I (23f) have a friend (Jane-26f). In 2018, Jane started posting her own comic to a mid-sized comic app. She also posted it to her tumblr page. It did fairly well on it’s own and she had a fairly dedicated community.
In 2020, someone made a fandub of the first chapter and it was apparently so cringe, an edit of the fandub got reacted to by a very big streamer and within days, Jane’s comic went from 10k views per chapter to upwards of 40k. And those numbers kept getting bigger. At it’s height, she was getting 120k (ish) reads per chapter.
Jane decided to ride the wave of popularity and long story short, she was able to quit her shitty job because tips, commissions and patreon were paying her better than her actual full time job.
In 2023, she took a break from the majority of her online obligations. She still completed the commissions but didn’t take any more for around 4 months.
She came back for 3 months after that in early 2024 and then took a ‘temporary hiatus’ again that she only came back from in Jan 2026.
I also want to say that this was a multi-media project. Jane had commissioned me to make an official OST for the comic that I got the profits from. So while I was mostly on the sidelines, I had a vested interest on keeping this project alive.
It also should be noted that during this time, I was offering to help upkeep her social medias (instagram, tumblr, twitter) so her fans would get engagement and the comic wouldn’t fall into obscurity but she said no.
She posted something on instagram (her most popular ‘regular’ social media) and despite having 300k followers, her post got 2000 likes.
She called me really upset that she isn’t getting as much engagement as before. I reminded her that she still has a lot of followers across multiple platforms and she isn’t starting from scratch. But she’s still upset.
Since February, every conversation we have has devolved into her complaining about the view count. A couple of days ago, she realised I still get the occasional payment from Bandcamp for the OST i made for her. She asked how. I said I’m active on my social medias and promote the album. And that if she did the same for her comic, she’d see more engagement.
It turned into an argument where she tried to blame me for her lack of engagement and I snapped at her and said that if she wasn’t so stubborn during the hiatus, she wouldn’t be in this ‘mess’. A shitty thing to say, I know. And now Jane is pissed off with me.
I tried to apologise but she won’t talk to me.
AITA?
NAH. This is just a heated discussion amongst close friends. Hope y’all can work through it.
Based on the info you gave NTA. It’s hard to fully say without knowing exactly how the argument went down. I understand your friend’s frustration but I understand even more how it would be annoying to listen to someone complain about a situation that you offered to help prevent and have them get upset with you for still being successful.
She is actively resentful of me for getting money from the OST. That was the main thing she’s been complaining about since she came back in Jan. She tried to imply I ‘fleeced’ her because I still promote my work. She implied I should have stopped promoting the ost during the hiatus.
And why would you do that? Did she ask? Is she getting some of the money from it too since it’s based off her work?
We agreed (written agreement) that I would get ALL the money from the OST. This was back before the huge blow up (I was 17 when I made the ost). The agreement said I had to promote the comic with the ost (which… obviously) but that was about it. If I’m being honest, 90% of people who found the ost found it through the comic and not the other way around (comic through the ost). The ost is also free online but the money if from tips people leave. this has always been the agreement and Jane had no issue with it until it now.
Should also add that I have other music on my bandcamp/pages completely separate from Jane, that I make money from. And that’s something she’s also resentful of me for.
I have made a good amount from it, but it is nowhere near what Jane has made from everything (tips, commissions, patreon)
(just wanted to clarify when I said “why would you do that” I meant, “why would you stop promoting your work just because she did? Did she ask you to stop promoting or just expect you to?”)
But yeah just sounds like she’s upset with herself and her poor choices and trying to blame you. I wouldn’t take anything she says right now personally. You have 2 choices ahead of you and that’s either to support her during this tough time and continue to offer to help with this project or offer to step back and stop promoting that work and let her handle her project herself.
NTA. you’re attempting to help, and she’s blaming you? She asked why you’re still getting money and you told her. It’s not like you can rest on your laurels when that blow up happens. If you want that engagement, you need to work for it, especially when something blows up because it might not happen again.
INFO – what was she doing during these breaks? Was she working on her mental health or just enjoying not working?
She was enjoying not working. She made an insane amount of money during the height of the comic and could afford to not work for a few months (she was also getting money from the tips people left). At the time, she told me the breaks were because she was getting ‘too many commissions’ (which, 100% fair) but she told me the hiatuses were more ‘holidays’ for her. The one from 2024 to jan 2026 was due to art-block and around 5 months in, she told me she’s used to ‘not working’ so she might extend her break. She was definitely dealing with anxiety during this time but these weren’t mental health crisis’s. (we also lived together at the time so I saw her literally everyday.
I hate to say this, but your average person can’t afford to just randomly take *years* off and expect everything to be fine and dandy afterwards. She was very lucky, and she worked hard (at least at the start), and she found success – which is great!
But you’re absolutely right that at this point, it’s her own fault for letting things slip. She can probably work back up, but she’ll need to lose the attitude and stop being resentful of you. Catering to an audience is hard work. You can’t assume they’ll be around forever.
I’m going to say NTA. Society has the attention span of a gnat. Being on social media is a grind – you have to stay on the radar, stay on the grind, constantly come up with fresh material to re-engage that miniscule attention. Mental health issues or not, if she wants to depend on it for her income, she needs to curate and stay on everyone’s radar.
You trying to get through to her on that point makes you a friend, not an enemy. She’d be wiser to take the point.
Yea, being a full time comic creator can lead to a lot of creative burnout. And unfortunately, if you take too many hiatuses, the fanbase isn’t going to come back. Especially if you also don’t engage with social media to at least keep it in fans minds.
Honestly the most successful method, if the grind of a comic is truely to much is to pivot. Sometimes the blocks of a creative project may feel like a wall, but something else feels easy and refreshing to do. You can often even bring a chunk of the fanbase over.
Years back I used to read a comic called Electric Bunny Comics. The artist of them, Dingo, no longer does the comic with the last page being **YEARS** ago. She since has pivoted to becoming a (mostly) D&D YouTuber, on her channel Dingo’s Doodles. Doing animations and podcasts on it.
Sounds like the author of a webtoon I used to read regularly. I hope she’s ok.
>It also should be noted that during this time, I was offering to help upkeep her social medias (instagram, tumblr, twitter) so her fans would get engagement and the comic wouldn’t fall into obscurity but she said no.
>A couple of days ago, she realised I still get the occasional payment from Bandcamp for the OST i made for her. She asked how. I said I’m active on my social medias and promote the album. And that if she did the same for her comic, she’d see more engagement.
>It turned into an argument where she tried to blame me for her lack of engagement
>I snapped at her and said that if she wasn’t so stubborn during the hiatus, she wouldn’t be in this ‘mess’. A shitty thing to say, I know. And now Jane is pissed off with me.
>I tried to apologise but she won’t talk to me.
She’s going through a self inflicted tough time, but that’s not a license to be an AH. Based on your post – she called you, asked you a question, you answered, she then tried to blame you for a problem that she 100% personally created (a problem you offered to help alleviate in the past), and you hit her with a hard truth. She’s responsible for her own decisions and her own feelings, not you.
That makes you NTA.