Writers pitches can be difficult. Any writer who sends something cold to a publisher has our respect. It’s particularly difficult when there’s no artist attached. Comics are, after all, an harmonic union between words and images. Without an artist, a writer can feel that something’s lacking.

We’re happy to look at pitches, as are many publishers. As noted in a previous thread, we regularly get portfolios from artists who are hoping for a project. And even those pitches that we decline, we try to provide some feedback. Because we’ve been there.

Before we get deluged with pitches, we need to go through a few guidelines, the first of which is, you get one shot at this. Make sure your pitch is as good as it can be.

Secondly, take a look at our other publications to see if your story will suit our list. Yes, our list has been described as eclectic but with a bit of consideration, you can see if your story will fit nicely.

If the publisher website has guidelines of how to pitch, when to pitch and what they’ll accept, FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES. Where there are no specific guidelines, you can do no worse than follow this thread.

Send both a synopsis and an outline. The synopsis gives us a brief idea of the story so we can tell if we want to see more. The outline shows us that you have a complete story – beginning, middle _and_ ending.

If your story has a twist ending, include it in the outline. You’re not spoiling things for us. You’re letting us know you actually have an ending. (We’re publishers – we get enough surprises on a daily basis.)

Also, 5 pages of actual script would be good. Just to prove you can actually write comics. If we’re interested, we’ll ask if there’s more.

Do not send a film script. If you can’t be bothered to write the comics script – even the first 5 pages – before you send it to us, we can only believe that you won’t put much effort into the rest of the project.

Do not send a link to your Google docs or similar. We don’t want to follow unnamed links. Attach the pitch as the documents we’ve asked for.

Please mention other comics you’ve written and who published them. We don’t need a lot of detail but it reassures us if you can demonstrate that you’ve fulfilled your obligation to another publisher.

Unless you’ve been invited to, do not pitch your 28 chapter, 650 page magnum opus. Particularly if you’re a novice writer. There are so many reasons why we don’t want to see this. But trust us – it won’t be accepted.

Correspondingly, any story under about 100 pages isn’t a stand-alone title. It’s all to do with price points and the tedium that is accounting. It _might_ be suitable for an anthology title, particularly if it can be broken into chapters. Which also makes it easier for an artist to work into their schedule.

This doesn’t mean padding your story. Some stories are long. Some are short, and wouldn’t hold up in a longer treatment. (Vis Pixels the short v Pixels the Adam Sandler train-wreck.)

All writers have started where you are now. Some have had a lucky break. Some have had to graft to get where they are. All of them have learned how to craft a pitch so that a publisher can make an informed decision. Now it’s your turn.