• Q: “Erik, what would happen, if say, you received a proposal where the art wasn’t good enough for it to be accepted but the pitch and story was extremely impressive and one of the best ideas you’d ever come across?”  A: “It would be rejected.”
• Q: “Would you consider publishing a story written by a 16-year-old? I’m talking about legal issues.” A: “What legal issues? If the work is exceptional–we’ll publish it. Most 16-year olds aren’t that good, however.”

*Unless you’re a major celebrity, like a film star or head of state.  In that case, a publisher might be willing to ghostwrite a book for you.


5.  You forgot to include the word-count for your novel or the page-count for your comic book.  

5.1. Many publishers will instantly reject you if your word-count/page-count are not even close to what the publisher usually prints.  There’s a bit of variation by genre, but usually I’d recommend 80,000-100,000 words for an adult novel manuscript.

6.  You missed anything else in the submission guidelines.  Do not pass Go, do not collect an advance.

6.1. You’ve tried submitting to a publisher that doesn’t accept unsolicited submissions.  Notably, DC and Marvel Comics do not accept unsolicited submissions from writers.  Admittedly, publishers DO accept such stories once in a blue moon, so it’s not necessarily a waste of time to try, but more likely you’re dead on arrival.

7.  Your query letter raised significant questions about your mental health and/or professionalism.  If you want to be a professional writer, always be professional.

8.  Some publishers will instantly reject writers that include copyright notices because it suggests that they’re paranoid amateurs. Also, please don’t submit to a publisher unless you have faith in their professionalism. Including a copyright notice is like saying “I don’t trust you not to steal my work unless I tell you not to,” which will go over with the editor about as well as a frying pan to the face.

9.  A few publishers will instantly reject you for addressing your query/cover letter to “Dear Editor” or “To Whom It May Concern.”  I’d recommend looking up any one of the editors that handles submissions for the publisher and addressing it to him/her.  Even if that person isn’t actually the one that ends up reading it, it’ll show you put some thought into the submission.

10.  You tried using a hilariously bad pen name.  Here’s some advice on pen names, Max Slaughter.

11.  The query/submission letter had too many typos.  Personally, I’d stop reading at three unless the writer was a head of state or something. Unless the main selling point for your proposal is your celebrity bio (rather than your writing skills), your writing skills need to be impeccable. If it’ll take you a few years to get the rules of grammar down, the publisher can wait. It has no reason to rush out a book from an author that isn’t ready yet.

• How do I find out if my superhero story has already been told? Keep reading superhero stories, particularly in your medium (novels, comic books/graphic novels, etc).  Authors that have only read one or two series tend to write original work that reads like fan-fiction for those series.
• Unused superhero names? When you use a name you found on the Internet, there really isn’t any guarantee it hasn’t been used.  If it’s good enough, someone will use it.  The closest thing you have to a guarantee of originality is doing it yourself.  The second-closest is asking a friend to brainstorm ideas without posting them online.
• How do I sell a comic I wrote?  I assume you’re trying to get professionally published, rather than self-published.  Check out Nine Surprising Facts about Writing Comic Books.  Also, when you submit to a publisher, you’ll probably include  a page-long submission letter introducing your work and why they should publish it.  When it comes time to write that, I’d recommend reading as many of the articles in the Query Letter category as possible.  How to Communicate with Editors is a good place to start.

• How to write an origin story. Short answer: use it as an opportunity to create a conflict, establish something really important about the character and/or develop the world.   For example, Batman’s parents getting murdered helped establish that Gotham is not Disney World and set Bruce Wayne on a death-struggle with crime.
• Best face in da nation. Easy!

And by "best face in da nation," I mean "best face in Room 512A of Stanford Hall"

