Success in Comics seminar notes: Mark Anderson

Alan Gardner September 26, 2009 1 minute 6 comments

Mark Anderson, the comic genius behind Andertoons, was the third speaker in the Success in Comics seminar in Las Vegas. Mark majored in music in college and started his professional career in sales but his passion was always in cartooning. Wanting to do it professionally, he set goals for himself to produce more and more comics. Eventually he started selling his cartoons to magazines and launched a website to sell his cartoons. His presentation covered the four concepts that helped him quit his day job and concentrate on cartooning as profession which include: Commitment, DIY, Fit and embrace failure.

He talked about committing to goals that help cartoonist be consistent in the number of cartoons produced each month; committing to a set schedule and not missing deadlines. Under the DIY (Do it yourself) he advocated asking people who buy comics (magazine editors in his case) why they buy or not buy comics; checking out competition and automating as much of the process of cartooning as possible. One of the most important topics he touched on is finding one’s fit whether it’s online, greeting cards, webcomics or syndication. He also advocated finding partnerships with other business, publications that can help promote your work. Lastly he talked about embracing failure saying, “if you’re not failing, your not trying hard enough” meaning you’re not doing enough to promote your work.

Comments ⁶

Howard Tayler

Mark’s presentation was really, really well done. I haven’t been that well-informed and entertained ever. He has a gift.

Alex Hallatt

Was anyone taping this? Would be great to hear/see some of these.

Brian Powers

Mark’s presentation was awesome. It was great to hear how his site evolved and about the failures he has had. I loved the idea of the more “NO”s you get is just meaning that you are that much closer to a “YES.” It was an encouraging presentation for me.

Also, there was a video being done with some of the presenters. I don’t know how they will be available. I’ll try to ask about that tonight.

Mark Anderson

Thanks for the kind words guys. And Howard, sorry I missed your presentation. Had to grab a plane home so the wife could get to work today. Hopefully some video will make it out.

Sandra Bell-Lundy

I really hated to miss this seminar. I would love to see a video of Mark’s presentation, he is quite an innovative guy.

Richard Cross

You know someone is gifted when you laugh out loud early and often during a PowerPoint presentation! Mark’s was sublime and showed that having the right perspective can even make the boring things in life funny. Like making a living from selling “Screws”. He’s a tough act to follow.

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