HOW TO: Get Your Comic Published

[Deleted]

How To Get Your Comic Published
By comic author [glow=red,2,300]simsman24000[/glow]

Ok, this isn't as fancy as I've made this seem, but getting your comic published is as easy as getting an A+ in Geometry!......Ok, so it's not that easy, but it's still a pretty simple process!

Step One: Draw Your Comic
This is the most important part of getting your comic published! I know for a fact that Neopets looks for comics that are not only funny, but well drawn. And, as I've seen in previous NT issues, it doesn't matter if it's funny, because Neopets puts in comics that just show great artwork! Include lots of color, and try not to just copy the pictures on neopets.com. Draw the characters in different poses, doing something that you wouldn't expect them to do, such as a Grarrl holding a bunny rabbit or a Cybunny breathing fire. Hehe, bad ideas, but still, you should make up your own ideas! BE ORIGINAL!

But what program should I use?
Most computers have Microsoft Paint, or some kind of pixel paint program. However, you can upgrade, like getting 30-day trials of programs such as Paint Shop Prowww.jasc.com (I never understood this program), Microsoft Flash www.macromedia.com (Not good for newbies), and my personal, EASY favorite Adobe Photoshop (not sure on URL).

Step 2: Sending Your Comic
When your comic is all done, don't forget to save it as a .jpg or .gif (.gif is better) file, otherwise Neopets will not accept it. Attach your comic in an e-mail to [e-mail]. What works for me is writing the following:

Subject (in Subject Line): COMIC TITLE HERE

Comic Title: COMIC TITLE HERE
Creator: YOUR USERNAME HERE
Description: TAGLINE (little blurb in front of comic on comics page) HERE
File: FILES HERE (for example, if your comic is Comic1.gif and Comic2.gif, you would list those two files).

This is just what worked for me, by the way, so it may vary.

When you send in your comic, you will get an e-mail from Josh Filan. It's just an auto-responder, saying that a group of something somethings are reviewing the comic, and it gives some information about the Neopian Times. If you get another e-mail from Josh Filan after that, it will most likely be personal, such as "Cool! Look for it in Week ##", or "Hey, can you change this a little bit, then resend it?"

But how do I know if it will be published or not?
As I said before, you'll get an additional e-mail from Josh Filan, additional to the auto-sent one.

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Well, that's all you need to know to get your comic published. Tune in tomorrow when I post: How To Draw A Comic!!!!!!!

[Tdyans]

"And, as I've seen in previous NT issues, it doesn't matter if it's funny, because Neopets puts in comics that just show great artwork!"

Of course, this flies in the face of something that Donna said in the editorial a few weeks ago-- that humor matters more than art skill. I've also seen instances where artwork seemed to matter more than funniness, but I've also seen evidence of Donna's claim. There is a lot of great artwork in the comics section, but there's also some less-than-stellar stuff with good jokes. Of course, the ideal are those that are both well-drawn and funny.

Oh, and Josh doesn't respond personally to every single person whose entry gets accepted into the NT, so no one should get discouraged and assume they didn't make it if all they receive is an auto-reply. Of course, I'm speaking mostly from a writer's perspective, (although I didn't get a personal response for my one comic either). Once in a while you get a personal response, but the only really reliable way to find out if you got in is to wait a couple of weeks and check the NT to see if you're in there (and the keep an eye on your trophy cabinet also as that can get updated sooner than the new NT comes out most of the time.)

[Deleted]

Yeah, that's right with Donna too.

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BUt about the Josh thing.........If you send in your comic, you won't keep checking week after week.......it'll only be in the NT that week that you sent it. (If you send it on Saturday - Thursday, it'll be in the Friday issue, not in an issue 3 weeks from then).

I got a personal response saying "Cool! Look for it in Issue 48!" I don't know about anyone else, but I think that you'd get a response telling you to look for it if you really were in it.

[glow=red,2,300]BY THE WAY:[/glow] Try to send in your comic between Sunday and Wednesday.........those are the best times if you're trying to get your comic in there for a first time. If you're a regular, 1) don't worry about it 2) you shouldn't be reading this topic!!!!!

[Tdyans]

simsman24000 said:

I don't know about anyone else, but I think that you'd get a response telling you to look for it if you really were in it.