• Plots for superhero graphic novels. I haven’t written up lists of plots besides this list of superhero plots that I think have played out, but later this week I’ll try to see if I can come up with some response that isn’t too formulaic.
• Superhero ethics turtles. Umm… what?
• How long should an adult novel be? Generally 80-100,000 words for the manuscript.  For more details based on genre, see the link.
• How long are superhero novels supposed to be? Unless you’re writing for kids or young adults, 80-100K is a good ballpark estimate.  See this for more details.
• Should I mention fan-fic in my query? Unless your fan-fiction is so impressive that the company has offered you a paid position, no.  Similarly, I wouldn’t recommend mentioning self-published books unless you’ve sold thousands of copies.  Getting a book professionally published shows that your writing skills are already at least pretty good.  Fan-fiction and self-publishing offer no such guarantee.
• What are the chances of publishing a superhero novel? Thinking optimistically: a lot of publishers have worked with superhero novels, so it’ll be relatively easy to find a receptive market for your novel than for something really out there.  (It’ll still be a tougher sell than a more conventional genre work, though).   Thinking pessimistically: novel publishers reject ~99.9% of unsolicited submissions and I have no reason to think the superhero niche is any less cutthroat.  So it’ll be hard, but substantially less hard than (say) a chapterbook about a crack-addled serial killer for grade-school readers.  IF YOU SEND ME ANOTHER CHILDREN’S BOOK ABOUT CRACK-ADDLED SERIAL KILLERS, I WILL BLACKLIST YOU.
• How much do comic book writers make? If you’re working with a medium or large company, the work pays pretty well when you can get it.
• What’s the difference between a reptile and a lawyer? Reptiles are cheaper. And have a better football team.
• How long are comic books? Check the publishers you’re interested in working with, but I think something around 24 pages is pretty common.
• How to write beat freaks in gangster. I have no idea what this means, but I am nonetheless intrigued.
• First time authors should not self-publish. I agree almost completely*.  Surviving the slush pile (by getting an unsolicited manuscript published) is harrowing but highly educational.  If you decide to self-publish because you can’t find any publishers, your manuscript probably isn’t yet good enough to take to readers and self-publishing is probably a waste of your money and time.  There are a few good reasons to self-publish, but almost all of them apply to experienced, successful authors that want more freedom to experiment.  The freedom to experiment is only helpful if you know what you’re doing.  *There are some exceptions in nonfiction.  If you’d like to know more, feel free to e-mail me at superheronation-at-gmail-dot-com.
• Comic book companies that accept unsolicited queries.  I have some comments on most of these companies here.
• Why do people like to add weaknesses to superheroes? They understand their character is overpowered but aren’t actually willing to fix the problem by limiting the character’s powers.  Generally, I feel that a solution like Kryptonite is an inferior approach that creates as many problems as it solves (unless, perhaps, you’re going for comedic effect and/or an old-school feel?).  Kryptonite-like weaknesses are really outdated.
• Writing a graphic novel–totally stuck! Check out our Writer’s Block category.  In particular, I like these suggestions for beating writer’s block.
• How to write a Batman graphic novel. When comics companies need writers for major franchises, they’ll contact the writer rather than the other way around.  Unless you’re a well-known writer on DC’s radar, you will not be asked to do a Batman graphic novel.  DC and Marvel don’t accept unsolicited submissions and their standards are especially high for their most important (read: lucrative) characters.  Across the industry, it is very rare for companies to accept submissions on either licensed franchises or bestselling franchises.  If you want to work on such a series, you’ll need to distinguish yourself with original work first.  Could I recommend doing your own work first?

PS: Based on the graphic novels I’ve seen recently, I think anywhere between 132-200 pages would be publisher-friendly. However! Each publisher has its own preferred length, so check out what they’ve been publishing lately. If your length is significantly outside of the range of what they’ve published in the past few years, I think that bodes poorly for your chances there.

One final note: As a measure of comparison, comic books are usually 20-26 pages of content (not including ads). As always, check out what the publishers put out, but Marvel and DC usually publish at the shorter side of that, compared to Dark Horse and Image.

1.  Follow the posted submission guidelines. When editors make these lists, this rule is almost always listed first.  YES, THE GUIDELINES APPLY TO YOU.   Not following them can only hurt your chances of getting published.

2. Don’t overthink things. At Shadowline, you only need to worry about five sample pages (inked, lettered and preferably colored), a paragraph-long synopsis and a cover. Kris doesn’t want more than that because you may need to scrap a lot more work than necessary. Notably, Shadowline doesn’t want the script and doesn’t want a page-long synopsis.

3.  Your e-mail address should be professional. Use your real name or possibly your pen-name.  It makes it easier for the editor to figure out who is who.  Please also see this article.

4.  Don’t ask the editor for feedback. Editors get too many submissions to critique each one.  Editors don’t have much time, so they’ll spend it on the authors that are either good enough to publish or almost good enough.  ”If you want to be critiqued, or given pointers, then we suggest you take the proposal to the nearest college and ask one of the teachers there to critique it (or go to a con and wait for a review).”   I’m also available.

5.  Don’t take rejection personally. As Kris points out, she got rejected five times.  I, too, have been rejected many times.  It’s part of the process, whether you’re writing a superhero comic book or a fantasy novel.  However, I think that most authors would agree that their story improved dramatically over the course of the process.  It will probably be emotionally grueling and exhausting, but if you have the determination to see your story through, hopefully you will be pleased with the outcome.  Good luck!

