What does traditional publishing have for artists that webcomics don’t?

[akitsukino]

Mostly with things like graphic novels specifically. You constantly hear about how great but still draining and financially straining webcomics are. I’ve seen professionals suggest that if people feel too bogged down with webcomic schedules and workloads that they should look for a literary agent. Of course there a TONS of artists who don’t go to publishers because they know they’ll be rejected based on the kind of content they want to make, but for people where it could be an option would it be a good idea? As in, if you made work that fit into that 9-12 middle grade audience? The main thing I see people bring up in this is money and time. That’s it’s better to work off of advances to release full volumes than work week to week trying to catch up and hoping for high enough views to add to your base pay. This here is a really good article about how webcomics aren’t always the best path for people who want to make sequential art.

I wanted to make my Big Epic Story a webcomic, and though it didn't work out, it...

Any other thoughts would be appreciated.

[HarryM]

A lot of the webcomics gang - especially the well established ones - say that the benefit of the webcomic-model* is that in today's world you can do everything a publisher can, and reap all the rewards for yourself. You're cutting out a lot of glorified middle-men and connecting directly with a readership you cultivate yourself. All true, if you can manage it!

The big benefit of a publisher still, imho, is the glorified bit. In that, I think a lot of the general pop are still much more willing to take a chance on a property that was vetted through a publisher, than wade through indie-stuff to find diamonds in the rough. And really, a lot of those veteran webcomics people have worked with publishers in the past, or worked with other creators who did. Publishers** offer credibility. That's the one thing I can think of that webcomics has yet to really replicate. And for a sizable cut of whatever profit you manage to achieve, publishers and agents can save you a fair bit of work - although I've heard plenty of stories from people who were surprised by what publishers didn't do for them.

It's almost as if you build a little audience yourself, get that sweet publisher cred if you can manage to woo one, and when those contracts are up, go back to doing it on your own w/ a slightly larger audience that'll support you for the long-run. Maybe I'm just being cynical but I've seen that scenario play out a lot with webcomics people.

*by "webcomic-model, I mean a combo of social media, crowdfunding, and pay-walled content. Which is different than a decade ago when we were still under the ad-revenue model.

**I'm also including say, contract deals with Tapas or Webtoon or GoComics as a "publisher". Not solely the traditional print outfits.

EDIT: I'll add that yes, the other pretty big thing traditional publishers offer that webcomics isn't great at is furthering "opportunities". Which is really just networking and/or research the publisher's already done that you don't have to do. But they can plug you into that machine, and it has the potential to be more lucrative. Key word there being potential.

[Caro]

Oh! This is a good thread for me to be contributing to. So far all of my traditionally published work has been printed versions of my webcomics and my next three books coming out in the next 3 years are also ALL formerly webcomics and being put out by mid-sized publishers.

I personally don't make middle grade work and although that is where the big money is its NOT where ALL the money is. I live perfectly comfortably doing my more adult-centric (though entirely SFW) comics online and offline. The truth is, print isn't for everybody but its a lot broader of a world than people think. It's also by and large becoming less and less of a cut and dry option. My most recent publisher told me that they had only just started seeing work that was previously published online. My first publisher has always taken anything that's online no questions asked. People are realizing that a built in audience is just more money for the publisher. Some may want a specific number of pages of exclusive content. Publishers vary and you should always argue for agreeable contract terms.

I will say my physical books have gotten me in the door for some really near gigs, they've gotten me in the door for animation studios, and they were responsible for my Webtoon feature if I remember correctly.

I have a LOT of differing experiences with the article linked-- so far I've only worked with creator-owned publishers so I retain all of my rights to the works. I've also never worked with an editor who wanted to change anything in my comics other than typos or clarity issues. I am also currently unagented. I've also, again, never went exclusive with webcomic or traditional publishing. But that just really goes to show how monumentally different all the paths in can be. I was just asked to pitch to a larger publisher which I imagine is going to me more in-line with the writer of the article's experience but uhhh we'll see?

I will say this is the most relatable part of this whole thing--
"Eventually one of my zines (Journey to Stars) landed in the hands of a publisher, who invited me to pitch. That’s how I got my first book deal. Not from a webcomic, but from a tiny zine."
^^^ THAT'S ALMOST ALWAYS HOW IT GOES!!! This is an almost universal experience. The only people who I know with big book deals coming from purely webcomics are people with already massive numbers!

