Just want to clarify that “Section 2: Getting a Manga Published” will be about getting your manga published by a publisher, NOT self-publishing. Self-publishing (as ebooks and print books) will be addressed in “Section 3“. Section 2 comes first because the majority of questions I get asked are “how do I get a publisher to publish my work” sort of questions.

• This is part of an on-going blog series called “Being a Professional Manga Artist in the West“. The Table of Contents is here.
• You can buy my “Queenie Chan: Short Stories 2000-2010” collection as a $4.99 ebook. Get it from Smashwords, Amazon, Apple iBooks, Nook.

Part 2: Manga Submissions

What is a ‘submission’? Well, there’s many names for it (including a ‘pitch’), but generally it’s a summary of the story you want to write/draw, and which you want to get published. There’s no set way to create a submission (it’s dependent on the needs of each individual publisher), but they usually follow the same outline.

To put it in the simplest terms, a ‘submission’ is your sales pitch for why a publisher will want to invest in and publish your story.

If you want to get your submission to a publisher, the easiest way is to submit directly to a publisher. Contrary to popular belief, this is actually possible – provided that the publisher has an ‘open door’ policy and accepts submissions from strangers over the internet.

To be honest, this is very rare. Due to the vast numbers of wannabe comic book artists (manga-style or otherwise), it’s impossible for most publishers to have an ‘open door’ approach. They would get buried in submissions, and have all the problems of having to sift and read through them, not to mention sending out rejection letters. Most publishers (and editors especially) are overworked, and don’t have time to do things like this. So they would just rather shut their doors and focus on what they have, or they turn to the agents.

For that reason, most publishers are ‘invitation-only,’ meaning they’ve either seen your work elsewhere (online or print), or saw your work at a portfolio review and is interested in working with you. Usually an editor will contact you directly, and invite you to either submit more art samples or pitch your own story. Alternatively, a writer that a publisher is already working with likes you and your work, and makes a point of wanting to work with you (which is what happened to me on Kylie Chan’s book ‘Small Shen’, or on Dean Koontz’s ‘Odd Thomas’ series).

So, for the purposes of this post, let’s assume that you’ve either been invited, or there is a comic publisher with an ‘open door’ policy. How should you approach them? Find out next Wednesday!