Chewing Pencils

Method 6:- Syndication

Syndication could quite possibly be the ‘holy grail’ of cartooning.

The basic concept is simple - sell the same cartoon at a reduced rate to a large number of publications to increase your total revenue. For instance, a single panel might sell for $150 to a single newspaper. But using syndication, you might sell it for $5 to five thousand different newspapers around the world. Suddenly you’ve earnt $25K from a single cartoon…

The numbers are an example only, and most syndicates keep their rates a secret, but I think you get the idea. The key is the large number of publications that are part of the syndicate.

But there is a catch. While syndication can be lucrative, it is incredibly difficult to break into. Even once you’ve been signed up there is still work to be done to convince publications to run your stuff.

The King Features website contains some useful information about how and what to send to the syndicates for consideration. Perhaps the most sobering thing to think about is this:

King Features is one of the world’s largest syndicates. Each year, it gets more than 5,000 submissions of which three are chosen for syndication.

THREE?! That’s depressing…

While I would never want to discourage you from giving syndication a shot, my advice, particulalry in the early days of your career, is to leave it alone. The odds are stacked so much against you that it is far better to approach your clients directly, especially non-newspaper/magazine clients, and negotiate your own deals. Your income will start small and grow steadily - which is far better than getting paid nothing for years of syndicate rejection.

When you’ve been in the business a while, have a good following, are confident you have a winning idea that you can keep creating for years, THEN it is is time to give a syndicate submission a go. However, don’t bet your house on it happening.

That’s probably enough of reality for now! If you are thinking of submitting something to a syndicate then it’s worth visiting their websites to get as much information you can to give yourself the best possible chance at success.

The major syndicates are:

Creators Syndicate with submission guidelines.

King Features Syndicate with submission guidelines.

Tribune Media Syndicate with submission guidelines.

United Media: The Comic Strip with Submission Guidelines.   

Universal Press Syndicate with Submission Guidelines. 

The main syndicates are an obvious starting point, but with a little effort on Google, you should be able to find some smaller, more independent syndicates. Here are three that I found in about a minute:

QueerComix - a syndicate for cartoons aimed at the gay/lesbian community

Daryl Cagle - an editorial syndicate

Scratch Media - distributing the work of David Pope

If you have the time and energy, there is no reason why you shouldn’t be able to syndicate your own work. But remember, it takes a lot of work to gather a client list of the magnitude to make a decent living out of syndication, plus there is the legal stuff to navigate.

You might have guessed by now that I haven’t bothered with syndication! I will give it a go at some stage and I do have some plans on the table for turning Chewing Pencils into a smaller, independent syndicate operating in some niche markets. That’s a long while off yet though.

But to finish on a more encouraging note, United Media have published the original (and successful) submission of one of todays most syndicated strips on their website. Click here to view the first 50 strips of Scott Adam’s Dilbert.