Post-Traumatic Tech Disorder

So, there you are. Sitting on the porch with some hastily packed bags. The house behind you echoes with the celebratory moans of parental joy. You’re on your own now, and you need a job. You spent your college years chasing the classes with the highest levels of scenery and found yourself meeting the requirements for a degree in Ornamental Horticulture. That’s not what I want to do for a living. A fierce determination suddenly hits you. I want to build roller coasters!

You head straight for the best in the business to get that job. You’ve got a degree, you’ve mastered both Roller Coaster Tycoon and Roller Coaster Tycoon 2, and you’re ready for the big leagues. Then they ask you all those silly questions. Have you worked on a roller coaster before? Yes, that’s nice, but have you even done any kind of work on a real roller coaster before? So, not even work for a local fair or a small circus? Okay, it says on your application you have a college degree…is it in Physics? Engineering? Computers? Well then, do you have a number we can reach you at? Later. Much, much later. Never’s actually a good possibility.

Chances are, that person would have never even been called in for an interview. Jobs that require specific, high-level skills tend to be like that. Most of the time, you can’t just walk in and get hired for a skill position without the right experience. They’ll want to see something that shows them you can do the work and get it done consistently. Why? Well, hiring employees involves risk control. Most companies put in a lot of time, effort, and money into hiring people. If they get a bad hire, they’ve wasted all that, and they’ll have to deal with any problems that person might have caused while employed there (work delays, friction among other employees, communication breakdowns, damage to systems/product/processes, etc). That’s a lot for a company to put at risk. Not every position will have that impact on a company or its product, but well, you want to make comics, right? If you want a position as a creator, you are inherently a risky proposition for them.

A company can’t completely remove risk from the equation of hiring though. If they want to leap forward or take things in a new direction, they’ll need to take risks and bring in new blood with new perspectives on things, but they can take measures to reduce their chances of getting burned. They often look at specific things…experience working in the field, references, personality, and whether the person actually knows how to do the job. Well, personality is all you…but the rest can be proven to them. In many career fields, they have entry-level positions. You still need a certain amount of skill in a related position or a college degree to qualify for them, but you don’t need tons of experience in that particular job. They basically pay you horrible salaries to do lots of work, but as a benefit, you get training and lots of valuable experience that can be put on your resume. And if you keep working at it, you can slowly build yourself up to be pretty competitive in the job market. In comics, they don’t quite have entry-level positions (although I see at least one company trying), but there is the small press. It’s a good place to start…a good place to learn, practice and gain valuable experience that can be put on your list of credentials.

Sometimes though, picking up work in the small press arena can even be tough. This is when you want to remember that comics deal with art. Artistic credentials can be built up outside of the comics realm. A college degree related to the work your looking for can help spice up those credentials a little. Plus, the artist types can do work for magazines, children’s books, book covers, role-playing games, advertising companies, toy companies, video game concept art, film storyboards, animation, etc. The writers can work on articles for magazines and newspapers, ad copy, short stories for anthologies and magazines, enter screenwriting contests, or even write a novel. These are also good ways to pick up extra income or have a job to provide food and housing while working towards your dream job in comics.

Besides picking up experience, there’s another benefit to doing small press work…getting to work with people. Creating comics is a team effort, so unless you can do it all on your own, you’ll need to learn how to interact and properly communicate your thoughts/ideas/opinions with others. You’ll be working with others that are also trying to break in (or sometimes, you might even be lucky enough to find yourself working with someone who already has a decent name in the comics industry), and if they like your work or think you’re great to work with, who knows where they might mention your name. And as you work on a wide variety of projects, you might find yourself on a comic about oh, let’s say, hummingbird-people. Well, you now have the opportunity to ask some people that have done stories on hummingbird-people in the past and see if they have some tips, pointers or gotchas they could share with you. Finding a common thread to open a discussion on can sometimes get you in touch with someone you might have thought was unreachable. And once you start talking with people, you never know what else you might have in common or where any decent conversation might take you.

So…take college classes, finish off that degree, submit to small press publishers, hook up with other creators to self-publish, put together ashcans for conventions, or work in related jobs outside the comics industry…just do stuff to build up your credentials and give yourself a chance to sharpen your skills. Get your name out there on as much high quality work as you can, so the editors can’t avoid it. Then if you get a chance to meet with an editor, and they ask if you’ve ever worked on a comic before…you can give that sly little grin and say, “A few” just before you hand them a stack of published comics and a list of other projects two pages long.

