Expendable You'll Have That
So, yeah . . .
Alright. So today I'm gonna talk about some heavy junk that's been on my mind for the past couple days. But first, read this interview with Dave Kellett, creator of the comic strip Sheldon and member of Blank Label Comics. Here's Part One and Part Two of the interview over at Fleen.
Now that you've *hopefully* read Dave's wonderful interview, I'll let you know how this is pertinent to YHT:
At the end of July last year I received an e-mail from United Features Syndicate (home to Peanuts, Dilbert, Get Fuzzy, and Frazz) about possibly moving You'll Have That over to comics.com. As you may or may not know, comics.com is owned and operated by UFS, and the syndicate uses the website as a sort of "training ground" for new comic strips. With the idea that being on comics.com could possibly be a stepping stone toward being syndicated in newspapers, I told the representative at UFS that I was interested.
Now, UFS had contacted me before about migrating to comics.com shortly after YHT launched with Viper. That was back in early January 2005. At the time I asked if it would be possible for me to stay with Viper yet also be affiliated with United. The representative told me he'd look into it, and I never heard from the dude again. That is until he contacted me again in July letting me know that UFS just wanted YHT without any ties with Viper.
A few days after expressing interest in comics.com, I received a phone call from the contract department at United. The lady was very nice and she told me that she was going to e-mail me the contract which was only a "couple of pages". It ended up being eleven pages long. I realize that an eleven page contract is still pretty slim, but when someone says "a couple pages" I'm thinking two to three pages max.
At any rate, for the next five months I went back and forth between United Features and my lawyer concerning the crappy contract (and believe me, it was crappy!). The more we talked about the contract, what was expected of me, and what I was to earn the more I fell out of love with the idea of going over to comics.com.
Finally, at the beginning of January of this year, I told UFS that I wasn't interested in taking YHT over to their website. There were several reasons for my decision - too many to list here - but to sum up I really didn't feel that I would have gained anything with the move.
Ever since then, however, I've always wondered if maybe I had shot myself in the foot. It hasn't kept me awake at night or anything, but sometimes I think about it. And then I read Dave Kellett's interview at Fleen and it totally bolstered my decision to turn down United.
I wrote Dave an e-mail telling him my story about United, and thanking him for being so frank in his interview. He replied back with some very wise words that really made me think. Check it out:
The idea that I will possibly never be syndicated in a newspaper isn't so much discouraging as it is heartbreaking. I still think that YHT will be very successful, and I honestly believe that I will one day make my living drawing this cartoon. But the likelihood of that happening with newspapers is a lot lower than it was ten to fifteen years ago.
Here's a crappy, hypothetical analogy to sum up how I feel on the subject: It's like if you were to tell a basketball player that he'd be better off financially if he stayed on the public courts in the city park rather than go out for the NBA. For whatever reason the NBA isn't what it used to be, and a lot of ball players are making money by staying in the streets. Sure, that player will probably be very happy and successful in the long run, but he'll never get to experience his childhood dream of putting on an NBA jersey, walking out onto the ball court, and hearing all those fans chant his name.
Oh well . . .
Before I sign off for the evening I want to make a few things clear:
1) I love being a part of Viper Comics. My wanting to move over to UFS had nothing to do with any feelings of desention with the Viper Crew. In fact, I would hope that Viper would feel proud that I turned down one of the biggest newspaper syndicates in the United States in order to stay with the team. Jessie and Jim have worked their butts off for me, and I can't begin to tell them how appreciative I am. I've also made some great friends and met some awesome people (yes, PJ, even you!). Viper has been a great home for YHT and it'll be a great home for a long time to come.
If you guys want to pick my brain about anything concerning the syndication deal, feel free to e-mail me or start a forum thread. I'm an open book and I'd be more than happy to go into detail about my reasons for turning down UFS.
2) This is Monday's blog. I know it's Sunday night, but I gotta work in the morning and then take my car to the dealer (which is in Columbus) right after work. So I'm gonna be gone pretty much all day tomorrow. Which sucks because I'm still scrambling to get the bonus strips for the book done, but now my day is shot. Dang "check engine" light . . .
