Multiversity Comics Presents: Kody Chamberlain

This week on Multiversity Comics Presents, we’ve got a lengthy chat with Kody Chamberlain, creator and crafter of the recent Image Comics hit Sweets. This title started out with decent buzz that has escalated consistently for one simple reason – it’s a damn good book. Chamberlain is an exciting up and coming creator with a ton of insight on what it takes to be a success in the industry, and I highly recommend checking this interview – as well as his series – out.

Click through the jump to check out this interview.

Can you walk us through the origins of Sweets?

Kody Chamberlain: The origins, it’s kind of hard to put my finger on it exactly but I’ve wanted to transition into writing and drawing my own stories, so I just started keeping notebooks of various ideas, characters, concepts just little things like that. Over time I just started piecing things together these little index cards. I’ve heard a lot of writers have a moment of revelation where everything magical comes together, but that didn’t really happen for me (laugh), I just had to piece it together and eventually the story emerged from the various chunks. I filled in the gaps and took out all the things that didn’t belong. Not a very smooth process for me. Very chaotic, but it comes together in the end.

As far as the Origins, what helped developed Sweets as an idea; what were the influences when you were going through it?

KC: Nothing directly, I’ve been a crime fan for as long as I can remember, all the way back to my favorite stuff as a kid and those encyclopedia brown novels and Scooby Doo. Eventually made my way into cop shows like Columbo, Hawaii Five-0 and Magnum P.I. So cops stuff has always been my genre ‘bread and butter’ but I never realized it until a few years ago when I started writing more frequently. I knew when it came down to writing my own comics I should stick with something I really enjoy creatively; crime and horror are really the two things I dig most. As a fan, I do enjoy every genre , but as a creator I do lean towards crime and horror.

You say crime and horror are the two things you’re drawn to and it’s kind of cool because Sweets has allowed you to do both of those two things. How much did you look to integrate those two things. You have the city prosecutor; he’s beheaded in the second issue. How did those things start to sink in together? How do you develop those things as ideas for Sweets?

KC: Once I realized my story was for mature readers and would be labeled as such by Image, I let the dialogue flow naturally, kept the f-bombs in there, and didn’t shy away from the violence because comics are a visual medium and I like having that layer of horror in the story. But a lot of this stuff I’m just trying to shoot from the hip, some of it works for me as a writer and a reader so I just go with it. I never try and second guess what the audience is going to think or what they’re going to like; I pretty much tailor it to what I think might work for that particular scene.

Is that a police siren going off in the background?

KC: Yeah, I’m actually sitting outside. They’re after me. I’m on a high speed chase driving down I-10 — they’re after me man (laughter).

This interview is going to get really awkward really soon.

You’re from New Orleans right?

KC: No, I’m from Thibodaux, Louisiana, about an hour or so outside of New Orleans. And for those comic readers out there, Thibodaux is very close to the Swamp Thing setting, a fictional town called Lacroix. There’s no such town as Lacroix, but since Lacroix is supposed to be north of Houma, that’s about where Thibodaux would be.

How important to you as a creator was it to set it in New Orleans. Were you setting it there because you were more familiar with it or were you more looking to shine the spotlight on New Orleans?

KC: I originally started writing Sweets around 2003 or 2004, somewhere in there. I never even thought about where to set it — it just kind of happened. Crime stories set in New Orleans are pretty rare. Most of all of the good crime stuff happens to be set in New York or L.A., and lately, in Portland, that’s fine, those are great crime towns. So when I started writing it, it just happened–there were street cars in the background, above ground cemeteries, etc. These visuals just ended up in my script, and eventually became important to the story and the characters. If I wanted to do a comic in a realistic/naturalistic style set in New York City, I’ve been there a few times, but I’d have to fake it. I don’t really know the geography well, I don’t know what the architecture feels like. If I’m working in a more cartoony style, it doesn’t matter as much, but for this particular style it works better when it’s familiar and natural.

When Frank Miller did Daredevil he was living in New York City and it shows…I think that’s why he was able to bring a lot of substance to those stories. I have the advantage here because we’re in New Orleans all the time. I have family and friends there. So I know the city, I know what it feels like, I know the food, I know the slang and the culture. So I’m able to do it naturally without faking it much. I guess, for that reason, I just did it automatically without even considering it. There were some story concepts that occurred pretty early on that just worked with the city, and I think that’s why it clicked.

On that topic, how much easier did it make it because you were so familiar with the area?