For example, Bob Mecoy wrote me that he’s sold several projects to DC Comics as well as many more to book publishers and their affiliates (such as FirstSecond, Three Rivers, Lerner, Aladdin, and Abrams ComicArts).

So, if you’re absolutely dead-set on selling to Marvel or DC, pursuing literary representation may be a strong option.  Marvel and DC do not accept unsolicited submissions. However, if you have an experienced agent, he may be able to use his own credibility to convince them that your comic book is worth considering.

Here are some other pieces of advice from Bob.

B. MAC: What are some of the most common reasons you pass on graphic novel and/or comic book submissions?
BOB:  Poor storytelling, telling a story that I’ve seen a hundred times before, telling a story “unlike anything you’ve ever seen” which is unlike anything I’ve ever seen because of a series of arbitrary choices, lack of understanding of the market, slavish service to the perceived market, lack of originality, lack of understanding of my taste.

B. MAC: How long does it take you to reject a typical script?
BOB: It takes as long as it takes. If there seems to be something here, I research the category, the writer and/or artist and the comparables or competition before making my final decision.

1.  What goes with the query? A novel’s query is usually accompanied by a partial manuscript (~50 pages) and/or a 2-5 page synopsis.  If you’re writing a comic book, you’ll probably send in a cover letter– a page accompanied by some combination of the synopsis, the full script of the first issue and art samples. (Follow the submissions guidelines, obviously).  Cover letters are very similar to queries, so I’ll refer to both as queries for simplicity’s sake.

2. Your main goal is to show that your story is strong and interesting. Do NOT give them opinions like “my book is interesting!” or “everybody I know loves it!” Give them the evidence so that they will conclude the book is interesting. “I’m writing an interesting novel about a detective solving a murder case” is weak. “I’m writing about a poisoned detective that has two days to solve his own murder” is much more gripping. Likewise, if you’re writing a comedy, you need to prove yourself by making them laugh. According to literary agent Janet Reid, “if you tell me your book is a comedy, and the query letter isn’t funny or amusing, you have a big problem.”

3. Most queries include the following: an introductory paragraph/hook, a body paragraph summarizing the work in a clear and interesting way, 1-3 sentences about your writing qualifications, and contact information. Don’t worry too much about your writing qualifications. It’d be nice if you had them, but it’s not a deal-breaker for fiction writers.

4. Your novel manuscript has to be completed before you can submit it to publishers. Hardly any publishers or agents will consider an incomplete manuscript by a first-time novelist.  Finishing a novel on time is so hard that publishers won’t assume you can do it unless you have before.  In contrast, some comic book publishers consider proposals in progress. For example, Dark Horse only requires a series synopsis and the first eight pages of the first issue. Even so, I’d recommend finishing your first issue’s script before submitting to avoid deadline problems.

5. The novel submissions process is REALLY long. According to AgentQuery, agents usually take 1-2 weeks to respond to a query letter, 1-2 months to respond to a partial manuscript, and 2-4 months to respond to the full manuscript. Comic book submissions are usually somewhat faster, perhaps 2-3 months.

6. When you’ve finished your novel manuscript, you may wish to send it to literary agents rather than directly to publishers. Agents negotiate with publishers in exchange for around 15% of your earnings. According to Tobias Buckell’s survey, the typical first-time novelist earned $5500 if he had an agent and $4000 otherwise.  If you’re good enough to get an agent, she will probably pay for herself.   (Exception: comic book writers rarely use agents, but some do).

7. For more advice on writing queries, please read Query Shark, The Rejectionist and Evil Editor regularly. Whether you’re a novelist or comic book writer, you’ll learn a lot about how to present your work in a concise and stylish way.  We also have many articles in our “Writing a Query” category.  Finally, if you’re a novelist looking for agents to query, I highly recommend AgentQuery.

8. Tell your publisher how long the work is. Novelists, please provide a word count– NOT A PAGE COUNT. Page counts fluctuate based on typesetting, so they don’t say much about how long a novel is. Comic book writers, please provide just the page count.  Most of the words in a comic script are panel descriptions that won’t actually get printed, so the word count doesn’t say much about how long a comic is.  Also, please say how many issues you’re planning.

9. You’re introducing yourself to a time-strapped professional, so be polite and concise. For more advice on communicating with publishing professionals, please see this article.

10. Proofread or perish. More than one typo in a page-long query letter? You’re dead on arrival.  You want your writing to say “I’m a well-polished professional,” not “My editor will have a stroke.”

11. Almost every publisher provides submission guidelines laying out what they’d like to see. Follow the guidelines! Remember, 99.9% of submissions get rejected at major publishers, so don’t be stupid.

