Approaching US publishers?

[ineskorth]

Hello, everyone!

I have a question. Has anyone tips or can offer any help for someone from europe who would like to present their stuff to an US publisher, especially if this person doesn´t have the money to fly over there for lots of conventions?
Has anyone experience with online applications? Would that be okay/sufficient?

Thank you very much!

[AnnaLandin]

I'm sure online applications are just fine! Just make sure that the publisher is actually accepting unsolicited pitches - there's usually some info on the publisher's website about whether or not they're okay with you sending stuff to them.

[Drezz]

Here's a list of publishers and their submission guidelines. Courtesy of Jason Thibault.
The Definitive List of Comic Book Publisher Submission Guidelines.

and here is a great resource for learning HOW to pitch to a comic book company, courtesy of Jim Zub (of Skullkickers and Wayward fame)
Zub Tales - Check the TUTORIAL LINKS on the right.

[Wolven_Sister]

Just like with any publisher, either with comics or novels, read their submission guidelines carefully.

• Provide all the paperwork necessary that they may need, and carefully read if they allow attachments or if they want all of it included in the body of the e-mail. A lot of publishers don't accept attachments because that's how viruses spread and they can be a little paranoid, not that I blame them lol
• If they have an online application that's cool, but you can really compel them to read your work and possibly consider it if you send them an e-mail to their designated submission e-mail that's if they accept e-mails.
• Send them a compelling query letter. This website: Query Shark makes corrections to query letters sent to them, and it's VERY informative. Take a look and read throough the archives when you can. Most of the examples are for novels, but they can be applied to comics just as well.
• Find out what they want in the subject line of the e-mail, if they don't have any preferences just put QUERY or something to that effect. This way, they won't think you're a spambot.
• Make sure the publisher will accept your genre of comic book. For example, don't send a high fantasy comic to a crime-noir genre publisher. RESEARCH what comics they currently have published to make sure yours would fit.
• When submitting all paperwork (query letter, synopsis, comic pages, etc...) make sure there aren't any spelling or grammatical errors. Publishers/Agents are very into first impressions and professionalism. If there's even one punctuation out of place, for some of them, this can get your submission tossed away OnO (What they say to do is type everything up, wait a few days, then come back and read it like you are for the first time, read it aloud to make sure it flows, and that there aren't any noticeable errors).
• This website: Query Tracker is like a huge database for agents/publishers all around the world. It doesn't have all of them, but it can make the search a little bit easier. You can look through selective genres to find publishers and when you click on their name, you can see if they're accepting submissions, links to their websites, what genres they accept, and much more :>
• Try to customize your initial letter (if you're sending via e-mail and not online application). Don't put "Dear Publisher" because then it's just a copy & paste in their eyes. If they have preferences, be sure to look that up (usually these can be found in the "submission guidelines" page, or the about page, or somewhere in their blogs). Like if there are specific people who review the query letters, put their names in the format of "Dear Mr. John Smith" or "Dear Ms. Jane Doe". Typically they have instructions on who to address the e-mail letter to.
• And finally, don't mention in your e-mail or online application that you're submitting to multiple publishers (unless said publisher requests that you do). Some sources say tell them because that will get you reviewed quicker, and some say don't do it because it will get you ignored. I go with the 3rd option, I only mention it if the publisher/agent prefers me to. Typically publishers are understanding about multiple submissions because they know you don't have 6-8 weeks to wait around for a possible yes/no. So,submit to all the publishers that you can! And if you have several publishers interested in your work and you choose to go with one of them, be honest and open with the others saying that a publisher has expressed interest and you are going with them instead of one of the others. Everybody knows everyone in the publishing industry and you don't want to be on anyone's blacklist for miscommunication.

Whew! Sorry for all that info D: I kinda splurged on all the information I knew. So terribly sorry for the wall of text DX
Best of luck to you!!

[ineskorth]

Thank you so much for the links! This helps a lot!

[ineskorth]

Awesome! Thanks for the long answer and the link!
I know the comic "scene" in my country pretty well but the US market is so much bigger and I don´t know anyone personally over there so it´s a bit intimidating (plus my english is a little bit shaky).
So it´s very nice to recieve help like this.

[Wolven_Sister]

Hey no problem at all! I'm sure a lot of what I said is well-known, but I wanted to share as much as I could since I had to learn the hard way to get all of that info ;n;
It can be nerve-wracking in general when submitting to a publisher, so kudos to you for following your ambitions! ^_^ I hope you get many publishers interested in your stories!

(Added more to my initial post :3 )

[Drezz]

No problem. Everyone's path to get there is different but the end result is the same... if you're diligent. Good luck!

[AnnaLandin]

Just dropping in to say that Oni Press has an open submission for pitches right now, if that seems interesting to you!

http://onipress.tumblr.com/post/117029040489/oni-press-open-submissions-guidelines-on-may

[crabman21]

Just follow exactly what their "submissions" section asks for as it could slow your submission process down, & you should make sure your stuff is similar to their's as they often tell ppl to look through their catalog and make sure your material matches what they publish.

Hope this helps.

[ineskorth]

Thanks auf lot, I've read about it. I'll give it a try!