Rob Tornoe was the first speaker on Sunday. He’s a freelance cartoonist, columnist, editor and publisher of the Delaware magazine Punchline. He self-syndicates his work in New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania.
Notes from his talk:
- Doing local cartoons allows him to charge more than bundled material from syndicates
- Sports cartoons sell well as first time runs and reprints
- Advocates approaching advocacy groups that are inline with your political views to sell cartoons. They have money and need content for their newsletters, etc.
- There is a benefit to living in Delaware – low cost of living
- Started Puncline 18 months ago. Biggest trouble is finding sales people to sell ads even offering them twice normal commission rate
- Will be switching to a subscription based model due to lack of sales people
- Convincing publications to put this cartoons on their Facebook page has been very effective in showing them how popular his cartoons are (through likes and shares). Has gained a couple of clients this way
- Suggests posting cartoons on Facebook that he’s already been paid for that way he’s not giving it away for nothing
- Facebook is better than Twitter as Twitter is too instant. Facebook keeps things in people’s views longer – better exposure
Rob’s a really nice guy who is a great example of continuing to think outside the box.