How To Find Markets For Your Magazine Cartoons
As a magazine cartoonist you will probably spend more time trying to sell your
work than you will creating it. Here are some suggestions to help you find magazines who want to
publish your cartoons.
Marketing Directories
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I can recommend two sources for finding
magazines that publish cartoons. The first is the
Standard Periodical Directory which is published annually by
Oxbridge. You can
purchase this online through Barnes & Noble. This directory sells new for a around $2000.
Now I realize most artists can't afford $2000, but there is some good news. Barnes & Noble
sells used copies when they are available and I've seen them advertised for as low as $10.
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Also this handy
directory is also usually available in your library's reference section where you can use
it for free. This book lists several thousand magazines and newspapers published in
the U.S. Not all of them use cartoons, but you can send out query letters to them and
find ones who will consider your work.
There is a second source book I highly recommend and it sells
for a much more affordable price (around $25). This is the
2010 Artists &
Graphic Designers Market
published every year by Writer's Digest Books.
This source lists many markets for the work of artists, including a large section on magazines.
The 2007 edition listed about 150 places that buy cartoons, including magazines, advertisers,
greeting card publishers and others.
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Internet Research
A good source for finding your own markets is the internet.
Most
publishers have a website and many of them publish their own contributor guidelines.
Finding them is sometimes tricky. You have to know how to search.
If you type in a keyword like "magazines" what you will get
are a lot of places trying to sell you magazine subscriptions. If you type "magazine
publishing" you will get printers who want to print your magazine for you. I usually
type in phrases like "submission guidelines", "contributor guidelines" or "writers
guidelines." That will usually bring up a list of magazine and newspaper sites which
publish their guidelines for contributors.
Here's another tip. Enclose your search phrase with quotation
marks. If you just type the words contributors guidelines, for example, the search engines will
look for the word contributors and bring up some sites and it will search for guidelines and
bring up some sites. If you enclose the phrase in quotes, however, the search engine looks for
the two words in combination, which gives you a more accurate search.
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Often these guidelines won't give specific information for cartoons
since they are normally written for writers. If you find publications who are encouraging
submissions by writers you can query them by email to see if they also have an interest in
cartoons.
Internet research is a tedious process but it will bring you
some markets.
Information Changes Rapidly
One thing to keep in mind is that things change rapidly in the
magazine publishing industry. New magazines start up, old magazines go under, and editors
and policies change. If you don't work from up to date sources much of the information you've
found will no longer be valid. I suggest you work only from the latest edition of marketing
directories, keep your own database, and keep it updated. If you haven't sent to a publication
for a long time you may want to query them again before again submitting.
Another problem you may encounter are magazines who buy cartoons
but who are currently overstocked and therefore temporarily not in the market. Some publications
buy only once or twice a year, usually in January or June. When you submit to magazines keep
their publishing time in mind. If you want to sell Christmas jokes you need to submit them
no later than September.
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Here are a few markets to get you started
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