To Be Continued #5

I'm about to dip into the virtual mailbag, despite having promised that I wouldn't resort to it for at least a couple of months. So now you know I can't be trusted. Anyway, it's only one letter and it's a really good hook for a column...

Dear Dwayne,

When I saw the new column you were writing for Psycomic, I decided that it was the perfect opportunity to throw a question your way. I'm passing this one around, trying to collect a range of answers from professionals in the field.I'd appreciate it greatly if you could answer this one either via e-mail, or in your column, whichever suits your purposes better.

First, a little background.

I'm a long-time fan of comic books, I'm also a writer. Well, a would-be writer, since I haven't had anything published. But I keep trying. And trying. And trying. Recently, I finally decided to make another jump, and attempt to become a comic book writer. The medium had done so much for me, I wanted a chance to try and give some back.

What's -your- advice for breaking in? Correction. I've gotten advice on how to break in. I've read essays, spoken with people, and poked around. And another comics professional online has posted his advice. Among his suggestions:

1. Send your manuscript FedEx, so the editor has to sign for it, and will notice you.

2. Follow up with a telephone call. Call until they read your submission just to get rid of you.

3. Bug editors at conventions, or whatever else it takes to get their notice. Otherwise, how will they ever pick you out of all the other submissions out there?

So what's your opinion? Should a complete unknown take any of the above advice, or just continue to send things in quietly, until something works? Lord knows

I'd like to be noticed... I have faith in myself and my talent. But I don't want to start calling editors and jeopardizing what chances I have.

Your comments and advice greatly appreciated.

Yours,

Michael M. Jones

Other than "Damn, Dwayne! What the Hell were you thinking?", the single question I'm asked the most is "How do you break in?" The short answer?: I have no idea. Every pro I know got their first assignment as the result of a unique (and generally irreproducible) set of circumstances. But I'm sure you guys don't want to hear that, so let me make a bunch of reassuring, if baseless, generalizations.

First off, I'm going to assume you mean breaking into mainstream, comics because, frankly you don't need my advice to do self-published stuff. All you need is a lot of money you don't want any more. By the way, my definition of "mainstream" is expansive. Far from being limited to Marvel and DC superheroics, it includes any publisher who hires you to produce material in return for a check that clears. The check must clear.

Michael's already on the right track, even though he does double-space between sentences. He's asking a lot of people for help. He'll get a lot of different advice. Only he can sort this stuff out in a manner that's useful to his particular circumstances. Do some research. Check out the web sites of your favorite pros, most of them have their own initiation story posted there somewhere. And if they don't, almost all of them will answer brief, focused e-mail, if they have the time. Maybe Michael will share the resources he's developing by asking all those pros (if he does, I'll place a link right in this column). There have also been a lot of articles in the fan press about this topic over the years, as well as a few good books (I'm thinking specifically of Lurene Haines "Business of Comics" series. Hit her web site for more info). Get your hands on everything you can.

Now for the bad news. It's always been incredibly difficult to break into comics. Right now, it's tougher than it's ever been (at least, tougher than it's ever been at any time in my 12 years in the business). The market's tougher and royalties are way down. In practical terms, this means that anybody already working has to take a lot more assignments to make the same kind of money they were making a few years ago. So the big guns are all accepting more work than they used to. That's less work for the rest of us, and practically no work for those of you just beginning to try and break in. There are guys who have done outstanding work for years, who can't get a phone call back from the same editors they hired a few years back. There are geniuses who can't find work, much less guys like us. Bear with me folks, it gets worse.

A lot of people ask me if the secret to breaking in is "what you know" or "who you know." Let me clear it up, it's "who you know," then "what you know." Both. In precisely that order. Sometimes a penciller will break in purely on the strength of unsolicited pencil samples, but only rarely. Wildstorm founder Jim Lee once told me how he got his first assignment. "I drew up some samples and took them to a convention. Some guy from Marvel saw them and Carl Potts hired me." I've asked Jim to stop repeating that story, as it's rude. I've never heard of a writer who broke in with only an unsolicited pitch. To get an editor to pay attention to you, you gotta know somebody or make somebody know you. Even then, it's an uphill battle. So to answer Michael's question, the FedEx trick doesn't work. Besides, I've never signed for a Fed Ex myself in my editorial life. To be fair, I do open them first but once I see they don't have anything to do with imminent deadlines, they go right into The Big Pile. Trust me, you never want to be in The Big Pile. So how do you get out of it, follow-up with a telephone call? Please. What do you think voice mail is for? So, is it hopeless? Obviously not, you see new names in the credits all the time. They must have come from somewhere. But how?

Oh, look! We're out of space right at a legitimate cliffhanger. You'd think with a title like To Be Continued..., this would have happened way before now. Anyhow, next week in addition to my own ridiculous origins, we'll discuss several useful strategies for breaking in. Courage folks, this could be a three-parter.

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