’m talking about with “publisher” here:

A publisher is any business that creates products in large quantities to be sold (and in the case of online properties, quite often distributed). In Keenspot’s case, what was sold was pageviews. Those ads you saw on every page when you visited, those made Keenspot money. Keenspot took percentages from the Swag store and sold ad slots in the header.  The ads not only paid for the hosting costs of all those comics, but also made the Crosbys money.  A business is not magnanimous. What properties do not make money are only a drain on resources, and must be cut loose.  Since Keenspot was the first webcomic publisher, I understand how the dissolution of the network can upset those of us who still remember dreaming about “being Spotted,” but again, the web has changed.

Keenspot was (going to be using the past-tense here) also a collective, but only in an accidental sense of late. A collective is a group of people with the same, common interest who cooperate for the benefit of all. In short, members do better together than they would apart. A collective has nothing to do with revenue in a business sense. If money is made, it’s either kept by the person who makes it or is shared equally. Unlike a business, a working collective requires cooperative members, not just good products!  To visualize the difference between a publisher and collective, take a gander at Keenspot sites as compared to SpiderForest sites. SpiderForest is a collective (and the wonderful place that hosts my comics!) What do you notice? The focus on the comic and members, not SELLING a product.  Everyone self-publishes their own work. Is one better than the other? Well, that really depends on what you’re looking for! Just remember than a collective ≠ publisher!

Now in that previous paragraph, I mentioned that SpiderForest hosts my comic. So SpiderForest is not only a collective (cooperating, self-hosted sites), but ALSO a host. Hosts do exactly what they say: they provide a webpage and server space for comics. A host, however, is under NO obligation to commit to the betterment of the group. A host provides a service only, perhaps for a fee and perhaps not, and that’s where the relationship ends.  Examples of webcomic hosts include ComicGenesis and DrunkDuck. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “But Kez, both CG and DD have these completely AWESOME communities and we help each other out by cross-linking and forum posting and stuff!” Well, sure, yeah, but the host isn’t doing that…YOU are.   The host has no obligation to provide forums, and even if they do, it’s your choice to go there or not.

The last classification I’m going to mention is what we call affiliations. This is tight, exclusive relationship between a SMALL group comics committed to sharing traffic, who are not part of a collective (or simply a stronger relationship between certain members of a collective. What matters is that it’s exclusive).  An affiliation is more than a link exchange because of the commitment.  A great, recent example is Webcomic Bucket.  Some affiliations result in communities, some actually turn into collectives when the affiliations grow large enough.  The biggest difference in my opinion between affiliations and collectives is often the NAME. Collectives are branded, ex, I am a SpiderForest creator, my comics are SpiderForest comics. The collective may come first sometimes, and indeed, the SpiderForest header is at the TOP of the great majority of SF sites. In affiliations, there is little or no branding. If there is branding, it is always given less priority than the comic itself. No members of Webcomic Bucket proudly state their comic is a “A Webcomic Bucket Comic!”  There’s also the matter of shared resources. In a collective, members may rise or fall together because everyone is sharing their audience. In an affiliation, people may come and go, and it’s no big deal. Affiliations are more independent than co-dependent.

Anyone reading through this by now ought to notice quite a bit of overlap in these terms.  Many places can be listed under multiple names. Keenspot was a publisher, collective AND host; Spiderforest is a collective and host; ComicGenesis/DrunkDuck/SmackJeeves/WebcomicsNation/ComicSpace are hosts.  I want to reiterate here that I am not slamming any site or group for being one or the other term here. There IS no “better,” because it all depends on your goals.  This is article is just about classification. As a member of the SpiderForest Webcomic Collective, I got SICK of people bashing the term “collective” because of their fervor over The Keenspot Decision. Hence, I was inspired. Enjoy!

Or something very much less hick in better humor.  Sorry for the lack of articles, again. I’ve been very, very busy with grad school as well as multiple creative projects of my own. I’ve been sitting on that review of the CMS istrip, as well as a shout out to the TWCL awards (Go! Nominate!) . I am so behind. I suck.

The rest of this week ought to be absurdly busy for me, so I’m putting this up a day early. SpiderForest, that awesome community of webcomic artists and writers, accepts new members only twice annually, in June and December! For the first three weeks of December, we will be taking applications and we’re all excited to see who would like to join. SpiderForest isn’t elitist, but it is focused, and we don’t let in new members all the time because EACH MEMBER here votes on new additions. That’s a lot of work for all of us, and we want more members who are really interested in maintaining a quality comic–not to mention, being an ACTIVE member of the community. So, twice yearly, we open the doors and see who wants in.

