The Anthology Game Part 2

I have great news regarding anthology publication this year.

 

In November of 2013 I became determined to get comics short stories published in anthologies.  I figured this would keep me drawing regularly, get my art out there, sometimes bring in money and ultimate make the case for signing a book deal on a graphic novel.  This post is an update on an earlier post about starting my adventures in publishing that can be found here.

I'm working with a super-secret comics collaborator to create a
story for Rock is Not Dead.

My efforts have resulted in acceptances from nine different projects:  one local weekly paper here in Seattle, two United States publications and six international journals.

Here are some updates you might be interested in:

Canadian Anthology "Rock Is Not Dead" is seeking more stories inspired by rock songs!

One of the publishers I am working with - Canada-based 11th Dimension Press - is putting together an anthology of straight-forward prose as well as comics short stories inspired by rock songs.  NOT ONLY THAT, but they will be having independent bands cover the songs and put out an accompanying CD's.  It's a short turn around, but pitch your stories.

Here is the link to the 11th Dimension Press call for submissions.

 

Only 2 MORE DAYS to pre-order The Strumpet.  Eight dollars gets you A LOT of story! 

The Strumpet is an anthology of women cartoonists that publishes in both England and America, and is currently edited by a fabulous cartoonist in her own right -  Ellen Lindner.  It features over 50 pages of work by 18 female artists.

This is Issue #4 of The Strumpet and it is themed around women's friendships.  I LOVE this because so much of what is represented in the media are not reflective of women's voices or actual experiences around friendship.  The story I created for The Strumpet is the most difficult work of art that I've tackled to date, because I had to smoosh dacades worth of friendship into three pages to tell the story of my friendship with fellow female artist and carpenter, Lisa Mei Ling Fong.

Check out The Strumpet Kickstarter page here.   And if you miss out on the Kickstarter, it will eventually be available on Ellen Lindner's Etsy Page.

Free or "Pay-What-You-Can" International Anthologies

While several of the anthologies I'm working with are still in the process of being published, I have works running currently in two publications that you can access for free.

Outre Press out of Norway is a free online journal that features themed issues.  Issue #4 is "Silence" and can be downloaded here.  They ran a super sweet Creator Spotlight for me on their blog here.

While I only did a 1-page illustration for Outre, I created a 17-page rendition of a dark Czech folk tale for Blood Root #3, which also features work by Haan Lee, Ram V and Kishore Mohan.  You can purchase the lovingly designed print edition here.  You can also find free and pay-what-you-can titles from Sawdust Press here. 

Well, there is SO MUCH GOING ON in Seattle comics right now, and so much more in motion with anthologies, that I could keep writing forever.  However, until next post. . .



C-log posts on comics, publication and community that publishes on Tuesdays.

Serbian Anthologies, Stolen Art & Other Stories

The poster I designed for Seattle Busker Week. 
Check out their full schedule Here.

If you hadn't noticed, Gone Girl Comics has been....gone, for a late summer hiatus.

Much of is has had to do with the unusually sunny weather here in the Pacific Northwest coinciding with being given access to an honest-to-god log cabin to renovate in a huge forest on Whidbey Island.  This is amazing, because I am a below-poverty-level artist right now and the gift of a rugged but amazing place to escape to is beyond surreal.  I have spent weeks cleaning and repairing the cabin, and harvesting huckleberries and wild chanterelle mushrooms.  Which leads to extensive, long baking and cooking sessions.

Then there is paid work.  The poster for Seattle Busker Week was part of that, and--if you are in Seattle, you can see artwork in The Seattle Weekly and also attend the festivities.  Combine that with drawing on intense deadlines for comics anthology submissions, and my blog schedule got thrown off a bit.

Image of "Chicago Picasso" in the SKULPTURA? anthology.

But behold!  The submissions have been paying off!  Not only have I been accepted for publications in seven new projects this year, but some of them are actually in print now, including SKULPTURA?, a comics anthology centered on Sculpture that I wrote about last month HERE.  My story "Chicago Picasso" is in it.

