How to publish your webcomic (paper) without a publisher?

[Klaustasya]

A few weeks ago one friend of mine, who's actually following the work of my comic, asked me if she might have a copy of the comic....the problem is that this comic was only made as an "£xam project" or "Digital comic" format, also i know that publishers in my country are not even interested in my totally amateur work (lol) so i was thinking about going to a typography/ press to made it into a small short volume....but how do i do with copyright? I mean, i know this friend is of course not an art thief, yet i think i need to protect my hard work somehow, so how can i print it and still mark it as my own original work, without a publisher?

[AllynCrowe]

Hmm, I think the quickest way without copyright is to have a watermark on every page, or digitally sign each page in an obvious place. That way it can't be copied without either cropping or photoshopping every page. It's a bit roundabout, and if someone really really tries it will be difficult to stop them. But this seems faster than going through traditional copyright.

Photoshop/cropping leave digital traces as well, so you can show the original in the worst case, and prove it is yours.

[kytri]

I only know the US rules for this so I apologize if it doesn't apply to you.
US copyright law automatically copyrights anything you publish whether you register it or not. It's harder to defend in court if it's not registered but legally it's your property unless you sign the rights over to someone else.

Anyway if you're printing it yourself without a publisher that makes you the publisher, and you can stick a copyright page in the front just like any large scale publisher will. I usually just make sure there's a copyright note somewhere with the publication years and my name.

Also to be perfectly honest you're way more likely to have your work stolen off the internet than out of a printed book.

[LT1986]

I've gone to www.copyright.gov to easily copyright my work. I pay a small fee each time I get an edition of my web comic copyrighted. The site walks you through the steps.

[revisionstudios]

I don't think you need to go as far as putting a signature on every page or anything. A copyright page like kytri said would be enough. Look at how other comics format theirs and just copy it!

I put mine at the bottom of my "credits" page, example below.

If you're not in the U.S., definitely look at what your local laws are! But in general, I will say that it's a very low chance someone will try to rip you off like that. Most thieves don't go after people's art unless they're wildly popular and have huge mass market appeal. (And that's not meant to be an insult to you! Just reality.)

[Luminosophy]

I think it's typically harder to rip from a comic, too? It's much more likely someone will recognize a trace from a panel and/ or the characters and so on. You have a bit of natural protection in the sense that you put it into a series form, I like to think. Though I've seen the artist of Lackadaisy have to deal with some people putting her characters onto merch and selling it. Again at the same time though, people pick it out right away and notify her. Brings to mind the epic blunder that was Nick Simmons trying to lift most of the Bleach comic.