Well, speaking from my own very limited experience, I've had one comic in the NT, in the latest issue, and I didn't receive any personal notice that it was accepted. And it does say in the auto-response that the way to know if you got in is to check your trophy case and the NT. I'm just saying that people shouldn't rely on getting a personal response. I don't know if you get them for every comic or for just that first one, but, again from the experience of someone who does mostly writing vs. comics, there's not a personal response every time-- that would be a lot of people to respond to when they can just check for themselves most of the time.

Also, let me clarify about the "wait a few weeks" thing. I don't know a lot about how the comics section works as I think I've already given the impression. So it may be that it's always in the very next issue or none at all. For written works, however, I always recommend that people wait at least a few weeks before they decide for sure that they didn't make it in, because it really can take that long.

[L]

simsman24000 said:

But about the Josh thing...

The Josh Thing- sounds like a title for a story. Better than "The Josh Factor" I suppose.

[Deleted]

lol, yeah, one of your writers should really write a little article about getting something published in the NT---------The Josh Factor

[shaylir]

Well, actually, This week I submitted an article about making Josh's job a tad bit easier. (Information on using < P > tags, Zipping up series, putting things in .txt format...etc.)

I'm not sure if it got in yet, but it's titled "Helping out Mr. Shankly"

"The Josh Thing" LoL, I like it.

[Deleted]

oh, I didn't know Josh was Mr. Shankly! I only knew Pop Tart was Donna and Number 6 was Adam! That's all!

In that case, who is:
Mr. Black
Big Spender
Maverick
S.E. Thor

[Nekookane]

simsman24000 said:

Yeah, that's right with Donna too.

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BUt about the Josh thing.........If you send in your comic, you won't keep checking week after week.......it'll only be in the NT that week that you sent it. (If you send it on Saturday - Thursday, it'll be in the Friday issue, not in an issue 3 weeks from then).

Not true! It was at least 3 weeks later that one of my comics was published, and, I never got any sort of personal confirmation. I've sent others since, but, none were published - must be that they weren't as funny as I found them, but, oh well, I'll stick em on Nisiko's page, eventually.

Anyway, I think some people get treated differently. Just a comment, not a judgement.

[Oily]

I always assumed things got in the next issue but my series was delayed - came out 2 weeks after I sent it in. Maybe the series and comics take longer to do...

[soggydude]

oily106 said:

I always assumed things got in the next issue but my series was delayed - came out 2 weeks after I sent it in. Maybe the series and comics take longer to do...

Series always take two weeks. For example, if you sent it Sunday, it wouldn't be in the upcoming issue, it would be in the next one. At least, that's from my experiences

[Tdyans]

I wouldn't say there are any set rules-- sometimes series get in within one week, sometimes stories don't get in for three weeks... it all just depends, I suppose, on what they're getting more of at that particular point in time.

[Deleted]

lol, ok, this is HOW TO: Get your Comic Published, not HOW TO: Contrast Series and Comics, lol

[IK de la Thingy]

On the 'personal response' issue - I never got any response apart from the automated e-mail when my first three or four comics got in. However, I did get one when I sent in the first 'Quatringa Goes to the Movies' comic and suggested that I hoped to make it a more regular series. At any rate, I never really expect a personal response to anything I send in to the Neopets site; I usually find out whether I'm in or not by checking the trophy cabinet or NT search engine thing.

Artwork - maybe some comics are published because of the artwork (or maybe the general Neopian public just don't get the joke, lol) but in the same way, a funny comic may be published even if the art isn't the best. A friend of mine had several comics published which she made by copying and pasting pictures of pets from the Neopets site, and adding speech bubbles or editing expressions and such. Therefore, you don't need to be a brilliant artist to make comics; it's the idea behind it that counts. I think, lol.

Oh - and whoever mentioned that adding < p > tags helps the editor - thanks for saying that! My e-mail arrives in HTML form, so the tags don't show up in the automated e-mail (it just says 'please enclose paragraphs in [large gap] tags', lol)! I suppose it's logical that it was the paragraph tag, but I wanted to check before I used it. Hmm. Now I just have to write something to add the tags to, lol...

[oddhatter]

... you should make up your own ideas! BE ORIGINAL!

And please, no more superhero/adventure comics. I wanted to stop C-Poogle after...#19 if not for the complaints I got just because frankly, the comics section seems to be saturated with continuous adventure/superhero comics. Really, it gets rather annoying. (I'm not saying they're bad...but variety...variety!)


- I agree with the response thing.

Meep.