I found this quite fascinating how you walked through in great detail the publishing process for your work from pre-acceptance to finish. Your process of pitching the project in particular left a valuable lesson about the importance of following up on queries and not just putting stuff out there and waiting for the other party to, hopefully, respond.
I'm glad it's shed some light on the process. Since you read it, I assume you're hoping to land a publisher, and here's hoping it happens for you in 2025!
Thank you for the precise account. One day i would to have a couple comics out, and although i have plenty of work to do, it is nice to have a breakdown of what to expect and look forward too.
Keep writing. Keep making comics! I'm glad my look at the entire process has helped, but if my words do anything, my hope is that they help motivate you to keep writing!
Thank you so much for sharing this beat-by-beat. Even people I know who work in the comics industry are rarely this thorough and concise. I just finished the first of the three posts and stopped to become a subscriber!
Thank you for this detailed account - one of the most succinct and granular accounts I’ve ever heard. This makes total sense and I really appreciate you posting!
Haha. Naw, that's just the dark anger and despair we feel when we don't get selected. But keep at it. Seriously. Most people don't even finish a script, and those who do rarely take the step of submitting their comic. Keep making comics!
It takes quite a bit of time to pull back that curtain, which is probably why most don't share. In part because they're probably busy writing new fiction instead of spending time telling others how it goes. But I hope it'll help more aspiring creators know how the process works.
I’m glad you were transparent about the absolute pivot point in this entire breakdown: “Jason gave me his contact’s email address (with his permission), and I sent my pitch directly to him on January 10, 2018.” So many aspiring creators never get to be in this position, so good on you for emphasizing “it’s about who you know.” 👏🏼
Who you know is hugely important, but it's only part of the puzzle. There's a chain of events that take place on your way to being published, such as crafting a strong story and pitching what the publisher is looking for, so there's a healthy dose of luck that goes along with it all, too. But at the base of all of it is continuing to make good books and treating others well... you do that long enough, and eventually everything falls into place.
Interesting. Going through the production process myself with Dark Horse right now. Interesting to see similarities and differences. Our beginnings were the same in that I only got in through a connection. Interestingly, I submitted through their open submissions, and heard nothing, but with direct contact, I heard back the next day.
Great article, very much appreciated. One follow up if you don’t mind, what was the number for books you’d need to sell before you started earning royalties?
I don't think I explained it in the articles, but I actually did earn royalties. I earned a small payday, but a few months later, DH realized they didn't have the Free Comic Book Day costs applied to my account. So when that was subtracted from my totals, I was back in the hole.
Even after that was figured out, by the end, I needed to sell fewer than 10 more copies to begin earning again. I'm confident we would've eventually sold through the print run, but it would've taken a while.
This is so insightful. Thank you! You might get to this in subsequent parts, but did you pay your artist or other members of the creative team an upfront page rate out of pocket, or did you agree to split your share of royalties? Without an advance, I can imagine you needed to shell out a lot to pay your creative team.
I don’t go into that in other parts, but perhaps at a later date. But yes, I paid a page rate to my artists, colorist, and letterer. Always have. Anything I earned on the backend from Kickstarter or Dark Horse was mine (although it’s been negligible at best).
I found this quite fascinating how you walked through in great detail the publishing process for your work from pre-acceptance to finish. Your process of pitching the project in particular left a valuable lesson about the importance of following up on queries and not just putting stuff out there and waiting for the other party to, hopefully, respond.
I'm glad it's shed some light on the process. Since you read it, I assume you're hoping to land a publisher, and here's hoping it happens for you in 2025!
Fascinating
Thank you for the precise account. One day i would to have a couple comics out, and although i have plenty of work to do, it is nice to have a breakdown of what to expect and look forward too.
Keep writing. Keep making comics! I'm glad my look at the entire process has helped, but if my words do anything, my hope is that they help motivate you to keep writing!
Thank you so much for sharing this beat-by-beat. Even people I know who work in the comics industry are rarely this thorough and concise. I just finished the first of the three posts and stopped to become a subscriber!
Thanks for subscribing. And I’m glad the DH series proved helpful. If you have questions or if I can help in any other way, give me a shout.
Thank you for this detailed account - one of the most succinct and granular accounts I’ve ever heard. This makes total sense and I really appreciate you posting!
Glad it's helped. If you have additional questions about publishing or storytelling or marketing, let me know.
Thanks, James, I may just take you up on that! :)
Always happy to help my fellow writers.
I should write a post titled “How I pitched to Dark Horse, and they probably burned my submission on a pyre while dancing naked around it.”
Haha. Naw, that's just the dark anger and despair we feel when we don't get selected. But keep at it. Seriously. Most people don't even finish a script, and those who do rarely take the step of submitting their comic. Keep making comics!
Cool. Read all the Aliens comics as a kid!
I was a Star Wars kid. Loved when they introduced Star Wars to comics again.
Great insight behind the curtain. Fans rarely if ever hear about this side of the business.
It takes quite a bit of time to pull back that curtain, which is probably why most don't share. In part because they're probably busy writing new fiction instead of spending time telling others how it goes. But I hope it'll help more aspiring creators know how the process works.
I love DHC. Great to see them featured here.
Yeah, DHC puts out some solid comics!
I’m glad you were transparent about the absolute pivot point in this entire breakdown: “Jason gave me his contact’s email address (with his permission), and I sent my pitch directly to him on January 10, 2018.” So many aspiring creators never get to be in this position, so good on you for emphasizing “it’s about who you know.” 👏🏼
Who you know is hugely important, but it's only part of the puzzle. There's a chain of events that take place on your way to being published, such as crafting a strong story and pitching what the publisher is looking for, so there's a healthy dose of luck that goes along with it all, too. But at the base of all of it is continuing to make good books and treating others well... you do that long enough, and eventually everything falls into place.
Interesting. Going through the production process myself with Dark Horse right now. Interesting to see similarities and differences. Our beginnings were the same in that I only got in through a connection. Interestingly, I submitted through their open submissions, and heard nothing, but with direct contact, I heard back the next day.
Congratulations on the book!
But yeah, who you know helps in all sorts of ways. Finding agents is a lot easier if you can say, hey, another client of yours suggested I reach out.
Great insight into the process. Can't wait for part 2!
Part II might be even more insightful.
I've been waiting for this!
Let me know what you think after you've read it. I hope the series provides good insight for you.
Great article, very much appreciated. One follow up if you don’t mind, what was the number for books you’d need to sell before you started earning royalties?
I don't think I explained it in the articles, but I actually did earn royalties. I earned a small payday, but a few months later, DH realized they didn't have the Free Comic Book Day costs applied to my account. So when that was subtracted from my totals, I was back in the hole.
Even after that was figured out, by the end, I needed to sell fewer than 10 more copies to begin earning again. I'm confident we would've eventually sold through the print run, but it would've taken a while.
Out of curiousity, did you get to include you own production costs before the profit split?
No. Based on the fact they said asking for an advance would likely hurt my chances, broaching that wasn’t even a consideration.
I figured I knew the answer to that question, but wanted to be sure
This is so insightful. Thank you! You might get to this in subsequent parts, but did you pay your artist or other members of the creative team an upfront page rate out of pocket, or did you agree to split your share of royalties? Without an advance, I can imagine you needed to shell out a lot to pay your creative team.
I don’t go into that in other parts, but perhaps at a later date. But yes, I paid a page rate to my artists, colorist, and letterer. Always have. Anything I earned on the backend from Kickstarter or Dark Horse was mine (although it’s been negligible at best).