One year after lettering my first comic book series, I briefly wanted to take my work seriously -- really put myself out there. I say “briefly” because it didn't go anywhere as near as well as I had hoped.
My first business card. I spent far too much time designing it.
I printed out a stack of business cards and took them with me to Emerald City Comic Con. I didn't have a portfolio to share since, as a letterer, I didn't have artwork: simply one book I'd lettered which I didn't receive a comp for. (I’ve learned now that some letterers bring a digital portfolio with them to cons, which is a clever idea — but I was not so clever nor resourceful at that time.) I spent the weekend wandering around Artist Alley like a lost duckling, going up to tables, talking to people I didn’t know and occasionally offering my business card, "In case you have need of a letterer." No one ever followed up with me after.
This is how you network, I thought. This is what they taught me in college. They failed to mention that when it comes to a freelance-fueled industry, everyone is already way too busy with their own thing. Which makes sense when I think of it now.
If you use traditional methods to network, you find that everyone is too busy for you. Even creators who have successfully "broken into the industry" -- they may seem like placid swans on the water, coasting through calm waters of success, but you don't see their frantic kicking below the surface. When I started out, I didn't see that people were intensely focused on their own projects. Instead, I had wondered why I wasn't being seen.
I didn’t try to network blindly like that again, but I did eventually find a way to network in the comics industry that I was comfortable with. I’ll do my best to discuss those experiences here.
The convention floor:
Networking offline is pretty clear cut -- meet people at events simply for the joy of meeting people. Visit those who you’ve worked with in the past to say hi or chat about collaborative work. Be open to meeting their friends and collaborators as well, even if they aren’t a comics creative nor related to the industry. You’d be surprised at the interesting people you can meet. You’d be even more surprised at the people who you make an impression on.
Participate in panels –- even if it doesn’t draw a crowd at conventions, you’ll have the chance to meet other industry professionals on the panel with you. I made numerous friends by participating in the Fine Print Crew panel at Emerald City Comic Con. I’m glad I leave myself open to talk to new people when I’m at conventions.
Conventions are incredible, but they can also be stifling -- it all depends on whether you see the people you meet there as rungs on your ladder of success, or fellow travelers down the same uncertain career path. The former may get you to meet big names and offer them your business card, but the latter will allow you to be a part of a wider community where indie projects come together and folks will more likely remember you and follow you on social media.
In my own experience, I don’t usually hear from those I hand a business card to. However, many people I met or worked with would follow me on Twitter and I would follow them back, eventually growing our initial connection into a collaborative project. I pinned my portfolio and contact form to the top of my Twitter so that people know who I am, what I do, and how to contact me.
Now, I receive new work from folks via the contact form on my portfolio. They either have seen my online presence, noted my current work, or have heard of me through recommendations from people they trust. All other work comes directly from Editors and other creatives who I've worked with in the past.
Who you are online:
Several months ago, I decided to no longer be active on Twitter. It’s an essential platform for freelancers to network, but since a foolish billionaire decided to take over Twitter and be exceptionally exploitative, I decided to leave behind my pinned tweet and no longer provide content for the site. I’m still processing that change.
I can’t encourage other letterers to take the same step as me. It takes time and effort to connect with others online and it’s no easy feat to withdraw from that. Doubly so for the comics industry, where most creative collaborators only get to interact via keyboard. It's not always easy to participate in social media, but it can be immensely helpful.
In spite of separating myself from most social media, I think the networking I’ve done online has helped me grow my career. So I’ll list out my principles for utilizing social media in the hopes it can help others, no matter the platform.
- Make the work accessible.
Whenever a fellow letterer reaches out to me about how best to market themselves, I google them first. I pretend I’m a potential client — an editor or writer who has heard their name, wanting to tap them for a new project. Then I see how many clicks it takes me to view samples of their portfolio and contact them directly.
If both resources are even slightly difficult to access, then the opportunity is lost. I doubt most folks spend more than ten minutes or five clicks trying to find someone for a project, especially when it comes to letterers.
Anyone who wants to put their name out there in the hopes of having potential clients find them should first try to put themselves in the client’s shoes. Check to see how easy you can be found if you type “{Your name} + Lettering” in the search bar. Then take a look at what samples of your work that you see. Finally, make sure it’s simple to figure out how to contact you directly, such as with a contact form that goes to your e-mail inbox.
- Celebrate the wins.
A lot of what I did on twitter was post recent work getting published (tagging my collaborators), re-blogging the recent projects of other creators (even if I haven’t worked with them), and positively engaging with others online with advice and encouragement.
This was genuine effort because otherwise it would be exhausting to put on an act -- I see it as a plus that I like being sociable and I’m happy to see others achieve big things in a challenging industry like this. It’s not a chore for me to tell someone I think they’re doing grand. If you don’t have that sort of energy, then this advice may not help, since it would be tiring to be extroverted in areas where you are not. However, it is good to keep in mind how you present yourself online and how you interact with others. Negativity gets met with negativity, but the opposite is true too.
- Positivity attracts collaborators.
I’m going to use Editors as an example there, but this can mean writers, artists — anyone seeking collaborators to make a comic book together. For many projects, it is often an Editor who helps assemble a creative team. Since Editors sit at the crux of projects and they have to juggle collaborative needs for multiple creators much like one would try to train a herd of cats to march in line, I feel like the positivity I present online can sometimes be more appealing to them than even my skill as an artist.