The Bonus Strips . . .
I'm kinda disappointed with the bonus strips. I enjoy the story, but I haven't been happy with the way they're turning out artistically. I think I'm gonna write the bonus story for YHT Vol. 2 in the next few weeks and start working on it piece by piece instead of waiting until four weeks before it's due.
Since I'm not exactly in love with the Vol. 1 bonus strips, I might sell them. I haven't decided yet. I'm gonna let my wife see the strips first to make sure she doesn't want to hold onto them. Personally, I'm not in love with them, but they might be sentimental to her. I'll let you guys know.
. . . .
Hope everyone had a great weekend. My long weekend is coming up on Friday, and I couldn't be more excited.
Drop a note in the forum if you get a chance! :)
- Wes
Alright. So today I'm gonna talk about some heavy junk that's been on my mind for the past couple days. But first, read this interview with Dave Kellett, creator of the comic strip Sheldon and member of Blank Label Comics. Here's Part One and Part Two of the interview over at Fleen.
Now that you've *hopefully* read Dave's wonderful interview, I'll let you know how this is pertinent to YHT:
At the end of July last year I received an e-mail from United Features Syndicate (home to Peanuts, Dilbert, Get Fuzzy, and Frazz) about possibly moving You'll Have That over to comics.com. As you may or may not know, comics.com is owned and operated by UFS, and the syndicate uses the website as a sort of "training ground" for new comic strips. With the idea that being on comics.com could possibly be a stepping stone toward being syndicated in newspapers, I told the representative at UFS that I was interested.
Now, UFS had contacted me before about migrating to comics.com shortly after YHT launched with Viper. That was back in early January 2005. At the time I asked if it would be possible for me to stay with Viper yet also be affiliated with United. The representative told me he'd look into it, and I never heard from the dude again. That is until he contacted me again in July letting me know that UFS just wanted YHT without any ties with Viper.
A few days after expressing interest in comics.com, I received a phone call from the contract department at United. The lady was very nice and she told me that she was going to e-mail me the contract which was only a "couple of pages". It ended up being eleven pages long. I realize that an eleven page contract is still pretty slim, but when someone says "a couple pages" I'm thinking two to three pages max.
At any rate, for the next five months I went back and forth between United Features and my lawyer concerning the crappy contract (and believe me, it was crappy!). The more we talked about the contract, what was expected of me, and what I was to earn the more I fell out of love with the idea of going over to comics.com.
Finally, at the beginning of January of this year, I told UFS that I wasn't interested in taking YHT over to their website. There were several reasons for my decision - too many to list here - but to sum up I really didn't feel that I would have gained anything with the move.
Ever since then, however, I've always wondered if maybe I had shot myself in the foot. It hasn't kept me awake at night or anything, but sometimes I think about it. And then I read Dave Kellett's interview at Fleen and it totally bolstered my decision to turn down United.
I wrote Dave an e-mail telling him my story about United, and thanking him for being so frank in his interview. He replied back with some very wise words that really made me think. Check it out:
. . . there are many paths to the same mountain. The goal, in the end, is to make our livings from our cartooning. And our vision for that, in part based on what we knew for the majority of our life, was that that took syndication. And maybe that's no longer so . . . maybe it's not true at all, in fact.That last line knocked me on my butt, people. I think that cartoonists from my generation have grown up with the stigma that to be a successful, professional cartoonist you must be published in newspapers. But the times have changed. Newspapers are ever so slowly dropping in circulation. Comics pages are being trimmed down to make room for more advertising. People who read the newspapers aren't that selective and they don't care if they read the same stale Blondie comic strips year in and year out.
The idea that I will possibly never be syndicated in a newspaper isn't so much discouraging as it is heartbreaking. I still think that YHT will be very successful, and I honestly believe that I will one day make my living drawing this cartoon. But the likelihood of that happening with newspapers is a lot lower than it was ten to fifteen years ago.
