We sent our proposal to five companies that fit our profile. Publishers that have what we need: the potential for a reasonably high circulation given the current depressed market for comic books, enough profit to at least break even, and a chance to get our story in the hands of as many fans as possible. Sent via Express Mail, FedEx, or PDFs over the Internet, the seeds of our magical story were given wing and its final fate put into the hands of gatekeepers who would say yea or nea. To make our dreams come true or dash them on the rocks.
And then...the waiting.
Three weeks is a long time and probably not a very good indicator of a positive outlook for our story. Image Comics, one recipient of our proposal, states in their submission guidelines that if you haven't heard within a month, consider your proposal rejected. By those standards, I guess we have another week or so before we can assume they placed our submission in the circular file.
If that is indeed its destiny, I am not entirely upset. I think I might have been when I was younger but at this point I don't take rejection at face value. There are many factors that go into the failure of a proposal:
- In their eyes, it sucks. Let's be frank. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Although my co-creator and I poured our hearts into the project, who's to say it doesn't appear ridiculous, outdated, bad for the market, or just plain bad? Like "The Dude" said: "Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man!"
- The market is already flooded with similar stories. Or the publisher has their fill of stories like the one you want to publish.
- The approach doesn't fit the company's style. It doesn't gibe with their mojo.
I truly believe in our story. I think it has depth, circularity, interesting characters, and presents a new take on a classic story. But there is a financial reality to this project. I came up with the concept and characters for this story. (I wish I could tell you the project's name and show you all the pretty pictures here but I can't for two reasons: 1. It still has a chance of being picked up, and 2. I co-own it and out of respect for my co-creator, I have to keep it under wraps so that we don't sully it's potential.) When I decided to select a collaborator, I contacted an established pro. A guy who makes his living doing this. As such, the man has to get paid. And he has to get paid a decent page rate. I knew this going in. I also knew that once you establish an agreement to collaborate with someone, once you impart part ownership to them, you have irreversibly given up a piece of your creation. There's no going back.
For this project to happen, it had to get picked up by a decent-sized publisher. Image or Dark Horse would have been suitable. Marvel or DC would have been ideal but neither one takes unsolicited submissions. As a five-issue-miniseries, this project's art would cost me in the neighborhood of $50,000 to produce. I don't have that kind of disposable income to blow so the self-publishing route is unacceptable.
There are some extreme measures one could take. Kickstarter is a great way to fund a creative project but seeing what people are asking for versus what they end up getting is a bit daunting. I'm not ruling this course of action out. I may yet attempt it. But for a number of reasons too numerous to list here, using Kickstarter to fund a self-published comic book that has this large of a budget is not ideal.
So it's time for plan B: Move on to my next project and this time do it all by myself. Concept, story, art, the whole thing. I swung for the fences on the first project. It appears that we may have just hit an infield fly or at best a long ball to the warning track. This time I'm going for a base hit. Followed by a bunt single, and if all goes well a two-out double to take the lead.
What does that mean? Doing away with the baseball analogies, it means I have to get my artist's hand in shape for the project. It means developing those anatomy skills that I got started on in that life drawing class so many years ago. It means hitting the books and practicing. Getting my art to a level that I can be proud of. It means learning how to color using PhotoShop. It means building on the lessons I learned with my first proposal, the one that I still have hope for, that I await an answer for like an expectant father. (A better analogy might be an inmate hoping for parole, but let's keep it positive!)
I spent a few thousand just getting the first project's submission off the ground. The way I see it, it was money well spent. Every penny. I learned a lot about making comics during the last six months. I intend to build upon those lessons in my new venture. And since I will be the only responsible party and also the only person I am beholden to, I will 100% self-publish this story. First online and later who knows?
It was also well worth undertaking because I have never even attempted to live my dreams before now. I've had a great life. I'm married to a wonderful and beautiful woman. I have four great kids, all of whom have been taught to chase their dreams and believe in themselves no matter what. My life with them has been a dream in its own right. But this...this is my dream. Doing something that I've always wanted to do. Something from the heart that expresses the full extent of my creative, storytelling mind. Whether it reveals itself to be a shining glory or Frankenstein's monster remains to be seen. But no matter what manifests itself, it will be all mine. And that's all I'm asking for.