I have been a member of SF for a couple years now. I miraculously got in, still don’t know how, but it’s a move I am still ecstatic as to have made! I came from ComicGenesis (a free host who, for what’s offered, got high marks in my review!), but I wanted a smaller group of more focused people. I wasn’t that good at making comics (still am not), but I had a drive to do better, all the time. A small group like this is very encouraging, you get more notice, there are no mandatory ads, but there is mandatory cross-promotion with our rotating header. Collectives increase your audience, and the QUALITY of your audience. It’s a great place to grow, and if you’ve been independant from the get-go, hosting yourself, going it alone, you might find VERY fast that being a member of a collective has a lot more opportunities for you without taking away from your freedoms.

Here is a list of current members and their comics. Feel free to contact any member to ask them about their experience. Clicking the text area will bring up a longer summary and their email addresses.

We have few requirements for those applying:

• The ability to tell a good story or joke, with a fitting style of art (check current comics hosted if this is too ambiguous).
• You must CURRENTLY be actively updating your comic at least once a week, or expect to return to schedule from hiatus upon acceptance.  Exceptions are made on a case-by-case basis (quality of the update is a determining factor).
• You must have at least 15 pages of your comic complete. NO EXCEPTIONS!
• You must show the desire to continue your comic, and the diligence to update it to schedule.

What SF offers you (taken from the apply page):

SpiderForest is a free, quality host that does not require you to place ads on your site. You are allowed to put up your own ads, and may keep all revenue. Many members use Project Wonderful.

SpiderForest grants you FTP access. This means you have direct and immediate control of your site, and may update images or webpages as you please.

You may use whichever archiving system you like. Most members use SF’s own ProPanda, a simple, easy-to-use PHP code that allows news posts, dropdowns, and commenting. Other members also use wordpress/comicpress and comicCMS.

You will receive tech assistance whenever necessary, even to the extent of building your site for you. HOWEVER! Having a webcomic means you should not only know how to make a comic, but also how to distribute it over the web yourself. Members will help you set up, but we will expect you to learn to code HTML in time, to be able to handle the majority of your site’s updating.

All new members will have a spiderforest.com address of their choice. If you have your own URL, you keep it, and any spiderforest.com address will forward to your site.

All members are required to have on their site, above the fold, a rotating banner of SpiderForest links. You will have immediate and free advertising on all SpiderForest sites, and an audience ready to read your work.

If you already have your own hosting and would like to be a member, you do not have to up and move to the SF server. Please note in your application if you would like to be a self-hosted member. You must be independently self-hosted and not a member of another comic collective or host.

What SF requires of members:

• Your main responsibility once accepted will be to simply update your comic with quality material in a consistent manner.  As your audience grows, you will expose all of them to all the other comics hosted here, and help everyone gain new readers.  Of course, we all realize life happens, hiatuses occur, and you get busy. That’s ok!  We just expect you to take care of your comic when you can!
• Your secondary responsibilities include being an active participant in the collective by voting on new member additions, submitting any banners or advertising material necessary for any changes to the SF front page or header, and checking the forum occasionally for updates.
• You are required to display above the fold the rotating header for other comics on the network. This header is customizeable, holding a banner that is 600×29px.
• SF greatly appreciates any donations to help with network upkeep, but it is NOT REQUIRED.

What we DON’T offer you:

• SF admins will not upkeep your site past the initial transfer. We will help you set it up, help you build and design it even, but will not upload your pages for you, or write your news. We expect you to learn the basics of HTML. You’re making a webcomic; that requires some knowledge of the WEB. Tech assistance is of course available for necessary changes, but the day-to-day stuff is your responsibility!
• We don’t pay you for your work. SF is not a publisher, it is a host.  This means it is an OPPORTUNITY for you to gain a larger audience through cross-advertising at no cost to you.
• We do not buy you software. For example, choosing your FTP client is up to you.  We definitely recommend one of the many free ones, like FireFTP for FireFox.

Intellectual Property Rights (after getting lambasted on another forum who thought the deal was too good to be true, we added this just to make sure idiots didn’t take a header):

• SpiderForest claims ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHTS on your work. It belongs to you, period. SF is a collective, not a business.   SF is here to provide a good, solid home for your comic and others like it, not to make money.  Members support each other to help all the comics here grow and succeed. If you doubt this, or think it is too good to be true, we suggest contacting members hosted here and asking them about their experiences.

