Future Expected Value
What can Netflix teach you about administering your Patreon rewards? Plenty.
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ComicLab Ep 448 — What’s the Best Business Model for Comics?
This week, Brad and Dave talk about the best business model for longform webcomics — and why putting your comic online for free is still the strongest way to build a sustainable career. Also: Kickstarter’s late-pledge and pledge-manager tools, the difference between market research and mirror research, and how to keep going when your first posts get nothing but crickets.
ON THIS WEEK’S SHOW…
- Dave’s backyard skunk problem may or may not require Super Soakers
- What’s the best business model for longform webcomics?
- Why fear of theft can stop creators from building an audience
- Why free-to-read comics remain the best foundation for a comics business
- “First comes the crowd, then comes the funding”
- Why readers who enjoy your work online are often first in line to buy the book
- How delayed access and early-access posts fit into a Patreon strategy
- Why exclusive side stories can work better than paywalling your main archive
- Avoiding physical rewards on Patreon and Substack
- Dave will be at San Diego Comic-Con booth 1228 with free ComicLab pins (use the super-easy mnemonic: 1BAT)
- Kickstarter late pledges and Pledge Manager are bringing in real money
- Why charging shipping closer to fulfillment can be safer
- Market research vs. mirror research
- How to estimate Kickstarter shipping more accurately
- What to do when you start posting online and get “crickets”
- Why seven posts is not enough time to expect traction
- Reframing early work as building an archive for future fans
- Social-media advice for giving readers a reason to engage
- Why success in comics is a marathon, not a sprint
How to do a reader survey
Reader surveys are an excellent way to get a better feel for your audience. Does your comic skew toward female readers? Do they tend to be younger or older? What are their other interests? Would they support a Kickstarter for a new book? What rewards would make them Patreon backers?
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Rethink the landing page
Many of us recognize that readership on the Web has shifted. Our audience spends most of their online time on social media and apps. However, we know it’s important to have our own website where we can own and control our own work. But that website? It’s straight out of 2005.
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Achieving a healthy work-life balance
For a cartoonist with a day job, the trick to work/life balance isn’t finding more time — it’s designing a sustainable rhythm. The goal is to keep making comics for years without burning out. Here are the pieces of advice that tend to work best.
The content you are trying to access is only available to members.ComicLab Ep 447 — Why Some Punchlines Don’t Land
Dave Kellett returns from his first-ever college reunion with a full heart — and a renewed appreciation for old friends, running jokes, and the occasional listener washing dishes through the cold open. From there, Brad and Dave dig into one of the trickiest parts of writing comics: how much work should the reader have to do to “get” the punchline?
Using Brad’s motorcycle-jump-over-a-ravine metaphor, they discuss why wider joke “canyons” can create bigger laughs, why shorter jumps can feel merely “technically funny,” and why the best cartoonists learn how to build strong launching ramps while understanding that every reader brings a different landing ramp.
Also in this episode: How to show music in a silent medium, why semi-realistic comics should still embrace comics iconography, a quick San Diego Comic-Con update, Bluesky’s expanded image carousel, and why obsessing over analytics can become a form of creative procrastination.
Topics covered in this episode include:
- Writing punchlines that require inference from the reader
- Brad’s “motorcycle jumping a ravine” metaphor for humor
- Why wider joke gaps can produce bigger laughs
- The difference between “funny” and “technically funny”
- Why some jokes land for one reader and miss for another
- How audience literacy, life experience, and context affect comedy
- Why “it took me a second” can be a feature, not a bug
- The danger of making every joke too obvious
- Why memorable comics often take bigger comedic swings
- Why being someone’s “top three cartoonist” matters more than broad mild approval
- The difference between newspaper-era comics and webcomics-era audience building
- Dave’s San Diego Comic-Con booth update
- The free ComicLab pin for listeners at Booth 1228
- Bluesky expanding post image limits from 4 images to 10
- How the new Bluesky carousel can help sequential artists
- How to communicate piano music in comics
- Why floating music notes are not “too cartoony” for semi-realistic comics
- Using established comics iconography instead of reinventing the wheel
- Why comics can suggest music but rarely reproduce the experience of music
- How manga and anime use visual language more freely
- Using musical notation as a visual “spice,” not the whole dish
- Why analytics can become creative avoidance
- Whether it matters how quickly a comic reaches its maximum views
- Why “magic number” thinking can distract from improving the next comic
- Why creators should spend less time dusting bookcases and more time making better comics
- What’s better? A simple gag or one that requires the audience to think?
- UPDATE: Comic-Con International booth 1228
- Update: Bluesky update… 10 images per post!
- Indicating music in a realistic comic
- How long does it take to achieve maximum views?
Webcomics Confidential: Talent vs Skill
Have you been told you’re talented? It feels good, right? But in this video, I’m going to tell you why it’s so much more important to focus on Skill rather than Talent.
The content you are trying to access is only available to members.Branding 101 — The social media profile
It may sound counterintuitive, but clear communication beats cute and clever every time when it comes to branding. Your social media profile is no place for jokey talk and ambiguous phrases. Your profile needs to answer three questions…
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July To-Do List
It’s July. We’re at the halfway point in 2026! Let’s start making some plans
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