KC: I don’t think I was looking for something that was easier, I just wanted something I could do well and that I’d enjoy. I guess I felt I could do a better job overall with New Orleans than I could with Los Angeles. I was aware of the fact that many artists write themselves a lot of splashes or one or two panel pages…I’ve got nine, 12 and 16 panel pages in Sweets. I don’t think I was going for easy, I just wanted something I could do well. I was certainly leaning towards visuals I thought I could pull off artistically, visual elements that would tie into the storyline. A lot of it is simple background stuff, but there are some hidden elements.

There’s some stuff going on that comes back around in later issues, and reaffirms why New Orleans is important to the story.

So like I said, easy never really played into it, it was more about trying to do a good job drawing New Orleans. There are some New Orleans artists that could probably crush me (laughter), but as far as what has been done in crime comics recently, I wanted to do a good job with it, really try and capture it on the page.

Honestly, I’m just kind of tired of seeing New Orleans portrayed as a generic city with Bourbon Street and Mardi Gras floats going by.

Wait, so that isn’t everything? (laughter)

KC: Every day! (laughter) There was just some cultural stuff; some visuals that I knew could really work in comics. The above ground graveyards, the streetcars, the architecture, all of the scenery that just pops on a visual level. Having that stuff in the back of my head informed storytelling and where my scenes needed to be set, where my characters could move around in the city and places that would be interesting to look at. It’s about characters and about dialogue, but the book also has to look nice, so I focused on that and tried to pull it in to the storyline and make it all come together.

You mentioned the above ground graveyards. The story you told in the first story about the Jockey Club and the person buying the club…is that a true story?

KC: (laughter) Well, it’s certainly disputed by some, but it is a historical story that I’ve heard more than once, and a few historians seem to think there’s some truth to it.

I love that story.

KC: I think I first heard it 20 years ago from someone, and when it came time to do the book and I knew I was setting it in that particular graveyard so I looked it up again to get the names right and refresh my memory, and there was a lot more to it than I had realized. If you do some research on it there’s some fascinating stories as to how these New Orleans graveyards came to be. That was just one of them that I thought was interesting.

Well, we’re looking forward to seeing that.

I think the cool thing about that is that it’s those types of things that escalate this book from being a good one to a great one for us. It’s like the attention to the detail…I find that really interesting. As far as being an artist…your origins are as an artist, right?

KC: Right.

It’s your first time scripting your work for a massively published book. How difficult was it to transition into that role also?

KC: I’ve been writing for a really long time. I didn’t publish much of it, but I’ve been taking a lot of writing seminars and been working hard to improve. A lot of the writing was just me getting my chops up and getting ready to do stuff. I’ve been passing around scripts for years — hey what do you think about this — this isn’t really my first time writing, just my first time publishing my writing.

As an artist who also writes – I guess Frank Miller would call it a cartoonist (laughter) — it’s hard for me to draw a line between the visual and the writing side because you’re thinking so visually the entire time you’re writing. When I write, my panel descriptions contain my visual clues and all that stuff is in there. I write full script format, I don’t just thumbnail out everything from an outline. So I try to bring in as many visual ideas as I can in the script. It’s tough for me to do it on the back end because if you do a panel and it doesn’t work, you have to redraw it and it just crushes you on time. It’s just quicker to write a panel description on what needs to happen and then rewrite it several times than to redraw it several times. I do full scripts for that reason.

I think it makes it easier to revise and improve. I know a lot of artists who don’t do full scripts, but I really think it speeds up the process.

It’s interesting to hear that too. We talked to Jeff Lemire and he actually said the same thing as a writer/artist — he actually scripts everything out and finds it much easier to do that. It’s interesting to hear that. Especially coming from the perspective of not being able to draw for shit (laughter) so it’s interesting to hear that even those who are artistically talented still feel the need to script it out.

KC: You know what’s interesting is if you look at the great writer/directors throughout time — Hitchcock, Scorcese, and Coppola — they didn’t just do full scripts but they storyboarded it too. I kind of learned that recently when I started teaching a summer course for kids. I was impressed with how well Hitchcock could draw and although they were poorly drawn, the storytelling in Scorcese’s storyboards is amazing. I was fascinated by how many great directors also draw out storyboards.

You sound like quite the film buff. Do you think that Sweets has been influenced by the film noir genre? I often wonder what the influences are of this book.