To apply (starting DECEMBER 1, not today!), email “sfapp (AT) spiderforest.com” with the following:

• Webcomic Title: The name of your webcomic.
• Creator(s) Name(s): Everyone who works on your webcomic(writers/artists).
• Contact: Your e-mail address only. If a team is applying, please designate a leader. 
• Website URL: (DA art galleries not desired! Webcomics are meant to be read in order, and we do not like to search through your gallery to find the next page.  You will also need to be able to handle a SITE, not a gallery, though of course, we will help you! Try DrunkDuck, ComicGenesis or SmackJeeves to see if a website is something that you want. They do the majority of coding for you)
• 5-page Sample: Links to 5-pages of your webcomic. This does not need to be sequential but should be representative of your BEST work.
• Synopsis: In 250 words or less, tell us about your comic.  Do not send an essay or a manuscript.
• Referral: How did you learn about SF applications being open? Has a member asked you to apply?
• Why this comic would make a good addition to SF: Please tell us what you’ll bring to SF.

POOR QUALITY APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED. We expect correct grammar and spell-checked applications. Be as brief as possible while still doing your work justice. Longer applications are rarely better.

That last bit up there sounds somewhat snobby, I admit, but guys, really, would YOU accept anyone into a collective who spent an obvious 30 seconds putting this together? No. We all put too much time into what we do to put up with sloppy applications and abject laziness. :( So spell check dammit!

And that’s the end. Please spread the news if you have a news site!

——

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 2009 Applications Now Accepted for Entry to SpiderForest Network

June 1, 2009

The SpiderForest webcomic collective is now accepting applications for entry to the private network until June 24^th.  New members are welcomed bi-annually based on an admissions process where current SpiderForest members read, review and vote on each application.

Everyone interested is encouraged to apply, though not everyone is accepted. Application details can be found at spiderforest.net/apply.

Since 2004, SpiderForest has hosted experienced webcomic creators in an environment free of mandatory ads or unoriginal site templates. SpiderForest offers FTP access for the maximum amount of site customization, cross-advertising via the network header, free hosting, a comic creator’s choice of archiving software including the SF original, easy-to-use “ProPanda,” and a diverse array of fellow comics. SpiderForest claims no intellectual or property rights on comics that it hosts.

Current members include the creators of such long-time comics as NAHAST: LANDS OF STRIFE (Alejandro Melchor), REQUIEM (James Roden) and SPECIAL SCHOOL (Andy Mason). New comics welcomed in the previous round of admissions include BETWEEN PLACES (Tiffany M), LIFE’S A WITCH (Samantha Wikan), and SHI LONG PANG (Ben Costa).

Contact:

Ran Jado

webmaster@spiderforest.com

http://spiderforest.com

###

More Attention: it is really hard to get noticed when you are part of a large group. Readers will find you less often, and will automatically gravitate to the “already” popular, “tried and true” comics of large groups. This is the main difference between a HOST and a COLLECTIVE. A host is somewhere like ComicGenesis; thousands of comics, but little in the way of sharing readers or spotlighting the talents of everyone. Speaking of talent…ANYONE can get in. There is no quality control, and there will always be comics you don’t wish to associate your work with. True collectives require some sort of admission process, and everyone who is part of the collective has proven their comic is WORTH it. If you are part of a “worthwhile” group, more people will find your comic, read it, and like it. Even if the collective is SMALLER than a host, your readership will increase.

Solidarity of Purpose: even small collectives provide huge amounts of encouragement. Let’s face it: as comic creators, we all get down on ourselves. A collective gives you the confidence to keep going, and the advice of others to help you improve.  Sometimes, you can get this from just friends you have, even if you are not part of a collective. MANY of us, especially creators of new or smaller comics, do not. If you are part of a collective, you have this at your finger tips. Granted, in every collective, solidarity will vary. Before joining, I would recommend being a member of the community FIRST (through public forums) so you can see how much people in the same collective are interested in BUILDING each other up (not just with viewership. YOU have to count more than your comic).

Cross-advertising: A well-planned and executed collective has methods to advertise each and every member equally on other member sites. A collective is not merely a HOST (as in, everyone has a site but no one really cares much to be associated with everyone else), it is a solid group of people interested in the same thing: making comics and getting more readers. If you are in a “collective” that has no connecting name or theme, no means of letting the readers of one comic know that 1) that comic is part of a collective and 2) there are all of these OTHER comics there too, that collective had failed.  It is NOT a collective, it is just a host. Every comic that is part of a collective must add their readers to the pot, or else what is the benefit of being there?

