SUBMIT YOUR COMICS

Are you a cartoonist? We’d love to see your comics! Read here for more about how to publish with Comics Kingdom.

Publishing With Comics Kingdom

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR COMICS

Please follow the guidelines below when crafting your submission.

Your submission should include:

1. A cover letter
   
   Include your name, address, email address, website URL (if you have one), social media handles, and a little about yourself and the comic you submit. Please tell us if you have any previously published comics work, accomplishments, or experiences that might interest us. For example, you can tell us how many readers you have on social media, your website, or other publishing platforms.
   
   
2. 24 sample comic panels or strips  
   
   –OR–
   
   
   3 sample episodes of your vertical-scroll comic
   
   We want to see your BEST work, so this is your time to shine. Pick your favorite comics. If you’re unsure, have a friend help you choose your best comics!
   
   Please send us all of your comics in a single PDF or DOC file rather than individual image files. This makes it easier for us to share the comics and get feedback from the entire team about which comics we like.
   
   Alternatively, if your comic has already been published on another platform, you can send us links to look at them online.
   
   
3. A character sheet
   
   Include an illustration of each of your major characters with their names and a short description of each one. If you have a lot of characters, this can be more than one page.
   
   If you choose, you can include the cover letter, character sheet, and sample comics in the same DOC or PDF.

Great! You’re all done! Now:

EMAIL YOUR COMICS TO [email protected]

ANY QUESTIONS?

Below, we’ve tried to answer some of your most frequently asked questions!

When will I hear from you?

We typically reply to submissions once a month. You will most likely hear from us one to two months after submitting your comic. Please check in if you don’t hear from us after two months!

What are my chances of getting published?

We receive thousands of submissions a year and publish around 20 new titles in that timeframe. We are very selective of our comics, but we encourage you to try! If you don’t send us your comic, the chance of being published is 0%.

What happens if you don’t like my comic?
We will email you a rejection letter. Don’t be discouraged, though! We have to reject many great comics because we simply don’t have room for everything. You can always submit it again later!

What happens if you like my comic?

We’ll contact you and offer you an official Comics Kingdom contract. Once you’ve signed your agreement, we will work with you to get your comic ready to launch on Comics Kingdom! This can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months.

Where will my comics be published?

Comics Kingdom comics are published here on Comics Kingdom and on many websites that subscribe to Comics Kingdom. We will occasionally share your comics on Comics Kingdom’s social media accounts, and there are also opportunities for us to sell your comics individually to print and web publishers. You always get paid when we sell your comics to be published elsewhere.

How frequently will my comics be published?

We request that you update your comic at least once a week, every week, on the same day(s). You will get to choose how many days per week you will publish a new comic and which days your comic will publish.

Do Comics Kingdom comics ever get published in newspapers?

Yes! Getting placement in a newspaper is tough, but even some of our newest comics have made it into print! We can’t make any promises, but if you are making your comic in a format that works for print (such as a strip or panel), our sales team will do their best to sell your comic to newspapers, magazines, and other publications in print or online. You always get paid when your comic is sold to a newspaper or magazine.

How much will I get paid?

Payment varies depending on where your comic is published (print vs. digital) and the popularity of the comic. It can also fluctuate monthly as ad rates go up or down. For some people, it can be an excellent way to earn extra income; for others, it can pay enough to be a full-time job.

What size/dimensions should I use for my comic?

If you are interested in print and web publication, you will want to draw your comic in a standard strip or panel format.

If you are drawing a comic strip, your comic should be no smaller than 6.5″ wide x 2″ tall, but you can draw it at any multiple of 6.5″x2″, such as 13″x4″. It’s a good idea to try shrinking your comic to 6.5″x2″ to ensure your text is legible!

If you are drawing a comic panel, your comic should be no smaller than 3.25″ wide x 3.625″ tall, but you can draw it at any multiple of 3.25″x3.625″, such as 6.5″x7.25″. It is a good idea to try shrinking your comic to 3.25″x3.625″ to ensure your text is legible!

If you are only interested in web publication:

You can have fun with your dimensions, but some work better. Square images are great for sharing on social media. If you are doing a vertical-scroll comic, you’ll want it to be at least 800px wide.

What “rating” should my comic have?
Comics Kingdom is a website for all ages. We don’t currently have an “adult” section for our comics, so we ask comic content to generally adhere to an “all ages” or “G/PG” rating.

Can I send you my comic book or graphic novel?

Comics Kingdom/King Features is not in the business of publishing comic books or graphic novels. Still, if you would like to publish your comic book or graphic novel-format comic as a webcomic, we’ll be happy to consider it.

I have an idea for a comic but haven’t drawn it yet. Can I send you a proposal?

We really need to see finished comics to decide whether to publish your comic. Wait until you have drawn some comics before sending us your submission.

I’m a writer without an artist or an artist without a writer. Can you pair me up with someone to write or draw my comic?

We typically do not assemble creative teams. Try asking for a creative partner on social media or forums to find a writer or artist you want to work with. There are lots of people eager to write or draw comics.

Do I need to copyright my comics before sending them?

It’s unnecessary, but if you feel safer doing so, you can obtain copyright information by contacting the Copyright Office, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20559. We will never steal your idea! It is not worth hurting our reputation by taking ideas from the submissions pile.

What are some tips for creating a new comic?

• It’s a cliche, but write and draw what you know. You want readers to connect and feel like your characters and humor are relatable. Just because something seems novel doesn’t mean it will strike a chord with an audience.
• Comic strips need to be funny every single day for years. Think about a premise that will generate a lot of different jokes for a long period of time.
• A diverse cast of characters with many different viewpoints can help keep your jokes and art fresh and help an audience tell the characters apart. If your characters look too similar, it can be confusing to a reader. Different body types, hairstyles, skin colors, facial features, and outfits can help make your characters unique and exciting. A good rule of thumb is that you should be able to tell who each character is when you see them in silhouette.
• Likewise, if your characters look or act too much like characters in another comic, it might confuse readers or even the editors who might buy your comic. Make sure your characters look like your own.
• Use a consistent art style. You want people to see one of your comics and immediately know it is yours. As much as drawing in many different styles might be fun, a comic in a different style daily has a more challenging time building an audience.
• Don’t copy or trace art or photos. This is plagiarism and can get you in legal trouble! It also can look jarring if the traced picture seems too different from the rest of your art. You can use art or photos as reference images without copying them exactly.
• Don’t use AI to draw your comic. We don’t accept submissions that use AI to draw, as it is still unclear whether AI imagery is copyrightable.
• Lettering and word balloon placement are essential to help a reader follow the joke in a comic strip. Practice lettering as much as you practice drawing. Make sure that you leave lots of space in your word balloons to allow the text to breathe, that the text is big enough to read easily on the phone or printed out, and that it is clear who is speaking and in what order the characters are speaking.
• If you are not confident in your handwriting, you can also find a nice font. Please ensure you have the license to use the font in commercial publishing—if you don’t, we will have to change it before publication.
• If you are hoping for print publication, remember that many newspapers print the comics very small and in black and white.  Make sure they are legible when they are the same size as a comic strip in a daily newspaper (about 2” high for comic strips, about 3½” high for panels), and they look nice in grayscale and color.
• Please ensure that the submissions you send to us are not too light to read. If you are drawing on paper, please use dark archival-quality ink, not pencil or ballpoint pen. If you are drawing digitally, make sure that the linework is nice and dark on a variety of screens or when you print it out.

I have a question you haven’t answered here.

Feel free to give us a shout at [email protected], and we’ll help you out!

Rhymes With Orange comic by Hilary B. Price