I'd also be happy to answer any more specific questions. I'm kinda only broadly replying with my experiences!

[Kaydreamer]

I initially started Blue Star Rebellion with the intention of using it as practice and portfolio material, to get a foot in the door with traditional publishers. I've had a very different experience to the author of the article so far, to the extent that I'm now dedicated to the webcomic medium, and have no desire to work with print publishers anymore.

I think some of the things traditional print publishing do have to offer are very useful. For instance, the larger ones will provide:

• Marketing.
• They take care of actually selling your books.
• 'Legitimacy'. (Though as sites like Webtoon and Tapas become increasingly mainstream, the value of this will diminish.)
• If your work is Kidlit or YA, getting it into bookstores and libraries can be super lucrative.
• Financial stability. If you're contracted for a several-book series, you know those advances are in the pipeline. Traditional publishing is one of the more stable fields in illustration/comics.

Also, just having a physical book to hold in your hands, or to sell at conventions if your contract allows for it, is really nice. I've attended a couple of small cons, and it would have been amazing to actually have a comic to sell, rather than just prints and merch. I'll reformat my work for print eventually, so I can do that, but it'll take a while.

All that said, I've totally gone off the idea of working with print publishers. I've fallen in love with the webcomic model, and there's a few reasons for that:

• Contrary to the experience described in the article, my comic is doing way better than I expected it to. It's still nowhere close to something I can make a living from, but I have an audience. I'm not shouting into the void.
• On that note, having a responsive audience feels amazing. Seriously, the feedback I get on each episode fuels me so much. I'd still be creating without it, but it'd be way tougher for me to draw a whole graphic novel in a vacuum.
• While being turned into a Webtoon Original is a long-shot which nobody should be basing their life plans around, having a contract with them would, I imagine, provide the same medium-term financial stability print publishers do. I'm not sure if Tapas pay a contracted price per episode the same way Webtoon do, but if they do, they're also a viable option.
• Even if the above didn't happen, a Patreon linked to a popular webcomic can help provide a side-income while working as an artist in other ways. And some of the bigger webcomic creators make almost their entire living via Patreon.
• I prefer the vertical format. It's way more flexible when you're the kind of creator who likes making last- minute changes, haha.

So I'm pretty smitten with the webcomic world, at least in its current format. If Webtoon began slashing the income their creators could expect, I may start singing a different tune. But at the moment, we're in a very exciting time!

[Scarlet_Cryptid]

I am watching all of this with interest, because I'm drawing my comic with printing in mind (traditionally laid out pages, on traditional western-sized paper), and while I'm nowhere near needing to deal with that yet, keeping all of this info in my back pocket is useful.

We'll see where this are when I get chapter one all drawn, I guess.

[Llyrel]

[WARNING: ESSAY ALERT ]

Hey there! Traditionally published author and illustrator here I can't speak specifically for comics, as I haven't had the chance to publish one yet, but perhaps I can offer some insights as far as traditional publishing goes, too.

I already spoke about making a living with traditional publishing in a previous post: the tl;dr version would be "nope, being traditionally published doesn't automatically mean that you're going to make a living out of it".

Again, I'm saying this as someone who lives in a country where royalties on books are ridiculously low (6% of the cover price) and where an increasing number of small/medium small publishers won't even give you an advance payment on your contract.

Even with "big" publishers, the advance payment isn't that high at all and will barely cover one month worth of salary... and since you can't publish more than one book a year with the same publisher, you can easily imagine that the money you're going to make out of it won't be much XD now, of course this is going to be different for comic artists with ongoing monthly/weekly series, buuuut... judging from the sheer number of comic artists who also do freelance work as illustrators to support themselves, I'd say that it's pretty clear that comics alone aren't enough to make a living here. Even the "big names" of graphic novels here usually rely on stuff like TV shows, animation, advertising, illustration, workshops/private lessons or even Patreon to make a living. Authors who can truly make a living solely out of traditional publishing are very few (and usually skew older: most artists I'm aware of who are strictly comic artists are people who've been in the industry since the 70s-80s).

That said, I also agree with what @Caro said about the fact that you don't necessarily have to make middle grade work to gain money. Many of our young comic artists who recently gained popularity actually make YA or even downright adult rated stuff. See Zerocalcare, Mirka Andolfo or Loputyn.