Here's a crappy, hypothetical analogy to sum up how I feel on the subject: It's like if you were to tell a basketball player that he'd be better off financially if he stayed on the public courts in the city park rather than go out for the NBA. For whatever reason the NBA isn't what it used to be, and a lot of ball players are making money by staying in the streets. Sure, that player will probably be very happy and successful in the long run, but he'll never get to experience his childhood dream of putting on an NBA jersey, walking out onto the ball court, and hearing all those fans chant his name.
Oh well . . .
Before I sign off for the evening I want to make a few things clear:
1) I love being a part of Viper Comics. My wanting to move over to UFS had nothing to do with any feelings of desention with the Viper Crew. In fact, I would hope that Viper would feel proud that I turned down one of the biggest newspaper syndicates in the United States in order to stay with the team. Jessie and Jim have worked their butts off for me, and I can't begin to tell them how appreciative I am. I've also made some great friends and met some awesome people (yes, PJ, even you!). Viper has been a great home for YHT and it'll be a great home for a long time to come.
If you guys want to pick my brain about anything concerning the syndication deal, feel free to e-mail me or start a forum thread. I'm an open book and I'd be more than happy to go into detail about my reasons for turning down UFS.
2) This is Monday's blog. I know it's Sunday night, but I gotta work in the morning and then take my car to the dealer (which is in Columbus) right after work. So I'm gonna be gone pretty much all day tomorrow. Which sucks because I'm still scrambling to get the bonus strips for the book done, but now my day is shot. Dang "check engine" light . . .
The Bonus Strips . . .
I'm kinda disappointed with the bonus strips. I enjoy the story, but I haven't been happy with the way they're turning out artistically. I think I'm gonna write the bonus story for YHT Vol. 2 in the next few weeks and start working on it piece by piece instead of waiting until four weeks before it's due.
Since I'm not exactly in love with the Vol. 1 bonus strips, I might sell them. I haven't decided yet. I'm gonna let my wife see the strips first to make sure she doesn't want to hold onto them. Personally, I'm not in love with them, but they might be sentimental to her. I'll let you guys know.
. . . .
Hope everyone had a great weekend. My long weekend is coming up on Friday, and I couldn't be more excited.
Drop a note in the forum if you get a chance! :)
- Wes
posted by Wes at 9:16 PM
13 Comments:
Dude, your site rocks. I haven't read comics in newspapers for a looong time.
11:30 PMThe net is the way to go.
Wes, I took the paper for many years for the SOLE reason of the comics - I even picked the local paper with the best selection rather than the best at news or something else...
4:23 AMAs it is now, I have about 100 or so web comics that I check regularly (yours included) as well as an annual subscription to comics.com. Many of those that I get with my subscription I can get otherwise by visiting every day, but that doesn't trickle anything back to the comic creator such as yourself. I also buy the anthologies to support strips I really like - so far I'm up to two bookshelves and need to add another.
Comics make me laugh and often tell a great story - I've got all of the Sluggies up until the time they stopped being funny (no offense Pete!). There are strips that I've followed since they started (Dilbert, Doonesbury, FoxTrot, Sherman's Lagoon) and some that don't ever publish anthologies. One of my favorites is the only Mr. Boffo anthology I've ever seen... I still take it down and giggle every once in a while. Bloom County? Same thing.
I love your strip and I hope it brings you all of the success you hope for - if it does, I'll get to keep reading it!
Thanks for the awesome comments, guys! I'm glad you guys are enjoying the strip, and I appreciate your hardcore support. :)
6:26 AM- Wes
I'm sorry that breaking into newspaper comics is so hard.
4:47 PMBut, I am glad you're staying with Viper. I have a comics.com account, but everytime I turn around it seems like a favorite comic disappears and I'm out scrambling to find it somewhere else.
Your comic has quickly become one of my favorites.
Thanks, Julie! I appreciate all your comments, and I'm glad you're a fan of the strip.
7:20 PMAnd you shouldn't apologize for newspapers being hard to break into. It's not your fault. ;) Seriously, though, it's not that big a deal. A little heartbreaking, yes, but certainly softened by all the awesomeness that I have going on here at Viper!
