Introduction – Why Build A New Platform?
Why build a new webcomics platform when theres already established platforms out there with more resources and readers? And why a revolutionary platform at that? It is because many of us have similar frusterations towards these platforms which are inherently unsustainable and cannot provide the wants and needs of authors and readers. Meaning these platforms have provided storytellers a way to easily publish in a place with millions of readers and funds, but the storyteller must compete with millions of their counterparts where the supply of stories far exceeds the demand for them, where there more stories created than readers want to read. This ultimately leads their efforts to be hidden in an ocean of bloated catalogues and forces authors to create marketable stories manufactured for a large audience instead of an authentic story for if they wish to escape the depths of the ocean.
And authors and readers express their opinions and frusterations on these flaws, yet nothing gets done since these platforms are working perfectly for the i nterests of those who own them. the incentive for community, democracy, and prosperity for all isn’t here.
So why build a platform from scratch? Is it wrong to seek for better conditions when theres none given to you? These platforms are designed to distance and isolate their userbase, the readers from the storytellers by being conditoned to see their works as mere entertainment, and the storytellers from the platform owners in believing this is the best they can do, and part of that thought process is accepting free labor. So what does the average author think other than they will succeed and find millions of readers? And for those who are no longer disillusioned, what are you going to do when the platform owns everything and millions behind you are more than willing to sell their labor for free? It is manipulation exploitation at the highest level. The major platforms are constructed for their owners wants and needs, the profit motive and pleasing lines on charts, which has to be counteracted in favor for a platform appropriate for artists and readers interests and wellbeing.
cant solve a problem within the bounds of the system if said problems are a result of the system itself.
Bloated cataloguies creates a need to fight for viewership and attention
Reading a product instead of a story
Here’s a list of the things mentioned:
- Free labor
- Bloated Catalogues (Quantity over Quality)
- Manufactured Stories Over Authentic Ones
- Competition For Readers
- No Democratic Outlet
- Isolation And Alienation (Lack of Community)
- Low accountability For The Minority Owners And Operators
A Solution To Platform Failures
The last entry discussed the flaws of the industry and how creators and readers are belittled and exploited. Where companies and platforms have failed the reader and creator in building a sustainable environment for them. This entry will serve as a general overview of the structure and ideology of this site in detail and why Macaw House is a solution from the chaos of other platforms.
A stable platform is one where the wants and needs of the majority arent gatekept by the ruling minority. There has to be a transfer of power from the minority of owners, to the majority (readers and authors). So what would this platform look like?
The proposal here is to form a decentralized creator owned platform, blurring the lines between administrators, creators, and readers by means of direct participation, forming a dedicated community. To avoid alienation of the readers, everyone would fullfill the task in deciding what stories will be published. Anyone could pitch their story idea on the site, readers and creators would collectively decide which stories should get created and published. Both creator and reader would have a role in legitimizing the craft of the artist and maintaining a reasonably sized catalogue so every story can have a demand instead of being left in a void. The pitch model allows for all aspiring creators to have an equal chance of getting their stories published, the only blockade being of what they present is engaging or not to the reader. Those who do get published would have the ability to get paid a living income for their work if they so desire.
The proposal here is to combine ownership power to the artists and readers themselves, and blur the lines of platform, artist, and reader by means of direct participation. To build a creator owned platform where all members, artists, and readers are administrators who operate and manage the place they own. The majority receiving these roles not only empower said majority, but empowerment itself has more depth. This framework would allow people to engage beyond scrolling through numerous stories via an algorithm, to assume control of what stories get published in the first place and overall general pursiuts of the platform.
Basically, the platform will avoid the flaws and alienation of other sites by allowing every member to fulfill the task of running the platform. Any member, whether you’re a writer, artist, reader, web designer, can and should administer the platform and organization. Much of the problems authors and readers face would be solved when they’re the ones with the tools to solve them. And by getting rid of advertisement and the guessing game for what the audience wants to see, such an organization would require a less expensive budget to operate. Measures would be taken for anyone willing to consolidate artificial power for themselves, salaries being collectively decided by the members of the organization, voting for higher administration roles and instant recalling when not meeting expectations, and rotation of minor roles and tasks. All of these measures and more would be taken, forever establishing a strong and unified platform.
When all is done, the result would be a community driven platform where all stories are curated for readers enjoyment, published by creators who are paid for their work. Said platform cannot harvest you, enforce invasive algorithms, exploit you to the bitter end, since the platform would be ruled by you, the majority. To eradicate exploitation of the majority, action of said majority and dillution of power is needed for the general will of the people to flourish. That feat will create a true democratic space, a place that benefits the majority, the readers and creators. Where participation is encouraged and hard work is rewarded. Only then will a community of story loving individuals who have access to a well-crafted library of curated stories from every genre can form and thrive. A platform of a robust community culture is possible, but it takes work and dedication from all of us who desire this better future to make it happen. Below are the stages on how we can achieve this outcome.
