I got rejected!

And like a young boy at a dance, I was shot down quicker than... a young boy... at a... forget it.

I got my first rejection letter today from a syndicate! This one from United Media. Now before I go any further, let me just say that I fully expected to be rejected on this submission. I had never submitted before, so I was hoping that the editors would offer up some advice on what I could change, since I don't know my head from my ass in terms of what they're looking for. So I'm not looking for your "keep your chin up, tiger!" comments... I'm not fishing here. In fact, I planned on framing my first rejection, so I can finally get around to doing that. ;)

This editor was pretty positive about the strip for the most part, and said he found it to be quite funny, and the art "engaging" (read: adequate). What he said was that the humor did not appeal to a broad enough audience in his opinion, and that I need to work on that. He said that, having viewed my website, he likes the evolution that the character designs have gone through in a very short period of time (85 strips to be exact), and he encouraged me to continue.

Do you guys agree with him? I guess in a very roundabout way, I'm asking for a crit on my strip, if you want to call it that. More than anything I want to know if you think he was right on with his comments. If you got a moment, jot down your thoughts here and let me know what you think. Be as brutal as you want to be... I don't mind.

Thanks.

your backgrounds are deffo alot better now, but the one thing i dont like about the most recent 'evolution' of your characters is that they all seem to have been stretched vertically. as for the humour, personally i dislike the syndicated newspaper style jokes, although i will read yours and find some of them funny. which i just dont when looking at 'the funny pages'

but i would deffo keep on at those syndications, that is where your future lies my young padawan.

...keep your chin up tiger.

I'd say your comic has the newpaper look to it. They must hate the humor for being even remotely humorous. If you're not angry about your strip making it, then open the newspaper and look at Family Circus. When they reject you, they're saying that Family Circus is better than your comic. Now you know your comic is 15 times better than Family Circus. So just realize that that editor man is a crazy crack smoker.

I like dead air, its entertaining to me.

I've been rejected from so many places, even TWC doesent like me.

Please, the comics in the Sunday paper are either there because they've ALWAYS been there, or rather because the artist has a connection. Garfield occationally gets a chuckle out of me, but those jokes are seriously reused. I can't understand why Charlie Brown still tops the paper. I still enjoy a few that Dilbert does.

Stay in there. Jim Davis got rejected hundreds of times.

Just keep doing your best, man. I'm not going to be a comic artist for career (web design/graphic design's for me!); however, I would like to see people in that profession succeed. I just read the current strip and I'm liking it. Great cartoonish style. Keep it up!

That's awesome that you're going to frame the first rejection letter. It's a great approach to take, it shows that you're okay with not being syndicated, if that's what ends up happening. And then if it happens, BONUS!

That being said...

Let's hope that one of the other syndicates accepts your strip and makes an offer, so then they can get into a bidding war with Universal. Wouldn't that be sweet.

don't feel bad. if it makes you feel any better, i'm about 1000% certian they'd reject clayton heat, too.

...so do you wanna come back to my place for a good cry about it?

I don't understand how they could say Dead Air's humour wouldn't appeal to a broad enough audience. That doesn't make sense to me.

It's actually a very good sign that you received a personalized letter. Most submissions receive a form letter that offers no feedback whatsoever. The fact that they took the time to write to you with specifics means that you are in the upper tier of submissions. Keep it up! :)

rejection is all part of the game. can't please everyone.

take what you can out of the response and improve upon it. mull over it too long and you'll be suckered into the post rejection lull.

Don't let it get ya down dude.
Hell, I got refused over an over by the local rag. Some guy in Pennsylvania offerd to run us in his student mag..... never heard from again.
Do I let it get me down.... sniff...?
Do I.... choke....?

*weeps uncontrollably*

One thing I do think you should experiment with..... have a play with the line width round the outside of your characters, making it a little thicker. I was pulled up about that on a cartoonist course I did a few years ago.
I'll mind my own business.

It's actually a very good sign that you received a personalized letter. Most submissions receive a form letter that offers no feedback whatsoever. The fact that they took the time to write to you with specifics means that you are in the upper tier of submissions. Keep it up! :)
Yes, he's right. Most places don't offer any feedback. I think the most I got was a few words. I submitted 2 times and never got anywhere.

