A couple of questions

[JonHParrish]

1. Are there any book publishers out there that would be interested in a superhero novel with completely original characters ? I haven't seen to many.

2. I'm thinking of sending some scripts to several publishing houses. Should I start out with just smaller publishers and work my way up or should I go big the first go around and work my way down ?

3. How much should an artist get paid per page ?

4. Did anyone miss me or remember me ? No....oh ok :(. That's cool.

Well I'd really appreciate your input and hopefully I'll have some work up soon so that I can hone my skills......again.

[sixthring]

Well, i think it might be best to start off high then work your way down in my humble opinion. And i'm not sure about the other q's.....sorry matey.

[JonHParrish]

Thanks

[JonHParrish]

Anyone else have any pointers ? :cry:

[The Anti-crest]

1. Are there any book publishers out there that would be interested in a superhero novel with completely original characters ?

I haven't seen to many but I am sure somewhere there is. You may be able to sell an alternative style superhero story to someone like dark horse.

2. I'm thinking of sending some scripts to several publishing houses. Should I start out with just smaller publishers and work my way up or should I go big the first go around and work my way down ?

The big 2(marvel and dc) do not accept scripts by unpublished authors. Start small and get out there first. If you can get some publishing done itll be easier to get in the door of a bigger company.

3. How much should an artist get paid per page ?

This is hard, different artists do different things and have different levels of experience. I've noticed people in my recent ad asking for $20 a page for pencils and others asking for $100 a page in pencils. One artist told me that the best way to get an artist on board is to compliment his work and pay him well. The only leverage a writer has in a story is $$$$. Artists are looking for Work.

[jrod]

1. Are there any book publishers out there that would be interested in a superhero novel with completely original characters ? I haven't seen to many.

Well, yeah, I'm pretty sure a good one can punch through but it'd really need to be a young adult novel and you'd need to have an agent. Unless you're talking about comic book publishers in which case you shouldn't waste your time. Even if you sold one on it they probably wouldn't sell it well.

2. I'm thinking of sending some scripts to several publishing houses. Should I start out with just smaller publishers and work my way up or should I go big the first go around and work my way down ?

You shouldn’t send scripts to anybody.

3. How much should an artist get paid per page ?

True collaboration is achieved when two people jibe on an idea so much that they have to get it done. Learn how to pitch your idea, work some cons, and you’ll find collaborators. Start emailing people to pitch them on “this killer idea [you] want [them] to draw” and you should expect to pay too much money for someone who will get you no closer to a publishing contract.

[The Anti-crest]

jrod sounds bitter and cynical. You've been doing this for a while, havent you?

[jrod]

jrod sounds bitter and cynical. You've been doing this for a while, havent you?
Actually, I’m not cynical at all. I love this business and I’m pretty accessible over email. Just got a phone call while I was writing and committed to the blunt truth. But I’ll flesh it out.

1. A lot of comic companies won’t take a chance on a superhero novel, especially not from an unknown writer. Marvel/DC excels in the superhero market because of the familiarity with the characters – every once and a while you get a book like Invincible but even that takes a while to grow. A superhero novel for non Marvel/DC is a one shot deal with a company that doesn’t have heavy bookstore penetration.

I still think that with a good agent and some experience, you can totally sell a major book retailer on a young adult superhero novel – like Harry Potter with capes. Because they have the resources needed to let it develop and market it correctly.

2. You really shouldn’t send scripts to any companies – you should send what they ask for. Image wants a one page and at least five story pages, for instance – you send them a script and I promise you they won’t even look at it. The same goes for the other big comic publishers and every small one that I know. Results are what counts – the ability to describe your story and prove to them that you can get it done.

3. And I really hope you were keying on my short answer to the second question because there’s no way saying to network with artists and sell one on a good idea is being cynical. Believe me, I made the mistake of just throwing money around for the first two projects I put together and it was kind of sad – those are two pitches I’ll likely never show to anybody.

When you approach a collaboration in that way a lot of the times it takes out the one thing that makes a collaboration work – chemistry. Work the cons, meet people. Have those people introduce you to people. I spend ten to twenty minutes a night looking for new artists and trying to get a relationship with them. Get their IMs, talk to them – find out what they like. Meet up with them at shows, hang out. Then design a pitch just for them and sell them on it.

It takes work and patience – that’s one of the things I don’t think a lot of cats get. It takes building friendships. I found a lot of friends here.

