41 replies to this topic

[Shannonh]

And the crowd goes silent...Good for you man.

[mattgarvey1981]

And the crowd goes silent...Good for you man.

cheers

[Shannonh]

I checked out your links and I have to say It is well deserved my friend. Not only is is writing cool, the art is cool as well! It's hard to get both on a single project. Especially in the Indy market. You are well on your way!

[mattgarvey1981]

Not only is is writing cool, the art is cool as well!

I can only take 50% of the credit for that!
But thanks for the kind comments

[O.S. Georg]

By the way, is there anything happening with Infraction? I keep thinking about the ending of the preview!


(sorry, been wanting to do that for a while)

[mattgarvey1981]

I keep thinking about the ending of the preview!

Then it worked

i still ain't gonna tell ya!
Not much happening with it at the moment.
Not enough hours in the day!

[O.S. Georg]

[niall doonan]

Well Done!

Who's the publisher?

[Sarah Horrocks]

Some of the advice in this thread has been truly horrific. You don't just give your ideas away for free to some publisher just because you want to see your book on the shelves. Which isn't what Matt's doing--but I'm saying. Good grief. The advice that he is the one who is in a weaker position bargaining is absurd. If they want to publish it, it's because they feel it will be a hit. It's not a charity. Matt has all the power in that situation. Particularly because if it's that good, he could just flip it over to kickstarter and fund the thing that way, or take it to Image.

After all of the debate over Kirby and Moore, that we have people really in this day and age saying you should just sign whatever they put in front of you, just for the sake of getting published--for shame.

[Marc Diamond]

I don't think many people were saying that, Sarah.
However, like when you start off in any business, the terms of the Contracts generally will be more in the Publishers favour. You're untested and they're taking a (educated) punt on you.They'll have lawyers, possibly, and standard templates they use. As the artist entering into that Contract, there is a bit of elbow room in what you can demand/do of course, but it's not going to be particularly flexible. Once you prove yourself, the future negotiations can begin in earnest.

When you talk about the power of the artist in this situation, lets face it, there are many talented people looking for these deals. There are not that many deals out there.

That's where I am in the Games industry now - we have a deal. It's not a great deal, tbh. But now that my company HAS a game published, we can start talking to some of the bigger hitters about what we have proved we can do. Our first game isn't going to set the world on fire. The second or the third one however... well, here's hoping!

It sounds like Matt has his head screwed on - he's read the fine print, he's asked for some opinions and will do what he has to do at the end of the day. Best of luck with it, man!

[Shannonh]

Some of the advice in this thread has been truly horrific. You don't just give your ideas away for free to some publisher just because you want to see your book on the shelves. Which isn't what Matt's doing--but I'm saying. Good grief. The advice that he is the one who is in a weaker position bargaining is absurd. If they want to publish it, it's because they feel it will be a hit. It's not a charity. Matt has all the power in that situation. Particularly because if it's that good, he could just flip it over to kickstarter and fund the thing that way, or take it to Image. After all of the debate over Kirby and Moore, that we have people really in this day and age saying you should just sign whatever they put in front of you, just for the sake of getting published--for shame.

Thank you Sara. Glad to see another voice of reason. I believe a DEFEATIST attitude will never improve your position in any contract. Like you said, a great project has too many alternative avenues of publishing to get into an "At least its going to be in print" contract. Ben there, done that, got the t-shirt.

Now if Marvel/ DC were the publisher? Probably not going to get close to the deal you want for your creative property. I was told that DC has an "A" &"B" contract. One that favored the creator and one that favored DC. If you sign the one that favores the creator then 99% of the time DC will chose not to work with you/ publish your creation. So I wouldn't blame any one for signing the contract favoring DC.....Come on, it's DC! I would do work for free!!!!

[jamon g]

Some of the advice in this thread has been truly horrific. You don't just give your ideas away for free to some publisher just because you want to see your book on the shelves. Which isn't what Matt's doing--but I'm saying. Good grief. The advice that he is the one who is in a weaker position bargaining is absurd. If they want to publish it, it's because they feel it will be a hit. It's not a charity. Matt has all the power in that situation. Particularly because if it's that good, he could just flip it over to kickstarter and fund the thing that way, or take it to Image.

After all of the debate over Kirby and Moore, that we have people really in this day and age saying you should just sign whatever they put in front of you, just for the sake of getting published--for shame.

for shame fat tony! i bid thee good day!
you have to be in the US to do kickstarter and Image is damn competitive so the art has to be top notch. I'll assume this is just a small print on demand publisher looking to increase traffic and improve their portfolio, and he's not signing over ownership just a split of the profits of the print run if there is one, so I don't see the big deal.

[James L. Sarandis]

Now if Marvel/ DC were the publisher? Probably not going to get close to the deal you want for your creative property. I was told that DC has an "A" &"B" contract. One that favored the creator and one that favored DC. If you sign the one that favores the creator then 99% of the time DC will chose not to work with you/ publish your creation. So I wouldn't blame any one for signing the contract favoring DC.....Come on, it's DC! I would do work for free!!!!

Two questions one comment.

First the question for DC/ Marvel are you talking about going through the main branch or going through Vertigo and Icon?

