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Post by Luis H. Reina on Oct 20, 2017 9:48:55 GMT -5
I'm posting this both in CBR and here, trying to find some help:
We’re a couple of weeks away from sending a comic series proposal to Image. As per their instructions, we are snail-mailing a cover letter, one page synopsis and a printed copy (Ka-Blam) of the first issue sample of our comic book “Torres”. We’re seeking advice from any of you who has experience with Image, is there anything else we could do or send to improve our chance of being noticed?
Thanks for any suggestion.
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Post by mikelmidnight on Oct 20, 2017 12:11:56 GMT -5
They completely ignored my submission, so nope!
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 20, 2017 20:27:12 GMT -5
The sad truth of unsolicited submissions is that it is a pure crapshoot, no matter how attractive your proposal package is. Most proposals are never even read, in the publishing world (prose and comic); and, if they are, its by a lower functionary who is, more often than not, someone angling for a writing or editing job. In many cases, they won't touch things, for fear of lawsuits over similar ideas (most ideas aren't as original as you think, when they occur to you). The one thing that attracts an editor's attention is success elsewhere. It's a Catch-22; you have to be a published creator to get someone to want to publish your work and you can't get your work published if you aren't a published creator. Not trying to rain on your parade; that's just the way it more often works out in publishing.
The key is to have back-up plans. Look at alternatives to Image, whether it is another, smaller company that is more open to new material, crowdfunding to get a first issue or even a preview out there, getting samples into the hands of fan press/bloggers who can help spread the word, etc... Generating 'buzz" about a property is one of the ways to help sell it to a publisher.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2017 1:01:09 GMT -5
No advice on the Image proposal, but if looking for alternatives, this can be a valuable resource... Definitive List of Comic Publishers' Submission GuidelinesIt was complied at the end of 2016, so it's mostly up to date, but as others have said, blind submissions often wind up in the slush pile and if looked at, take forever to get a response. You said you had Kablam print a copy-have you printed enough that you are selling them on your own and building an audience-at places like Indigogo or at cons? There are places you can sell digital versions of (even Comixology submit) or print copies, and try to garner some word of mouth about the book before you take it to an established publisher. Most often the big break in comics is the culmination of lots of little breaks along the way, and perseverance, hard work and a willingness to do what it takes to get the book out there on your own are what lead to the little breaks. -M |
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Post by Luis H. Reina on Oct 21, 2017 8:56:12 GMT -5
Thanks for your comments and suggestions. We're submitting first to Image, because of their creator-owned model. If rejected, we will certainly knock on other doors. We would rather make all publicity, marketing and sales efforts by the hand of a knowledgeable publisher, but are ready and willing to do it on our own if unable to find a proper partner. Non of us is interested in getting a job in the comic industry, we are committed to publishing our comic series which we feel very strongly about. Are there any small publishing companies that you would recommend from first hand knowledge? Thanks. Art from our comic:   |
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Post by mikelmidnight on Oct 21, 2017 13:46:30 GMT -5
I highly recommend the Octal process: www.facebook.com/groups/OctalComics/It's an anthology of short pieces which also works as a prospectus for potential publishers. My comic did not get picked up through Octal, but I am certain the work I did putting together a professional-level pitch package drew the attention of the publisher who eventually expressed an interest. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Oct 22, 2017 9:33:15 GMT -5
A respected poster at the old CBR recommended self-publishing something and selling it at cons as a good first step. Then when you contact a publisher, you have something already published in your résumé.
I can vouch that even if I make no money with my self-published comics, this strategy allowed me to meet a lot of people in the field and it got me published in a comics anthology. Small steps and all that.
Your stuff looks good; best of luck with its publication!
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Post by Luis H. Reina on Oct 23, 2017 12:31:45 GMT -5
All your feedback and comments are extremely appreciated at a time that is naturally tense for us. Albeit being rank amateurs in the comic publishing world, we do have extensive experience in another arena that might be even more difficult from a break-through point of view. We have many years experience in the film world where the budget for a 12 issue comic book series design, production, launch and marketing, wouldn't even cover the development cost of a smallish film project. I can't tell you how many times we have faced rejection from producers, sponsors and investors and kept on pushing, sometimes for years, until able to attain some of our goals. In the creative business, heartbreak and discouragement come with the turf and must be dealt with on a daily basis.
With our comic series project “TORRES”, we have devoted a certain amount of time and effort to fully develop the story from a narrative point of view to the point where we have a twelve issue “season” complete story arc ready for production. We decided that rather than preparing a pitch deck and a few pages for submission, we went ahead and produced the first 22 page, color, first issue, which we felt would be a better tool for publishers and/or investors to evaluate the viability and appeal of the story.
We are fully aware that the most probable scenario will have us self-publishing, but if that’s the case, we’ll look to do it in such a way that we can at least publish a six issue mini series. We won’t publish one or two issues and leave people waiting for a never arriving resolution. We are also committed on producing both print and digital versions, although we understand the times and technology, we feel that our love for comics is deeply invested in the actual physical print copy. In the end we just feel that our story and characters are really interesting and hope that we’ll be able to share them broadly.
We appreciate and thank you for your time and interest in listening, commenting and advising, all input is valuable.
