Submission Tips: Stand Out from the Slush

Portrait by Black Olive

I've been reading submissions lately, and it strikes me that many artists hoping to be published by SLG make the same mistakes in their proposal packages. So I've quickly written up a few tips for aspiring comics creators. I hope these are in some way helpful, if a little snarky, to those of you interested in breaking in to the... um... "industry."

1. Keep your cover and synopsis letter short, sweet and, above all, professional.
The purpose of your cover letter is not to make friends with the editor. The purpose of the cover letter is to keep the editor reading. The editor doesn't care that the idea for your comic came to you in a vision in the paper goods aisle of the supermarket. The editor isn't impressed by your affected oh-so-quirky stream-of-consciousness crazy-person writing "style." The editor does not want to know your life story. She just wants a clear description of your comic book and your goals. You might think it takes five single-spaced pages to get this across, since you don't want to leave important details out, but you're wrong. The editor will never know what your comic is about because she will not read those five single-spaced pages.

Do not open your cover letter with "Dear Sir." The person considering your proposal is not necessarily male, and, no, I'm not just going to be "understanding" and not be offended that you didn't think that might be possible. If you do not know the name of the editor, "Dear Editor" is just fine.

2. If you can't write, get help.
That goes for not only your comic itself but the cover letter and synopsis, too. Have someone who can be brutally honest check your writing to see if it makes sense and is interesting. Make sure your writing is not riddled with misspellings and grammatical errors. If writing simply is not one of your skills, get yourself a writer. There's no shame in it. But make sure you can at least communicate what you are thinking in writing. If you are picked up by a publisher, e-mail might be their primary means of communicating with you.

3. A good story and good art aren't enough.
You also must be able to your story effectively in sequential art form. A professional-looking page is what separates a published comic from a mini-comic. (Not that there aren't some very professional looking mini-comics out there; they often get turned into published comics on that merit. Street Angel is just one example of this.) You must plan your panel layouts. Unplanned, awkwardly structured pages are a pitfall for even talented artists. Get yourself a copy of Will Eisner's Comics and Sequential Art and Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics and start learning.

4. Get your own style.
If your art looks like you honed your skills by copying panels from other artists' comics and you haven't moved on yet, it will earn you a near-instant rejection.

5. Don't put the cart before the horse.
Right now we want to know about your comic book, not the merchandising empire you will eventually build based upon your comic book. Concentrate on getting us interested in your comic first. Then perhaps we can talk about T-shirts and toys and all that.

And two points that are probably peculiar to me:

6. Don't letter with Comic Sans.
Just don't. I think it looks hinky.

Also, if you can't letter by hand, don't. There are lots of good comic lettering fonts out there.

7. Don't write "I started drawing as soon as I could hold a pencil/crayon/whatever" in your cover letter.
Because you know what? So did I. So did almost every damned child in the world with access to drawing materials. If you want to say something about your relationship with art, say something a little more insightful, please.

-JdG
e-i-c

P.S. For a little humorous tough-love regarding the eternal "How do I break into the industry?" question, check out Robert Kirkman's "You Probably Suck" article in his Buy My Book Column at Comic Book Resources.