As hard as it is to believe, your comic's quality is not being rejected. You just have to make a few more and submit again. Make a few more and submit again.
Sense a theme here?

I think everyone here has given it the praise it so well deserves. You comic is well liked.


Oh, and BTW... keep your chin up, tiger.

I don't understand this whole "at least you got a personalized rejection" thing. In High School, I got personalized replies from Dark Horse, DC, and Mirage Studios. The Mirage studios guy was the best. He recommended Dynamic Anatomy to read and suggested I go visit The Comic Book Convention at the Javitts Center in NYC. I actually went there and had a long conversation with Ed McGuiness way back when he worked for Razor, a really shitty chick comic. Anyway, he was this tiny little white kid who dressed in baggy clothing and kept saying my stuff was "wicked tight". He also recommended Dynamic Anatomy to me. "You can draw people, but it'll help ya make em' fuckin' RIPPED!" He even signed my portfolio "E=Mc2" with a silver Sharpie.

Heh. I was so excited, I forgot to buy any stuff at his booth. D'oh!

I'm curious to know what Eric or the other guys who have submitted got. 3Dave: you're doing a great job. Keep at it. Perhaps some time in the future I'll be able to read a badly translated Dead Air strip in my local newspaper's Sunday Funnies, not get it, and go to your site to check out the original text (and then I'm sure I'll laugh).

I don't understand how they could say Dead Air's humour wouldn't appeal to a broad enough audience. That doesn't make sense to me.

Yeah that one is throwing me off too. Maybe instead of "broad" he meant to say "bland."

Hey congratulations! Its the first step in getting into the industry. As mentioned before most of the top synicated cartoonist got rejected hundreds of times until they got a crack at the top. Sometime its not the quality of the comics but also the company politics within these syndication companies. Sometimes its the timing. Maybe even the mood of the editor.

I mean wouldnt it be sweet to one day look back as a successful bestselling syndicated cartoonist telling your fans in an interview or somewhat that, "I was once rejected a thousand times but kept at it. Now look where I am (insert story of your struggles here)"

Keep at it, you'll hit it someday

I would never take a syndication rejection seriously. It may be a letdown, but it in no way discredits your ability as an author. I mean, just open up a newspaper page and look at the crap they think is good. You gotta cut them slack for having no taste.

I've been meaning to send some of my stuff into one of them newspapers. Ah, I'll never get around to it.

You're one of the few webcomics that would fit in a newspaper. I'd never even try, it's too limiting for what I do.

I think you'de be good for a syndication, The real problem probably was the fact that they only have so many slots they can fill, and those slots are almost entirely taken up by comics that have been around for years doing strips every single day. They have done so many strips infact, that they have run completely out of funny. It's sad really, well anyway, keep up the funny, and good luck on getting syndicated. Best hope is that one of those old coots just up and dies.

Best hope is that one of those old coots just up and dies.

... except Peanuts is in perennial reruns... (though I don't necessarily mind, poor Peanuts is often better than most of the other comics out there)
... and Hank Ketcham is dead, but his comic lives on...
... and Blondie has gone through God knows how many authors and artists...
... ditto things like Gasoline Alley and Mary Worth...

That's the evil of syndication. They own comic properties, and certain comics don't die if they don't want them to. The authors are expendable and replacable.

i remember reading somewhere that the only reason bill watterson kept doing calvin and hobbes was because the syndicates said if he quit, they'd just find someone else continue the strip for him. apparently, they were desperate to market C&H. but watterson had integrity, with the exception of two calanders. either of which i WISH i had.

with the exception of two calanders.

Calendars are just another means of showing the comic, right? Like the books? I don't see that going against any philosophy of his.

I also don't know about keeping the strip going because of threats from the syndicates. If he was able to end the strip when he did, then it means the characters were his and he could have put an end to it anytime. Strips are bought after they're produced, right?

I do recall that he had to battle the syndicate a bit before the comic property became completely his. They really pushed him for a while to market the characters more.
But yeah, the calanders were pretty much him doing extra art work. It's not the same as putting Calvin and Hobbes in a Happy Meal or something degrading like that.