KC: I do love film noir but I don’t think Sweets is a noir story, there are a probably a lot of noir rules I don’t follow. I’m not trying to be a noir, but there are a lot of things I enjoy in there and I do pull from it.

You guys were talking about the level of detail. That’s something I really love. I love movies that are rewatchable, where you can pick up clues the second, third and fourth time you watch it. The same thing can be said about many of the great comics and graphic novels. Just one example, but I love how in Watchmen, Dave Gibbons does visual parallels with the pirate storyline…that stuff fascinates me because I do like to revisit great material over and over. I did try to do some of that with Sweets. I hope when issue 5 is done it makes people immediately go back to issue 1 and revisit the clues.

I’ve had several people email me and say its one of the few recent books they enjoy reading multiple times. That’s a pretty high compliment, because to me that is always my litmus test on whether or not something is great — whether or not I want to keep going back to it or put it away. That was one of the goals of Sweets. To make it something that people enjoy a second time and beyond.

That brings up a fun point. Brandon and I after our podcast last week had an extended conversation about Sweets afterwards and he pointed out some stuff I hadn’t even noticed yet. Like, we talked about the fact you use different colors for different story sections, but the thing is I hadn’t understood the Hang Him section in the second issue. Brandon pointed that out, and it’s weird, as Sweets is concerned it’s a valuable book not just from a rereadability standpoint but also from a discussion standpoint. If you talk to someone about it, it expands the greatness of it.

KC: I hope that’s true. I can tell you this; I read a lot of comics, watch a lot of movies and read a lot of novels. Different things work in different ways. One of the things I enjoy about mysteries is you’re not given everything at once. You’re teased with clues and subplots until it all comes together in the end. I love Bendis’ Spider-Man stuff, but since its meant to be accessible to all ages, he uses1-2-3 storytelling. It’s straightforward and direct. But when you read his older crime stuff it burned a little slower. I love that. I love that you can deliver different types of stories in different ways. I’d like to read more comics like that, actually.

I love watching something like The Godfather or reading an Alan Moore comic like V for Vendetta where you’re not given everything right away and the pieces slowly come to you through character development and story, you have to trust the creators to deliver. I’m not giving you everything at once, and the pieces will form a bigger whole as the story progresses. I was afraid I’d get crushed in reviews because of that, I don’t have a track record of writing comics worth trusting, but for the most part people seem to like it and they seem to understand that that’s what is happening.

My biggest paranoia the day before the book hit was that I was just going to get crushed. People weren’t going to get it and be confused as shit. I was totally freaking out. But the reviews started coming in and it seemed that most people got it.

That’s part of the fun of a mystery right? You don’t get everything at once. The clues are there and hopefully everything starts making sense in the end.

That’s what I love about the book — the rereadability is just fantastic. I’ve read both issues so far a couple times and I’ve been able to pick up on new things each time. That will give the book longevity in that you can read it in singles and reread it in trades because you’ll be able to pick up new things each time. The “Hang Time” at the beginning of the “Hang Him” section is probably my favorite portion of the series so far. The way you did those panels is brilliant.

As far as the coloring goes and the different segments and art styles, I know you’ll eventually get into tying those in and everything. I wanted to touch base on the aspect of the initial murder of the priest and the way it’s black and white. Is your reason for doing that in such a style is to leave it more ambiguous, in that the killer we’re seeing not actually looking as he does? Are you leaving things open to have the killer’s identity be a major reveal?

KC: The style changes are done because they are different points of view. The full color stuff is mostly from the view of the lead detective. There are several lead characters — the lieutenant, Curt’s partner Jeff, etc. The grayscale stuff is mostly the killer; the cartoony stuff is from someone else’s point of view. They do all three converge and cross over, so that’s a challenge, how do I make that work visually? It’s a big challenge, honestly. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to pull it off the way I see it happening in my mind.

(laughter) I’m sure you won’t have a problem.

We’ve met the killer right?

KC: Yeah, yeah, the guy you see do the first murder is the killer.

For me, it’s more of a Columbo approach where we start seeing the killer but not necessarily know what he is or what he’s about. That’s the mystery. It’s about WHY is he killing, not necessarily about figuring out his identity. It’s about the motivation.

One of my favorite things about the book is that…the cool thing about serial killers in film and books and everything is that they always have their little tie. I love the pralines, I love that that’s the thing…how did you come up with the pralines? Is it tied to some passion for cooking that you have, is it a New Orleans favorite? What was the reason behind that?

