"Out of seventy publishers, seven replied to me. Two magazines eventually offered projects, the rest sort of took note," the artist told me during a consultation. The artist's portfolio was solid in my opinion, so no, this story is not about her. It's about how the relationship between publisher and artist generally works.

Let me emphasize: I'm not trying to give a definitive assessment of anything; my goal is simply to tell you how things are. So you can be prepared and, for example, not give up on yourself if someone doesn't respond.

About two months ago, in our general comics chat, an idea came up: it would be great to gather feedback from publishers about what they actually need, and supplement it with contacts of editors/art directors/art editors, so we don't have to write to the general inbox where it's so easy to get lost. And then put it all into a single spreadsheet so we could all use it. Nice, right?

Comic artists are proactive folks. They immediately went ahead, compiled a list of publishers, wrote a heartfelt letter about how they want to be friends and know everything, sent it out, and waited. They waited a month before concluding it was time to record the results.

And here are the results. Out of 40 publishers, thirteen replied. Twelve of them said, don't worry, we read the general inbox, write to it (and we believe them, they really did read it, right?). One publisher considered it possible to share the art director's contacts with the note "for internal use only in the comics direction" (the cats had a faint hope that they would now create a super cool open database). Three-quarters of the publishers didn't respond at all.

It should be said that 13 responses is actually pretty good, but it's understandable: my cats weren't asking for anything special from the recipients, they weren't asking for money, they weren't sending portfolios, they just came to say hello, so such a high response rate is explainable. In the case of a sent portfolio, the experience of the artist who came to me for consultation seems more relevant. One in ten responds. One in thirty-five yields a result.

What does this mean for us?

That we should be prepared for it. That we should weigh our strengths and understand where we are trying to get. That it can take this much time. That it can be this difficult.

That it's absolutely normal to write again to those who didn't reply. After a month or a month and a half. With roughly the same content. Simply because your email might have been missed. Or to get a response like "yes, we saw it, you're not a fit for us" and at least gain some certainty.

Also, by the way, it's absolutely normal to write again when you have a new project. Write to everyone, even those you didn't fit with last time. Because who knows? You've changed, the publisher's policy has changed, so many variables, you always have to try.

That what's happening is not about you. That it's a lousy market, it's just an incredibly dead field, but everything that happens is not about your project being bad or, even worse, you being bad. It's about no one having the energy, money, or maybe even the desire to do anything. And in trying to somehow overcome this system, your main task is to take care of yourself."