like the site Webtoons.com. There are thousands of strips and generally I can find a handful that I really enjoy. As long as the art is fairly decent and the story not too formulaic (how many zombie apocalypse toons can there be?), I’ll try it. Windbreaker, Space Boy, and My Giant Nerd Boyfriend are just a few of my favorites.
One thing that bumps items off my watchlist is consistency. For example, Seed is a brilliantly illustrated story about a young troubled girl who is befriended (in an ominous way) by a rogue AI. I really like it. It’s sharp and fresh and new. But the problem (which I didn’t notice at first) was that it was also irregular. This doesn’t show up when you are reading strip-to-strip, bingeing your way through them. But when you run out, there you sit, waiting for something to come in. A week passes. Another. Checking a non-changing front-page can cool interest. I’m hardly checking it these days.
When I started DOG EAR and my review column, I originally posted when I saw fit. But then I took a lesson off Webtoons. People will check back on a specific day for your content, sure enough. But make them come by and don’t have anything for a week or more, and then you’ll lose them. Which is why, no matter how tired and bothered I am, I always make a solid attempt to post something – anything – up. You might remember my stirring review of Green Eggs and Ham the other week. With Reamde taking up all my free time, there wasn’t much I could do. I had to review something that Sunday. And yes, drilling through that book when I was a young non-published, I could recite it from rote. And I could review it handily.
So that’s my suggestion – if you have a blog that talks about your works or progress or even your hobbies (even kittens), do your best to hold to a firm schedule. Your casual readers will thank you for it.