Dear [EDITOR NAME],

It’s been a normal day for IRS Agent Gary Smith, besides the car-bomb.  And the US Marshals threatening to send him on a one-way trip to Alaska.  And the revelation that everybody he knows has a pretty good motive to murder him (even besides the fact that he’s an IRS agent).  His only chance of surviving with his sanity intact rests on joining a top-secret spy agency and partnering with a mutant alligator whose powers of deduction make Scooby Doo look like Batman.

Superhero Nation is a wacky mix of an office comedy and national security thriller.  I’ve enclosed the script for the first issue, five colored and lettered sample pages, and the synopsis for the five issue arc.

My main writing qualifications are that I’m a communications contractor for [AGENCY NAME] and the webmaster for a superhero writing advice website with hundreds of thousands of readers.

Thank you for your time and consideration.  I can be reached at [PHONE] or [EMAIL].

Yours,

[NAME]

2. Most publishers won’t evaluate a comic book submission unless it has ~5 illustrated sample pages. This means that a writer will usually need a professional-grade artist friend willing to work for speculative pay, a paid freelancer or the skill to illustrate his own work.  If you don’t know any artists and don’t have $500-750 for a freelancer, I’d recommend submitting to Dark Horse or another publisher that doesn’t require art samples.  However, if you can pull off a competent art sample, it will really help your submission.

3. Pretty much no one considers proposals for licensed works. Do you have an awesome idea for a Star Wars or Buffy comic?  Unfortunately, with licensed works, the publisher will almost always contact the writer it wants to work with rather than vice versa.  Additionally, when they need a writer for a major series, they will hire someone experienced and proven rather than an unpublished author.  Sorry. If you want to write for Spiderman or Batman, you need to establish yourself first.

4. Comic book companies usually buy the rights to the series and characters. In contrast, novel series are almost always creator-owned.  If you really care about maintaining ownership over your characters and stories, I’d recommend looking at Image Comics. Almost all of their series are creator-owned.

5. Unlike novelists, comic book writers are usually paid upfront by the page. Novelists usually receive an upfront advance which they keep even if the book sells poorly and royalties if it sells notably well.  Image Comics pays NO upfront money, just royalties. With Image, you’ll earn more if your book sells well, but you’re absolutely screwed if it doesn’t.

6. Comic book readers are usually males between 15-30 years old. Selling to women is much harder because they typically won’t even go in comic book stores. (This is changing somewhat, but currently most comic books and graphic novels are sold in specialty stores).   Children are also a tough market.  They don’t have the money to buy books themselves and most parents and teachers are not receptive to comic books or graphic novels.

7. The two most important factors for whether a comic book will get published are whether it looks like it will sell well and whether it fits the publisher’s style. I could have the most awesome comic for kids in the world, but it would still get rejected at Avatar. “Umm, you do know we’re into extreme content, right?”  Also, if you’re writing a superhero story, make sure that the publisher actually handles superheroes.

8. Because sales considerations are so important to publishers, I’d recommend checking out Comic Chronicle’s sales lists from time to time. For example, if you were thinking about doing a Superman-like series, it might interest you to know that Superman usually gets outsold by Buffy and Deadpool, among many others.

9. Comic book teams can be quite large. For example, my team includes a (deep breath) writer, a penciller/inker, a colorer and a cover artist and that’s before a publisher and editors are involved. Also, we’re from three different continents and will probably never meet in person. How’s that for globalization?

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1. Script of the first issue.
2. Synopsis of the larger work (either the first issue, arc or series as a whole).
3. Sample pages inked, colored and lettered.

For a more detailed look at these three items, I’ll focus on Dark Horse specifically because I think DH is pretty standard.  But always check the publisher’s submissions page.  For example, Dark Horse’s submissions page is here and Image’s is here.

If a publisher provides a formatting guide, use it.  If not, Dark Horse formatting should work.   As long as the editor can easily translate the script to pages in his head, formatting shouldn’t be an issue.

Please make sure that the company publishes the story you’re going for.  Do they do stories with the same tone and target audience?  What about issue length?  With Dark Horse, I would strongly recommend submitting a comic book script at 32 pages. Almost every DH series publishes at 32 pages. If you try submitting to other publishers, you can vary the script based on their preferred page-ranges.

