I’ve had a couple of questions here at the World Headquarters of Moon Town, Inc., to do with the size of our, er, buffer. Cheeky!
It’s OK. No question is too personal. The five-time-a-week update really burns through it, but I’m trying to keep a buffer of 2 – 5 comics, just stay a little ahead, in case something happens.
Thanks for the question, and keep those cards and letters coming!
Hey Steve, love the comics so far! One thing you might consider is just releasing a few panels once a week. From day to day its hard to remember what happened previously and it breaks the flow a little bit. Then again, I suppose I could always just wait until there’s a bunch of them finished, but us RSS-ers out here are so scared of (GASP) leaving the safety and comfort of our feed readers…
Anyways, great work! Keep it up!
Thanks for the note, Lucas. Hard to know what to do… some people say the daily updates really keep them coming back for more, but I’m also mindful that getting just a few panels a day makes the story hard to follow.
My feeling is that eventually, when the book comes out, you’ll be able to read it all in one swath anyway, if you want to, and meanwhile, the daily updates keep me motivated… always important.
Thanks for the suggestion, anyhow…
I think the daily updates are great. This is a more story-based comic than a lot of other e-comics.
It’s starting to work better as a day-to-day thing, now that there’s been a few establishing panels, and there are punchlines, or gags, or whatever, in each release. The jokes makes the small two-three panel releases worth reading by themselves, and the story keeps you wanting the next one.
I’m glad to hear you say that, because I’m really thinking about Lucas’ suggestion, but I don’t see a way to keep myself motivated with less-frequent, but bigger updates, as sad as that sounds.
This might be the only webcomic in history that has had a suggestion to update less frequently… to that suggestion, I guess I can only respond – umm… wait for the book?
I am not going to stop you from making daily updates! It certainly keeps me coming back, but I do understand how releasing a few panels at a time can make things difficult for the reader. Other comics that I read have scenes that are spread out over months and dozens of comics. If I leave it for to long, I have to go back pretty far just to understand what the heck everyone is talking about. That means a lot of reading, that means I need to block out some time to catch myself up, and If I don’t have the time I just get further and further behind till I just give up.
Perhaps the solution to helping ensure that people can follow along without getting lost and, perhaps more importantly, encourage new readers to hop aboard is to write it in a way so that there is a mini “scene-arc” that wraps itself up by the end of the week. When the reader comes back on Monday, there is a fresh scene-arc to greet them. And if a reader visits the comic less often, they only need to go back a few strips to find the beginning of a “scene”.
For Example: Cassandra arrive’s from lunar orbit to the landing pad where she is greeted by the town mayor can last 5 strips. She is then escorted to her room where she finds the last resident left a photo of an old woman (5 more strips). The next week she finds her way to the galley and meets her new partner who is a snazzy dresser and a sloppy eater. (5 more strips.) Obviously this isn’t the storyline your writing, but you get the idea.
Each week is a new scene in a new location that ends in such a way that is satisfying yet leaves the reader wanting more.
Anyway, I will shut up now because I feel like I am filling up your site with unnecessary ramblings. I am suprised that your buffer isn’t larger considering that the quality of the comic is so high! Keep drawing ‘em and I will keep reading ‘em! Thanks!
Good suggestion, Matt! Thanks!
I’ll take the minimalists approach.
You’ve got a quality comic on your hands, Steve. I think you could easily be one of those weekly comics people pine all week for that one update. The problem is always filling the space between updates with blogs and something that’ll keep those “must have more nom nom now!” readers coming back. Sketches? Guest art? Contests?
I honestly think you can do one-three and be just fine.
I believe eventually I will go to 3 times a week, because this current schedule is not sustainable. But I am going to charge on and finish Book One at this crazy pace, and then I will slow down a bit. Hopefully, you are right, and people will accept less comics a week after a while.
Thanks for the support!