I was just informed that only 300 books were printed, and they were distributed to attendees of the 16th Biennial of Art Pančevo in Serbia.  So, it looks like my one contributors copy is all I'll have...and I'm going to cherish it and guard it with my life.

This image, which launched my
comics career, was among
those in my missing portfolio.

Unfortunately, I should have had the thought "guard it with my life" stuck in my head much earlier, as I foolishly left one of my portfolios at a restaurant in Downtown Seattle after a client meeting.  Though I noticed it missing just a few minutes later, when I went back to the restaurant (Tulios) it was GONE.  I filed a police report and have been checking online, where people sell art...in it was the original first page of "Chicago Picasso" along with some work that was very dear to my heart.

I created a Facebook album for the stolen images.  You can view it HERE.  If anyone comes across something--my style is fairly recognizable--do let me know!  But I fear these are gone.  Live and learn.

RETURNING TO THE POSITIVE, I look forward to posting more about new creative pursuits and anthology publications.  The next publications to come out will be Indie Ladies Comics 2014 - Blush, as well as an illustration I did for Outre #4 and then Blood Root! 




C-log posts on comics, publication and community that publishes on Tuesdays.

The Anthology Game

Welcome to the one-month anniversary of C-Log.  (I've decided that blogs are like babies.  Cute in their infancy but probably won't make that big of an impact or pay their own rent until they are old enough to go to college.) 

NEXT WEEK I'll have a guest blog by Meredith Li-Vollmer, a risk communication specialist for Public Health - Seattle & King County who spearheaded the project Comics 4 Health Coverage.

Title page in-process for an anthology
submission due later this month.

THIS WEEK is about my experienced with seeking publication in comics anthologies.

I'm excited to report that it can be done.  Since the cold Seattle night that I decided to Google "Comics Anthology Submissions," I've had five stories selected for publication, with two more under consideration.

I feel good about the chances of the pending submissions because I researched the anthologies thoroughly and feel my art fits well with what the editors are trying to do.

Which is the sweet spot - the fit.

There are not a lot of open calls for comic book anthologies, period.  Of those, a high percentage of them are for genre fiction, mainstream horror and/or manga themed publications.  That's great, if that's the kind of work you're making, but my stuff is more in the autobiographical vein.


So, I did A LOT OF RESEARCH.  And this is what I've found:

• Again, there's not a ton of open calls for submission out there.
• Some of the best ones I found were buried deep in the editor's blog (so keep digging!)
• Many calls for submission are out-of-date.  I have an embarrassing story about making a comic for an anthology that was already published.  The story has a happy ending, because the comic is being printed in another journal, but you can bet I triple-check dates, now.
• There are at least two lists of open calls that seem to be current and relatively accurate.  They are kept by Cloudscape Comics out of BC and Indie Ladies Comics.  

My super-secret weapon for taking over comics by 2015.

After a few months of submitting to anthologies, I began keeping a spreadsheet.

This is a practice I started after missing the call for inclusion in Dirty Diamonds #5, which I really REALLY wanted to be in, but am not, because there was just so much time left until the deadline.  And then I forgot about it.  And then the deadline passed.

There is actually a second page to the spreadsheet, which lists stories after they get published, so that I have a record of my publication history.  Why so organized, you ask?  Because in my past life, as a poet, I got grants, publication, residencies and the like, but never did anything with all that good stuff.  My peers were getting book deals and performance tours and I was working as an arts administrator and not making a case for myself as an artist.  I feel that I squandered a lot of creative capital. 

I don't know how many shots you get at doing what you love, but I'm not going to waste it this time around.  Both the research and the spreadsheets have been helpful in getting my stories out there and have even led to inclusion in invitation-only anthologies.

I'll keep posting about this topic as I learn more and come across new developments.  If you are aware of any other resources that would be useful in the quest for publication, and care to share them, feel free to email me or post in the comments below.