Breaking In To Comics: 28th January, Leicester Central Lending Library
Jay recently chaired a panel on Breaking In To Comics, as part of the BLAM! Season, which Damien Walters is running on behalf of Leicester Libraries. The other panel guests were Matt Smith, Editor of 2000AD, and John Freeman of Down the Tubes, Rok Comics and former Marvel UK and Titan Magazines Editor.
The event was very well attended, with over 60 people in the audience and people travelling from as far away as London and Barnsley. It was a wonderful mix of age, race and gender.
Some of the top tips from the panel were:
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Read and follow the submission guidelines.
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Get some experience and hone your skills in the small press or webcomics arena.
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Try to be original. For example, 2000AD has seen numerous time travel, virtual reality prison stories etc.
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Remember that you are competing with the current contributors to publishers, so you have to be as good as, or preferably better than they are.
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Know the market you are submitting to. If the publication only publishes 5 page standalone stories, don’t submit a ten page first instalment of a 300 page magnum opus!
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Writers: Try to get an artist to work on some of your spec scripts in order to understand how your writing works once it is illustrated.
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Artists: Be ruthless with your portfolio – have no more than 5 pages of your best comic strip work, and do not include pin-ups. The editors want to see your ability to tell a story.
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Artists: When showing your portfolio to an editor, make sure you have illustrated pages using their characters. For example, if you’re trying to submit to 2000AD then you might illustrate one of the spec scripts from their website. Don’t send them your Spider-Man art pages. Send them Judge Dredd or Strontium Dog.
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Attend and network at comic conventions – it’s a great way to make contacts and hear about new opportunities.
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Think about all the different types of places you can submit to:
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2000AD (Rebellion)
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Commando (DC Thompson)
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Junior titles (look at what is on the shelves of your local newsagent)
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Independent & Small Press publishers
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Webcomics
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Comics for mobile phones (Anyone can submit to ROK comics)
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Educational comics
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Business/Health comics
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Manga – Tokyo Pop Rising Stars of Manga competitions
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Mainstream Book Publishers. For example, Jonathan Cope, Gollancz and David Fickling Books
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Competitions elsewhere. For example, the recent Observer/Jonathan Cape newspaper competition
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Student newspapers
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Fanzines
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Magazines
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BUT, most of all, have fun and enjoy creating comics, otherwise it’s not worth the effort!
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