By
Ed Wiens, creator of GLitcH! computer comics. October, 2003.
Hoo-boy.
Are you sure you want to talk about this?
I'm
not really sure where I stand on this issue. Maybe I'll figure
it out through the act of writing this article. (Wow, that's probably
inspiring great gobs of confidence in you, the reader!).
Well,
you see, it's good AND bad. It's neither here nor there. It's
kind of like, in a round about way - (you know, that reminds me,
I really should look at running for public office).
Okay,
okay. You want a straight answer.
Here
it is:
Self-syndication
- when it works - might be the ABSOLUTELY ONLY way your
cartoon may end up in print.
It
might also be the ABSOLUTELY ONLY way you may actually
receive any payment for your cartoon work.
It
might also be the ABSOLUTELY ONLY way you will be able
to control ownership of your characters.
It
might also be the ABSOLUTELY ONLY way that you might end
up getting syndicated by a real comic syndicate.
It
might also lead to nothing.
No
sales. No interest. Only lots of work leading to more nothing.
Now
compare it to comic syndication which beckons and dangles those
few famous cartoonists out there who are syndicated in the 1500+
newspaper range. Those chosen few who have their own animated
television shows; sell gazillions of stuffed character toys; receive
licensing fees for the use of their characters in advertising
and inspire new cartoonists to get into this crazy business.
Let
me add that trying to get syndicated may also lead to nothing
(etc. etc. as I stated before).
We
all seem familiar with the wild successes of a few cartoonists.
But what about the majority of cartoonists who are represented
by syndicates but never rise above the double digits of newspapers
that carry them?
I'm assuming that the vast majority of cartoonists are making
poverty-line wages. (All you Syndicates out there feel free
to correct me. And, hey! if you're correcting me, then that means
you're reading this article, then, why not become the official
GLitcH! syndicate?!! I can see the possibilities now...)
Anyway.
I
was shocked to find out what kind of money one might receive per
newspaper through a syndicate. At the start of my career in 1996
(my numbers probably don't reflect the time at which you're reading
this), I read that a single newspaper pays a total of about $15
per week for five dailies and one weekend colour strip. Now the
syndicate pays its "expenses" first and then pays the
cartoonist 50% of the remaining amount. The cartoonist therefore
receives, oh, let's say $6.00 per week per newspaper. This is
great if you're in hundreds of newspapers. But what if you're
in 50? Or, less? That's $300 per week or less. That's $15,600
per year for a moderately successful cartoonist because, the reality
is that getting to 50 is a major success given that comic strips
don't die off very often and newspapers don't change their strips
frequently, therefore leaving very little opportunity for the
new strip on the block.
This
is what inspired me to go it alone. But let me point out very
clearly that at no time when I was doing this was I relying on
cartooning as my only source of income. I've worked full-time
all the way through this, and unless your strip catches fire and
takes off overnight, you'll probably be doing the same.
The
main question, though, is: Do you want to sit around and wait
for someone else to do for you what you should be doing for yourself?
You know, hitting the bricks and trying to sell the feature. Trumpeting
your wares. Loudly trying to attract attention to the merits of
your entertainment feature.
Let
me start at the beginning and give you a step by step process
of what I did. Not that I think I did everything right, but I
was able to sell my comic strip, on my own.
First:
Develop your cartoon strip to a "developed" stage. This
is where you know what all your characters look like from all
angles, you know how they move and how they interact with others.
Second:
Draw
up about forty comic strips. Sure, it sounds like an impossibility,
but in the syndicated world, this is barely two months of dailies.
Review
them and take a hard look at what you're doing. Are they funny?
Are they consistent? Have the story lines or themes changed over
the course of what you were doing?
Review
them with other people. Seriously. Try to get the opinions of
a number of people, but try to do it in such a way so that they
can tell you what they really think. Friends and family will love
what you're doing even if it's awful.
Third:
Step back and ask yourself the hard questions:
Are
there enough possibilities in this material to sustain doing a
comic strip about it every single day for years? Will those comics
be funny? (I know, I know. Every once in a while when I'm having
trouble coming up with something funny, I'll start to say to myself,
"Strip 'X', isn't always funny. In fact, it hasn't been funny
for a long time!" I can get away with it." Then I remind
myself, that strip 'X' has been around for decades, and it remains
popular because if it were to be removed from publication, there
would be revolts as people would mourn the loss of a comfortable,
old friend. The fact that the old friend was occasionally funny
had long since passed as a reason to hang around with him or her.
Although, strip 'X' may seem hackneyed and corny now, the fact
may be that it was groundbreaking when it came out and is remembered
for that as well.
Is
your comic strip idea "unique." No, really (again).