Regards,
Luis
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2017 20:24:45 GMT -5
Have you considered Kickstarter if you end up self-publishing? It might allow you to put out the entire story either as single issues or as an OGN. Kickstarter can be a crapshoot, but creators who know what they are doing with it can be very successful.
-M
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Post by Luis H. Reina on Oct 24, 2017 8:49:02 GMT -5
Have you considered Kickstarter if you end up self-publishing? It might allow you to put out the entire story either as single issues or as an OGN. Kickstarter can be a crapshoot, but creators who know what they are doing with it can be very successful. -M Yes, Kickstarter has become a sine qua non for self-publishers. We talked with a published author who told us that besides the funding aspect, she found Kickstarter particularly useful as a path to finding an audience. It seems some really hard-core comic fans monitor every comic book project launched on Kickstarter and when they like one, they give it their allegiance, helping by word of mouth to get it known. Our only caveat regarding this, is our worry not to launch a one issue project that could become an 'orphan', if we do a Kickstarter, we want to be sure that any backers will have the option, in the end, to collect a full story arc (maybe a three or six issues mini-series) and won't end up with only a single issue of an unconcluded story. |
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Post by Jesse on Oct 24, 2017 14:07:13 GMT -5
You can buy and sell your book digitally on sites like IndyPlanet and they are partnered with a printing company called Ka-Blam Digital Printing which is set up to do small prints runs for comics. I noticed a local guy selling his book out of my LCS and I'm pretty sure this is how he did it. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2017 14:17:36 GMT -5
You can buy and sell your book digitally on sites like IndyPlanet and they are partnered with a printing company called Ka-Blam Digital Printing which is set up to do small prints runs for comics. I noticed a local guy selling his book out of my LCS and I'm pretty sure this is how he did it. I've heard good and bad with Ka-Blam. The Studio used them for a few books and the results were decent, but shipping costs to get the books to them killed what little margins there may have been for the books. I guess it depends where you are in relation to their hq's, but it can get expensive. They looked for other local alternatives and there are a few around here that the local creators swear by, so if I ever get back to self-publishing, I will look into those. There are other alternatives to offer digital copies too, Comixology Submit being a big one, but there are others. If you do self-publish, and are on facebook, check out the group ICC (Independent Creator Connection) it's a pretty good resource of people involved in slef-publishing willing to offer insights form their experience as well as talk about their projects and such. -M |
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Post by Luis H. Reina on Oct 24, 2017 16:09:20 GMT -5
Regarding Ka-Blam, their timing, ease of use and quality are amazing. I ordered several self-published comic books from them and found their paper, colors and general printing quality to be very good. Digital printing isn't yet as good as high end offset, but it's close enough if you aren't an expert on the subject. The Achilles' heel of digital is cost, right now it will cost you $3.52 per printed copy of a 28 page book, it doesn't matter if you order 1 or 400 and that's before shipping, the beauty of it is that you can order 1 copy. We just ordered 3 samples of our first issue and they were delivered yesterday to a friend's house in Miami, he's mailing them to Colombia and I should have them sometime next week. We'll be able to check for errors and make any necessary corrections. Once ready we'll order a new print "run" of as many copies as needed to send to publishers. The break point comes at around 500 copies, from that point on, you get a better price doing offset. I will certainly check out the Octet process and ICC, both sound very interesting. Fernando, my friend in Miami has worked all his life in the photo-lab business, he tells me he's quite impressed with the quality of the samples, here is a picture he sent me of them:  |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Oct 24, 2017 17:40:53 GMT -5
Regarding Ka-Blam, their timing, ease of use and quality are amazing. I ordered several self-published comic books from them and found their paper, colors and general printing quality to be very good. Digital printing isn't yet as good as high end offset, but it's close enough if you aren't an expert on the subject. The Achilles' heel of digital is cost, right now it will cost you $3.52 per printed copy of a 28 page book, it doesn't matter if you order 1 or 400 and that's before shipping, the beauty of it is that you can order 1 copy. We just ordered 3 samples of our first issue and they were delivered yesterday to a friend's house in Miami, he's mailing them to Colombia and I should have them sometime next week. We'll be able to check for errors and make any necessary corrections. Once ready we'll order a new print "run" of as many copies as needed to send to publishers. The break point comes at around 500 copies, from that point on, you get a better price doing offset. I will certainly check out the Octet process and ICC, both sound very interesting. Fernando, my friend in Miami has worked all his life in the photo-lab business, he tells me he's quite impressed with the quality of the samples, here is a picture he sent me of them: That does look like a pretty slick book, very professional. |
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Post by Luis H. Reina on Nov 7, 2017 8:38:28 GMT -5
I finally got the sample issue we printed with Ka-Blam and I'm very impressed with the printing quality. The colors match and compare very well with the on-screen files. The paper is indistinguishable from that used by Image, Marvel, Dc, etc... The book just looks and feels professional, quality-wise you wouldn't find anything to complain if you saw it on a rack at your favorite comic shop. We are glad that we printed a sample, since we did find a couple of mistakes, on our part, regarding the lighting of a few panels, which once printed are a little bit on the dark side. Now we'll make some corrections and then print the copies that will go to Image and other publishers. I will post some pictures.
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