A Bit More On Submissions
Last time, I mentioned that Transfuzion receives quite a few submissions and while I view submissions as a necessary part of the business, it just surprises me how many people just randomly send out submissions without thinking about who they're sending them to. As an aside, Caliber has not published anything for about 9 years yet I still get a few submissions each month. Talk about people not having a pulse on the marketplace!
On the submission page for Transfuzion, I tried to keep it short and simple. Here is the entire guidelines (modified and up to date as of June 1).
We will make the submission guidelines as simple as possible. To be brief, it makes us sound negative but no one wants to waste anyone else's time so the guidelines are succinct and hopefully, extremely clear and defined.
We are primarily performing two functions... 1) publishing graphic novels and 2) publishing anthologies when offered. WE ARE NOT PUBLISHING PERIODICAL COMICS.
For the graphic novels, we are looking for collections of previously published material or original graphic novel material. In any case, the material must be presented as "ready to print".
For the anthologies, we are seeking only completed stories. If you are an artist, you can submit your art to see if we can match it up with a writer but all details will be worked out between the writer and the artist. Note that we only want anthologies when we list the upcoming theme. We publish in only black and white.
In ALL cases, there is not a page rate. All publishing is done purely on a royalty basis.
All books are owned by the creators.
To be honest, when Transfuzion was launched, it was primarily as a means for the owners to collect previous material and work on new projects but has since expanded to bring in other creators.
Quick Summary:
We do NOT want traditional superhero material.
We do NOT want adult only material
We do NOT want traditional manga material
We do NOT do periodical comics
We do NOT pay page rates
We do NOT have ANY openings for writer
We do NOT do color comics
----So, pretty straight forward and simple, eh?
I would say that 95% of the submissions we get seem to totally ignore the guidelines so my guess is that they are not reading them. I just wonder how many people are wasting their time and more than likely, getting a sense of frustration when they don't get a response from all the publishers they send the material to.
The key to sending out submissions is to make sure you know who you're sending it to and why.
Title spotlight
A look at one of Transfuzion's titles
SAINT GERMAINE: Tales of an Immortal
Saint Germaine was the first comic series I did where I felt really confident in what I was trying to which was a bit strange because I had no idea of where it was going when I started. I had felt a sense of satisfaction with Renfield, an earlier series, but that was finite and had a definite end that I worked towards. Saint Germaine was open ended and dealt with a man who lived forever.
This immortal, who took the memories of those dying, allowed me to explore a lot of different themes and snake through history through the eyes of those memories that Germaine had taken.
The initial storyline was illustrated by Vince Locke and the four issue series concluded with a special that wrapped things up and feature contributions from Mike Perkins, Guy Davis, Andy Bennett, and more. That was later collected and released by Image Comics under Saint Germaine: Shadows Fall.
The second volume, Tales of an Immortal, collected issues 5-8 of the ongoing series. The storyline in the first three issues of this collection was a cross over explaining who Kilroy was (Kilroy is Here was a series from writer Joe Pruett) and spent a great deal in examining the ideas of good and evil throughout history. I don't know if Joe was real happy with the origins of Kilroy but overall, I liked the themes and structures of this story. The eighth issue was a stand alone story dealing with Sioux Ghost Dance that led to the massacre of Wounded Knee. There were two one shots included. One was a look at the life of Casanova and the other dealt with The Man in the Iron Mask. In addition, thee were a couple of short stories including the Xmas story that appeared in A Caliber Christmas which was a story I liked a lot.
I do have a third collection coming out (from Transfuzion) and includes The Magus mini-series which ties in directly with Saint Germaine although he is not featured in it. Plus I have the one shot that appeared in Negative Burn that deals with Shakespeare's Falstaff. There would be two brand new stories, one telling the story of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and the other spotlighting Genghis Khan.
Of all the titles I've done, I have to say Saint Germaine is the one I'm most proud of and would love to be able to continue it. Unfortunately, the comics market is not strong enough for me to commit to it although I am thinking of getting some 4-5 issues worth done if I can find the right artist to also commit to it. That's going to be tough.
For more information on Saint Germaine visit www.garyreed.net/Titles/Saintgermaine.html
Gary Reed is the publisher of Transfuzion Publishing and was the former publisher of Caliber Comics. As a writer, he has written a number of graphic novels and comics including Saint Germaine, Deadworld, Baker Street, Renfield, Raven Chronicles, A Murder of Scarecrows, and others. Outside of Talking Transfuzion, he has his regular blog covering a wide variety of topics at reedgary.blogspot.com and his website www.garyreed.net
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