Joining Keenspot

[Tom]

Back in early February, I was contacted by Keenspot and asked if I had any interest in joining their network. For those who are unaware, Keenspot is a comic hosting network which has, in the past, delivered some of my favorite webcomics, such as RPG World, Adventurers, The Class Menagerie, and many more. Receiving this offer was a surprise. When I first began Twokinds back in 2003 on what was then known as Keenspace, being accepting into Keenspot was something I greatly desired. It was, in my mind, the holy grail for an amateur webcomic artist like myself. In September of 2005, I actually sent an application, in the hopes of being accepted. I never heard back from them.

But now, they are the ones sending an application to me. And though many of my favorite comics on their network has since left or ended, a small part of me still feels giddy at the prospect of being a member. At the same time, though, I am anxious. 6 years has passed. I have been independent for a long time, and to suddenly become part of a larger collective again makes me feel uneasy. Joining Keenspot would mean making my readers have to put up with a change, and as I'm well aware, no one likes change. But it would also mean a tremendous benefit for the comic in the long run - more pages coming out every week, more books being published, and more content in general appearing now that I can focus solely on Twokinds rather than my part-time job.

In the end, I finally made the decision: I will take a risk and join Keenspot, at least for a year or two, and see how things go from there. What does this mean for you guys? Things will get moved around a little, as web pages shift and designs shuffle. You may notice a few more annoying ad boxes here and there, though I've done my best to make sure there were as unobtrusive as possible. 2kinds.com and twokindscomic.com will continue to work, just redirecting to the new web pages. The forums will stay where they are, at their current domain. So there's no need to change bookmarks if you don't want to. I will try to make the transition as smooth as possible.

I want to give a big thanks to AJ, the person who has been manning my servers for the last couple of years. He's been a tremendous help to me in maintaining the archive scripts and forums. It's thanks to him that the website has run as well as it has, despite the crummy 1&1 servers I've currently been suffering with. He will continue to provide support for the forums and the new archives at Keenspot. A second thanks goes out to Turaiel, who worked with me to write and program the new website. He took my scribbled designs and converted it into clean working code. I really couldn't have done it without his help.

If nothing blows up, the move will officially take place on Friday, March 11th, 2011. You guys on the forums shouldn't notice anything different, but as always, I appreciate all of your support, and hope you will put up with any problems we might run into in the near future. I'll see you guys on the other side.

[bluespart]

Small precision wanted: You said you will focus solely on the comic and no more part-time job, does this mean you now get payed for doing this?
I haven't been here for long. The change probably won't be big for me. The forums will remain the same, but could we get more details about what will happen to the comic? Will there be any downside?

[bond84]

I personally think this is great news!
Glad to see ya moving up in the world tom...does this mean the comic won't end anytime soon?
?

[Stardustwielder]

Does this mean that the archives site will move or be changed to something else as well or will they still be the same site?

[Tom]

You said you will focus solely on the comic and no more part-time job, does this mean you now get payed for doing this? [...] what will happen to the comic? Will there be any downside?

Yes, moving to Keenspot means I will be getting paid for my work. The downside is, I will have to host Keenspot's advertising. Other then that, it doesn't effect the comic at all. I'll still be doing the same as I was before.

Glad to see ya moving up in the world tom...does this mean the comic won't end anytime soon?

Heh, yes, the comic won't be ending any time soon. Though I had no intention of ending it before. There's much more Twokinds ahead.

Does this mean that the archives site will move or be changed to something else as well or will they still be the same site?

The archives will be moved to the new website - but all the current links will still work. They'll redirect automatically, so no worries.

[bluespart]

You said you will focus solely on the comic and no more part-time job, does this mean you now get payed for doing this? [...] what will happen to the comic? Will there be any downside?

Yes, moving to Keenspot means I will be getting paid for my work. The downside is, I will have to host Keenspot's advertising. Other then that, it doesn't effect the comic at all. I'll still be doing the same as I was before.

Then I can only welcome the change. It's always great to see an artist live from his work. Keep up the good work Tom!

[Dejach]

Well, I dunno what the outcome will be so good luck.

[Locke357]

Sounds like a win win to me, I look forward to where this takes the comic

[Alexander Black]

Sounds great.
Just don't jump the shark =P

[2plus2makes5]

If it means more comics, AND Tom gets paid for them, I'm all for the move. Good luck on the transition!

[SirSlaughter]

Congratulations Tom. I'm happy to hear that you are getting farther in you life and that you get to get paid for you're passion. I'm also happy that the forums will be the same.

[unsteddyPhoenix]

go for it! We arn't the type of fans to complain about that type of thing

[New to comics]

I like the idea of you having more time to write the comic and it's all good if you get payed, but I hope this doesn't mean that they can alter the future of the comic... I like the way the comic is being written now and I wouldn't like the comic to be changed just because they're paying you. That would kind of suck... but other then the fact that I don't want them controlling this comic, which probably won't happen anyways. Good for you.

[SirSlaughter]

I like the idea of you having more time to write the comic and it's all good if you get payed, but I hope this doesn't mean that they can alter the future of the comic... I like the way the comic is being written now and I wouldn't like the comic to be changed just because they're paying you. That would kind of suck... but other then the fact that I don't want them controlling this comic, which probably won't happen anyways. Good for you.

Oh man... they had better not stick their fingers in his cake mix. No... No... just no. that is bad. but i don't think they'll do that. At least... I hope they don't try that.

[bluespart]

I like the idea of you having more time to write the comic and it's all good if you get payed, but I hope this doesn't mean that they can alter the future of the comic... I like the way the comic is being written now and I wouldn't like the comic to be changed just because they're paying you. That would kind of suck... but other then the fact that I don't want them controlling this comic, which probably won't happen anyways. Good for you.

If they dare I feel there will be an enormous backlash from the community. These guys aren't stupid. It's Tom's story, not their's.