Free and/or Quality Hosting: The great majority of collectives out there are free.  While donations may be encouraged to support the group, they are not necessary. Even if collectives are not free, the hosting found there is ALWAYS of higher quality than free hosts like ComicGenesis or DrunkDuck. Even visiting DD makes me crazy now, because half of the time, it’s down or absurdly slow. This does not happen with collectives.  Smart collectives find a way to pay for hosting by selling either ad space or group merchandise, or have a group-wide donation run every once in a while.

No [or at least less] ads: All free hosts require some sort of compenstation for the space and bandwidth you have.  ComicGenesis requires a 728x90px banner above the fold, and you have no control over what ads are shown. DrunkDuck keeps adding and adding those ads…everywhere. SmackJeeves has a leaderboard and banner size on default templates (or for people not logged in). WebcomicsNation also has leaderboard ads on default templates. Small collectives most often do not have ads except in the forum of cross-advertising other comics in the collective. For example, SpiderForest requires only the top rotating header, and every comic at SF gets a banner spot, as well as a listing in the dropdown.  We, as members, are also allowed to run our own ads, and may keep all revenue (though donating is encouraged!)  On Keenspot, members are required to run at least one ad banner size, but they ALSO (at least for the most part) have control over what ads are shown.

Better CMS options: A CMS is a “content management system.” It is an automatic method for archiving and information organization. For example, rather than, say, creating a new HTML page for each page of your comic, you simply upload your comic and click a button…and there it is! Dated and organized and put where it’s supposed to be! At free hosts, you have ONE choice for a CMS, which is whatever they use. At ComicGenesis, it’s “autokeen.” At DrunkDuck, it’s whatever horribly clunky CMS they use that half the time breaks half-way through uploading.  In collectives, where there are less members (and therefore, more attention for you!) you often have your choice of what CMS you wish to use!  Here at SpiderForest, we have our own system “ProPanda,” but also can use other systems we may like more, like wordpress/comicpress. There are obviously different levels of CMS, and I use this term losely here. Also keep in mind that in collectives, you have far more freedom to personally tailor or build your page, and have direct FTP access.  For example, the design of pages at webcomicsnation irks me to no end, AND YOU CAN’T CHANGE IT! You may be able to change images, but not the order. Even DrunkDuck has default pages better suited to webcomic reading.

Notoriety: This is something that comes to your comic, automatically, when you are part of a collective. Granted, the level of notoriety will depend on the reputation of the collective itself. For example, “Comic Z” will gain far more notoriety joining Keenspot than joining SpiderForest. Keenspot is far more distinguished and well-known. Being “Spotted” is a dream of many webcomickers. BUT, the important thing to consider is that while no one may have heard of Comic Z before joining Keenspot, an entire community will have heard of it the next day. INSTANT notoriety due to increased selectiveness.  It may be less in a smaller collective, but it’s still there.

——

Before joining any community, it is a smart move to, as I stated earlier, join the community first. Get to know the webcomic creators. Make sure they’re people you’d want to work with. Make sure everyone isn’t a slacker, because as my friend Bengo wrote about in the Floating Lightbulb blog, everyone needs to work, not just one or two people (many more pieces of good advice in that article, so read it!).  Make sure that people heading the collective are dedicated, and willing to lead while still willing to listen to you. Make sure there are no gimmicks or tricks, and if there are contracts involved, read them very carefully. Look for a TOS, and make sure you retain all rights to your work (this often goes without saying in most places, but the concern has come up before. SF has since edited their apply page to reflect this.) TALK to people hosted there, past and present, and ask them what they think. That final bit is the most important.

You may notice me ripping on a few hosts in this article. I have no gripe with the community of any host listed, only the lack of control members may have in certain aspects. Remember! A WEBcomic is half web, half comic. When you can’t control the “web” portion, it’s holding you back. I will be reviewing different webcomic hosts shortly.

Toplists are a popularity contest. Unpopular/unknown comics won’t ever BEAT the popular ones, but these are places to get your comic’s name out. It’s not about winning (getting in the top 10, or even top 100) so much as increasing overall exposure, and places like TopWebComics and Buzzcomix get a LOT of traffic. Even in the 200′s or 300′s, you will definitely get new readers. To get into the top 300′s, all you need is YOU voting for yourself daily, and one or 2 other people helping you out occasionally.  To get into the top 200′s, you need you voting for yourself, and 4 or 5 committed fans voting almost daily.  Getting into the top 100 requires, at least for me, 100 votes a week.  With an audience of around 1.5k, it update my incentive once a week to maintain a standing in 90′s.  BEING there gets me 80 visits a week, the equivalent of a really good link exchange! It’s a good deal, and worth the effort.

