Submitting a Comic Book/Graphic Novel to a Publisher

Are you up to the daunting task?

Waiting for six months only to get a rejection letter could disappoint even the most optimistic individual, so make absolute sure you've sent your best possible work. I've recently submitted Project oHoly Hello to SLG Publishing (the same people who published Jhonen Vasquez's Johnny the Homicidal Maniac), and now I'm going to wait up to six months for a reply.

During this journey, I've looked up countless resources on how to submit to a publisher, but I found very little in the way of advice for comic book creators. The best resource I found was on SLG's site, where they were (thankfully) very clear on what they wanted. From what I've heard, they are on the generous side when it comes to the synopsis, though. Most people would prefer the synopsis be about a page long, whereas SLG was okay as long as it was under 5 pages (double spaced). I suppose each publisher is different.

Here's the general idea of what you should put in your submission to a publisher:

1. Post your name and contact information EVERYWHERE. Make sure they know goddamn well who you are and how to contact you. This is the most important thing. Publishers are busy people and they're not going to go out of their way to find you.

2. Go digital if you can. Traditional paperwork is on the out. While your at it, don't send CDs or promotional material either (unless the publisher specifically wants that). They want simple. You want simple.

3. Include a cover letter introducing yourself, your idea, how you're going to accomplish the idea, and who is working on the project. Within the cover letter, I explained who my audience is, approximately how many chapters there will be, how many pages in each chapter, potential other titles, and how long each chapter will take to complete. I also gave them four rules to follow when reading my synopsis. This was a bold (and not necessarily smart) move, but I found it necessary. My story is unusual, but the shortened synopsis takes out a lot of minute contexts from the story. The full synopsis was 10 pages long, and I let them know there IS a full synopsis containing more side characters, side plots, and character developments.

4. Synopsis. Try to keep this short and sweet. They just want to be sure of a few things. They want to know that you have a solid story set up. They want to have a general idea as to what this story is. They want to be sure it's something they would publish. This was by far the HARDEST part for me. I ended up including a glossary for terms used. The glossary took a page and a half, but I think it made the synopsis a lot more smooth to read. I hyper-linked the words too so you could just click on them to get the definition. I'm not sure if this was necessary or not. It was my way of solving a problem.

5. Character Reference Sheets. In order not to make myself insane, I had to cut out all but central players. Even some of what I'd normally consider central players weren't included just because I managed to cut their plot from the synopsis. I have at least 40 characters. There's no way I could complete all 40 in a timely manner. I cut it down to 14, and that was still an arduous task. Even until the end I had doubts about which characters I had chosen to show. Also, it came to mind that it's too bad my comic is in black and white. Balberith has such pretty eyes.

6. At least 5 pages of the first chapter. I actually included the entire first chapter. I almost included parts of the second chapter too, but the file size was enormous. This shows dedication, functionality, and reassures that your product is worth investing into. Nothing speaks like final product. If you don't have final product, go home. Also, a common misconception is that they'll just steal your idea if you give them too much of it. This is blatantly untrue. As long as it's unfinished, they'd be shooting themselves in the foot to steal your product because they'd have to hire someone to complete it when they could have just paid you. Not to mention the sheer amount of issues of legality. They wouldn't risk being sued. It's far too expensive. No offense; your stuff's good, but it's not THAT good.


Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going out with my adorable novel writing sister-in-law. Peach out people.

Fate Vs. Destiny

Luck is the lazy way of saying "statistics". Bad luck and good luck can all somehow be attributed to circumstances, even if they are nearly impossible to explain. Destiny is the lazy way of saying "predetermined". Some like to chalk it up to God. I don't do that. God is the recycling bin where we store ideas not yet understood. Sooner or later God will be responsible for less and less. I don't care whether or not there is something out there; attributing things to it does not help me.

Destiny for me is a far more complex animal.

What about fate? People generally use fate and destiny interchangeably, but to me they're different. Your fate is what is determined by strings of countless actions in the past, AKA your luck. Fate and luck of the draw, they're the same. Your destiny is strongly influenced by fate/luck, but it's your intended destination. You can change your fate as you aim for your destiny. 

My good friend Tom says that I've gotten a lot accomplished in this period of unemployment, that it was destiny. It forced me to take the time and energy to refocus on what's truly important in life. If anything it was more fate that caused this period of dreadful monetary woes, but instead of despairing, I held on to my destiny and turned things around.

I've only got to put the final touches on my submission, and I'm taking the time and effort (destiny) to make sure it is as perfect as possible. This was all possible thanks to the ridiculous amount of time I've had on my hands (fate)- but also thanks to the unbelievably strong support of my family (fate). A while back I posted my profile on a dating site (destiny) and in May I received a wonderful private message (fate). We exchanged phone numbers and met the next day (destiny and fate). See how this exchange works? Destiny and Fate/luck are closely linked.

Logic Vs? Emotion

Logic is the way I make sense of reality.

Similarly to how people follow religion, I rely on logic. Logic is reliable, and I can have faith that it will see me through. Emotion, however, has over the years often been my enemy. I've seen the two forces oppose each other. Emotion clouds judgment and causes much unnecessary drama. As a child I'd watch those around me make purely emotional (and quite detrimental) decisions. I came to the conclusion that one ruled by emotions cannot live well.

However, today I've realized that I'm an idiot.

The truth has been staring at me dead in the face for a long time, waiting for my dense and stubborn mind to recognize it. Pure logic is not the ideal I once thought of it as. I used to think one with a pure sense of logic would have the easiest shortcuts through difficult decision making. I thought that the logic of a situation simplified things exponentially. What I hadn't thought of was what drives one to use logic. Logic is like a computer, awaiting a command from its user. It's like natural law without nature. Logic without emotion is stagnant.

I suppose the reason it took me so long to realize this was because I've never been short of emotion. Emotion drives me forward, giving me the desires to utilize my logic. If I weren't inspired, I would not draw. I may use logic to make sense of reality, but my emotional needs drive me to do so. Without passion, courage, and my stubborn nature, I would not accomplish things.

I'd better start giving emotion a bit more credit.