Screwed and Unscrewed
I’m not going to enumerate what’s wrong with Tokyopop’s godawful Manga Pilot contract. Other people have already done so beautifully and thoroughly, and there’s no need for me to rehash what’s already been expressed eloquently elsewhere.
What I am going to do is take advantage of this particular debacle to repeat a point that I’ve belabored at length to friends and on forums–but not yet in this column.
It is hard as hell to break into comics (or any industry) as a writer or artist. And it is awfully easy to jump at the first chance you see to get your work published and visible, and, in the process, to make horrible mistakes. There are entire businesses built around exploiting newcomers and aspiring professionals, and there are people who will cheerfully take you for all you’re worth and do so in a way that will leave you with no legal recourse whatsoever. It’s reprehensible, and it’s infuriating, it’s awfully common.
So, here is my Excellent and Useful Advice to Aspiring Comics Creators:
Don’t Rush In.
It’s easy to be blinded by the excitement of being offered what looks like your first professional contract. Don’t. Take the time to read any document before you sign it (no-brainer, right?) and to become at least superficially familiar with the terms that are likely to come up.
Know Your Rights.
Pick up a copy of Tad Crawford’s Legal Guide for the Visual Artist or the equivalent, and read it; then pass it along to your friends and make them read it, too.
Know What You Want.
As you learn what goes into professional creative contracts, know what you are looking for. Know what points are negotiable and which will be deal-breakers for you. There’s nothing inherently wrong with signing away rights–IF you know what you’re doing and have a good reason for it–but know your terms and don’t let anything slip past.
Question Everything.
If you need or want clarification on a point in your contract, ask BEFORE you sign it. If the wording is unclear, request that it be rephrased.
Check References.
Talk to creators and agents, and see what they have to say about the publisher. Have any of them worked directly with that publisher? If so, are they still working with them? If not, why not? What works well for one creator may not be good for another, so the wider a range of people you can talk to, the better.
Support Unscrewed.
As far as I know, Unscrewed is the comics industry’s only creators’ rights watchdog organization. It is a grassroots project that rose out of creators’ frustration with a horribly exploitative publisher who had a long history of thoroughly abusing the artists and writers he hired, and who was able to get away with it because there was no organized means for creators to warn each other about this scumbag. Since then, Unscrewed has been doing its damnedest on little-to-no budget and volunteers’ efforts to keep an eye on the comics industry and help prevent the kind of shit that led to its founding. It is the kind of organization that works best if you work for it–the more people involved, the better and more through and effective a resource it will become.
Don’t let publishers get away with this shit. They know better, and you should, too.
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