Once you’ve finished the script, I’d recommend making sure that it does each of the following:

1. Introduce an interesting and likable protagonist.
2. Give the protagonist urgent and high-stakes goals. (Danger is not necessary but it helps).
3. Ideally, introduce the overarching goal for the hero. For example, the Punisher really wants to kill/maim a lot of criminals, particularly the gangs that killed his family. Spiderman cares as much about crime as he does about regular stuff like his girlfriend and job. The Fantastic Four do as much exploring and research as crimefighting. Etc.
4. Feature your very best writing– in particular, MAKE SURE THAT THE SPELLING AND CAPITALIZATION ARE CORRECT.  I’d recommend having 2-3 really trusted friends or teachers go through it line-by-line.
5. Show rather than tell. Generally, it’s better to give the reader information through actions rather than dialogue and worst to give the information through narratorial exposition. So, if a character is angry, it’d be much better to show him glaring or punching the wall than to say “I’m angry!” and absolutely awful to have the narrator say “John is angry!” Comic books are primarily a visual medium and it’s really important to show as much as you can visually.

Besides the issue script itself, you may also need to do a synopsis.  For DH, this is 2-5 pages if you’re proposing an arc of issues and just one if you’re trying to sell a single issue.  At Shadowline Comics, it’s just a paragraph.

Many publishers, but not DH, require that the author have a set number of pages fully inked, colored and lettered. For example, Image wants to see 5 pages as they will appear in print, as well as the cover. To do so, you would need to obtain the services of 1-3 professional-grade artists. If you know any professional artists (artists that have done at least thousands of dollars worth of business), I’d recommend asking them first.  If not, then you probably need to hire a freelancer.  As soon as the script and synopsis are done, I’d recommend going on a site like DeviantArt and posting a help-wanted note for an inker/colorer (or an inker and colorer separately).  If you’re interested, you can see the job listing I did for a colorist here.

If you get the colorer and inkist separately, I would expect that any colorer or inkist good enough to get professionally published will charge at least $60-75 a page. I’d recommend budgeting $600-$750 for a five page sample. If this is not financially viable for you, your best bet is probably to apply to a company like DH that does not require finished pages as part of the submissions process. Alternately, you can probably reduce the cost somewhat by having a single artist serve as both inkist and colorer. In that case, I think you could get the price down to something around $100 a page. I highly recommend against doing your own illustrations unless you are a professional artist. If you do the art badly, you will distract editors from the quality of the writing.

If you liked this article, I’d recommend reading “How to Communicate with Editors and Agents,” given that you need to impress an editor to get your comic book published.

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1.  The only goal of your submission is to convince a publishing professional that your novel or comic book is likely to sell thousands of copies. Nothing else matters.

2.  Follow the instructions on their website. Most agents and publishers will have submissions pages that lay out what they want to see.  In most cases, it’s best to provide just what’s on the list and nothing else.  (Exception: if you’re submitting a comic book script, consider submitting some inked or colored pages even if they aren’t required– these pages will help the editor decide very quickly whether your proposal is serious).

3.  Check your spelling, punctuation and grammar. Trying to impress a publishing professional without clean writing is like trying to run a filthy restaurant.  It really doesn’t matter how good the cooking is–customers will run out screaming anyway.  Proofread or perish.  Not many publishing professionals would bet tens of thousands of dollars on an unpolished writer.

4.  A first-time novelist MUST finish the manuscript before submitting it for publication. An experienced author can pitch a concept, but an unpublished novelist can’t.  Don’t bother trying to write to publishers or agents until your manuscript and synopsis are ready.  Comic book writers, you probably need the script and series synopsis for the first issue finished before you can submit.  Each publisher has different requirements, though, so check first.  For example, Image requires illustrated sample pages but no scripts.  In contrast, Dark Horse requires only the first eight pages scripted for a series and a synopsis, but no art.

5.  This is a business proposal, so be as specific about your target audience as possible. What is the age of your ideal reader?  Gender?  Are there any other significant demographic traits?  (Note: comic book writers, be aware that most comic book buyers are males between 15-30 years old– publishers may be leery about working with significantly different demographics).  Many authors are leery about giving themselves a target audience because they feel like it’ll limit the appeal.  “If I say my novel’s audience is guys between 8 and 13, what if it turns out that high school girls also want to read it?”  Don’t worry about it.  Stating your target audience is primarily important so that the publisher/agent can evaluate whether you have a realistic idea of who your main audience is.  This is what Image Comics says about target audiences:  “Tell us who the target audience is (‘Everyone’ is NOT realistic — there’s no single book on the market today that everybody buys).”  The same goes for novels as well–perhaps two novels out of a million have an almost universal appeal, like Harry Potter.  If an author just seems to assume that his book is one of them, he will probably seem clueless.

