Web comics are quickly becoming a reliable and flexible publishing strategy both for creators and publishers. As more traditional book publishers look to pick up Web comics for print publication, a burgeoning group of young creators have taken to the Web, using it as a platform for building their skills while they get exposure and generate a little or maybe a lot of income. “Print collections of Web comics represent the accrual of a backlog sufficient for printing in volumes,” says Jerry Holkins, writer of the video-game—themed Web comic Penny Arcade. “We're simply at a point now where many creators have worked long enough for their archives of work to ripen.”

But there's something else at work for a new generation of comics artists who have grown up right along with the Web. While some Web cartoonists view the online platform as a way to get a book deal, many young creators are focused on the Web as their primary outlet and look to make a living by selling merchandise tied to the Web comic or by offering paid subscriptions as well as book collections. Books are sometimes seen as just another ancillary product, like T-shirts. “[Print books] were part of the process, not an end goal,” says Meredith Gran, creator of Octopus Pie, a slice-of-life story about young adults in Brooklyn. Del Rey, a traditional book publisher that has acquired several Web comics, recently picked up Gran's Octopus Pie for print.

Creators flock to the Web for its immediacy, economic efficiency and global reach; it's also a secure place to experiment and grow. For publishers, Web comics remove a certain amount of risk and serve to establish the artists and build an audience for their work well before a single book is printed. In addition, says Del Rey editor Tricia Narwani, “We don't have to create a Web marketing campaign from scratch, but instead build on the creator's successes.”

Penny Arcade

“It's easier for a Web comic to make its way to places a regular [periodical] comic book never would,” says David Land, an editor at Dark Horse, which publishes print collections of such Web comics as Chris Onstad's Achewood, David Malki!'s Wondermark, Nicholas Gurewitch's The Perry Bible Fellowship and Mohammad F. Haque and Ananth Panagariya's Applegeeks. “The benefits of using a global, practically free medium to distribute your work are innumerable,” says Holkins. Originally published in print by Dark Horse, Penny Arcade will be published by Del Rey starting with The Splendid Magic of Penny Arcade: The 11.5 Anniversary Edition early next year.

In other ways, Web comics serve as a form of crowd sourcing. Comics fans are famous for letting creators know just what they like, don't like or what they want—be it T-shirts, posters, autographs or a book collection. “The Web comic is the core of what Goats is,” says Jonathan Rosenberg, creator of the popular Goats, which is also published in print by Del Rey. “Print was a goal of mine in that readers want print collections, and I like to make the strip available to readers in whatever format makes them happy,” he says. Over at Penny Arcade, Holkins says much the same: “Readers suggested that we begin collecting the [comics] in book form. We were not opposed to the idea, but the Web site is our real focus.”

Many creators still view print collections as the ultimate goal. “Bottom line, the destination point is to be in print,” declares Dean Haspiel, a notable comics creator (The Alcoholic with novelist Jonathan Ames) and one of the founders of the online comic collective ACT-I-VATE, which will release its first print anthology, The ACT-I-VATE Primer, through IDW in October. Julia Wertz, the author of the autobiographical Fart Party (Atomic Books), also “much prefers the print medium,” noting, “The Internet is just the tool to get exposure.” Wertz continues, “For the first two books, I published most of it online. Now that I know future works have a solid, print-based home, I'm withholding most of it.”

Lora Innes, creator of the Web comic The Dreamer, a teen-oriented fantasy romance about a girl who travels back in time to the Revolutionary War, says, “Print was always my goal. I decided to put it on the Web solely to increase the chances of seeing the book in print.” It worked. The Dreamer was published as a trade paperback this summer by IDW. Yet Innes acknowledges the benefits of the Web. “My story isn't a genre most conventional comic companies want to publish. I realized by building a readership online, there would be less risk for a publisher.”

Narwani also cites this point—essentially market testing unconventional material—as an advantage of the Web. “Web comics are built around stories or subjects that might seem too quirky, too individual, too nichey to find a mass audience right away, but on the Web those kinds of stories will find the right readers and win them over.” And Rosenberg agrees: “I doubt Goats would have ever survived a mainstream print childhood.”

Web cartoonists can also move freely between self-publishing their book collections and working with commercial publishers depending on their personal preferences as well as a commercial publisher's interest in their works. Kate Beaton, creator of the humorous history Web comic, Hark, a Vagrant, began self-publishing print collections after continued reader requests, selling her first 1,000-copy print run in a day and a half. While Beaton has been “approached by publishers,” she doesn't think she's ready for that yet and is content “trying self publishing first.” On the other hand, Gina Biggs, creator of Red String, an original manga-style shojo Web comic, had a “mutual break up” with Dark Horse, her previous publisher, and has now self-published the fourth volume. Despite lacking the distribution power of a large publisher and selling only on her site and at conventions, “Red String is profitable enough to sustain me, just not me and a big company.” According to Biggs, Dark Horse printed around 5,000 to 6,000 copies of the first volume and “a little less for the second and third.” She has printed 1,000 copies of the fourth.

Keith Knight, creator of the online comic strips The K Chronicles and (Th)ink, “found [through self-publishing] I sell less, but make more money.” Transitioning from print to the Web and then back to print (Dark Horse published a collection of K Chronicles in 2008), Knight recently self-published a new K Chronicles collection, I Left My Arse in San Francisco. In addition, Knight has a two-book deal with Grand Central, one of which will be a collection of the daily Web comic Knight Life, which will be published in June 2010.

Web comics are counterintuitive: they're online for free at the same time the creator or publisher is offering the same stories for sale. “You would assume that people wouldn't want to buy something if they've read it already,” says Land, “but I've learned people love 'stuff.' ” In other words, after reading the pixilated electrons, fans want something to hold in their hands and very often that something is a book. “If thousands of people already [read] the story online and [enjoy] it, many will seek out a printed copy,” says Innes. “Before The Dreamer was in print, the most asked question was 'When will I see The Dreamer in print?' ”

A book collection also gives fans “a beautiful and covetable object,” says Narwani, as well as a chance for the creator to offer something extra that's not in the online version. “We try to give the reader something they haven't seen before,” says Land. In the Achewood book collections, Onstad says, “About 30% [is] new content.” Holkins also mentions numerous extras, claiming, “We're confident that each form of the content we produce enriches the other.” Besides the extras, Narwani says the “collected” nature of the book is appealing, citing Goats: “It has a long epic story line that's best appreciated in book form.”

Kate Beaton's Hark, A Vagrant

But again, print books are but one source of revenue for Web comic creators—merchandise and even special subscription-only content are others. “Diversification of revenue streams is important for the long-term health of any business. The same applies to Web comics,” Rosenberg says. Narwani adds, “Many creators, like Jon Rosenberg and Meredith Gran, already do a brisk business in tie-in merchandise: T-shirts, toys, tote bags and the like.” Beaton described what she called “the Web comics model: sell T-shirts and give the comics for free.” Onstad calls fee-based subscriber services “the most efficient way for a cartoonist to draw an income,” and says he offers his readers blog entries and multimedia extras as part of his subscription service. “Our subscription service covers a nontrivial chunk of our living expenses,” he says, emphasizing that the Web comic has been his sole source of income for about four years. Gran says her subscription service allows readers to “see production and behind the scenes.”

“Print provides a form of legitimacy [to Web comics] that'll disappear over time,” says Land, “but right now, while we're in an era transitioning between print and online, it matters to some people.” Rosenberg also believes that too will soon pass away. “Some people see [printed books] as legitimizing Web comics, but Web comics don't need that sort of legitimizing. They're doing just fine on their own.”