Folks can be brilliant and creative and also be an ass. If the artist is a big name, an Editor may have to deal with the ass to sell books to those who love that artist. But if the creative career is not one that garners a lot of attention, such as it is for most letterers, then Editors tend to appreciate someone who listens, asks questions, and responds to e-mails briskly without being abrasive. Even if their art skill is serviceable at best, if they are fun or easy to work with, Editors find new ways to work with those creatives again.
I can’t say whether I’m particularly skilled as a letterer, but I can say folks tend to enjoy working with me. That’s why I think kindness, communication, and competency is what folks look for when they aren’t looking for a big name.
- Respect boundaries.
If you engage and support others online, that energy bounces back to you. I don’t expect anyone to owe me anything, just as I feel that no one owes me their support. Whatever is given or received is a gift without conditions attached.
However, by giving of yourself in big or small ways, people remember that you were there for them when they needed a cheer or some advice. They think of you first when it comes to diving into a new project. Most especially, potential collaborators can see who would be pleasant to work with based on how they conduct themselves online.
You can try to cold e-mail major editors to get their attention on your portfolio, but I try to avoid doing that. If you don’t enjoy getting your day interrupted by unsolicited e-mails, then that may be the same for them as well. Judge each social interaction with empathy to help inform your actions. Getting to know editors and other creatives as people can help get on their radar and they won't feel the pressure of having to respond. They'll just start to remember you and hopefully that will translate with wanting to work with you.
Network Sideways
A lot of people I work with today on truly exciting projects are the same people who I interacted with in the past — not because I thought of them as the next big talent to latch onto, but simply because we were people who were interested in making comics. Many weren't big names 5 years ago, but they've been working just as hard and now we find ourselves achieving big wins together.
This is because I rarely if ever see publishers pick a Chosen One from on high to "break into" the industry. Instead, they see who making their own comics, see whether those comics look good or is popular, and then seek those talents out.
That is why comics creatives who are established professionals often share the advice “Make comics” to newer creatives. They’re more likely saying “look around you, look at that talent that is being overlooked, work with your peers to make comics, learn from mistakes and find the right questions to ask, keep at it and you will be sought after because you are you and the community you’ve fostered around you are the new voices of comics.”
My friend and fellow letterer Bernardo Brice calls this “Networking Sideways” and it’s a pretty common concept in most industries. Some new creatives in comics get an ideal career path in their heads: “Impress Big Company = Get Cool Job = Profit” — but it’s not a practical path to tread down unless you know the right people at the right time with the right idea. So instead of waiting to win the lottery, perhaps build a business, foster the community of creative peers around you, and network sideways.
It’s those who you cheer for and who cheer for you that will celebrate your books hitting the stands of your local comic store, who will pay money to crowdfund something new and made for them, because if you participate in making the sort of comics you want to see printed, major companies would be hard pressed to ignore you.
A note on whiteness
Before I elaborate on my personal career path, it would be disingenuous gloss over this: I am uncertain of just how much my whiteness provides me with opportunity in this industry. I would love to say that since comics work is faceless and remote — filled with dry e-mail and text exchanges — race wouldn’t play a strong part, but that would be a blatant lie I’d be telling merely for my own comfort. Being a white cis woman furthered my career in ways I am either unaware of or cannot fully articulate.
So if you have read this far and think my experience is insufficient to help you, please pick apart what you’ve read, keep whatever is useful and throw away what you don’t need. You deserve access to resources and advice from non-white freelancers to help further your career. Do not hesitate to reach out to people you admire, people who carved out a place for themselves and their peers, as they likely have established portfolios, social media, or other means of contact to receive inquiries. If they do not respond, then that is them setting their boundaries or being too busy and that’s fine. But if they do respond, you’ll likely be in the right place to find the answers you need.
My own career path
When I started my career, it was after six months of teaching myself lettering as a hobby. A friend of a friend needed a letterer for their Image title and so they mentioned me. Wow, I thought, my big break! And I was wrong.
The writer who put the project together used my labor and paid me a 10% of my worth, promising me that the work would give me good exposure (it didn't). After that, I stopped entertaining the idea of becoming a professional letterer. But I didn't stop lettering for friends.
Another friend of mine was making a webcomic and she needed a letterer. So, I worked on that and learned a lot more about lettering in the process. Five years passed with lettering as a constant hobby that friends paid me for. Even without trying to advertise myself, friends started recommending me to other friends and someone reached out to me to work on an Image title with them. I said sure, but please pay me a decent page rate. And they did, so I did.
Folks saw I did a good job for them and recommended me to others. This continued on until I had a decent portfolio and started interacting on Twitter -- talking to people, promoting the works of others, making friends. Eventually, that caught the attention of an editor for Dynamite, who hired me onto a number of titles and my portfolio grew.
Editors talk to loads of people. I started working with more publishers. Eventually word of me reached my current boss' ears and an incredible opportunity came my way. Since I'd already cultivated working relationships with other publishers, such as DC and Dark Horse, I figured it was time to quit my day job and work full time as a letterer with Marvel.
That process -- from when I first tried out lettering tutorials to when I quit my day job -- took ten years. A lot of people can reach their goals faster, but that's how it turned out for me.
The first five years was simply making comics with friends. The latter five years was me actively seeking out ways to get to know others and taking up opportunities to work with them, amassing more experience as I went. Social media played a big part, but a lot of it was the experience I put in making comics with my peers.
To sum it up
No one likes hiring an unknown, but folks are swift to reach out to those who already make comics. Cultivating an online presence and making comics with others was more effective for me than cold calling editors for new work. Building a reputation for yourself can take time but the rewards are worth it. Network sideways and reach out to other letterers for advice. Be kind, both to yourself and to others.
And good luck!