KC: That’s actually in issue three, so I’m not going to tell you. (laughter)

Dammit! (laughter) Are you sure you can’t spoil that for us, because I’m pretty sure it’d be good for our hits (laughter).

KC: It’s a pretty important story point. As far as why I chose that particular candy, it’s a family recipe and something we always made at home. I’ve made it a few times so I’ve actually tweaked the recipe a little bit. If you get a chance to make them, they’re fantastic. Highly recommended.

Is that recipe at the beginning of issue number one…is that completely legit?

KC: Oh yeah, yeah.

In that case, I may make that this weekend. It sounds delicious.

KC: I give you the recipe first and the ingredients second…I do it slightly out of order.

I see that. I’d been curious as to whether or not I could try that. I love that you included that.

KC: You have to stir it for a VERY long time for the sugar to break down. Be warned, it’s not a ten minute recipe…it will take you a half hour of work on this thing.

I’m a complete addict of food, so I’m pretty sure I’ll be doing this on Sunday.

You’ve mentioned Frank Miller a number of times. In terms of your artistic and writing influences in comics, who are your main influences?

KC: I’ve got so many. I got into comics late in life. I started buying comics when I was 18. That was around the time Dark Horse was doing Dark Horse Presents, Hellboy and Sin City…Image had just started around that time. I jumped on for a lot of that stuff. I bought some of the early Image stuff, and then I discovered Sin City and that flipped me out. Sin City and Hellboy…those were the two books that made me realize I wanted to do this for a living. More than anything they really inspired me…I think one of the reasons I didn’t latch onto comics as a kid is that I wasn’t really a superhero fan. Even the old Batman…the old 60’s television show, and stuff like SuperFriends. I was aware of all that and I’d watch it now and then, but I wasn’t really a fan of that stuff. But when Columbo, Kojak, Draget, etc. would come on I’d jump in front of the TV right away.

But the Frank Miller and Mike Mignola stuff really spoke to me early on, so those guys are big influences. I discovered Will Eisner later on. I’ve since become an archaeologist of all of this great work I didn’t read as a kid. I’m kind of going back and reading all of the stuff I didn’t read as a kid. Other influences… so many… Sean Phillips, Michael Lark, Kent Williams, Gene Colan, Chris Ware, Bill Sienkiewicz, Dave McKean, Ashley Wood, Zaffino, John Buscema, Paul Pope, Jason Alexander, Duncan Fegredo…he’s been a huge influence on me recently.

I love Duncan Fegredo. Not just his drawings, but his storytelling, the moments in time he picks for each panel… The guy is really a genius.

Mostly the writer/artists are the ones I really respond to. Frank Miller, Mike Mignola, Will Eisner, Paul Pope, Chris Ware, …those guys are the biggest influences on me. If I was in my studio I could look at my shelf, but I have a massive stack of inspirational books that I pull out constantly.

Also, some crime novelists are a big influence on me. Jim Thompson, Lawrence Block…big Lawrence Block fan — especially the Scudder series, Dashiell Hammett I read…I try to read as much as I can but it’s getting hard, by the time I get home I’m dead tired and I pass out (laughter). The Hard Case Crime series…don’t know if you guys have checked that out but it’s a line of crime novels that didn’t get as much attention as they should have when they were released, they’re being rereleased in the Hard Case Crime series.

Television stuff…I love The Wire, I love The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, The Shield…those shows get me excited about TV in away I haven’t been since I was a kid. I’m not much of a fan of the procedural, CSI type of shows, I love the hyper-realistic, grittier stuff.

I really love that you’re a big fan of Fegredo. I think he’s one of the most underrated creators in comics today.

KC: Absolutely. Plus, he suffers for the same thing that some people are on me about, he’s a chameleon stylistically. It makes it hard for him to brand himself based on style. There’s so much different stuff he can do. You may own five different trades by the guy and not know it’s the same artist.

I had a great discussion with Bill Sienkiewicz about that, he does the same thing. His advice to me was to stick with it because styles come in and out of fashion, if you can do a variety of styles you’ll always have work. That was very inspirational to me when he said that.

Have you guys checked out The Hunter, the Darwyn Cooke did, the adaptation of the Richard Stark book?

Are you talking about Parker the Hunter? Yeah.

KC: Unbelievable.

I’m really excited for The Outfit and I just got The Man with the Getaway Face. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet but I’m so excited for it. Anything that Darwyn Cooke does is a must buy for me. I love that he’s doing the Richard Stark stuff.