Look. I met Jay Busbee on these boards. He got a five page story in Western Tales of Terror and got me hooked up with Josh Fialkov, the guy publishing the book. Josh made me submissions editor which introduced me to a lot of up-and-comers. He liked my editing style so he put me on Elk’s Run. He liked what I was dong for that book so he put me on editing WToT which is how I got to work with guys like Phil Hester and establish something there. When I started putting POSTCARDS together I called on the friends I’ve met first to put together an impressive pitch for the guys I didn’t know. No money exchanged – just a solid proposal, connections and passion. I also met Chris Stevens here who introduced me to Harvey Pekar – the headliner in my book. And it all started here and I haven’t had to throw any money around for quite some time.

So meet folks, find guys you jibe with, and eventually take that friendship off the board and to the cons. There’s no reason to spend $100 a page on an unknown artist’s pencils who adds nothing to the proposal. If it’s someone like Jock or Tony Moore – pay them whatever they want for five pages because the book will be picked up by somebody.

But what if a small publisher picks up your book and there’s no way you can cover the $100 page rate of someone who’s also trying to make a name for themselves? And then you go and get an inker, a letterer, and maybe a colorist who never work for free (always try to find a guy that can do everything and learn how to letter). You’re screwed. There’s nothing more damaging than having to turn down an offer.

That’s not cynicism, that’s the truth.

[JonHParrish]

Thanks, I had a feeling that was what you meant on the second question, but I needed you to clarify. That helps a lot. Thank you.

[The Anti-crest]

Actually, I’m not cynical at all. I love this business and I’m pretty accessible over email. Just got a phone call while I was writing and committed to the blunt truth. But I’ll flesh it out.

1. A lot of comic companies won’t take a chance on a superhero novel, especially not from an unknown writer. Marvel/DC excels in the superhero market because of the familiarity with the characters – every once and a while you get a book like Invincible but even that takes a while to grow. A superhero novel for non Marvel/DC is a one shot deal with a company that doesn’t have heavy bookstore penetration.

I still think that with a good agent and some experience, you can totally sell a major book retailer on a young adult superhero novel – like Harry Potter with capes. Because they have the resources needed to let it develop and market it correctly.

2. You really shouldn’t send scripts to any companies – you should send what they ask for. Image wants a one page and at least five story pages, for instance – you send them a script and I promise you they won’t even look at it. The same goes for the other big comic publishers and every small one that I know. Results are what counts – the ability to describe your story and prove to them that you can get it done.

3. And I really hope you were keying on my short answer to the second question because there’s no way saying to network with artists and sell one on a good idea is being cynical. Believe me, I made the mistake of just throwing money around for the first two projects I put together and it was kind of sad – those are two pitches I’ll likely never show to anybody.

When you approach a collaboration in that way a lot of the times it takes out the one thing that makes a collaboration work – chemistry. Work the cons, meet people. Have those people introduce you to people. I spend ten to twenty minutes a night looking for new artists and trying to get a relationship with them. Get their IMs, talk to them – find out what they like. Meet up with them at shows, hang out. Then design a pitch just for them and sell them on it.

It takes work and patience – that’s one of the things I don’t think a lot of cats get. It takes building friendships. I found a lot of friends here.

Look. I met Jay Busbee on these boards. He got a five page story in Western Tales of Terror and got me hooked up with Josh Fialkov, the guy publishing the book. Josh made me submissions editor which introduced me to a lot of up-and-comers. He liked my editing style so he put me on Elk’s Run. He liked what I was dong for that book so he put me on editing WToT which is how I got to work with guys like Phil Hester and establish something there. When I started putting POSTCARDS together I called on the friends I’ve met first to put together an impressive pitch for the guys I didn’t know. No money exchanged – just a solid proposal, connections and passion. I also met Chris Stevens here who introduced me to Harvey Pekar – the headliner in my book. And it all started here and I haven’t had to throw any money around for quite some time.

So meet folks, find guys you jibe with, and eventually take that friendship off the board and to the cons. There’s no reason to spend $100 a page on an unknown artist’s pencils who adds nothing to the proposal. If it’s someone like Jock or Tony Moore – pay them whatever they want for five pages because the book will be picked up by somebody.

But what if a small publisher picks up your book and there’s no way you can cover the $100 page rate of someone who’s also trying to make a name for themselves? And then you go and get an inker, a letterer, and maybe a colorist who never work for free (always try to find a guy that can do everything and learn how to letter). You’re screwed. There’s nothing more damaging than having to turn down an offer.

That’s not cynicism, that’s the truth.

I hear what you are saying, it just came off as real cynical the first post. It read mostly as "Dont bother."

