Syndication

[Corgan_dane]

Honestly, I don't see myself ever getting good enough, or having enough funniness to do a daily strip. If anything I'd end up doing something like the Spiderman strips, where it's a semi-dramatic story.

...and I hate those in the paper, and never read them.

[The Neko]

Syndication would be interesting, and probably easy. I mean, hell, you don't even have to be funny most of the time, or in the case of "Family Circus": ever. You could recycle all your panels over and over again without having to write anything new. It's probably much easier than people make it out to be.

But think of it this way, could I ever get syndicated?

[Dutch!]

Syndication would be interesting, and probably easy. I mean, hell, you don't even have to be funny most of the time, or in the case of "Family Circus": ever. You could recycle all your panels over and over again without having to write anything new. It's probably much easier than people make it out to be.

But think of it this way, could I ever get syndicated?

Go for it!

[TheSuburbanLetdown]

Syndication would be interesting, and probably easy. I mean, hell, you don't even have to be funny most of the time, or in the case of "Family Circus": ever. You could recycle all your panels over and over again without having to write anything new. It's probably much easier than people make it out to be.

But think of it this way, could I ever get syndicated?

Go for it!

*Baps Dutch! with newspaper*

[Charlesbrubaker]

I checked out "Go For it"

If you lower the contents to PG-rating or just plain G, I think you might have a chance

[KathleenJ]

Hmm. I don't want to be syndicated, per se. But I DO want to be published.

Same here.

Yep. It' not like I even have a newspaper format strip anyway.

Aye. Count me in on the "syndication no, publishing yes" pyramid.

[Jen_Babcock]

Having worked with Universal for a couple of years, I have seen the ugly under belly of a major syndicate. Having said that, I wouldn't mind being syndicated, because I think the work I could give them would be fresh.

However, I know how conservative syndicates are (which is mainly due to newspaper editors), and I have a major problem with that. I've already toned down my comic a great deal, but it's still "too edgy."

I wrote a 1 week storyline about my experience with the syndicates here: http://www.clv-comic.com/view.php?pic=323

I think it ticked off some people at Universal, but I still talk to some of the people that work there.

Anyway, long story short: I would like to get syndicated, but I'm not going to go out of my way to reach that goal.

At least not right now.

[Steverules]

Jen, I remember when you ran that recap in Sherpia. You had said you were reevaluating things and I was worried you were going to stop doing your strip. Glad to see you didn't.
A few years ago I had dreams of being syndicated. I put together my proposals and sent them off. Got a lot of generic rejection letters, a couple of personalized and one "we are holding your submission for evaluation." That was promising but they eventually passed stating my humor was a too edgy which it was. I tried to make my stuff more "family friendly" but had no passion. It just wasn't my voice. Also, I love drawing but trying to keep up with a daily strip was too much for me. My passion quickly faded as it went from fun to work. I decided to finish college, get a good job and do my art as a hobby, which I love.
I've been learning a lot of tricks and ways of putting out a strip quickly and may consider putting together a package in the future but as of right now I'm perfectly happy doing it for fun.

[Col]

It's something I'd like to go for. Way I figure it, I could do that, and then on the side do my own thing on the web in order to flex the more imaginative and creative muscles. Hey, at least I'd be doing a comic and getting paid for it while working at home. So it's something I'm open to doing, but I need to get around to putting an idea together and submitting it. Either that, or being published would be great. You just never know, and I like to keep my options open.

[Chibiartstudios]

If by syndicated you mean having your work in the newspaper on a daily basis than sure! I'd love it. The problem is that whatever poor schmuck hires me will end up getting the next Bill Watterson. Not in artistic tallent mind you, but in the fact that I'd be an ass about the rights to my work. If I could keep full creative controll I'd love it. Otherwise screw it. I tried once for a school paper and lost intrest quickly as having to argue over stupid shit got old fast. Though I make no money I'm much hapier making my own proffits thank you!

As for Scott Kurtz, I love the idea and would start buying newspapers again if they had his comic in them. However I think he underestimated just how "in your face" you have to get with those people to change your way. It's not easy and would require them to drop another comic in the proccess. Though I suppose keenspot could just PAY for the insert. But that's kind of against the main point.

I still think it's comming though. Once the old people who make up the majority of readers start dying off then they will loose those readers and have to reinvent. Few companies are stupid enough not to.

But I guess I'll just have to see.

[Steverules]

chibi, those old people will never die off. They are reinvented as soccer moms and church going dads. Lets be honest, our group is the minority. Garfield will always have a fan base. Blondie will always have a fan base. Family Circus will always have a fan base. And they make money. There is no cost in developing a brand name because they are already established. There is a lot of cost and work involved in getting a new strip off the ground. I think webcomics are the future of comics. I think the syndicates will start looking at webcomcs to gage what they want to pick up. There are a lot of really good comics on the web that update daily, have a large fan base and are really good. In fact, they are doing that to some extent now. But the dinosaurs will never die. They will always roam the newspaper pages.