Overview of platform, paid, curated catalogue, democratic control and participation, ownership. Results would be a platform of quality over quantity, democratic, sense of community, financial security
Stage 1 – Foundation
Snowball effect, asking others to join, shorts
A community and platform cannot form immediately. Readers and creators need a reason to come here. If there are no stories, readers will not come. If there are no readers, creators will not publish. The first creators must establish the culture of this platform. A place of curated stories, of quality over quantity. Every story must mean something other than surface level. Stories that are creatively intuitive, constructive, humanitarian in nature that openly discusses the human condition. Where after reading leave you questioning your opinions and feeling empowered.
This is the stage of promise, in where the founding creators will deliver in producing self published stories and kickstart the platform into being. Now is the time to experiment, see what works, what brings people to the platform and wanting to come back. Earning the reason to exist is crucial.
The first titles to kickstart the platform will be limiting in number. You may wonder, “This site will be a community right? Why not allow anyone who wishes to publish here do so instead of artificially limiting the catalogue?” Allowing any creator to join is exactly what causes the dillution of art, vision, community, culture and degenerative catalogues on other platforms. It is to prevent the supply and demand problems on other sites. When you are constructing a building, you do not grab anyone around to build it. No. You need people who know how to keep the building standing and durable. Who knows how to make the facade aesthetically pleasing, the floor plan not confusing. If any creator in the beginning is allowed to publish, they would not understand the ideology and ruin it. The building will fall. In order for this platform to not crumble, curating the stories and being selective on what gets published is a must.
For every creator, there should be around 5,000 readers for a healthy ratio to prevent the supply and demand issue. 1,000 is the bare minumum since that is the usual amount of readers needed to keep an artist financially afloat. Readers usually have around 5-10 titles they truly care about. So the ratio range between too few and too many readers is 1,000-10,000 readers for every creator, assuming each creator produces between 1 to 10 titles. Not everyone can publish their stories immediately, even if they are dedicated to the cause. But there are many other ways to help the platform grow.
Stage 2 – Monetization Question and Valuing What You Enjoy
Monetization method details
This is arguably the most important stage. The final trial to know if this site has what it takes to be a platform, paying for a product is proof said product is valuable. First however, we need to know the difference between a hobbyist and a professional creator. A hobbyist produces stories as a hobby and may already have a job/career, while a professional would be a full-time creator who produces stories as their job/career. Below are the two ways creators would get paid.
- Readers paying to download a digital copy of a title to their device (Profit goes to the individual creator).
- Readers paying a subscription to have access to all titles on the platform (Profits are split between all full-time creators)
As you can see, both hobbyists and professionals would get paid royalties per digital copy they sell, but it is professionals who would have a base pay, funded by the subscription pool, based on the creators regional cost of living.
These models will replace the predatory model of other platforms which do not benefit either reader or creator. Everyone would be able to monetize and support how they wish to.
Creative works being free devalues creators’ labor. For full-time creators, monthly payments for monthly updates economically liberates them. They can have more time to create the stories for you to enjoy without the unnecessary financial stress.
We must understand a paywall does not equate to inaccessibility. Paying does not gatekeep you, it improves your experience. You fund a platform dedicated to providing you valuable art, instead of funding a platform for the business executives end goal. On here you do not support creators with the optional donation/patreon charity cause, or with monetarily ineffectual likes and comments. You support them by participating, by being an active member of the platform and community.
Free stories encourages indifference and underappreciation for both readers and artists. Monetarily valuing stories however is proof the reader validates the artists labor, which in turn encourage said artist to create the best stories possible for the reader, further strengthening the community in all.
But lets know this, many short stories and all first chapters of a series on here will still be free to read, a sample if you will. Artists need the support yes, but readers need to know why they should give that support.
And to address this again, ads are not a viable option. They are an invasive tool to extract information from you, and pays creators, if they’re lucky, a sandwich for the month.
If this phase proves this site can handle monetization, then the next step builds upon that. Some may think introducing a shop this early is inappropriate, I think not. This phase begins when the first physical volume of the ongoing series is published.
Should the books only be avaliable on Amazon and not on the platform where the story calls home? No, this hinders both the artist and the reader and I’ll explain why. Amazon doesn’t play nice with creators, they take more revenue from them than resonable. The Amazon model forces creators to sell their books more than double the printing cost to make any substantial revenue. There are ways to avoid this however.
