From the Daily Cartoonist:
"From the Bristol Herald Courier comes word that they will be dropping Jeff MacNelly’s Shoe and opening the spot for auditions of other features. Auditions will go on for six months - one month for each new feature with Pickles up to bat first. The other current features (13) are to be ranked by readers. The ranking will be by paper ballot (mailing it in or faxing), but as the editor says, “This doesn’t mean that we will let the popular vote decide which comic to lose and which one to add.”
Tom here...I like reading things like this because it gives me hope for the future of some new strip. At least some editors out there are trying to shake things up occasionally, and give new features a try. Naturally, though, this doesn't mean some schlub off the street, as you can see by the next paragraph from that same article, which ends rather ominously for those of us clinging to syndication dreams:
"Why “Shoe?” Because while it’s a favorite of newspaper editors, it isn’t with readers, and we need to free up one spot for the audition, which will include some of the country’s most popular comics - “Get Fuzzy,” “Zits,” “For Better For Worse” and “Pickles,” samples of which I recently reviewed. “Pickles” is about a married couple of seniors and would have great appeal to our mature readers, who dominate this and every other newspaper’s circulation rolls."
Me again...So, again...in the larger sense, I'm very proud of the Bristol Herald Courier. Three lusty cheers of 'huzzah' to them for shaking things up. Of course, the comic that's going to get chosen to replace "Shoe" is more than likely going to be ANOTHER established comic that's gaining readership. A step up from a zombie comic, but still, it's not like a door just swung wide open for a newbie. In all fairness, the Bristol Courier might be also giving some very unknown comics a try in their 6 month period, but it looks like they're going with some big, established names. I'd put forth the idea that if you're going to do this, choose two or three complete unknowns from the ranks out there, and let them duke it out with "Pickles" and "Zits." (Both fine comics, by the way...Zits is brilliantly written and drawn, and I have to say that "Pickles" can actually crack me up from time to time. Pretty good writing there.)
But aside from the "woe is me, the poor starving cartoonist" aspect of all of this, the line "Pickles...would have great appeal to our mature readers, who dominate this and every other newspaper's circulation rolls" should send a shiver up your spine. Read it aloud to yourself a couple of times.
Do you hear that noise in the distance, Mr. Anderson? It is the sound of inevitability. Or the sound of one last nail being driven into the coffin of trying to get syndicated. Unless your demographic is squarely in the 50-75 age group, your chances of getting one of those mythical syndication contracts is pretty much down to zero. Newspapers are a dying art form, or at least one that will shrink considerably in the years to come. It is not inconceivable that my baby daughter and her entire generation will grow up with hardly any exposure to actual newspapers. Most people get their news from the internet and TV as it is, right now. Does anyone actually think that's going to change and swing back the other way? That people are going to suddenly throw down their cooler-than-crap Apple iPhones and say "Hey, I want to read a good OpEd page right about now." I don't think so.
You want to get syndicated? Make sure you have a lot of characters that are bland, innocuous, aimed at an older audience, and throw in a cat or a baby. Bingo! You've risen to the top of the stack. You've created something that won't offend anyone, or push them, or make them think, or occasionally outrage them. Heaven forfend that we should toy with the status quo now and again as artists. Perish the thought.
Man, I'm sounding like the bitter old bald man I am. However, while it does frustrate me a bit on some levels, it's just another example of how we need to band together and dive headfirst into the interweb with our 'toons. We need to be unafraid and realize that the lack of editorial shackles and newspaper constraints is a glorious, freeing thing. 10 years ago, my advice to a young cartoonist would've been to keep writing and drawing, gather up their 6 weeks of strips, and send them to the 5 syndicates and then go have a beer and wait. Now, I wouldn't even bother with that...set up your own site, market yourself, drive traffic to your site, promote other artists you respect and admire, and share the glory with the strips you like out there. I'd rather have 1,000 people reading my strip who loved it for its artistry and word craft, than to have millions reading something bland and safe.
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|Administrator |2007-06-19 17:15:45 tracineYeah...the "work for free" business models are the easiest ones, but they're not exactly fulfilling.
I do think your level of detail is harder to reproduce on newsprint, but at the same time, they're much better at printing than they used to be. "Opus" on Sundays looks amazing and detailed. I think it's more about subject matter and what the editors perceive the audience to "want" at any given time. Cute dogs, cats, old people. That sort of thing. Monkeys...pe...
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|72.223.46.xxx |2007-06-19 18:30:30 jimExcellent! I have a monkey character! He's not that cute though... I have old people too! I didn't really have a cat character... but how hard can they be?
Now if only I was capable of making seven comics a week and keeping my day job! Damn working for a living!
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|67.101.113.xxx |2007-06-22 06:23:21 scott"set up your own site, market yourself, drive traffic to your site, promote other artists you respect and admire, and share the glory with the strips you like out there."
More and more everyday I am thinking this is the way to go. Still, I’m going to gather up a bunch of samples in a couple weeks and do a mailing to the syndicates (covering all the bases and all).
The web offers so much more freedom and the opportunities for making money are there. It’s just a matter of del...
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|Administrator |2007-06-22 17:58:15 tracineI would like to interject here that I'm all for making the attempt at being syndicated...if you get picked up, I'll be the first one in line to buy you a beer. But you have to sort of look at it like the lottery...how many thousands of submissions does each syndicate get every year...and they take 1 or 2. So, even if you're in the top 5%, you still probably won't get picked up. My biggest point about the advantages of the web is that you can STILL find your audience, get your work seen, an...
That being said, like I told jarrett, I fear I draw too small and detailed for syndication.
It's cool either way. The internet seems like it will be the way to go. The trick will be to get a decent business model that doesn't lend itself to working for free.
jim tierney
Jet packs and Time Machines