6.  When you’re describing your story, focus on what matters…

• Interesting traits about main characters (like personality and important background details)
• Goals of main character(s)
• Critical choices of main character(s)
• Obstacles/antagonists
• Character development arc(s)– how do the main characters change over the course of the book or series?

7.  …and DON’T focus on inconsequential details.

• Minor demographic traits (typically height, weight, eye color and hair color, etc).
• Side-characters.  As much as possible, focus on the mains.  If the sides are more interesting than the mains, you have a problem.
• Unnecessary world-building details.  If your fantasy world has six castes, please don’t tell us what all six are.  Focus on what we need to understand the thrust of the story (perhaps just the caste of the main character and the villain?).
• Superpowers.  They’re not nearly as interesting or important as the goal(s) the hero will use them to attain.  I wouldn’t recommend spending more than 1-2 sentences on a superhero’s powers.

8.  Please don’t bother telling them how much your friends/family love your writing. I’m sorry, but it doesn’t matter.  Publishing professionals are a lot more experienced in this field than your friends.  Otherwise you’d probably be submitting to your friends.

9.  Always behave professionally. Here are some common mistakes.

• Do not call editors or agents unless they have expressly asked you to.
• Most editors and agents will Google you before offering you a contract, so make sure that you’re representing yourself professionally online.  (For example, if an author repeatedly complains on a blog about how awful the publishing industry is or how inept a negative review is, that suggests the author may hard to work with).
• Please do not give your readers more information than they need to know.  In particular, please do not share your medical/psychiatric or criminal history with strangers unless it’s highly relevant to the project.  Double-fail: when writers erroneously suggest they have psychiatric or criminal issues.

2.  Show that you understand what sort of publisher you’re submitting to. In particular: do they publish other series that have a similar art style to yours?  Do they publish series with similar content?  For example, some comic book publishers specialize in military action or horror rather than superheroes.  Target audience?  Issue length?  For example, Image and particularly Dark Horse tend to publish series at 32 pages an issue.  If the publisher does not publish stories similar to yours, you are probably dead on arrival.

3.  Show, don’t tell. Editors don’t really care about your opinion of your series.  BAD:  “This is a gripping, exciting story about a relatable protagonist.”  BETTER:  “John is a poisoned teenager who has two days to solve his own murder.”  This is much more effective because it gives the editor the evidence to conclude that the story is interesting.  It also gives more specific details to distinguish this story from the other 50 submissions the editor has opened today.  Remember, your opinion doesn’t matter.  You wrote the story– of course you think it’s interesting.

4.  Don’t waste time on the mechanics of your story. You have between 1-3 pages (usually closer to 1) to summarize your story.  Don’t waste more than a sentence or two on the superpowers.  The personality and often the background of the main character(s) tend to be much more important.

5.  Differentiate yourself. It’s not good enough to say you’re writing a superhero story.  The editor may have read 250 superhero proposals this week.  How is your superhero story different? Why should he accept you even though he rejected them?  This is one reason why it’s a mistake to focus too much on superpowers rather than personality, character background and mood.  Characters can have exactly the same powers but still feel different– for example, see Hellboy, the Thing, and the Hulk.  Similarly, a character can have different powers but still feel like a ripoff.  (For example, Static Shock is sometimes derided as a Spiderman clone).

6.  Less is more, particularly for unpublished authors. Publishers are more receptive to one-shots and sometimes short series by unpublished authors rather than longer series or (God help you) ongoing/indefinite series.  A one-shot is only a single issue, so it’s safer for the publisher because 1) it entails less financial commitment on their part and 2) it’ll give you a chance to show that you can meet tough deadlines.  If the one-shot turns out nicely and sells well, the publisher will probably be receptive to publishing a longer series.

Aside from being a horror writer, Bob has a funny side having written contest-winning short and feature film scripts. His comedy LOVE STUPID, an independent movie, will wrap by Summer 2010. Bob also writes the “Indie Creator” column for Invest Comics.

In our recent interview, here’s what Bob had to say…

SN: What are some effective and cheap ways to promote an independently published comic book?

HESKE:  The cheapest and easiest way is to set up a free Partners account at MyEbook.com and create an e-preview book. My 4 e-previews for my Cold Blooded Chillers issues 1,2, and 3 and Bone Chiller anthology have had over 500,000 hits in 9 months.

Another way is to comb through the bulletins at comicspace.com and read all the ones with “Read my interview/review with XYZ website” — then contact those websites directly to see if they would be interested in reading YOUR book or doing an interview (sometimes you’ll strike gold and get both!).

SN:  Which promotional media, if any, have you found disappointing? 