How often should I update my incentive? Depend on your audience size and your ambitions. If you’re a small comic, and you want to get on the front page of a toplist, you should update your incentive multiple times a week. I recommend updating the incentive at LEAST as often as you update your comic, preferably on the same day.  Don’t expect people to come back afterwards to see a new incentive AFTER reading your comic.  Remember to make it as easy as possible for people to vote for you! I don’t recommend updating your incentive daily. That’s unneccessary. 3 days a week is good place to start if you have small audience with high ambitions. I am a medium comic with low ambitions, so I update the incentive once a week and I’m happy where I am.

Should I display the toplist button or make my own? It is definitely better to make your own button that is a thumbnail of your incentive. It is even better to include the thumbnail AND provide a written description of what you have up. As a slight tangent, I advocate including this thumbnail in your news area AND another link elsewhere on your site.  For example, you have a permanent vote link, perhaps, in your navigation menu, AND have a thumbnail in the news area (for example, Xylia). Duplicating the link in this subtle fashion means a higher chance of visitors seeing the link.   Don’t be pushy about getting people to vote! Only 1/10 visitors MAX will ever vote for you! So don’t have links EVERYWHERE. That’s just annoying, and no one votes for annoying sites.

Be sure to let people know that voting on toplists isn’t like voting for president! People can vote multiple times a day, but only once each day per comic! We, as webcomic creators, take this piece of knowledge for granted. A LOT of visitors don’t know this! The first time I posted about it, my votes doubled. 0.0

What should I post for an incentive? Art is the favorite.   Ask Dr. Eldritch posts extra comic panels, often continuing the joke or story of the current comic.  Fey Winds often has concept pictures of World of Warcraft characters.  I sometimes post sketches of the following week’s comic page, or sometimes a “the making of” page.  If you’re the author and not the artist, or simply an over-worked artist, consider posting snippets of the following comic’s script (obviously as an image, since you can’t really post a lot of text).

There are so many toplists! Which and how many should I choose? I recommend focusing on one toplist. In the long run, it will be far less effort with far greater reward for a mid-sized comic (large/popular comics like Phoenix Requiem and Cat Legend can easily be high-ranking members of two.  They have a highly active fan base. If you don’t, try ONE list first, and make sure you can stick with it!) It means less updating of incentives, especially if you try to update each list with a different incentive.  Most people won’t vote twice either, just once (if you’re lucky!)  If you’re trying to decide between TopWebComics and Buzzcomix, I recommend TWC. It’s far more reliable. BCX is down too often for my taste. You might also have a lot of luck with smaller lists if you’re not getting anywhere with the larger lists.  For less readers, you can get more exposure there.

Next up! Deviant Art as a webcomic network tool…does it work?

SpiderForest is both a collective and host that offers freedoms in website administration not available on free, public webcomic hosts such as Comic Genesis, Drunk Duck or Smack Jeeves. It also offers notoriety upon acceptance simply by requiring an admission process, multiple choices in comic archival systems, website building and administration assistance, a subdomain at [domain].spiderforest.com (and/or hosting for an already-purchased domain name), and an instance audience via the mandatory rotating banner at the top of every site.  Founded in 2004 as the sister sites “Spider Forest” and “Spider Spawn,” which catered to fantasy/science fiction and humor comics, respectively, earlier in 2008 the networks merged into a single, unified entity simply called “SpiderForest.”  Current members include such long-running comics as CAT LEGEND, by Katrina “Kat” Santoro, EMERGENCY EXIT by NJ Huff, NAHAST: LANDS OF STRIFE by Alejandro “Al-X” Melchor, REQUIEM by James Roden, SPECIAL SCHOOL by Andy Mason, and THE WAR OF WINDS by Karen “KEZ” Howard.

SpiderForest currently hosts 16 active comics, 3 complete comics and 10 inactive or on hiatus comics. An unspecified number of spots are open for new members, and not all applicants will be accepted. To request more information on the application process, or to pose questions to current SpiderForest members, please visit the SF forum or directly email members via information found on the About SpiderForest page.  More detailed information about the benefits of acceptance may also be found on the Apply page.

The next round of admissions to the network starts June 2009. Good luck to all applicants!