Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, entertainment, wattpad webtoon studios, Webtoon

LINE Webtoon And Patreon Combine To Monetise Their Discover Platform For Comic Creators

Published Mon, 01 Aug 2016 10:58:21 -0500

Last updated Fri, 29 Dec 2023 09:54:54 -0600

Line Webtoon, the Korean digital comics publisher that has found a large worldwide audience and the crowdfunding site Patreon have partnered for a new service that is likely to rankle some.

They aim to launch a new comic creator investment program, to set a new standard in fostering and financially rewarding emerging comic talent.

Their existing Discover platform within the Line Webtoon app and website allows digital comic creators to publish their work, build a fanbase, and receive feedback from a community that attracts more than 10 million unique daily readers and 35 million unique monthly readers.

But now they are to encourage payments from readers to suppose the creators whose work they like, using Patreon's tools, now part of the system. And LINE Webtoon will also be Patreon sponsors to those who make two or more updates a month, have over 3000 subscribers and 5000 monthly page views per chapter – and live in the USA.

And they state that over thirty contributors to the current Line Webtoon Discover platform artists will immediately receive monthly compensation for their work based upon meeting minimum requirements of subscribers, chapter page views and frequency of publishing.

For some anything outside of a direct commissioning and payment system will rankle. Some will see this as exploitation, of undervaluing, of encouraging a race to the bottom from a leading well-to-do company.

But the first group of Patreon creators already beginning to publish their work on LINE Webtoon includes popular webcomics creator Tracy Butler (Lackadaisy). And LINE Webtoon preserved the creator rights or all contributors. Oh and there's over three and a half million dollars they are throwing down. So, you know…