If you're an artist or novel writer looking for a place to host your work where you're in control of everything and where you can even monetize your own website—yes, you can start by using a free hosting platform like Blogger.
I know you can also publish your work on reading platforms such as Webtoon, Wattpad, Tappytoon, or other comic and novel sites. It's convenient and easy because you don't have to worry about much beyond uploading your creations.
One disadvantage of using Blogger, however, is that you'll need to handle some things manually. For example, you'll have to adjust image parameters to make sure your images don't appear blurry or low-resolution.
But there's always a solution to these problems, and that's why I'm here. In this tutorial, you'll learn how you can start hosting your own manga or light novel on Blogger and discuss the things you need to know to make it work.
The Pros and Cons of Blogger for Manga/Novels
Before getting started, it’s important to understand what Blogger does well and where it has limitations when used for manga or novel websites.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 100% Free Hosting | File Storage |
| Easy to Set Up | Limited Plugin System |
| Fast Indexing | Blogger Limits |
| AdSense Integration | Fixed URL Structure |
| Low Maintenance | Copyright Risks |
- 100% Free Hosting: You don’t need to pay for hosting, bandwidth, or storage for your website files.
- Easy to Set Up: You can create and launch your website within just a few minutes.
- Fast Indexing: Since Blogger is owned by Google, Blogger websites can often be indexed in search results quickly.
- AdSense Integration: Blogger provides built-in tools that make monetizing your website with AdSense easier.
- Low Maintenance: You don’t have to manage servers, security updates, or manual backups.
Pros
- File Storage: Blogger is not designed to host large numbers of manga images directly, so you’ll typically need to use Google Photos or a third-party image host.
- Limited Plugin System: Unlike some platforms, Blogger has limited plugin support, so features such as Reading Mode often require manual XML or JavaScript editing.
- Blogger Limits: Blogger has limits on labels, and pages, although these limits are generally quite high.
- Fixed URL Structure: You cannot remove or change the
/year/month/format used in Blogger post URLs. - Copyright Risks: Uploading series that you do not own or have permission to distribute may result in legal and copyright issues.
- Membership Perks: There’s no built-in membership feature, such as member sign-in/sign-out like Blogger. You’ll need to upload your premium content to a third-party platform, such as Patreon or Ko-fi.
Cons
But you can implement a membership feature on Blogger using Firebase if you know a developer who is experienced with it. Just make sure the system they create is safe to use and that users’ personal information is properly secured.
Pro tip: One useful trick when working with manga images: if your panels look blurry, check the image URL. Blogger often compresses images using parameters like /s1600/. Changing that to /s0/ ensures the image loads in full quality without resizing.
Choosing the Right Template
To make Blogger work for a manga site, the Template is the most important part. A standard blog theme won't work; you need a theme with a dedicated "Chapter System."
Free Template Options
If you’re just starting out, there are several free templates available that already include basic manga-style features:
These are good for learning and experimenting, though they may require some manual tweaks to reach a polished look.
Premium Template Options
If you’re aiming for a more professional and scalable site, premium templates are worth considering. They usually come with better optimization, cleaner design, and more advanced features.
- ZeistManga v6
- YUMTL - Template Novel Blogger Premium
- MakuraNovel - Template Blogger Novel Premium
- KumaTheme
Why these Templates?
I haven’t explored other developers who create Comic or Novel themes for Blogger, aside from the ones I recommend. I recommend these themes because I’ve known and used them since I decided to create my own translation website for my readers.
- Clean & Professional Design: The code is well-structured and optimized, ensuring fast loading speeds and a polished look on both mobile and desktop devices.
- Smooth Navigation System: It comes with a dedicated "Series Page", "Chapter List", and "Next/Prev" buttons for a better reading experience. Chapters are automatically added to the Series Page as long as they use the same label, so there’s no need to manually list them in the Chapter List.
- For example, if your Series Page is labeled "One Piece" and your chapters use the "One Piece" label, they will automatically connect.
Note: They’re proven and tested, but be careful when downloading themes from other developers because some scripts may contain malware or could potentially lock you out of your site.
Getting Approved for AdSense
When applying for Google AdSense approval, you may not have many problems if your website has original or unique content. However, make sure your posts contain written content along with images, and always enable the search description feature, which you can find in your Blogger’s Settings. Learn more about Blogger Dashboard.
For comics websites, here are some tips based only on my personal experience:
- Don’t upload images only. Always include your own written message for your readers at the end of each post, such as a short introduction, thoughts, or information about the chapter.
- Have traffic coming to your site. From my experience, having visitors and consistent traffic can also help when applying for AdSense.
- Create important website pages. These can include an About page, Contact page, Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, and DMCA page. A Disclaimer page is also optional.
- Add your social media accounts. Linking your social media profiles can help make your website appear more complete and established.
- Publish more than 20 quality posts. There is no specific number of posts required for AdSense approval, but having plenty of high-quality content can make your website more established. Having consistent posts and traffic is also important.
These are only based on my personal experience, so there's no guarantee that following these tips will result in AdSense approval.
Should You Buy a Domain?
Yes, you should if you want your site to get discovered more quickly and have a better chance of ranking on Google Search.
Final Thoughts
So yes, you can use Blogger for your comics or novel. However, it does require a bit more work on your end. But if you’ve already taken a look at Blogger and are familiar with how it or your theme works, you can easily set everything up without too much hassle.
On the other hand, if you’re not the type of person who wants to deal with extra work and just wants to upload your work, then Blogger might not be for you.
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