Agents

My understanding is that they want "literary" comic books. What that means...? Not superheroes.

Alternatively they want a name or someone who is hot in comics. That said, a lot of names in comics at the moment come from TV and movies, so they are already repped. If they JUST work comics and are a name, they don't really NEED an agent.

I believe Writers House is Neil Gaiman's agent, so they do this, obviously. And I know William Morris and CAA both have comic divisions.

Of course, all three of those agencies are VERY hard to crack.

End of the dat, it's gonna come down to the quality of the book. But it isn't impossible.

Don't think I helped much.

From what I've learned and seen, very few agents at regular literary agencies understand graphic novels at all.

I spoke with two agents about a year ago who were very keen in repping a couple of my graphic novels to...

Marvel and DC.

When I inquired whether they had ever sold graphic novels to either publisher, they responded in the negative.

They had no idea how it worked.

I've experienced the same kind of lack of understanding among editors at traditional houses.

The graphic novel form is still very new to them and they don't quite yet understand either the process or the market.

my agent handles graphic novels and has sales on record.

siouxnyc said:

my agent handles graphic novels and has sales on record.

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Well...by all means...share the info.

I am represented by Daniel Lazar of Writers House. He has sold several graphic novels, the most recent probably being Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. My agent doesn't really represent to places like Marvel, DC, or Dark Horse, although he said that if that was important to me, he would try.

He sells to graphic novel imprints of Random House like Pantheon and Scholastic's Graphix. They are more "mainstream" I guess you would say.

Yes, Writers House represent Neil Gaiman as well.

I am not known at all in the comics field, but we've already had interest from some houses prior to submission based on my blog.

During my agent search, I was offered representation by two other agencies who have also had success selling graphic novels.

Because a lot of the mainstream imprints are trying to get into graphic novels as well, I think that literary agents contacts will continue to work. I don't think you necessarily have to be a "name" in the industry, but you really have to think about what you are looking for.

If your heart is set on one of the comic companies--then, yeah, agent might not be the best route. But if you want to look at big publishers, then that seems to be a different animal.

I think you are right about a lot of these publishers wanting "literary" and review-driven graphic novels, but for the Young Adult and middle grade crowd I think commercial works just as well. (Bone, etc.)

Just some thoughts. Hope it helps somebody. If you want the names of the other agencies that offered, you can PM me. I also have a list of agents that I know are looking for GNs.

Sent.

This doesn't really add to the actual topic at all, but I just wanted to throw out there that as a writer taking his first stab at a graphic novel script because it felt right and he's always wanted to....this is pretty encouraging to hear! Thanks for the info Chan!

I have seen agents advertise they accept HF but have no sales in HF as well.

I used to live in Winter Haven...in the Lake Martha neighborhood.

I've been compiling information about agents willing to work with cartoonists/graphic novelists on my blog, and you can access that information here.

http://adistantsoil.com/blog/2008/11/05/return-of-the-graphic-novel-agents-neil-gaiman/

I've find a number of agents not listed at Agent Query, and all have good reputations.

You may not have any trouble selling a GN to Marvel or DC without one, but the licensing in some of the contracts can get dicey. The average shmoe will not get a good deal.

I have two GN projects at DC/Vertigo right now.


c

No worries! Happy to help.

Good luck.

c

Good luck!! I would just leave a bio out. That's what I did. Why my agent called to chat on the phone, he was just like, "So no publishing credits" and I said, "nope." And he said ok. That was that.

C.bronco said:

I got a bite! Wish me luck!

Now, how do I make my bio interesting? I've got nuthin', except a particularly warped sense of humor and a severely cute six-year-old. There are other things which I will never admit to, however. I'm at a loss. Does teaching remedial English as an adjunct help?

Does it count that kids in high school used to come up to me and ask, "Why are you so weird?"

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I would leave out any attempts to be cute. I don't know of anything that irritates a client more than this:

"I was born under a cabbage leaf, because that is where my alien father left me to incubate when on his way to Venus. Satanists discovered me playing baccarat in the toilet of the old Studio 54 building and recruited me to be one of the new Village People."

Not saying you would do that, but I know clients hate it. I used to see stuff like this in submissions all the time. And they went right in the trash.


c