HESKE:  I’ve found that the production quality is fantastic for printing comic books at Ka-Blam (IndyPlanet.com) and Comixpress; however, working with these guys for promotional purposes is slow to non-existent. Sure, they have a website, but your book gets lost in the mix. Also, I’ve been disappointed with ProjectWonderful for banner ads — they’ve generated some hits but this hasn’t translated into sales.

SN:  Do you do convention panels? If so, what sort of advice would you recommend for a first-time panelist? 

HESKE: I will be a first-time panelist myself on a horror writers panel at Rock & Shock Horror convention in Worcester, MA on Saturday, October 17th. So I could use a little advice myself!

SN: What sort of people would you say are best-qualified to self-publish or start their own publishing house successfully? Who would you recommend steering away from it? 

HESKE:  Someone who is organized and passionate. You need the organization to get from Point A (concept) to Point Z (publish/market/distribute); and you need the passion because, frankly, you’ll be losing money until you build a fan base of 1,000 buyers. Be prepared to spend $2,500 to $3,000 to self publish a comic book or $5,000 to $10,000 to self publish a trade paperback. And plan to spend a good 6-9 months to see your book in print (4-6 for a floppy).

One final quality – being adaptive. My current anthology (2012: FINAL PRAYER) was heading with a full head of steam until my pre-flight designer went AWOL for over a month. Since she went incommunicado, I had to swiftly change gears — recreate covers and find new designers to create ads, fine-tune files, etc. Once I had all this wrapped up (it took another 3 weeks), naturally I heard from the “Lost” pre-flight designer who claimed she’d lost her purse in Mexico and had been detained. Mucho apologies muy tarde. The moral of the story: Always have a backup plan or BE ADAPTIVE and ready to change/move on a dime.

SN: How much startup capital do you think someone would need to start self-publishing a single series?

HESKE:  Skimp, beg, borrow and save no less than $10,000 – but $15,000 is a safer bet. And don’t expect to earn it back in sales. More likely you will “earn some of it back” as a tax write-off.

SN: In terms of proportions of sales, where do you sell your books? 

HESKE: I’m a creator and marketer, but not a distributor. Nor do I want to be in the game of taking orders and shipping out comics. So I tend to out-source this via a number of channels:

1. Online retailers like Amazon, Borders and Barnes & Noble
2. Indie distributors like Haven, Ka-Blam (IndyPlanet) and if I get lucky, Diamond (but not likely since my books are b&w)
3. Comic-centric sales sites like HeavyInk
4. Other offbeat publishers such as Last Gasp Publishing

I also “do digital” and make PDF downloads available at DriveThruComics.com.

Finally, I do a fair amount of local author events and comic cons.

Here’s the rough breakdown of sales:
- 50% sold at author events, “free comic book” day, and comic cons
- 40% from web distributors (Amazon, Borders, Barnes & Noble, Haven, HeavyInk, Ka-Blam, Last Gasp)
- 10% from digital (DriveThruComics)

SN: Which aspects of the business of the comic books industry are most important for writers? 

HESKE:  Two words: creative freedom.

SN: Approximately how many copies do you have to sell to break even? 

HESKE:  Too many. I’d guess 1,000 to 1,500 trade paperback sales will help me break even per book. 10,000 sales would net a pretty good profit. Right now, I am just trying to build a “true fan base” and create a positive brand identity. Once THE NIGHT PROJECTIONIST becomes a movie, I’m sure I’ll get there fairly quick — but that is probably 2011 so I have to tread water and fight the current … or drown in the interim. Slowly but surely I am beginning to move upstream against the heavy current of indie comic creators fighting for fan dollars. But it’s a lot of work. A LOT of work…

SN: In a sentence, why should people buy your book rather than the next horror book on the shelf? 

HESKE: My COLD BLOODED CHILLERS and BONE CHILLER book fill an underserved sector of the over-saturated horror market — tales that focus on “man as the monster.” These are what I’ve coined as “suburban horror”. Critics have agreed that I have a knack for cutting to the bone and finding the dark underbelly of society in my stories. My writing is very unsettling, but very entertaining if you like to be taken out of your comfort zone.

And if that doesn’t flip your burger, consider these three points: 1) My work has won literary awards, 2) garnered strong critical reviews, and 3) been optioned for film. More than one critic has written that my books may become collectibles — so buy early and buy often!

(Sorry, that was waaay more than a sentence. Damn!)

SN:  Within horror, there are quite a few types (teen slashers vs. zombies vs. creature features, for example) and styles (like the gruesome masochism of Saw vs. the relatively quiet suspense of Hitchcock). Where does your work fall? What led you down that path rather than another?