- Wes
hey,
1:30 AMmy names steven, im from san diego and i just started reading your comic several months ago. i just want to let you know that your comic is by far one of the best online. i know you will go far in whatever path it is one day you take. success has many different faces, and most peoples look different. you will have it, even though you might not know what it is.
so basically, rock on and never give up.
Thanks, Steven! I really appreciate it, man. It's peeps like you that keep me going. :)
6:22 AM- Wes
Wes,
9:19 AMI love your comic. My friends often tell me that the comic is me.
I just thought I'd point out that syndication is not necessary to earn a living from your comic. (Just look at PvP and Something Positive.)
Scott Kurtz has a good essay on his thoughts, though his plan to publish in newspapers for free hasn't really worked.
-Fuzz
Hi. I posted once before (couldn't help it, the fact that someone else knew about Sufjan Stevens was just too much!) and I just wanted to post again to say that I love your comic, regardless of it being in the newspaper or not. I can understand that you want YHT to appear in the newspapers but I don't think you should beat yourself up about deciding not to sign with comics.com. I'll still come here to check it out, or anywhere you decide to take it. I know that getting sydicated is a lot harder than people think, but you'll do it one day.
10:06 AMI love YHT, it's one of my regulars! Just keep drawing, because that's what makes you happy and I'm sure one day it will all fall into place. I mean, it *has* to, with a comic this good!
Hello,
12:54 PMI've been reading (and enjoying) your comic for a while now, but I must admit, I've only read the news section for the first time today (sorry...). From the begining, I sensed in your tone that the thing with UFS didn't go well. Maybe it's because you already knew what happened when you wrote it. But maybe you know, that if their representative waited about six month to contact you again, it 'aint a good sign. Think about what would have became of your paycheck...
We all want to improve and develop. I'm sure your path to fame and fortune will reveal itself to you soon.
Fuzz - Scott Kurtz has been a pretty big inspiration for me. He's the reason I decided to submit my comics to comic book publishers in the first place. I've also tried to give my comic away for free like he did, but it's not working as well as I thought it would. Oh well. :) Thanks for the note.
3:23 PMAvalon - I don't beat myself up too badly about turning down United. :) And, to be honest, getting syndicated isn't high on my priority list right now. Publishing my first book and getting the word out about it is my main priority right now.
I'm glad you're digging the strip, and it's nice to know you'll follow me if necessary. Good news is, I don't plan on leaving Viper anytime soon. So don't worry about updating your bookmarks in the near future!
Tamar - I'm glad you've been enjoying my comic. And don't worry about not reading the news - sometimes it's boring. :)
I'm not really worried about fame and fortune. I just want to make a decent living drawing comics. I could care less if that comes from being syndicated or not anymore.
As long as people like you guys keep reading, I know I'll eventually acheive all my goals. Thanks guys (and gals)! I really mean it!
- Wes
Wes, I truly admire the decision you made. I'm not a reader of your comic, but I just had to acknowledge your words.
9:50 AMGod knows how many times I read about a Cartoonist taking a development deal with a syndication, and it didn't turn out how they thought it would. A few even threw in the white flag, because their contract was about to expire. Plus, the syndication didn't seem interested in taking their comic into print.
To me, a development deal seems like a free trial. I could be wrong.
Out of all the new comics I've read on comics.com for two straight years, I think only one turned out with a deal for print.
You're determined and you will make a living off your comic.
I think you're doing quite well. You have exposure, books, and fans. I wish I had that.
Much success to you, Wes. You truly deserve it.
Wow, Michelle. Thank you so much. That was truly nice of you to say.
3:20 PMYou're right about web-only deals being sort of like a "free trial". The problem is, it's a free trial for the syndication and ends up costing the cartoonist close to everything. There's hardly any money to be made, and you could end up totally screwing yourself when it comes to the rights of your strip (most syndicates will let you retain the rights to your cartoon, but they may have clauses that say you can't use the cartoon for a certain period of time after the contract is terminated, etc.)
Comics.com is been around for close to ten years, I think. Of all the strips that have had web-only deals, I only know of two that have made the jump to newspaper syndication: Pearls Before Swine and The Humble Stumble.
Thanks for the comments, Michelle. You should stop by more often. :)
- Wes
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