I know that it's unique for you. It's the most unique thing
you've ever done. Never did anything quite like it. But how about
for the general public? Is there space within the public's "interest
spectrum" for it? Does it talk about things that no one else
talks about? Or, does it talk about common things in such a unique
way as to put the subject into a whole new light?
If
you're still reasonably convinced that what you're doing will
work, continue onwards.
Fourth:
You'll want a great name and a snazzy logo for your strip (suitably
cartoony) which you'll want to research so as not to infringe
on any existing trademarks. It would be in your best interest
if you're so lucky as to hit upon a name that is not already trademarked
for a product close to what you're proposing, to begin the trademark
procedures. If you do it yourself - as much as you can - the final
cost won't be more than a couple of hundred dollars (I think in
the end, when I trademarked "Glitch" it cost be under
a thousand).
A
quick way to check on whether the name you absolutely have to
have is available, is go to a domain name company's website and
look it up (register.com is a good one). You'll be amazed at how
many great ideas for names you have are already being used. TIP:
Think of interesting and unique two word combinations and you'll
find more opportunities for names.
Fifth:
Prepare a package or a book with about sixteen of your best strips.
Graphic skills would come in handy here in making your package
or book look professional. (If you don't have the skills, find
a friend who does.)
Do
not include originals! Nothing says "amateur" more than
when a syndicate receives original drawings. Get photocopies made.
Colour photocopies have gotten a lot cheaper in the last while.
The
resulting package should either be coming out of a laser printer,
a photocopier or a colour photocopier (for the cover at least).
Don't spend the money on actually printing at this point unless
you've got lots of money and lots of places to send the package
to. If you can set it all up on a computer, you'll have lots of
chances to tweak and change it as you go. Believe me, I changed
and tweaked constantly - almost every time I had to print out
a new book!
Sixth:
Now comes the fun part. Take off your artist's beret and put on
your plaid salesman's jacket. You sir, or madam, are now a sales
associate.
Your
job now is to find out who should get a copy of your package.
Call. Fax. E-mail. Ask to be referred. Be prepared to go the long
way around on this one.
The
Money
Oh,
yeah, the cash. The green stuff. When are you going to start seeing
some of that?
Okay,
let me be serious here. The chances of someone using your comic
in the comics page in a major newspaper are very slim. Most often,
newspapers don't even know who chooses the cartoons and they may
get them already pre-selected and pre-assembled. They just don't
spend a lot of time thinking about whether they want to replace
a comic strip because usually it's not their call.
Your
best bet at first will be to supply the comic free of charge to
any newsletter that'll print it.
"FREE?"
That doesn't sound like the capitalist Ed Wiens we all know!
Well,
yes, free. You need to get in print.
Keep
copies of the printed newsletters and build up a small portfolio
so that potential publications can be shown that, yes, the strip
is being printed and people do like it.
In this way you can build on each small success. I used to put
together a one-sided photocopied sheet as a "newsletter"
that I sent out to my clients so they could see that GLitcH! was
beginning to appear in more and more publications.
My
recommendation, or make that, my suggestion would be that
even if your goal is to be represented by a comic syndicate, you
should begin with self-syndication.
You'll
find out more about how the industry works this way and if you're
even slightly successful, it makes the case for you when speaking
with a syndicate as to why they should take you on as a client.
You'll find that more and more people and companies in the entertainment
industry are looking for known successes instead of absolute beginners.
Success
attracts success.
Look at authors. Look at screenplays. The powers that be will
spend piles of money on a known successful author or writer but
won't give the time of day to someone who's never been published
- even though they may be the next big thing - someday.
If
you can build up a strong case as to why a major syndicate should
take you on for distribution (the case being a track record of
sales and circulation numbers) you are miles ahead of presenting
an untested and untried entertainment comic product.
In
my case, I went from a free newsletter (with a circulation of
a few hundred) to a few more newsletters (getting paid at this
point, and the circulation was near a thousand), to a major newspaper
(with a circulation of over a hundred thousand), to a national
publication (circulation of about 360,000), to the web, to various
other publications. About two years after I started, my comic
strip was in over one million pieces of print per month.
(Note:
circulation numbers don't mean much in terms of money but are
impressive when you're out doing your sales calls).
I
can only claim that I've had a small to moderate success with
GLitcH! but I can honestly say that self-syndication was the ONLY
way for me to achieve it. If I had only counted on major syndicates,
I would probably still be waiting around for the phone call that
never comes.
Get
out there and prove you've got a great comic idea. You'll discover
great satisfaction even through the smallest successes. For me,
I'll take a series of small successes over the big success that
never materializes, any day.
Ed
Wiens