Dont bother trying to pitch your story about a new super hero, nobody will buy it.

Dont bother sending scripts to anybody, they wont read them.

Dont bother hiring artists with out of pocket expenses.

As for the price, the book I am working on now, the artist is getting paid $50 a frame, full color and letter and his talent is on another level. I love what he is doing and I found him on the DW Talent Search.

I agree with most of what you are saying though. It is a shit load harder to sell a superhero book to a company with an unknown charecter because as you said in the second post, Marvel and DC have that market on a lock down on familiarity alone. people know who batman is, people know who superman is, and who the x men are, and who spiderman is.

And I know Image isnt asking for scripts, and that most companies would prefer a cover sheet, and summery rather than the script because they are busy and just need the basics to decide if they think it wll sell, but the way you said it the first time sounded descouraging. Rather than saying "They arent really looking for scripts, they need..." it just read as 'Dont send them scripts, they wont read them.'


I do like everything that you are saying though, dont think I'm contesting you. Just explaining why I thought it sounded cynical. Like you were burnt out on finding some publisher for your book.

[DarkOra]

Just explaining why I thought it sounded cynical. Like you were burnt out on finding some publisher for your book.
Well, Jason's definitely not one of those types. There are a number of industry people that post here (or lurk around here) including editors. I find it always helps to take a minute or two to find out who someone is before replying to them (most people usually have links to their websites/works in their profiles or signatures)... never know who you'll run into.

4. Did anyone miss me or remember me ? No....oh ok . That's cool.
I remember ya, but then, I was the moderator back in your days as well. :)

[jrod]

Well, Jason's definitely not one of those types. There are a number of industry people that post here (or lurk around here) including editors. I find it always helps to take a minute or two to find out who someone is before replying to them (most people usually have links to their websites/works in their profiles or signatures)... never know who you'll run into.

Thanks, Jeff, but with the exception of future volumes of Postcards I don't have many gigs to hand out right now so Anti-crest can be as critical as he wants – hell, he could be that way, anyway – I’m not offended. Keeps me on my toes.

But, to tie the signature thing into Raptor’s original post – there are people around here who may like to know more about you – I can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t have websites in their signatures. Or their real names, for that matter – not like a pitch would go through with Raptor 2.0 or Anti-crest as the submitter. It all goes back to networking, Anti-crest mentions these kick-ass pages he’s getting for 50 bucks a panel and I’d like to be able to see them. I’d imagine other folks would as well. I’d imagine some of those folks might even be in a position to do something about it. That’s better than sending blind submissions any day of the week – getting a solicitation to pitch. Shit, you’re a third of the way there at that point.

Ok, maybe a tenth.

[DarkOra]

Thanks, Jeff, but with the exception of future volumes of Postcards I don't have many gigs to hand out right now so Anti-crest can be as critical as he wants – hell, he could be that way, anyway – I’m not offended. Keeps me on my toes.
Being critical's not a problem around here... I just like people to have the best opportunity to be critical in an informed manner. :)

[The Anti-crest]

Thanks, Jeff, but with the exception of future volumes of Postcards I don't have many gigs to hand out right now so Anti-crest can be as critical as he wants – hell, he could be that way, anyway – I’m not offended. Keeps me on my toes.

But, to tie the signature thing into Raptor’s original post – there are people around here who may like to know more about you – I can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t have websites in their signatures. Or their real names, for that matter – not like a pitch would go through with Raptor 2.0 or Anti-crest as the submitter. It all goes back to networking, Anti-crest mentions these kick-ass pages he’s getting for 50 bucks a panel and I’d like to be able to see them. I’d imagine other folks would as well. I’d imagine some of those folks might even be in a position to do something about it. That’s better than sending blind submissions any day of the week – getting a solicitation to pitch. Shit, you’re a third of the way there at that point.

Ok, maybe a tenth.

I don't have links in my sig because I dont have a website. I'm doing my first book right now with an artist that is very, very talented. Once I get the pages back from the artist, there will be links to it in the sig.

I've spent most of my time writing short stories because I could never find an artist to draw my stories. Someone told me about this website and I put an ad up a while ago, tons of people replied, most of them good but one was brilliant so were working now.

I didnt know there were people from publishing companies around here, thanks for the heads up.

[The Anti-crest]

Being critical's not a problem around here... I just like people to have the best opportunity to be critical in an informed manner. :)

I wasn't being critical. I just read what he said wrong.

[JonHParrish]

I am loving all of this feedback. Thank you all. I really do appreciate it.