Now the Question/Comment, if you are talking about the mainstream branch why in goodness' name would you bring new characters there? I'd much rather search through their backlog find some interesting characters and spruce them up.

[Shannonh]

First the question for DC/ Marvel are you talking about going through the main branch or going through Vertigo and Icon?

I doubt the "main branches" would even accept creator owned pitches. I just assumed everyone knew what I was talking about.

[Steve Sensible]

Neither DC or Marvel accept unsolicited submissions, even for Vertigo or Icon.

[James L. Sarandis]

I doubt the "main branches" would even accept creator owned pitches. I just assumed everyone knew what I was talking about.

DC has in the past, it was called Sovereign Seven.

[Sarah Horrocks]

for shame fat tony! i bid thee good day!
you have to be in the US to do kickstarter and Image is damn competitive so the art has to be top notch. I'll assume this is just a small print on demand publisher looking to increase traffic and improve their portfolio, and he's not signing over ownership just a split of the profits of the print run if there is one, so I don't see the big deal.

The big deal was the sentiment expressed by some that he should sign whatever they put in front of him just for the "honor" of being published. Which is insane

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

[Peter Singer]

Before this goes on to be a debate about DC/Marvel, let's talk some more pitfalls again, I'm quite curious about that too.

And Matty, good for you, glad to see ur (apparently) making it big.
My "advice": You should sell all your rights to the comic to me for a penny.
But then of course that's just my opinion... :P

[Sean Murphy]

After all of the debate over Kirby and Moore, that we have people really in this day and age saying you should just sign whatever they put in front of you, just for the sake of getting published--for shame.

The Kirby / Moore situations seem a bit different, as they were both published creators when they sat at the negotiating table. Not that having a good resume will necessarily help with contract issues - Dave Sim was all set to do a 3 page Fables story but even questioning 8 items on DC's contract led to his not getting the gig (see below for his quote and a link to his contract notes).

I think Matt is asking the right questions - who has ownership of the material, what will the payment structure be, etc. He likely won't be rolling in money after this comes out (although I hope he is), but he will have gotten a published book to use in his next step up the ladder.

But, in the spirit of past creators, I really think it would be worth his time to have a lawyer take a quick look at the contract. I don't recall Moore ever admitting he was wrong but the closest he ever go was in the admission that he never had a legal review of his Watchmen agreement.


From http://albert.nicker...ightssim12.html:
"At that time and this, negotiations with DC involve hearing how "excited and thrilled" they are to possibly be working with you. What you find is that they are "excited and thrilled" because it costs them nothing to be "excited and thrilled". Then I got two copies of the contract and was told to return them signed to the addressee coordinator who indicated that if I had any further concerns I could address them to [name] in the legal department. Which I did. I had eight minor changes I wanted made and indicated that I was open to negotiation on the eight minor changes. At which point I was informed that the eight minor changes were impossible and that they very much regretted that we wouldn’t be working together. Well, that was my same experience from the 1980s with Paul Levitz whose idea of negotiation was: Here’s the deal. You can sign it or not sign it. Your choice. That is, we’re "thrilled and excited" that you’re willing to capitulate to us without question. If you’re not willing to capitulate to us without question then we’re no longer "thrilled and excited" and, in fact, we’re not even "less thrilled and less excited". What we are now is "completely disinterested"." -Dave Sim

[Shannonh]

The Kirby / Moore situations seem a bit different, as they were both published creators when they sat at the negotiating table. Not that having a good resume will necessarily help with contract issues - Dave Sim was all set to do a 3 page Fables story but even questioning 8 items on DC's contract led to his not getting the gig (see below for his quote and a link to his contract notes).

I think Matt is asking the right questions - who has ownership of the material, what will the payment structure be, etc. He likely won't be rolling in money after this comes out (although I hope he is), but he will have gotten a published book to use in his next step up the ladder.

But, in the spirit of past creators, I really think it would be worth his time to have a lawyer take a quick look at the contract. I don't recall Moore ever admitting he was wrong but the closest he ever go was in the admission that he never had a legal review of his Watchmen agreement.


From http://albert.nicker...ightssim12.html:
"At that time and this, negotiations with DC involve hearing how "excited and thrilled" they are to possibly be working with you. What you find is that they are "excited and thrilled" because it costs them nothing to be "excited and thrilled". Then I got two copies of the contract and was told to return them signed to the addressee coordinator who indicated that if I had any further concerns I could address them to [name] in the legal department. Which I did. I had eight minor changes I wanted made and indicated that I was open to negotiation on the eight minor changes. At which point I was informed that the eight minor changes were impossible and that they very much regretted that we wouldn’t be working together. Well, that was my same experience from the 1980s with Paul Levitz whose idea of negotiation was: Here’s the deal. You can sign it or not sign it. Your choice. That is, we’re "thrilled and excited" that you’re willing to capitulate to us without question. If you’re not willing to capitulate to us without question then we’re no longer "thrilled and excited" and, in fact, we’re not even "less thrilled and less excited". What we are now is "completely disinterested"." -Dave Sim

Can we get your name changed? My heart dropped when I saw SEAN MURPHY was the last reply on this thread. Almost became giddy as a school girl. I'm sure you're a swell guy and all......I'm just trying to prevent a heart attack LMAO!!!!!