What I’ve Learned About What It Takes To Be A Successful Graphic Novelist

I’m an aspiring graphic novelist.  In short I want to tell complete stories that you can read in one book… and they are comics too!  I’ve finished 1 graphic novel, have worked on Kazu Kibuishi’s Amulet series as an assistant for three volumes, held two agents, pitched one book, started two webcomics that are now pretty much defunct and through all have recently started my second graphic novel that in the span of three weeks is 10% complete.  And my recent productivity has come from a large amount of introspection on what a successful graphic novelist looks like and what you and I can do to get there. If you’re like me, you have a lot of stories to tell and big ones at that.  And you are holding down a job, with family responsibilities and aspiration of finishing that book that’s in your head! I present to you the follow keys to ponder as it relates to your own work.

1.) Webcomics May Not Be The Answer For You – Yet

I learned how to make comics online.  After college I created my first book online in FROM DEATH TIL NOW and it helped me to make friends in the comics community and learn good things like setting deadlines and keeping them.  But what they didn’t do was help me have good expectations around time frames I should consider when making a graphic novel.  The minimal acceptable rate of production of make of an online comic is about 1 page a week.   Consider that 1 page a week means you will only produce 52 pages a year.  A 200 page book, roughly 4 years!  I recently decided webcomics for me were counterproductive on a long form project for this very reason.  I also didn’t like the idea of people watching me as I struggled with a project and it made it hard to abandon if it wasn’t something I thought was working.  So consider finishing your project offline before publishing online.  That way you know the book is done and you can set good reader expectation.   If you do make a book online, consider updating it as often as possible..  Getting the book done is KEY to a graphic novelist.

2.) Finish Your Whole Book or a Good Chunk Before Pitching

I have worked with two wonderful agents.  Brendan Deneen is a big time comics guy who writes the current Flash Gordon series and runs the Ardden Press comics imprint.  He gave me my first exposure to the publishing world.  We took the 13 page pitch for THE UNKNOWNS, along with a synopsis and went to the publishing world.  It took a year from getting an agent to finally getting my final rejection notices at the time.  My second pitch was roughly the same size, but just as we were going to pitch it, Brendan took a job as an editor at a publishing house.  This transitioned me to Colleen Lindsay before she left to be an editor as well at Penguin (I’m agentless now).  She and I had a great conversation over the phone where she got me sobered up a bit.  She told me that she knew she would have a hard time selling my book in the state that it was to the publishers it was appropriate for.  She really recommended the whole book be finished, or a large portion be done.  Because basically, what credit do I have that I am going to finish my project?  A well established creator can come before an publisher with an idea and hope for a greenlight but even that can be hard.  It’s best to finish your book before soliciting interest.  If anything your book is done and you can do what you want with it from there!

3.) Consider The Time Your Book Takes And Speed It Up

As I mentioned before, when considering how long it was going to take me 2-4 years to finish a book at 1 page a week on a 100-200 page project…  I felt that was just insane.  I looked at my daughter and thought, She will be five by the time I finish this…  (She’s 2 now)  That is NOT helping me reach my goals in any reasonable state of time.  One of my favorite artists, Bobby Chiu said something in an interview I thought appropriate.  He said to effect:  “If you rub two sticks together slowly for 1000 years you [aren’t likely] to get a fire, but if you rub those sticks together very quickly, you will get a fire pretty soon.”  I applied this to my art in every degree.  My production had to speed up.  I want to be able to have an idea, write that idea and finish a book within a year.  TOPS.  Because I believe for me, at this stage of my career, I need to start building a library of books.  So looking at my production process it became clear that coloring my projects was what was hindering me.  I love coloring my art, but when it doubles or triples the time it take to make a comics pages against doing the whole thing in black and white… well…  decisions had to be made (I plan to my make color comics in some upcoming short stories).  I decided that I would make THE UNKNOWNS in black and white and color it only if a publishing deal stipulated that I do.  My current rate of production: 6-7 pages a week.  Rough estimate until completion: 6 months.  That’s more like it!

4.) Tell The Stories You Want To Tell

Lastly, this is just sage advice.  One of the trappings of us all is the desire to achieve a goal can be so strong that we lose sight of what made us enjoy making our books in the first place.  Don’t do this.  Don’t try and tell a certain type of story because you think it will sell or whatever.  I struggled with this a lot for awhile, and I second guessed every project I wanted to make on whether it would find success or not.  And that’s impossible to know.  Make projects you are passionate about.  Make comics you would want to see done whether you ever get a publishing deal, make a dollar from your book, or get any recognition.  It’s your life, your time.  Don’t lose your love of art in search of a dollar.  If you make art that you love, do your best to make it awesome, get passionate about it…  People notice and you never know where it might take you.

Lastly I leave you with two videos that I have found really inspiring and helpful in shaping much of my thinking.  Then get back to work on those books!

KAZU KIBUISHI on making comics and finding your way:

And Doug TenNapel on making comics in general:  This got me excited about making black and white books when you are making them on your own: