i'm feeling all hell and spit

Radewagon · Post by **Radewagon** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 3:09 pm

so... i recieved my first rejection letter today. I'm not really sure what i should think right now. Even more confused at what I should feel right now. I've always thought that if someone really cared about their art, they would do it regardless of any compensation. And I still very much feel that way. I don't however know that I should continue my strip. I know that I will in some way never stop doing it. I don't know that I still wish to have it be something that I do in conjuction with an update schedule. Maybe this would be easier if I had rabid fans.
So, anyone here deal with rejection notices? I was going to put this post in general topics. But then I figured all I really wanted was people to tell me not to quit doing what it is i'm doing. Because maybe I do have talent. And maybe I just need to know that my work means something to more than just me.

sorry for the downer,
jon ruiz

RemusShepherd · Post by **RemusShepherd** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 4:09 pm

I write science fiction. (Or used to, before I started this comic idiocy.

) I've gotten dozens of rejection letters. Yep, they suck.

The worst thing about rejections is that they almost never tell you what the problem is -- they usually just say 'we can't use it' and expect you to go away. There's a reason for this, though. Most publishers (of *any* genre) are swamped in submissions, and they don't have time to pull out the talented ones, the ones who are almost but not quite ready for publication, and give them nurturing praise and advice. So don't take rejection letters personally, because the people who write them are forced to treat you like a machine due to the stresses of their job.

As for giving you advice not to quit? I won't do that.

You *shouldn't* quit, of course, but it's not my place to say that to you. You should be writing/drawing/creating primarily for yourself, and if you trawl up some fans or a career in the process then you can count yourself lucky. If you're not creating for yourself, eventually you're going to hate yourself for doing it. You seem to already know whether you like making your comic, so the answer to whether you should quit should be obvious.

But cheer up. The best thing about being where you are is that you will never be alone. We're all at about the same level in this 'career', and we're all rooting for ya.

Nutcracker · Post by **Nutcracker** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 4:18 pm

Rejection? Who cares? Seriously, you should gain some immunity.
And your comic is good:]

Radewagon · Post by **Radewagon** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 5:23 pm

yeah. i guess i don't really see myself quiting. i've been drawing since i can remember. it just sucks, is all.

Blackaby · Post by **Blackaby** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 7:14 pm

I'm an editor/journalist for a few magazines/newspapers and a professional writer when I'm not doing that, so I've been on both sides of the rejection/and rejecting thing. I've rejected plenty of stuff (in fact I reject 95% of everything) not because it's bad in many cases, but because it just doesn't fit what's happening, and the themes - stylistic/genrewise - that are involved. Often it's just the layout and organisation of it that just annoys the poop out of me....

The whole rejection thing is a subjective experience. One editor may like something that another doesn't. Don't be po'd because one person didn't want your work - there are squillions of others out there who'd love it. And if it's in the art-genre, why don't you try and get some connections from here? Maybe they will lead to something.

I'm a bit of a twat since I wouldn't write if it wasn't for money or aimed to get future money/kudos, but see, I like beer. And I'd drink beer for NO REASON at all. I'd even PAY to drink beer. BEER is like my creativity thing. So if art is like your beer to you, then you should do it.

Radewagon · Post by **Radewagon** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 7:36 pm

funny... i don't remember being po'd that an editor didn't like my work. also, beer is my beer. also, if anyone wants to give me any connections, I will happily accept them.

Blackaby · Post by **Blackaby** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 8:13 pm

You're right - sorry about that. I was projecting. It's ME who's always totally PO'd with editors who don't like my work. Stupid people!

I wish I could help with comic-publishing contacts, but that's one part of the publishing industry I have ZERO clue about.

Come on people. Make with the contact-spilling!

Blackaby · Post by **Blackaby** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 8:23 pm

By the way, I'm reading your comic now, and I really like it, especially the newer strips. And the style - it's all linocutty. And I love linocuts.

PUPPY TIME!!!

Nicked · Post by **Nicked** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 9:29 pm

If it counts for anything, I giggled aloud when I read the latest strip's 'Why do you smell like ulterior motives?'

<edit> and might i say that the martian character is PURE genius?

Nightgaunt · Post by **Nightgaunt** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 9:48 pm

Yeah, I've been following your strip for quite some time now, and when there's an update it's one of the highlights of my day. I'm trying to get all my friends to read it too. Hell, I even overlook the fact that you're a bezerkeley guy.

