Tapas Alternative: Move Your Comic or Novel from Tapas to Ream
Updated: Sep 30
If you're moving your comic or novel from Tapas, you don't have to rebuild everything from scratch.
Tapas Alternative: Ream Stories
Ream Stories is a publishing platform that enables authors to publish comics, ebooks, and audiobooks. In addition to serial publishing tools like a chapter scheduler, Ream has subscription memberships (like Patreon), inline commenting on stories and comics (like Wattpad), a community tab for author updates, messaging groups for authors and readers, and marketing and promotion opportunities. We don't censor steamy creators, we're non-exclusive, and we have one of the highest take rates for creators.
You can bring your existing comic episodes to Ream, continue publishing in vertical-scroll format, invite your existing readers to follow you, and decide whether you want to keep your comic free or monetize through memberships. You can also bring your Tapas novels to Ream.
And most importantly, you can build an audience you can take with you.
On Ream, your audience is yours. You have access to your follower list, so if you ever decide to leave Ream, you can take your readers with you instead of starting over again.
Here's how to make the move.
Step 1: Set up your Ream creator account
Start by creating your Ream account and setting up your creator profile. Add the name your Tapas readers already know you by, your profile picture or logo, bio, and links to your other platforms. If you're moving an established audience, keeping your branding recognizable makes it easier for readers to know they've found the right creator.
Step 2: Create your comic
Once your creator profile is ready, create your comic on Ream.
Add your:
Comic title
Cover
Description
Genres
Content rating
Series information (if applicable)
Ream supports vertical-scroll comics, so you can give readers the mobile-friendly reading experience they're already familiar with. If you publish more than comics, you can also keep your novels, serial fiction, ebooks, and audio under the same Ream creator account.
Step 3: Bring over your existing episodes
Now it's time to start moving your catalog. You can upload your existing comic episodes to Ream rather than beginning your story again from Episode 1. For creators with a large backlog, we recommend getting enough of your existing catalog onto Ream that migrating readers can comfortably pick up where they left off. Then you can continue publishing new episodes on your normal schedule.
Have a huge catalog? Don't spend the next three weeks living inside an upload screen.
If you're moving a large Tapas catalog, we have easy uploading for your comics. Select and upload all the panels episode by episode from your desktop (but make sure they're in the. correct order first!), and watch them all load in!
Step 4: Decide what stays free
You don't have to monetize your comic to publish on Ream. You can keep your entire comic free, create paid content, or use a combination of both.
For example, you might make your existing Tapas episodes freely available so your current readers can continue reading, while offering paying members early access to new episodes.
There's no single correct setup. Choose the model that makes sense for your comic and your readers.
Step 5: Set up memberships, if you want them
If you want to monetize your comic, you can create recurring subscription membership tiers directly on Ream. Memberships can include things like:
Early access to new episodes
Gated episodes
Bonus comics or scenes
Behind-the-scenes content
Sketches and concept art
Creator updates
Other exclusives you want to offer your biggest readers
The important part is that the membership exists alongside the reading experience. Your readers don't have to leave the place they're reading your comic and move to a different membership platform just to support you.
Step 6: Get your Ream page ready before sending readers over
Don't announce your move the second you create your account. Give your readers somewhere worth landing first. Before sharing your new Ream page, we'd recommend having your creator profile completed, your comic published, some or all of your existing episodes available, and any memberships you plan to offer ready to go.
Click your own link and look at the page as if you're one of your readers coming over from Tapas. Can they immediately recognize you? Can they find the comic they were reading? Can they figure out where they left off? Can they follow you?
If yes, you're ready to bring your readers over.
Step 7: Tell your Tapas readers where you're going
Once your Ream page is ready, tell your existing audience where they can find you. Publish an announcement on Tapas, and share your new Ream link anywhere else you communicate with readers, including your:
Newsletter
Discord
Website
Instagram
TikTok
Bluesky
Other social accounts and reader communities
Keep the message simple. Tell readers that your comic is moving to Ream, give them the direct link, and tell them to follow you on Ream so they can continue getting updates.
You may want to remind them more than once. Not every follower will see your first announcement.
Step 8: Ask readers to follow you on Ream
This part matters. Getting someone to click your Ream link once isn't the same thing as bringing your audience with you. Ask them to actually follow you. Once readers follow you on Ream, they can keep up with your work and receive notifications as you continue publishing.
And you're building a much more portable audience in the process.
Your Ream followers aren't trapped behind the platform. You have access to your follower list, so if you ever decide to publish somewhere else in the future, you don't have to lose the audience you built here.
Step 9: Keep publishing
Once your catalog and readers are in place, you can get back to the thing that actually matters: making your comic. Continue releasing episodes on your normal schedule and use Ream's community features to stay connected with readers between updates.
Readers can comment on your work, participate in your community, receive notifications, and follow what you publish next.
You'll also have access to analytics that can help you understand how readers discover your work, how they read it, where you lose them, and what drives engagement and sales.
And we're continuing to build more tools specifically for comic creators, including additional ways to sell your work directly to readers.
Need help moving from Tapas?
If you're moving an established comic, large catalog, or existing audience, you don't have to figure it all out yourself. We can answer questions about:
Setting up your Ream creator page
Structuring your comic and existing episodes
Moving larger catalogs
Deciding how to structure free and paid content
Setting up memberships
Planning your reader migration
You've already done the hard part: creating your stories and finding people who want to read them. Let us help you with the rest. Bring your comic. Bring your readers. Keep building.
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