The Freelance, Single-Panel Cartoon Game
The rules of the game are simple. There are thousands of magazines, newsletters, and other publications in America looking for cartoons. Each publication exists because it caters to a specific audience. Many editors like to liven up their otherwise drab text with funny cartoons that will appeal to their audience. In the old days, freelance cartoonists could mail in their attempts at targeted humor, and often the editors will pay for a funny gag. Some, like New Yorker or Playboy, will pay big bucks for cartoons and humorous illustration. The problem is, the competition is fierce and legion, and dominated by well-established cartoonists that are favorites.
I tried my hand at submitting dozens of cartoons to various magazines over the years, and never sold a single one. I’d mail off envelopes stuffed with gags to several different editors, and with varying degrees of polite rejection, they would return them (in the stamped, return envelope provided). This proved to be a waste of envelopes and stamps, but the game produced a lot of single-panel cartoons!
See if you can tell for what kind of magazine each cartoon might be targeted…
1997 - A Renewed Campaign
