Back in December, the SpiderForest Collective was accepting submissions for more members.  I, being part of that collective, have already experienced all the benefits of being part of a [high quality] collective. What I had forgotten in that time is that BEFORE I joined, I had a lot of questions, mainly about the benefits of leaving where I started out (comicgenesis) to join a smaller group.  What are difference between a collective and host? What are the advantages of being part of a collective? Why should I put my comic through a submission process (and run the risk of being rejected?) Basically, why is it worthwhile to be part of a collective?  Here are your answers:

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.

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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.