KC: What’s cool is that Richard Stark…he’s done a bunch of stuff in that Parker series, but those are the three that I’ve read. The Hunter, The Man with the Getaway Face, and The Outfit, I do need to pick up the rest and read those, but those are the three I’ve read so it’s kind of cool that Darwyn Cooke is starting at the beginning and pushing through with that. I hope he keeps going forward. I hope to see the whole series of that because I think he’d do an incredible job.

From what I understand he’s going to because he’s very, very passionate about it. I think that ties into what you’re doing because I think if a creator is doing something they are truly passionate about, they’ll be able to keep going with that.

KC: It’s tough because I don’t have that big of a fanbase, I’m still kind of a new guy on the scene. I started doing comics in 2004 and I did stuff that had really low print runs so people haven’t seen much of it. You try to come out of the gate and try to do a series like this…and man, it’s a really, really big struggle to get noticed, to get press, to even get the media to run your press releases. I think guys like Darwyn Cooke, Frank Miller, Brubaker and Phillips on Criminal…these guys are doing a great job at kind of elevating crime comics again…I hope we have a renaissance of crime comics as I’d love to see more crime comics on the shelves.

I love crime comics and have been a big fan of not only Brubaker and Phillips’ Criminal, but Sleeper as well.

KC: Sleeper is great.

Any chance you’ll make it to Emerald City Comic Con this year?

KC: I’m trying to make it to the New York Comic-Con, that’s going to be tough, because I have an announcement coming out that I want to be there for. As you guys could imagine, doing every job on a book is a major time eater so…I look at my schedule and calendar and it freaks me out.

Well if you’re looking for somewhere, we’d love to be the avenue for how you make that reveal!

KC: The publisher has plans for it…it’s something very unusual that no one’s going to see coming, that’s for sure.

Unusual is our ball park!

Speaking of influences, is there anything that you’ve been digging in comics lately?

KC: Well, I know everyone is on the Chew bandwagon, but Rob Guillory is a close friend of mine. We have studios right across from each other in the same building…I see every page of his as it comes out. It’s been a fantastic book.
Joe the Barbarian has been a lot of fun. It’s a gorgeous book but the story is just a little bit off kilter and I like that.

Back to Fegredo again, but he’s been doing a killer job on Hellboy. I don’t know if he’s doing any more of that but I hope he keeps that going.

What else have I been getting…some of the Vertigo Crime stuff has been hit or miss for me. Some of the artists haven’t been digging as much, but I’ve been making my way through that stuff. Are you guys’ familiar with Chris Ware?

Yeah!

KC: I love Chris Ware. I’ve been rereading Jimmy Corrigan…a huge 400 page graphic novel.

I’m trying to think of anything that’s about to drop…I’m super excited about the new Parker book. My buddy Josh Fialkov did a book called Tumor for Archaia that I’m reading right now. It’s a massive book and very well done.

I actually have that book. I’ve been looking forward to reading that.

KC: It’s a good book so far. I don’t know how it’s going to end but he wanted to spoil it for me at Comic-Con, I had to talk him down.

You’ve been mentioning that you’re a more unknown creator. How has Image been in terms of cultivating you and supporting you?

KC: The biggest advantage of Image is also their biggest flaw — they are mostly hands off. Image doesn’t see the book; they don’t touch the book until the finals are turned in for printing. They have an editor-in-chief, but for the most part they don’t edit books in the way Marvel and DC edit books. They do the traffic; they help a lot with promotions and getting events lined up. They were a huge help getting everything set up for Comic-Con, getting booth space and getting press releases out. That’s the stuff they are good at and do well.

As far as putting the book together, the production department at Image is really strong. I don’t need any help. I have a background in graphic design, so I’m pretty good at getting my files set, but I know some creators who aren’t. So they’re really good at helping with that.

If you’re able to create a finished book in your studio and deliver it, Image is fantastic. They really are the best. I encourage everyone…that’s why I think it’s important for creators to learn as many jobs as you can. Why not learn to color? Why not learn to letter? Why not learn to do logo design? If you can do all these things and control it, I think it’s a lot more fun. And it also opens up more publishing opportunities where a person who can only pencil pages and can’t do much else with it, it’s hard to do a book with Image and do creator owned work that way.