HESKE:  I write on two levels. THE NIGHT PROJECTIONIST is a hard-core vampire tale with lots of blood, action and suspense. None of that soft-core teenage romance crap that drove TWILIGHT sales. Dragos (my protagonist) would take Edward’s lunch money and rip out his heart for dinner. Fangoria wrote that it could be “The next ’30 Days of Night.’”

COLD BLOODED CHILLERS is dark and disturbing. Think “The Twilight Zone” … but episodes too dark to be put on television (at least back in 1959 when The Twilight Zone first appeared; today with shows like “Dexter” on the air, maybe). Let me put it another way — even my wife’s family and my family (except for a really cool older brother, Ed) won’t buy my books. My wife tells me that the artwork and stories are great, but too “over the edge” for their taste. (Wimps!) 

SN: Describe your ideal reader.

HESKE:  Someone who hangs around an accident to get a peek at the bloody body.

SN:  What was working with so many artists like?

HESKE:  Awesome. Every once in a while you deal with a slacker or an artist who doesn’t live up to their portfolio on a particular story. But all in all, the level of talent I’ve “discovered” on sites such as comicspace or have been referred to by other indie comic publishers is flat out phenomenal. As an example, Insomnia Publications sent me about half a dozen creators who submitted (and were accepted) into my 2012 End Times anthology. The book ended up with contributors from the US, UK, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Scotland and South Africa. Since the 2012 phenomena is truly a global event, it was critical to get a creative global perspective — and I was able to capture that by “reaching out” to other comic publishers.

There is so much talent out there. It is my pleasure to work with artists from around the world. And I thank the Internet every day for giving me this flexibility and freedom.

SN: You’ve probably read a lot of comic books. What are some of the common mistakes you’ve seen? What are some of the characteristics of bad comic books? (Either horror specifically or just in general). How did you avoid those?

HESKE: Embarrassingly enough, I am relatively new to comic books. In my youth I collected sports cards. I only became fascinated with comics when I began converting a treatment for a film into comic format (THE NIGHT PROJECTIONIST). Still, in the past two years I have done my fair share of reading. The errors in bad comics are similar to the errors in bad screenplays — mostly related to poor story structure, two-dimensional characters, or predictable endings. Another tragic flaw is when creators get too cute and leave the reader (or the vast majority of readers) confused about what the story is really about.

SN: At 140 pages, writing BONE CHILLER must have taken a lot of time and energy. How did you stave off writer’s block? 

HESKE: Sadly, I have a limitless reserve for being dark, disturbing and morose.

SN: How important is it for writers to be readers? Why or why not?

HESKE:  Extremely important. When you read, you learn. You see different ways of doing things and presenting information – or unfolding a story – to a reader. Writing comics is like being a good poker player: don’t show your hand too early. Keep ‘em guessing and on the edge of their seats.

Thanks for reading! If you’d like to do a writer’s interview, please let me know by leaving a comment or emailing me at superheronation-at-gmail-dot-com.

1.  If at all possible, focus on bestsellers. Publishers care much more about finding the next Harry Potter or Spiderman than the next John Banks. In general, publishers will only pick up a project if they think it will sell well, and the most persuasive evidence is that similar works have sold very well.

2.  Please use titles that have sold well recently. Contemporary references are usually more convincing because they suggest where the market is now.  Additionally, a twenty-something publisher’s assistant is more likely to be familiar with a recent title.

3.  Please pick comparable works that have a similar target audience to yours. If the audience isn’t similar, the work probably isn’t all that comparable to yours.

4.  Make sure that the works are well-tailored to the publisher. In particular, I’d recommend focusing on works that have a style similar to what they’re already publishing.  Also, if at all possible, focus on works that are in the same medium (novels, comic books, manga, nonfiction, etc). In particular, I recommend staying away from TV shows and movies because they have a very different business model than novels and comic books do.

5.  Don’t pick a work unless you’re certain you understand why it was successful. For example, don’t try to sell an action-packed book about an inordinately powerful superhero by claiming that “it worked for Dr. Manhattan in The Watchmen.”  That is a horrible misreading of the series.  Over the course of twelve issues, Dr. Manhattan has two fight scenes that span a total of perhaps four pages.  If you cite works you aren’t really familiar with, you might come off looking like an idiot.

5.1. Don’t cite a work unless you’ve read it.  

5.2. Read successful works that are similar to yours.  

6. If your work has any plot elements that are hard to market, make sure you find some bestsellers that have handled similar concepts. For example, if you’re dead-set on selling a book about a retarded protagonist, explain why the success of a book like Flowers for Algernon (or something more recent) suggests that your book will be successful.