Hey everyone!
It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve written, because I’ve been CRAZY busy with new projects, and also had to get ready to go to San Diego Comic Con last weekend. It was a whirlwind that didn’t stop from the time I landed, to the time I headed back to the airport, and I wanted to give you some highlights of my trip!
First off, it was beautiful. 70º weather every day, right on the ocean… it’s an amazing city, and I was definitely glad I got to walk around a bit outside!
First off, and most importantly, I seem to have dodged getting COVID - I’ve been testing since I got back and so far all negative, and I’m feeling fine. I know a few people unfortunately caught it there, and I’m wishing them all a swift and speedy recovery. Regarding COVID, I felt very safe at the con itself. Masking rules were in effect, and the staff was definitely enforcing them. Outside the con, i.e., at bars and restaurants, it was a different story, but I tried to be as safe as I could under the circumstances.
Ok, onto the con itself. It was MASSIVE, but not so crowded you couldn’t move around. One of the first things I did was head over to the booths for Aftershock and IDW, two of the companies I’m working with, to say hi to everyone and confirm I was around for my signings later in the weekend.
Then, I wandered around a bit, said hi to some friends and headed off for the first of many meetings with people I’m working with, or hoping to. I had a lot of these over the weekend, and while I can’t really talk details, they all went well.
On Friday and Saturday, I had signings for THE OCEAN WILL TAKE US at the Aftershock booth, where I got to hang out with the awesome Marc Hammond, who runs the booth (as well as the equally awesome Aw Yeah! Comics NY).
Quite a few people came by, and I had some awesome chats with fans, and people who just wandered over to check the book out.
My next signing was for SEA OF SORROWS, at the IDW booth on Saturday, and it was pretty awesome because I got to do it with Alex Cormack, my good friend and collaborator.
Again, it was awesome to chat with the fans that came up to get books signed, and hang with one of my favorite people in the biz.
Aside from signings, I did 2 panels, with the folks at Comics Experience - one was called How to Break Into Comics, and the other was What Publishers Want, which was really asking the same question, but coming at it from a different angle. I don’t have any pictures, cause I was up on a stage talking, but it was a great discussion with Andy Schmidt, Reilly Brown, Phil Sevy, Ray-Anthony Height, Joe Schmalke, and Joshua Werner.
Since I know a lot of folks here are either working their way up the industry ladder, or looking to, I’m going to share what I think is the most important thing I was trying to get across in the What Publishers Want panel:
Every publisher wants different things - some want sci-fi, some want romance. Some want miniseries, some want one-shots, but the one thing they ALL want is a project that excites them. That’s the hardest part about pitching, really - it’s not getting the story straight, or the characters, or making sure it’s just one page, or any of the details - that stuff is important - but it’s stuff you can easily learn to do in an efficient manner. The hardest part is writing the pitch in a way that will get whoever is reading it to be really, really excited about the story you want to tell, and eager to see more.
I wish there were some easy tips I could give, but I’ve found its a combination of a lot of things, that include both the details of the story, and your ability to get your own personality and enthusiasm through in the way you write about it.
So, that’s a great first step - you have to be really excited to tell the story, and have a reason why you’re really excited to tell it with a certain publisher. Do your research. Figure out a reason why it’s a good fit that goes beyond “I’ll work with whoever wants to publish me” or “you guys do cool books, and I think mine is cool too.”
Bottom line, when you’re excited, and they’re excited, that’s when green lights tend to happen in my opinion.
But even if they don’t, for whatever reason (most of which have nothing to do with the quality of your work) - when you lock into what’s exciting about your story, and do your research on the next publisher you approach, you’ll find it gets easier every time you pitch.
And if all that fails, don’t let that stop you - work with the one publisher you know is excited about your project - YOU!
Self-publishing, either through a crowdfunder like Kickstarter, or on your own dime, is perfectly viable, and how a lot of people got their start - yours truly included. So if they don’t want you, make the book anyway and show them how wrong they were.
So, that was my San Diego. It was pretty awesome, and I can’t wait to go back next year. Even if it’s just for these amazing fish tacos I had Friday afternoon.
Until next time, my friends! Lots of cool stuff going on, so keep an eye out!
- Rich