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Writing Submissions

© Dave A. Law

There are two types of submissions that a comic book writer typically faces: - show us a sample of your work - sell us on a story. The latter is really simply a subset of the former, as all submission should include a sample of your writing, but the basic guidelines are the same for both.

The first rule in sending a submission is read the publisher’s guidelines. If they want sample scripts sent in a specific format, then follow it, otherwise you are likely to find your submission thrown in the trash. Likewise, if they are asked for an action adventure story and you send a romance, your submission will likely end up in the same place. This may sound like commonsense, but you’d be surprised how many people ignore guidelines assuming that they know what the publisher is “really” interested in.

Not all publishers will post guidelines, so it is always best in such cases to query the publisher first. This saves both your and their time by avoiding submitting unsuitable material. Your query should be simple and straightforward, stating in a professional manner that you are requesting a copy of their writer’s guidelines and any additional information about what the company may be looking for. It is important to remember that a query should be short, to the point, and professional. You do not want a company rejecting you before you have sent a submission. If you have any related professional experience, you can include a short blurb about yourself. This may be your first contact with the company and you want to make a good impression with them - that you are capable of meeting their standards. If this is a new company, you may want to request information about them. Many startup companies are simply a pipe dream of some fan and never amount to anything. It is important that you know whom you are submitting to and obtain an idea of what you are getting into should the company accept your work. Which is a second rule - know whom you are submitting to.

Samples of your writing for comic books should be in full script format, unless the guidelines state otherwise. This gives the company the greatest sense of your writing abilities. If you are not comfortable with the full script format, once you are hired you can try to negotiate using a different style. At this point you want to avoid any strikes against your work. A general guideline is that the sample should include breakdowns for about six pages, as this should be enough room to show off your talents without overwhelming the publisher. The number of samples that you include depends. When submitting a project proposal you will want to include only one, whereas if you are simply showing off your talents you might want to include a few samples to show a greater range of your abilities and/or what genres you write within. Regardless, whatever the publisher is looking for should dictate.