So, if it's not the money, what does traditional publishing have that webcomics don't?
I think both Caro and @Kaydreamer made some really good points.

Legitimacy definitely does play a big role: many traditional publishers still side-eye self publishing and webcomics as something only "amateurs" do. Just recently I stumbled upon a competition for "young comic artists aged 18-35"... and they STILL demanded that you had traditionally published work in order to participate. Cons and events won't really give any space to webcomic artists or platforms, either. We had a grand total of one (1) traditional publisher creating a platform that was similar to Tapas/Webtoon in order to find more works to publish... but even then, as soon as they settled on a bunch of names to publish, they stopped caring (platform is still there, but kind of a wasteland nowadays). So yep, there's definitely this (rather backwards, if you ask me) concept according to which "you're not a real author until a publisher says you are".

As for things that traditional publishing does that webcomics can't (yet), however, I'd definitely want to add something about:

• More opportunities: traditional publishing -when done well and with publishers that actually do their job- also gives you an easier access into events such as presentations, book signings and cons, thus allowing you to meet more people and get involved in more projects. My co-author took part to many events and got to meet movie directors, journalists, editors and more. Heck, one of these connections got us the opportunity to talk about our book on TV once granted, it's not all sunshine and rainbows: many of these events will be unpaid and you WILL meet plenty of buttholes, but it's definitely easier to get into these things when you have a publisher behind your back. Some publishers will also send your published book to bloggers and book reviewers, who'll then write articles about it, thus contributing to spread the word about it. In short: no more need to self-promote.
• Printing and distribution: printing a book/a comic can cost quite a lot, especially if you're working in full color, have a long form comic and/or want to have a fancy cover. And once you're done with the printing, you have to physically send it to your buyers. Traditional publishing takes care of all that for you, so you just have to sit there and enjoy the ride.

As far as having an agent goes... again, I'd say it wildly depends on the agent and the country. Agents where I live do... basically nothing, tbh. And no, you definitely don't need one to publish, although if you're just starting out you may want someone with a certain degree of experience who can help you with publishing contracts to avoid scams (doesn't have to be necessarily a literary agent, though, sometimes even a fellow author can help with that).

Also, re: editing... it really depends on the publisher. Some publishers will do little to no editing at all. Others will try to make you rewrite the whole thing from scratch (sometimes with hilariously bad results, such as suggesting entirely wrong verbs, or making you change the food your character is eating in a minor scene because... the editor doesn't want your character to eat pizza, apparently? ).

Long story short: it really depends on the publisher, the kind of content you make and your personal preference. Neither option will instantly allow you to make a living out of it and making it big is incredibly rare in both situations. Self-publishing definitely gives you more control over the stuff you do, but it's also true that you're on your own unless one of the bigger platforms decides to feature your content (in this sense, platforms aren't that different from a traditional publisher, tbh). Traditional publishing may not offer as much freedom, but it definitely gets rid of a lot of the issues that come with self-promoting and self-distributing. Both allow you to meet your audience, however it's definitely true that webcomics allow for more frequent interaction (which can be good or bad depending on the feedback/community surrounding you), while with traditional printing you only get to see your audience at meetings, which usually happen far less often.

Most importantly, though, neither is perfect and both come with challenges and frustrations of their own.

[NickRowler]

The biggest difference I have seen between traditional and online publishing has to do with restrictions of the creator.

I felt like traditional publishing is more open to darker themes, adult content (like nudity be it sexual or not), and more complex political themes. They will also have stories that may appeal to an older audience with older characters, I remember reading a depressing one about senior citizens and retirement homes, not really the kind of thing you would see in webcomic.

Traditional also has comics targeted at a younger audience. Tho, I notice there is more effort to make webcomics for kids on some websites. Tho with Webtoons and Tapas, you are not going to get those kind of readers.

However, I feel like with webcomics, there is more opportunity for stories from diverse backgrounds, from LGBTQ to having racially diverse casts. There is also a better opportunity to read international comics, while in my experience most traditional comics tended to only be from the North America, UK, France, and Japan. I also feel like webcomics are better at appealing to a young female demographic, something that traditional publishing has sort of been struggling with.

[dominioncomix]

Actual publishing can reach a larger audience. Webcomics, especially webtoons, have a surprisingly narrow audience, both in age and tastes. If you're trying to do something that bored teens with a short attention span won't like, you're SOL, basically.