Using Amazon, creators can sell the book on Macaw House, and cut the price of the book. For example, a 100 paged B&W book would need to be priced 9.99 USD in order to make any substantial royalties. On this site, that same book could be discounted at 7.99 USD, and yet the artist would make more royalties. Another example, a 400 paged full color collector edition hardcover would cost the reader 79.99 USD on Amazon. Yet that same book could only cost 49.99 USD on Macaw House. The buyer saves 30 dollars. If someone wanted to buy a whole series of full colored collector editions, instead of paying 400 USD for 5 books, they could pay 250 USD on Macaw House instead, saving 150 USD. Do you see why a shop is appropriate now?
Books would be the main product, but other products would be available as well. Hoodies, hats, shoes, mugs, metal prints, paintings, mouse pads, phone cases, even dog collars, just to name a few. The philosophy of products on the site is the same as the stories, quality products that are affordable. Like the quality checking of stories, any product wouldn’t just appear on the store.
Stage 3 – Growth Without Mediocrity/Coercion
Company registration
This is the stage that makes Macaw House a true platform. By now the culture that has been enforced would have been cemented. The handpicked hobbyist creators who published before would had reflected and strengthened that culture. Readers would have grown in numbers and the site would finally have enough funds to support professional creators. If there are 10k readers at this point, at most 10 creators (both hobbyists and professionals) would be present for the optimal healthy reader/creator ratio.
The end stage isn’t just the handpicked creator liberation, but anyone who wants to publish a story that people will enjoy. After the first handpicked creators publish their series, anyone will be able to pitch their story ideas on the website. The audience, who now understands the culture, can go and explore these story ideas and concepts posted by others. With a large enough positive feedback, these ideas can turn into published series. If you’re a hobbyist wanting to show your stories and make side income, you can pitch. If your aim is to be a full-time creator and live off your stories, you can pitch.
Of course the full-time creators have the final say in who will get published. Their decision however largely depends on what the audience would want to see get published. It is the reader who validates the artists work, if they succeeded in producing something that speaks to them. The audience is who legitimizes the craft of the creator, and this site will never forget that. Their legitimization would be the true judgement of who deserves to be published. This can only work if more readers join the community. You must spread the word about this site, recommend your friends the stories on this platform, inform others this place exists. The more people come, the more creators can join. Meaning 10, 100s, possibly 1000s of curated quality titles in multitudes of genres around the world could be published without abandoning the ideology of the platform, so long the reader population grows.
With those stages being complete, the promise the founding creators gave you would come into fruition. That the reader would be treated with dignity, how their efforts for supporting their newly found favorite stories wouldn’t dissolve into a void. How everyone in this community would be treated not as a consumer who lives on a farm of exploitation, but as the person for which they are. Someone capable of much more than the powers that be deny. Every decision made for this platform, is done for the interests of those who wish to contribute on here, because they receive little to no rewards of what they contribute elsewhere.
Stage 4 – The Future And Beyond
Multimedia company, always be an art and design company at heart
The ideological movement doesn’t have to end with just books. If it grows enough, we can use our collective might and take over other industries which abuses power over the artist and audience. Where any creator who wishes to publish on this platform would have the opportunity to do so. And together we will succeed where other organizations have failed. Where all creators who publish, not just a few, but all will have the ability to live off their works. We would all together share the pool of wealth created from our works by equity, further strengthening the individual and group. Providing the means to create stories you want to tell – creative, emotional, and inspiring stories unable to manifest properly in an environment of over work and underpaid labor. No more working months on end to recieve likes and comments as the only compensation for your labor. Audience, artists, from around the world can work together and take back from those who created platforms to favor the executives motives, not the artists nor the readers. This stage is just a dream, a vision, but if the platform does grow exponentially, who knows what what ideas will become reality.
Conclusion – What Can We Do Now?
Take action
The honest answer here is if you want change, you must actively participated in building this platform and other platforms who are working on challenging the flaws of this industry. You cannot ask for a community to form for your benefit, without being part of said community in the first place. Make no mistake in believing a platform is what creates a community because it is you, the reader, the artist, the writer, who creates it. Theres already an audience for new webcomics and webnovels, but other sites don’t provide the structure for them to truly flourish. What we can build is an outlet, a place for that community to call home. Your interests in stories alone are the foundation of said community. The foundation is already there, but it is up to you to decide if you’re willing to allow your interests and passions to be used against you, or to be used in favor of you. Together, we can build a better platform, a brighter future for all of us.
This is a movement for those who want change to finally see it, grasp it, and become part of it.