Slanting Your Magazine Cartoons For More Sales
As you research cartoon markets you will find some publications which
seem to buy general ideas on any topic, and others whose topic needs are very specific. The natural
tendency is to try to sell to the general publications because it is easier. Slanting to the specialized
publications, however, can be more profitable and the fact is, even general publications have a slant
of some sort.
For example, even though the Saturday Evening Post is considered to be a general publication, they still
have a preference for cartoons about medical, health, travel and financial subjects. They will reject
cartoons which are political, violent or sexist.
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Why Tough Slants Are More Profitable
As a general rule it is easier to sell cartoons to a
publication with a tough slant than to one with a more general slant. The reason is competition.
Everybody wants to do the easy work. A publication like The Saturday Evening Post will receive
about 1000 cartoons a week. On the other hand if you are submitting to a publication like Glass
Factory Directory, they receive an average of about one cartoon a week. They use 4 or 5 cartoons
per issue. You can see how much less competition you face. I have sold to the Saturday Evening
Post, but I had to send hundreds of cartoons to sell just one. On the other hand, when I submit
to specialized publications, I frequently sell from 50 to 100 percent of the cartoons I submit to
specialized publications. Saturday Evening Post pays $125 for a cartoon. Glass Factory Directory pays $30. So
do the math. If you can sell one out of 100 cartoons for $125, or one out of ten for $30, which
is more profitable?
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Religious magazines are a good source for cartoon sales.
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Researching the Slant
To draw for specialized publications, you have to do some
research. Even with the general publications it's a good idea to read the magazine. Don't just read
the cartoons. Read the articles, and even read the ads. This will help give you an understanding
of their topic and you'll often see some little thing which will spark a cartoon idea.
In some cases you may have to do additional research. You may want to read a book
on their topic, or look at websites pertaining to the subject matter of the magazine you are
targeting. It's a lot of extra work but it pays off in extra sales. Another bonus to selling to
the specialized publications is loyalty. If they see you understand their needs they will buy from
you repeatedly and the longer you work for them the easier the sales will come. Cartooning,
like any other business, gains more from repeat customers than from one-time sales.
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Here is an example of a cartoon doctors find funny. I sold this cartoon to
Medical Economics.
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As you research these publications try to understand who the readers are and put yourself in
their shoes. For example, if you are doing cartoons for a doctor's magazine it would not be
smart to draw cartoons making fun of doctor's high fees. That may be funny to you as a patient,
but it's not a subject doctors would find funny. If you're drawing for a farm publication,
don't depict the farmers as hicks. In researching general publications ask yourself if the
readers are likely a younger audience or older people, are they liberal or conservative in
their views, what income category is the magazine reaching, are the readers well-educated or
less educated? Questions like these will help you to better understand the publication's
needs.
Writing Specialized Gags
The technique of writing gags for these publications
is no different than writing for general publications, except that you have to focus more on
one topic. I find that as I look through the magazine I see things which inspire ideas. It
might be just a prop in an ad or it may be a comment from one of the articles. Just read
the magazine and as you do, ponder on what you're reading. Think "how can I make something
funny out of this?" Try to apply some of the gag writing formulas you read earlier in this
report.
Then try introducing something irrelevent into the setting and see if it gives you a funny
idea. For example, if you were to have a porcupine in a glass factory, what kind of funny
situation does this suggest to you? You may not come up with anything on every attempt but
as you keep trying this you will come up with ideas.
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Another technique which works very well here is switching gags. Remember the example we had
earlier in this report about the cartoon shown here on the right? The cartoon was written about
poker, but suppose you wanted to switch it to a cartoon for a glass manufacturing trade
magazine. How could you change it? Suppose, for example, you changed the caption to read:
"When you consider what goes into manufacturing it,
the price they charge for
glass is chicken feed."
Think about how you might change this caption if you wanted to do a cartoon for a
medical magazine, or a religious publication, or a farm magazine. Sometimes a simple gag
like this can fit multiple slants, just by switching.
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