Hello! I am interested in going into the field of comic book writing, and I was wondering if you could give me a few tips, in addition to sharing your personal experiences within the field. Is it more of a freelance job, or are you contracted with a partic

I don’t mean to be obnoxious here, but I have posted a LOT about this topic, many, many times, and I still get at least ten letters like this a week.

My first suggestion, seriously, not trying to be mean, is to show that you are serious. That means doing a bit of research before asking this question. Odds are, at some point, nearly every writer you could contact like this has answered this question at least once somewhere on the internet.

I put “how to break in” and “comics industry” into google search and it immediately came back with a boatload of answers, some from very respected pros. That should be your first move. Read those.

Second, no pro can take an hour out of their day to answer this same question for strangers over and over again. It’s time-consuming, a little frustrating (because we have taken the time to post this stuff many times already), and not very helpful because we don’t know you, we don’t know your goals or skills, we don’t know your connections or resources, and even if we did, it is unlikely that we can help you other than with the advice we have already given out.

I don’t mean to be brusque…but it’s important to show that you have the minimum level of sincerity of effort in this. There’s no magic door in. I’ve spent hours and hours trying to post tips here and a dozen other places, I ask that you take a look at that stuff, look at the other stuff available on google, and THEN, if you have a very, VERY specific question, go ahead and ask and I will try to help.

But asking how to break in is simply too big a question to answer a dozen times a week. It’s like asking a chef, how do I get a restaurant?  It’s way, way too big a question.

Read what’s out there. Forget about the magic door. Then, narrow your question down tremendously, and I will be happy to try to help, okay?

Good luck!