You’ve probably seen the signs outside some of your favorite stores…”No Solicitations”…”No Soliciting”…”Solicitors will be shot!”…”If you’re a solicitor, please bang your leg on the wall–my dog likes his meat tender.” Kind of wish there was a sign like that for your phone or mailbox sometimes, don’t you? With all of those early morning or late night phone calls from people constantly trying to sell you something as well as the constant barrage of mailed solicitations, who wouldn’t want a little break from it? Heck, if you really needed that product or service, you’d go with a friend’s recommendation, go to one of the bigger names in that business or check out a few places that have work you’re familiar with.

Now is a good time to remember that when you submit to a publisher, you’re trying to sell them your story or services as a comic creator. You can probably imagine now why DC “does not read or accept unsolicited submissions of ideas, stories or artwork.” And why Marvel comics for the longest time had the “No Solicitations” sign in the window to keep all those writer submissions at bay. But just because they have the sign in the door, doesn’t mean the editors won’t look for the talent or check out a few creators that have work they’re familiar with. The sign in the door doesn’t stop them from asking people to send them samples to take a look at and see if it’s work they’d like to purchase. Pretty much the same way all those small businesses initiate contact with solicitors.

But how do you get them to ask? Well, you just have to wonder how all these other companies get people to call them up and buy their stuff all the time. Word-of-mouth goes a long way, being a big name can definitely make a difference, and developing a large following of happy, loyal customers certainly helps. But most businesses out there can’t get the big name, the hot buzz talk, or the loyal fans without proving that they can deliver the work first. Once they’ve proven themselves, it opens up doors.

Those can lead to opportunities that might open other doors, and then when you’re talking to that editor, they might recognize your name and ask you to send something to them. Sure, you could just start up a conversation with them anyways, and if they like you, they might ask you to send some stuff their way–but how well do you think your portfolio of pencils or scripts will stand up against the person that sends in copies of completed comics and solid references from various small press publishers they’ve worked with in the past? Would you want to go with the home builder that has really nice blueprints and models of houses but has never actually built one or the builder that can show you lots of actual houses with recommendations from happy customers that would gladly buy from them again?

Ooh…a bright, shiny new shiny set of articles here (originally run at the Digital Webbing site). I guess I should start by introducing myself–aside from the occasional colorful expletive, I’m usually referred to as Jeffery Stevenson, and I’ve put together this series of articles to share my insanity……to, umm, share advice and motivational words on “breaking in” that I’ve managed to mish-mash together from books, websites, comic creators, editors, business professionals, teachers, little kids that are wise beyond their years, and even that guy on the street downtown with the cardboard sign that states he knows how to unlock the secret, universe-altering potential of liverwurst. Some of this material might be informative, some of it might even be funny (which can help you learn stuff better), but the only thing I can guarantee is that I’ve managed to write it down for people to read (so that I can get it all out of my brain and make room for weirder stuff). Now, since this is the first article, I have yet to receive much feedback on it, so I’ve taken the liberty of going ahead asking myself some questions people might be interested in:

Why the [rhymes with “chimichangas for a buck”] would you call a column about breaking in Breaking Out!? It’s like you’re trying to escape from [not again] jail or some [potty mouth] like that.

Good question. My philosophy on breaking in has always been learning my craft, finding my voice, practice the heck out of it, work hard, have fun and entertain people…and hopefully find some doors opening for me along the way. Would I like a shot at breaking in to the big publishers? Hell yeah! Well, how am I gonna set myself apart from everyone else that wants this same goal? By breaking out of the pitfalls, traps, and false thinking that aspiring creators can fall into when they try to get into the comic industry. Some people forget the comic “industry” is a business and that creators have to mix skill and experience with patience, discipline, and great sales and marketing skills…just like trying to get a job in any other business out there. And yeah, I know, making comics is supposed to be fun…and it is…any good job should be.

What makes you so qualified to cover this subject?

Truthfully, I’m still learning myself, and I always will be…but if I wait until I’ve learned everything about this subject before taking on this column, I’d never get any of it written. With any project, there just comes a time when you have to stop thinking about what you’re going to do…stop planning it to death and just get the damn thing done.

Do you really think throwing in some funny stuff will help people learn better?

How many people have you met that can go on for a long time describing every detail and every event in a movie that leads up to a single punch line they found funny? Tying an emotion to the information gives people something else to associate it with…another path to the data. Besides, learning stuff shouldn’t be boring.

Will I be able to break in to comics if I read your articles?

No. Breaking in requires much more than reading a few articles. I’ll present ideas, ponderings, and tips on the subject–things to get YOU thinking about what YOU can do to increase YOUR chances in the long run. There’s a lot of difference between knowing what to do and actually getting it done. Take what bits of info here you find helpful, apply it, practice, and work hard at it. With each step forward, you’ll increase your chances…and as long as you’re going in the right direction, you’ll eventually get to where you want to be.

And that’s all for this week! Next week we’ll get rolling with this column.