sleepacross
patreon
Rambling
🕑 Added 2022-09-23 23:55:25 +0000 UTCI talk about things.
I'm going to talk about Webtoon discourse here. If you're not interested in that (I certainly wasn't, before I became a creator!) then I urge you to skip this post.
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In case you're out of the loop--
Recently, a Webtoon Originals creator wrote an open letter to Webtoon (henceforth abbreviated to WT) on Twitter. The letter, which asks WT for more transparency regarding the data they collect on Originals series, spawned a chain of WT discussions about the payment and working conditions of creators.
I haven't commented on this before-- not publicly; I can barely tolerate social media-- so I'm posting this here for you guys. If you're invested in Hand Jumper enough to be supporting its creation here, it may interest you to know...
The open letter to WT is not asking for a lot.
Creators are paid proportionally to their views and fast pass purchases, but cannot verify what those numbers are. Ironically, Canvas creators have access to their weekly and monthly views, while the same is withheld from creators on the Originals program. We can't see how many people purchase fast pass, either-- we can only estimate by looking at the number of likes on fast pass episodes. Other relevant data that would help us understand how our series is doing (average number of fast pass purchasers, how many free coins are used on our series as opposed to paid ones, etc.) is also withheld.
I don't believe that WT is purposefully and maliciously obfuscating data for illegal profit, though some disagree. In any case, sharing this data with creators would go a long way in alleviating everyone's concerns. So far, their response to those concerns has not been satisfactory.
They are not exaggerating. Creators' working conditions really are brutal.
When I signed the contract, I was a freshly 18-year-old high school senior considering ways to pay for college. I cannot overstate how little I understood Webtoon, or what I was getting myself into-- I had literally never produced a comic before, save for the original Canvas run of Hand Jumper, which was neither in full color nor very long.
So now Sleepacross is a full-time college student with a full-time job. How do you balance that? Well, I don't sleep much anymore. I cycle through drawing schoolwork, drawing project work, and drawing "work" work. Predictably enough, drawing so much has damaged my hand, which only stopped hurting after HJ had a two-month hiatus (during which I was still working, albeit slower.) It is beginning to hurt again-- I do not have the luxury of taking another hiatus.
The vast majority of creators are not students, but our difficulties coping with this workload are essentially universal. Many of us work seconds jobs, through sickness and through health, every day of every week. Please side with us on this one!
To end things on a positive note...
Hand Jumper is not in danger of being canceled.
Horror stories have been circulating about the mid-run cancellation of several series. Hand Jumper is doing well enough that I do not worry about this happening. Seriously-- thank you for reading this series.
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If you have questions regarding WT, the recent controversies, or the production of Hand Jumper, please feel free to comment them under this post or in the Patreon chat on Discord (I have created a thread.) I cannot answer questions about/for other creators, and I cannot give answers that violate my NDA. But in the interest of transparency, I will clarify what I can.
Thank you for supporting the creation of Hand Jumper!
Comments
Bass Man
Man, I love HJ, but to hear that drawing so much damaged your hand and that you don't have the luxury of taking a break is, well, heartbreaking. I hope you're able to rest up well after this season finishes!
sleepacross
Their official reasons for not providing the data have been 'it's complicated' and 'security', but again, if it was implemented for Canvas users and specifically withheld from Originals... the logic just doesn't hold up.
Concussed_95
I do find it strange that WebToon would likely have inherent knowledge about how tough it is to make a series over an extended period of time but still ignore the physical and mental stress this 'side-hustle' causes. I mean I couldn't even begin to imagine how it feels but it sounds like a pretty bad business model to be run by artists who likely see WebToon as their main source of income, then basically isolate them from their own statistics. This doesn't seem to benefit anyone in the long-term, since it's really hard to imagine artists continuing their work on such poor income and lack of direction.
