A few days ago, I asked about dreams. Well, I made a video, asking about dreams.
I asked people to tell me what were their dreams outside of writing and publishing. I said I’d love to see my work as a series, preferably animated but something I forgot to add, although I referenced it in a previous post. That I would love to have my work as a manga or graphic novel. From previous research, most comic/manga publishers won’t accept a work from writers alone, unless you draw, which unfortunately, I can’t. Or they don’t take speculative fiction.
I know, it makes sense that whomever is making the submission should follow the guidelines and supply both writer and artist. I’m a ginourmous supporter of following guidelines. It makes things much easier for the publisher. But I can’t help but wonder, what stories are manga/comic publishers missing out on? Remember, this is a subjective business we’re in and just because one market doesn’t prefer a work doesn’t mean someone else won’t. Maybe match us with an artist who can’t find a writer? Hmm…maybe we can start something on social media to do just that. It’s a thought.
I came close with Tinderbox but it didn’t pan out. And I am one of the many POCs who want more diversity in anime and manga. There is some but not nearly enough. I recently went searching for more diversity, after discovering what appears to be a very interesting manga due to come out on February 7th, 2023, called Clock Striker, by Issaka Galadima. It’s already on my TBP List. So the next thing I did was to find the publisher to see if they accept submissions. Unfortunately, it appears they don’t, although I couldn’t find any sign. If I’m wrong, contact me or post in the comments. I’m getting two different publisher names, a SaturdayAM and according to Amazon, Rockport Publishers, which doesn’t seem to even publish manga, so it’s impossible to tell who is the actual publisher. The former seems to be the logical choice.
*BTW, I’m not including Marvel and DC. DC accepts nothing at all and Marvel has a policy of, “If you’re good, we’ll find you.” *WAVES FRANTICALLY* “Hey, Marvel, here I am!”
So my quest continued. Some of these I got from an internet search and others from previously published lists. So here is what I found and found out. Note I’m only including ones I found that openly accept outside works or will soon.
Megascope/Abrams: They don’t accept unsolicited, which works well for me since I have a fabulous agent! Unfortunately, I couldn’t find whether writers and artists have to be together.
Now here’s something interesting. Deadstar Publishing has a Creatives Database…now isn’t that a coincidence?
Soaring Penguin Press: They accept writers without artwork. I’m still looking into this one.
You can safely assume that all other publishers either require a duo or a team in order to submit a work. So that’s it. Just three possibilities.
*I’m wondering if I could ever start my own manga/comic company. Most of these seem to be started and run by men. That’s discouraging. No offense meant.
It would be nice if some of the other accepted writing without artwork or at least could point us toward an artist looking for work. Again, I know that’s probably something we should do ourselves, but where to start?
In the meantime, I’ll keep writing.
Peace~
Wendy
Author WA Simpson 