I like the fact they are hands off with stuff. I did bring in my own editor. He’s been great at helping with continuity and typos and things like that because I’m terrible at spelling. So a big shout out to Andrew Brinkley who came in on the clutch and really helped me out with this book. He’s still a young guy so I think he’s going to get some work from this. I met him a few times, he used to own a comic shop in Houma, Louisiana…that’s how I met him and he was just a super sharp guy. I knew right away that he was the guy for the job.

What kind of advice can you give to people who are looking to do their own creator owned work?

KC: One thing a lot of people overlook is they show stuff before it’s ready to be shown. I see that all of the time. I see pencilled pages being shown for portfolio reviews; I see finished pages and they’ll say “oh, this is placement lettering. The real lettering is going to come later.” By the time you show your stuff to someone who is a professional, it needs to be great. With my stuff I redrew the original pitch pages two or three times just to make sure I got it right, just the way I wanted it. I inked it, colored it, lettered it, proofread it a million times. Tweaked the lettering. After all that was done I wrote a nice cover letter, printed the stuff out super fine on a quality printer. The presentation is important, don’t overlook that.

My advice to people is to not pitch during a con. You read interviews with someone like Mark Millar and he says “I pitched Marvel this idea and they loved it.” Well, he’s Mark Millar and you’re not. If you’re a completely new name who shows up to pitch an editor at Comic-Con, they’re not going to take your pitch home but they will take Mark Millar’s pitch home. He’s earned that status and he’s got their attention. That’s the difference. Editors have a massive pile of stuff to take home, they’re bombarded all week long with material. I’m just a creator, just an artist, and I see the volume of stuff I’m handed, I can’t even imagine the stuff editors are handed. My advice is to try during the off season when nothing much is going on. No cons, no nothing, that’s when you pitch.

Make sure to control presentation. When it’s ready, print it up on super fine paper, type up a great cover letter, really sign it…take it to the next professional level versus just mailing out a PDF. I think publishers really respect that. If you can do it in the off season, you could be the only pitch they see that day. You’re more likely to be seen. But if you pitch at Comic-Con or one of these other big conventions, you’re one of 300 packets they have to look at. I guarantee you it’s mostly going into the trash, even if they do look through it they’ll just flip through it quickly because they have no spare time and their suitcase is full.

That’s great advice.

KC: It’s a given that the work has to be good, right? I don’t even need to say that. The story has to be great, the one-page synopsis has to be great, the art has to be great. Obviously all of that stuff needs to be taken care of. After that’s done, that’s where people start skimping a bit. However, there are some perks to pitching in person. My background is in advertising, I’m used to pitching things to clients and presenting ideas, so I picked up a lot from that. The great thing about being in the room is showing them the work and seeing how they react to certain things. If something is not quite right or not finished, they get stuck on it. They can’t get away from it. So if you have the chance to pitch at a show, make sure it’s super tight and use your time wisely. If they love it, you’ll know right away. If they don’t love it, they’ll try and wrap up the conversation pretty quick and politely send you on your way. Learn how to read those situations and react accordingly.

But it’s important to take everything to the next level. Make sure there are no typos. Make sure the lettering is really clean and well done. Tweak your colors. Print and reprint and make sure everything is right. It’s all about control. Because what they’re going to see and what they’re going to expect to see is you’re ready to be published. Your book has to look that way. Your submission package has to look like a book in progress. It can’t look like a pitch. That’s one step closer to being a book that you can convince them that looks like a printed comic book by the time they get it.

How was it that you brought Sweets to the attention of Image?

KC: I wish I had some special hook up, but I just followed the submission guidelines on the website. I really did. I didn’t know anyone in the Image office. I knew creators who had books over there, but I mean, you don’t want to ask someone to submit your work for you.

You don’t want to be that guy.

KC: No, man…I’ve had people do stuff like that with me and it’s always kind of weird, it’s awkward. When you get in good with an editor or something like that, you can’t abuse that relationship and you can’t strain that relationship. So if and when I have a pitch I need to show them, I take that seriously. I don’t want to bother that editor but I need a pitch, right? How do I go about pitching it? It’s like favor swapping — you don’t want to use up all of your favors.

So I did exactly what the website said to do and I mailed it in to the website on the webpage. No real secret to it. And I got a call…or an email the same day as the pitch was received. I think part of that was the timing of it. I’m pretty sure no one else was pitching that day because it was just an ordinary day of the week. I’m guessing I was the one pitch Eric Stephenson opened that day. That’s NOT going to get your pitch picked up — they’ve still got to like it. But anything you can do to break away from the herd is helpful.