How do i best find a publisher?

[stelars]

Hello!
After working on average 3-4 hours for almost a year I have illustrated and written around 50 comic book pages. So, now that the shovel work is finished I'd like to find a fair and reliable publisher in order to get this printed. I got in touch with some french publishers that seemed serious, but the problem is that I don't know exactly how to present my work:

I could upload 10-15 pages of my work at an own webpage, making it look really professional, and let the publishers have a close look at it that way. But on the other hand, they might want to have high-resolution images, or even printed versions sent to them via snail mail, because some of them obviously want to take a CLOSE look before making any decisions. So, how do I make an optimal presentation?

If you want to get an idea of the work I am talking about, here's some samples:
Page 1: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/26552135/
Page 7: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/30961509/
Page 8: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/30961626/
Page 36: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/31174071/
(The pages are not 100 per cent finished, though, especially not the text.)

I know there's people with lots of experience on this in here, so if you have any kind of suggestions you are more than welcome to leave a comment.

Cheers,
Stefan

Ps If I don't find any good publishers, then I will publish it by myself. Anyone in here who has done that?

[figure2]

Here in the U.S., there are publishing companies that specialize in authors who want to self-publish. If you were to look around Sweden you might find similar businesses and contact them for pricing & details.

Before you take the step of self publishing you should think through a plan for how you plan to sell the book. Large established publising companies have developed relationships with bookstore chains. They have entire marketing divisions whose job it is to get the books into publications that advertise and review books. They may even have a dedicated employee whos job it is to send newly published titles to influential book reviewers and follow up to make sure the reviewer reads the book and publishes a review. Once the publisher takes on an author, the publisher takes on the expense and responsibility for the marketing. With self publishing, most of the marketing becomes the author's responsibility. This can take up a lot of your time and become quite expensive.

Whatever you do, good luck but think it through carefully.

[Mirana]

Presenting them on a website is the best portfolio option up front. It's clean, easy to navigate and bookmark, and an instantanous sendoff. You can even present smaller thumbnails, with bigger images behind (though I wouldn't make them TOO big, because it's just evaluation right now). I would put them on your own webspace and not DA, though.

If the publisher has special demands after that point, they'll ask you for them. I got a comic gig on a website portfolio alone. For a digital coloring job, they liked me from the portfolio, then asked that I do a sample and send them a disk. Each one is different. :)

[AmishCommy]

you already devoted an assload of time on this, and props to you for the commitment. But before you go investing more time and money into this project i would step back and evaluate the work. Show it around to professional artists first. I think most of them would agree that this work is not up to professional standards. I'm not trying to put you down, i'm just telling it as it is. If I were you i would look at the work with fresh eyes and without any emotional attachment that you may have after devoting a year to this. point out what's working and what's not, and either start over or move on to a new project. in my honest opinon, i don't think this work at the level it is now, has much of a future. once again, i'm not hating on you, just want to save you a hell of a lot of heart ache. but then again, if what i said pisses you off you're more than welcome to prove me wrong.

[stelars]

Thanks for the input. It was of help. Will probably re-open my webpage and present some of the work there, and continue to look for various ways to get it published. Hmmm... yes, there's weaknesses in the work, Amish. It is difficult to get a conistent idea of what people think about my work, some adore it, and the one's who may not like it don't bother telling me, because they are afraid of offending me. What a drawback! So I'm very glad you had the 'courage' to tell me. (Although, to be totally honest, I feel that very much of what is presented, even by major comic book publishers, is often of very low quality, even lower than the amateuristic stuff I came up with.)

Anyway, if you think it is possible to touch up the work to a professional standard, perhaps you could suggest what to work on (I can give you more samples of the work, if you want). Sure, it would be great to get other professional artist's viewpoint... if I knew where to find 'em.... (Difficult to know who is on the other side of the internet line, you know.)
If you think it would require LOTS of work to get it accepted.... well, then I will just try to get it presented the way it is anyway, and if it doesn't get accepted, then I just cancel the project. No problemos.

Again, thanks for the replies, I appreciated it.

[figure2]

One place you might try is Denis Kitchen Publishing, formerly the publisher of "Kitchen Sink Press" in the U.S. You can read their submission guidelines here (http://deniskitchenpublishing.com/pages/submissions.html).

You might even ask if they would be willing to give your work a critique. Never hurts to ask.

[tensai]

Sure, it would be great to get other professional artist's viewpoint... if I knew where to find 'em.... (Difficult to know who is on the other side of the internet line, you know.)


post some pages in the finally finished section. youll get loads of honest crits if you ask for it.

i liked the more abstract pages, their composition and colours. some of it had a slight hint of bill sienkiewicz (which would be the biggest compliment you could get). i thought the most problematic were the figures, all of them.
i didnt like the fonts/graphic design too much and was wondering why 9/11 was happening on another date in 2002 although that might be because of some intricate plot/alternative history kind of concept.

getting a comic published is quite a huge project though man. have you thought about first trying to get a one or four page story published inside a magazine or do a webcomic?

[stelars]

-I will probably give Denis Kitchen Publishing a shot. And will search for more potential publishers at http://www.wordsandpictures.org/index.cfm (they have a large list to choose from there).

-Publishing a few pages inside a magazine sounds GREAT.... If it is just a few pages I can pick the best from my work, so it will probably measure up then. I better find some good magazines for this. Any suggestions? Heavy Metal magazine could be one.

-I have thought about a web comic, too, but assumed that I will reach an extremely small number of readers. If it won't get published/on print I will put the whole work on my webpage and let people know about it, though. And I guess they have a web comic haven somewhere on internet, but where? (Google should have the answer...)

-Regarding the weaknesses in the comic book work: Yep, I don't like the font size very much either, nor the talk bubbles. Getting another font size wouldn't require too much mork, though. The 9/11 thing is just a sloppy mistake, because the text isn't finished. Big problem if most of the figures suck, though.

Good to talk with you guys. Learning a lot.
/Stefan

[tensai]

The 9/11 thing is just a sloppy mistake, because the text isn't finished.

really - 12 september 2002? thats pretty bad man.