Do you want to be published one day?

[Kayke]

I've been posting my comic online for free since I started making it. But I've also been making self published print versions since day one.

Different people like reading it differently. I know people who only read the print versions and get on my case to print the newer issues that are currently only available on the web so they can buy the hard copies and read them.

I also know people who have read the whole comic online for free and still buy the print version because they want to support me and own a piece of the comic.I know I do this for artists I support as well. There's something special about holding the comic in your hand and being able to physically carry it around and show it to people.

As far as professionally getting a webcomic published, it's definitely still a thing that happens even if the whole comic is online for free. I own professionally printed collections of a few webcomics that are these big beautiful (sometimes hardcover) tomes. This usually only happens for the REALLY popular webcomics, but I personally feel like some of them wouldn't have gotten approached by publishers if they hadn't been posting their stuff online and gaining a fanbase.

[ReeohArt]

I do think it would be cool to have a small collection of my own work, but the one thing I have to say I don't like about self publishing is the fact that I'd have to to do personal selling (I have no people skills(>ω<)

[LordZevon]

I thinking being published would be nice. It just costs a lot of money, and I am poor. Although I prefer reading comics on paper then digitally, self-publishing is definitely a better cheaper solution. I would like to be published, but why whom, is the question?

[aszabla]

Why not both!
I've found in having my books published that one audience doesn't take away from another: people who found and read the comic online will continue to read it online, but there are just as many (if not more?) folks who are not big fans of reading online and don't like waiting for weekly updates (esp when it comes to those slower paced long form epics like mine tend to be). They love reading the physical copy! When my webcomic came out in print it doubled my readership because it wasn't just online fans buying it, it was everyday folk who wandered into the bookstore/folks who stopped at my publishers convention booth/fans of that publisher's work/ folks who wanted to wait for a larger archive, etc who suddenly bought it as well.

I do have to say I've never self published, so I can imagine getting your comic out to NEW readers would be more difficult if you took that route. One of the great things about working with a larger publisher is that they do a lot of promotion for you, as well as translations in other languages, additional editions of your work (single book editions, artist editions and such), getting your work to different countries, etc.

[ahhvecadoes]

I'd love to publish someday. Seeing how I'm barely at the end of chapter 1, I'd like to have at least a couple chapters in the bag before selling physical copies (unless I get word otherwise to do so from a publisher or fans). I'd prefer to self-publish, but I wouldn't say no to getting picked up by a company.

I'm one of those people who likes to own hard copies of things, even if I can get it free on the internet (case in point: Marble Hornets, Hark! A Vagrant, Patrik the Vampire...). Being able to support creators has always been a big thing for me, so if there's any demand for printed versions of my work, I'm down for it.

[KoreanTacos]

It'd be nice if someone wanted a physical copy of my series, but personally I don't care to publish my series. I like the idea of my comics being online for everyone to see without worrying about paying me to do so. I just want people to read my work and enjoy it.

[punkarsenic]

its a dream of mine to work in print comics, because its currently still a large part of the business, and gets me closer to maybe writing and drawing for some of my favourite titles. so yeah, i wanna be published. i want people to buy my shit; its undeniable evidence i made something good. and its money.

im torn about wanting printed versions of my current comic, though. on one hand, wanting that will and does limit what i can do wrt page design - i cant take full advantage of the scrolling style if im expecting to print in a book. however, it looks better to have print copies at comicons, and theres a sense of satisfaction to it. like its real.

[ReeohArt]

Sadly im gonna do scroll comics so publishing is going be an impossibility for me, unless there's a way to print out a scroll comic

[thomasfallaeriksen]

Yes. That is my goal. And I'm going to do it.
When I discovered comics as a little kid there were no internet. In our house we had Donald Duck magazines (very popular where I live) and lots of albums made by French and Belgian artists and writers. Titles like Gaston LaGaffe, Spirou and Lucky Luke. My favorite was Asterix and Obelix. My dad used to read Asterix for me as bedtime stories.
Also simply because I really like physical books. I can easily carry them with me, and I don't need internet or electricity to look at them. When I'm working I always make the story fit into a book based format. I've always preferred printed comics. It feels very good to hold it in my hands, flip the pages and look at how the whole thing is put together. The paper, the printing, how the panels sit on the page and everything else. It is especially good if it is a hardcover book. I like to watch and feel how the cover opens and closes, and look at how the pages open up. It is strangely satisfying to just open a good book at a random page and see the pages lying flat against the cover. It is not so satisfying if the one who put it together did not care about the direction of the grains in the paper. If that one is wrong the pages will just stick out randomly.
Also a book will not become "obsolete" in the same way as other mediums will.

[Kitty_Rin]

I read mostly on the internet, so, physical copies don't matter to me, but being published online would still rock. . . not including Tapastic's self-publishing -but you still rock Tapastic!<3

[digitalvalium1]

It's really hard to cuddle up with a computer, and you can't take a tab into the bath, so, yes, I will definitely self publish.

[almondjoy445]

One of these days I do hope to publish.

[Overlord_Thundersnow]

Would I like to be published by a major comic company?

YESH PLEASE

[ReeohArt]

Lol, just picturing the idea of cuddling up with my pc, it's very much possible just extremely uncomfortable

[Shanny8]

I'm already self publishing- printing my own books(or at least paying a print company to print my books). So pretty much, I'm livin the dream- I get giddy every time I print a book and get it back from the printer. It's just a thing to see your work in printed form with a professional look to it.

[cleo_san]

I wanted to be published by a big publisher years ago - then some of my friends actually made it to a big publisher and I saw what came with it: The cuts and changes you had to make on your story so that almost nothing from the original stuff was left - it kinda shocked me >.<

So I'll just stick to self-publishing =)

Although I've seen cases where people drew webcomics and got approached by big publishers who printed their comics without changes

[aszabla]

There were some changes between the web and print versions of mine, but certainly no cuts and not everything! It depends a lot on the editor you get I think, mine works pretty closely with me when the web verison of each chapter is finished and we basically go through and if anything is unclear/needs a little more text or a clearer illustration that's the kind of stuff I end up changing for the book version. Scary that your friend had to change/cut so much!

[Aspie_Gamer]

Eventually yes I would like that. Nothing cooler than having a hard copy of your own work and its a good way to get new readers on board since they don't have to use their smartphone and look up my comic just to read it.

[cleo_san]

Well, it was a few years ago when webcomics weren't that big and since it has always been her dream to publish at this certain publisher, she made a lot of the changes without protest =/ I've known her story, before and after and I didn't recognize it anymore @_@ Even most of the names were changed ^^"

I'm happy that you have experienced otherwise, @aszabla, it gives me a little confidence back concerning editors and print versions! =)

[duochipi]

Maybe, but not now. It would be better once we improve our comic, have more time to make more chapters and maybe we would publish another comic idea we have but that we plan to do once we can keep doing this comic. It would be awesome to have it in fisical form, even though have it online would be better in some things, having it so we can touch it would be awesome.