Last Fall, for a couple of weeks, I was trying to have AN ACT OF FAITH become a syndicated comic strip. I pitched the strip to King Features Syndicate.
I received a very quick and very friendly response from King Features Syndicate: "The work is terrific, and I can imagine that the comic books are very well received by those who read them. That said, I don't think we would have the sort of success you would hope for in syndication. It's incredibly difficult to launch new strips at all, but comics with a continuity component are nearly impossible to introduce to syndication. Some continuity-based comics still perform well in this market, but their success is built from a time when action/adventure story strips were more commonplace. Our PHANTOM comic strip is one of the best examples of this."
Anyway, I felt like sharing. The following comic strip samples came from artwork that had appeared in AN ACT OF FAITH #5...
http://albert.nickerson.tripod.com/anactoffaithcomicstrips.jpg
You need to be a member of CCAS - Christian Comic Arts Society to add comments!
Comments
Yeah, I’m not about to argue with King Features on how they do their business. But, the syndicates really do need to make some changes if they want their comic strips to stay relevant.
Webcomics have always had that problem with generating money. Some webcomics creators have collected their comics in print. That seems like a viable option to make some money.
I like how digital comics (like AN ACT OF FAITH) are coming along to make money for their creators and publishers. Digital comics have a hopeful future with more and more readers reading digital content and who are willing to pay for it.
We’re, also, talking about this on my Facebook page, too…
http://www.facebook.com/al.nickerson.3
Heh! Love these characters, and your clean lines and pro style make your stories such a pleasure to read.
Interesting comments from King features. Considering only my personal reading habits I'm inclined to agree with them if we're talking about printed comics(newspaper, magazine). I would be tempted to say that internet readership is exactly the opposite(more continuity strips), but internet still hasn't figured out how to provide a regular income for their creators.