Yet another webcomic thread

[Kristen]

Hi! I'm the moderator of a group that focuses on webcomics. We recently made a group catalog for all of the webcomics that don't have goodreads pages. This got some group members asking about which webcomics count as books and which ones don't. You can see the discussion here, starting at message 4. I am not a Goodreads Librarian and I don't fully understand the rules regarding webcomics. Could someone explain them to me, so that I can better explain them to my group members? I have read through a lot of the past discussions of webcomics in this group, but I feel like there are a lot of nuances that I don't understand.

Should I even bother trying to explain the rules to my members or should I just send them here to ask a librarian?

[Vicky]

From what I understand:

1. A physical printed edition of a book, which adheres to the normal set of rules for new books is okay to add.
2. A compilation of the webcomic that is available to be downloaded as a single file (.pdf, .epub, etc) can be added as an eBook is also okay to add. Keep in mind that this file should be provided by the author of said comic, not something a fan compiles for ease of use.
3. Ongoing webcomics that are not available in either of the forms above are not to be added on Goodreads and will probably be deleted.
4. Completed webcomics that are not available in either of the forms above are a bit of a grey area, they aren't preferred, but if they are added with plenty of details it's unlikely they will get deleted.

Hopefully that clears it up a little? You're welcome to copy and paste what I said to your group.

[Cait]

A completed webcomic still has to be republished in some form to count as a book (or a series of books). It doesn't have to have fancy formatting or re-editing or commentary or an ISBN or anything like that; it just has to be something separate from the original serial installments.

[Kristen]

Okay, I think I understand it now. Your second point was especially helpful, Vicky. Thanks to both of you!