Creating Comics: Syndicating Your Comic

The following is contact information for the major syndication agencies I have found so far that consider submissions. If you have additional information that you think would be useful to add to this, please drop us a line. Thanks.

Please note that the location points of submission guidelines seem to change regularly on some agency sites.

What do Syndication Companies charge the national papers for strip use?

(via: Articlesbase: How Much do Cartoonists Earn?): Typically, a US newspaper comic strip syndicate will sell a comic strip to several newspapers, charging each one from $15 to upwards of $100 per week, depending on the size of the newspaper.  Under most syndication contracts, the cartoonist receives about 50 percent of this revenue. Garfield runs, for example, in about 2400 newspapers, so you can see how much just the newspaper revenue could be.

Magazines pay for cartoons, generally based on their circulation.  A top national US publication like The Saturday Evening Post will pay $125 per cartoon.  Smaller trade journals pay around $25 to $50 per cartoon on the average.

UK Syndication Companies

NI Syndication (www.nisyndication.com)
1 Virginia St, London E1 1SY, United Kingdom.
Tel: +44 (0)20 7711 7888
E-mail: enquiries@nisyndication.com

UK Syndication Company, also syndicate UK cartoons

US Comic Strip Syndication Agencies

It’s claimed online that a US syndicate can receive upwards of 5000 submissions a year, from which only two or three will be selected for representation. I could not find verification of this from any syndicates.

Creators Syndicate
5777 West Century Blvd.
Suite 700
Los Angeles, CA 90045
Tel: 001 310 337 7003
Fax: 310 337 7625

Submissions Info: http://216.131.105.158/submissions.html

The Creators Syndicate offer strips such as BC, Wizard of ID and many others. Creators Syndicate now represents over 200 of the most talented writers and artists in the world, including Robert Novak, Mike Luckovich, Bill O’Reilly, One Big Happy, BC, Wizard of Id, and Speed Bump.

King Features Syndicate
300 W. 57th Street, 15th floor
New York, NY 10019
Tel: 001 212 969 7550

Official web site: www.kingfeatures.com
Submission Guidelines: http://www.kingfeatures.com/subg_comic.htm

If it’s Hagar you’re after (or Beetle Bailey, The Phantom and many others), King Features should be your port of call.

Universal Press Syndicate
4520 Main Street
Kansas City, MO 64111-7701
Tel: 816  932 6600

Official web site: http://www.amuniversal.com/ups/
Submission Guidelines: http://www.uexpress.com/submissions

World’s largest independent press syndicate: they own GoComics, a well put together web comics hub that includes creator-owned content; and syndicate the likes of Garfield, Doonesbury and much more. GoComics also offers the Comics Sherpa service – a paid for platform for aspiring creators to publish their strips, which could also bring them to wider attention of comics fans.

Washington Post Writers Group
1150 NW 15th Street
Washington, DC 20071-9200
Submission Guidelines: http://www.postwritersgroup.com/comicsubmissionguide.html

Tribune Media Services
TMS Submissions
435 North Michigan Ave.
Suite 1400
Chicago, IL 60611
Tel: 312 222 2725

Official web site: http://www.tribunemediaservices.com
Submission Guidelines: http://www.tmsfeatures.com/submissions

Strips in their portfolio include Animal Crackers, Dick Tracy, Gasoline Alley etc

United Media (United Feature Syndicate/NEA)
200 Madison Ave
Fourth Floor
New York, NY 10016
Tel: 001 212 293 8500

Official web site:  http://www.unitedmedia.com
Submission Guidelines: http://www.unitedfeatures.com/?title=Submissions

Strips include the might Dilbert and more

Mobile and Web Syndication

All the above also syndicate strips online either for free or on subscription. Mobile Comics companies publishing comic strips are still in their infancy: many pay nothing for publishing a strip via WAP service or iApp, but instead offer a revenue share. Once the market is proven to be there, expect some horse trading… Many of the above syndication companies are developing mobile services.

Useful Links

• Comics Reporter: Getting your daily strip Syndicated (published in 2004)
http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/all_about_comics/all_about/76/

• eHow: Self Syndicating your comic strip
http://www.ehow.com/how_5094295_self-syndicate-comic-strip.html

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