Not many American authors are familiar with publishing startup Tapas Media, which launched a mobile reading app in 2012. That’s probably because it first gained its foothold in South Korea—plus, its primary niche has been comics.
However, we’ve been particularly interested in Tapas for the US market because of the way it might help monetize serials or short works through a mobile and web platform—kind of like Wattpad or Radish, with some ecommerce and gamification added. Readers can unlock episodes through various means of engagement or pay for content with virtual currency. In 2016, Tapas announced a partnership with Andy Weir of The Martian as well as Hachette to release serialized content. (Here’s a recent interview with Weir and Sarah Andersen about their new fantasy comics collaboration for Tapas.)
Earlier this month, Tapas announced new functionality for creators to self-publish through their platform. Up until now, it was only possible to publish your work on the platform by submitting it to the Tapas content team; now any author can create an account, set up a new work, and begin uploading episodes of either a novel or comic.
Monetization currently happens in one of three ways:
- Advertising. Creators can elect to have advertising displayed in their work and receive 30 percent of the revenue. This typically takes the form of a small banner ad at the top of each episode’s comment section, and/or ad placement at the end of free episodes. (Episodes of premium or paid content do not carry ads.) Tapas primarily uses Google AdSense and Facebook Audience Network to power the ads.
- Tipping. Readers can tip the creator using the app’s virtual currency. Depending on various factors, the creator earns between 60 and 85 percent of the real-world monetary value of the tip. But the value of the virtual currency, as you might imagine, is rather small—a fraction of a cent. Still, Tapas’s senior director of growth, Josh Bakken, says, “If the Tapas community likes something, they’re usually not shy about rewarding it. We had a 24-hour tipping event in February where the goal was for readers to tip 2.5 million coins to their favorite creators. They ended up tipping over 4.5 million!”
- Leveling up to premium content. All creators who self-publish start out by offering their episodes for free. But Tapas says they will move stories that show promise to their premium model, where readers have to pay to continue reading episodes. Bakken says, “The easiest way to grab the attention of the content team is to have a Trending or Popular title in our Novels section. Our editors are spending a lot of time there now. Trending is a combination of Subscribers, Reads, Likes, and Comments over hours. Popular is similar, but over days.”
Tapas’s self-publishing platform hasn’t been available long enough that there’s an example of a novel creator moving from the open platform to premium. However, that has happened already with their comics creators. Bakken says, “They’ve done really well, to the point that we’ve expanded our relationship with them to create and oversee multiple new titles from them.” Also, creators who feel their story deserves premium status from the get-go may contact Tapas with their request at submissions@tapasmedia.co.
Bottom line: Tapas Media has more than 1.6 million readers, primarily in North America. Since its launch in October 2012, Tapas Media has gathered about 23,000 creators; readers spend about 30 minutes per month reading in the app, and they open the app about 20 times per month. (For comparison, Wattpad also says its average user session is 30 minutes, although it’s not clear how frequently those sessions happen.) Headquartered in San Francisco and Seoul, Tapas has received more than $5 million in funding to date. To create a free account, visit the Tapas website, and be sure to check out Tapas’s terms of service. (We didn’t see any red flags, but always be fully informed.)
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