In other words, if you were to quit I'd be forced to hunt you down and gut you like a thanksgiving tuna. Well, maybe not, that sounds like it would be a lot of effort.

As for rejection, I'm sure it goes without saying, but make sure you're submiting stuff to the right people. For example as much as I'd love to see My So Called Knife in the sunday comics section of the newspaper, it has an entirely diferent target audience and would never happen.

he he he... "the screaming is icing on the cake"

Yeahduff · Post by **Yeahduff** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 2:49 am

Rejection is something we "artists" deal with more than anyone else. We put our hearts on plates to be devoured by some editor, and if it gets further, an audience. It hurts the first couple of times, but it's part of the process, and you become numb to it.

Placing this somewhere more appropriate.

Telecoda · Post by **Telecoda** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 3:59 am

I used to submit gag cartoons to the newspapers. Rejections, rejections rejections I had heaps of them.

Then I finally got one of my cartoons in print.

I draw for the love of it. For money would be nice, but I'm not quitting my day job at present.

The amount of money I have made out of my cartoons over the years will probably just about cover the amount I have spent on paper / pens ( and a nice graphic tablet...)

Perhaps we could all draw for beer. BEERART

The Neko · Post by **The Neko** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 4:01 am

One rejection letter is not much to cry about. Heaps of them over a period of years? Then I'd probably be upset.

Jen_Babcock · Post by **Jen_Babcock** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 4:05 am

Rejection hurts a lot at first but then you quickly become immune to it. You just have to realize that it's not necessarily personal. Your work might just not be profitable for a certain publication/company, or it might not be what someone is looking for at this time. It's also a matter of individual taste, which we all know is subjective. So basically, don't let it get to you and don't take offense.

Just keep trying and stay true to your vision.

Rkolter · Post by **Rkolter** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 8:11 am

I've never been rejected by anyone for anything ever in my life.

... wait, that's a lie. Pretty boldfaced too. With little swirlies.

Jeez. Pull yourself out of it. Rejection letters are like junk mail. Treat them that way.

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 11:08 am

I've been rejected a dozen of times. First time I sent comic somewhere was when I was 17 (which means about 8 years ago). I kept sending stuff, sometimes more often, sometimes less, but there were times when I was sending several letters a month to various magazines and fanzines. I was rejected to at least 95% (which means, I was published just a few times, and never anything big.
How do I deal with rejection? The same way I deal with anybody who says he doesn't like my comic. I never expected that everyone would like it anyway.

If it makes it easier, each comic I sent looked great to me at the time. Looking back at them over the years, they weren't so great after all and now I see why they were rejected. Hopefully, I'm a better artist now.

RPin · Post by **RPin** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 12:20 pm

Feh. That ain't nothing, bud. I get rejected by women on a daily basis ;D

Radewagon · Post by **Radewagon** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 3:42 pm

well... i stayed up till 4:30am finishing todays comic, so i guess i'm back in the game.

Nutcracker · Post by **Nutcracker** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 4:01 pm

radewagon wrote:(...)i guess i'm back in the game.

Good!!

radewagon wrote:(...)i stayed up till 4:30am(...)

not good...

Christwriter · Post by **Christwriter** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 6:45 pm

Whenever I get--or think about getting--rejection letters, I fall back on....yep, you guessed it, Stephen King's Autobiography.

He kept every one he got on a nail in his wall until the nail got too heavy and fell off the wall. Then he used a spike.

EVERYBODY has rejection letters, in other words, especially when you're newborn. Just about every "How to get published" book I've read has a certain amount of expected rejection in it. You write-write-write-write and then start circulting three or four submissions around a circle of publishers, and when one runs out of new publishers to send it to, stick it in a drawer and send another one. Eventually (if you're good enough, follow all the sub guidelines and have enough patience) if you've got the market saturated enough, somebody will publish something of yours.

That's the way the market works. And the odds of actually GETTING published are helped by, of all things, following the submission guidelines of whichever editor or publisher you're sending to. You could have written a book that would out-sell LotR if it got published, but it would get tossed out on something as simple as the font it's printed in (too small, too big, it's a serif font, it's a non-serif font, it's something weird, it's too hard to read) the paper it's printed on (dirty, wrinkled, something other than white, too white) the number of spelling mistakes in the first few pages (I read one is too many) or the simple fact that you didn't send in a cover letter or a query letter before you submitted the manuscript.

Comics are a bit different, but only a bit. Don't give up, don't stop making it. Get critiques here because maybe somebody will see whatever it was that got you rejected and help you fix it.

Hope it helps.

CW