[Chibiartstudios]

*sighs*

Sadly you are right. The more I think about it the more I realise that there will always be a huge portion of the population that will respond to crap as long as it's superficialy "nice" or "cute". Many, many people are just like that and it really pisses me off.

Perfect example. Look here.

This man saved more people than Hitler fucking killed and I NEVER HEARD OF HIM! How can that even be possible? It should have been all over the news, this should have been bigger than Johnny Cocrans stupid ass or possibly even the pope (this man for what I know never let kids get mollested).

This man dies and no one cares. Yet Brittany Spears gets her slutty ass nocked up and we have to hear about it how many times a day!?

People are dumb. We haven't really evolved as a whole over the years. We still believe superstition as fact, We'll take a nice lie over a hard truth if it siuts us, and we constantly take the superficial over what is truly deep because thinking is hard. It gets infuriating really. Though I've learned that it's always been this way and there is no changing it. The best we can do is to accept it and try to work around it. Yes, the newspapers will always have the dinosaurs. They work. As much as I hate to admit it.

But I still feel that there is a place for change. I think it's comming. While marketable and recognisable I don't think the newspaper strips are bringing in what they could. They NEED the people willing to break the mold to get in and offend somebody in the papers.

Why? Because webcomics ARE here. People, oh so slowly, are realising that there are better things available than what the newspapers show and are moving on. And even if the Garfields of the comic world DO have an audience, it still won't change the fact that I have rarely really laughed at the comics page since Far Side left. And while I'l admit most webcomics are crap *points to guide* some are not. PVP is perfect. It's not offensive, it's likeable, it appeals to an underapreciated market, and it's FUNNY!

Would some not like it? Probably. They'd rant about indecency and not read anymore and then go off to do their thing. I'm just of the mind that this would be a small number and that the number of YOUNGER readers picking up the papers where they didn't before would make up for this. Granted they'd probably just read the funnies and throw the rest away, but they'd still be buying it! And since the classics wouldn't go anywhere, the majority of old readers would stay. All it really takes is another page in the comics section to make room.

I still think that Scotts PVP idea has merrit. He's just going to have to really sell his product hard as it will be hard to not only change but to kick someone else out (who they probably know makes some money) to make room. If he can do that for a major publicatoin then we may have something. If not? I guess I'll wait for the next big idea.

But let's not dissmiss the possibility of good comics in the papers just because crap sells.

Remember, Most of the really big movies (Sin City, Fight Club, The Matrix) are big and proffitable not because they are simple, safe, and don't offend, but because the opposite is true

(Sorry if I sound pissy, I've been reading up on politics and it really is driving me nuts.)

[Dutch!]

Seeings the average life expectancy of your average common or garden webcomic is about three months, aren't PnP and MegaJapan and Pinball Arcade and that lot all dinosaurs of this genre now?

I didn't get those names right, did I?

Aw, buggrem.

[Cope]

Seeings the average life expectancy of your average common or garden webcomic is about three months, aren't PnP and MegaJapan and Pinball Arcade and that lot all dinosaurs of this genre now?

All of those comics have only been around since the late nineties. The true dinosaurs, the zombies of the syndication biz, have dragged on for decades.

And I think you'd find the average life-expectancy of your common or garden variety syndicated comic also adds up to a few months; that business is very much a dog-eat-dog world.

I didn't get those names right, did I?

I think using "MegaChina" would have made your feigned ignorance seem more complete.

[McDuffies]

I seem to recall of a comic called "College spirit"... or was it "Kindergarden spirit"?

[Chibiartstudios]

Is there a difference?

[Dutch!]

Um...actually...that wasn't feigned ignorance. I'm aware they're out there. I remember looking at the MegaAsian one at some point and thinking nothing much. I came close with the others though, didn't I?

I'm one of the apparently few though, Chib, that prefers newspaper comics. Or at least, the style of the newspaper comic. I read more newspaper print comics than I do webcomics. That says something for the vast amount of webcomics I could be reading if I thought I wanted endless sarcasm

Oh, and McDuffies...for a minute there I actually thought you were being serious! I sometimes wish my ignorance was always feigned!

[Cope]

Um...actually...that wasn't feigned ignorance.

OMG STFU N00B!

EDIT: Seriously, though...if you weren't for your apparent love of dry humour I wouldn't have made that previous assumption.

[JPSloan]

May I be the first to encourage everyone to stop stripping... it's bad for your back!

[Col]

...That says something for the vast amount of webcomics I could be reading if I thought I wanted endless sarcasm ...

Heh, there's a lot of truth in that statement.