"I'd buy that on a T-shirt" is the oldest lie in social media. As soon as you release the shirt, the reader who suggested it disappears faster than a Dracula in front of a crucifix. And yet, many of us allow ourselves to be misguided by readers daily. How can we do better?
Never listen to a reader
A few years ago, I received this message from an (ex) reader:
Would you like to know why a reader stopped reading your comic?
— My former reader
My answer was simple:
No.
— Me
It wasn't just bravado or stubbornness. It was a couple of decades of publishing talking. The preferences and penchants of a single reader are meaningless. Every reader thinks that they are a representative sample of your overall audience. They're wrong.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Webcomics Handbook to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.