Successful Collaboration

Sometimes you need to collaborate with someone else in order to make a comic. The reality is that, despite our personal desires, we're not the Renaissance artists that we would like to be; while some of us can write and draw, it's sadly more likely that you're going to be good at drawing or writing, but not both. While learning the skill you're missing is always a possibility, it's probably a better idea to look into some form of collaboration.

A collaboration can be one of the more intimate business relationships and you need to be ready to treat it as such. Since the idea is that both of you are combining talents for the sake of a business venture, you need to remember that you need to treat the other person with respect; if nothing else, you need to be completely honest with your partner and give them a head's up if there are any changes, and the sooner the better. Your communication with your partner needs to be somewhat absolute; if anything is going on that can affect the comic, you need to let the other person know as soon as you find out.

You also need to remember that the comics community can be very small. If the collaboration ends up failing, then you need to make sure that the break-up is as amicable as possible. Barring any other agreement, this means that the writer gets any text and the illustrator keeps the drawings. If the break-up ends up being contentious, then you're going to find out just how small the comics community really is, especially if the other person has greater reach than you do. If you're lucky, the situation will blow over soon, but if the former collaborator has far more fans than you do and the break-up was a pretty bitter one, your reputation (and thus future projects) could be in serious trouble.

This should not dissuade you from collaborating with someone else. At the very least, look at it as a rite of passage: Most comickers end up collaborating with someone at some point and this is part of the business. While not everyone needs to collaborate, doing so may be worth the experience, especially if you're planning to work for one of the bigger companies, where you will be likely forced to team up with someone else. So seriously debate it, especially if you're lacking some of the skills needed to create a comic. Thus, collaborating with someone else allows you access to skills you do not have yourself.

Are You Ready to Ally?

The big question is whether or not you're ready to ally with someone else. The problem here is that artists have egos; this is just part and parcel of being an artist. Our ability to do art, be it music, writing, painting, or even illustration, is directly tied to our self-confidence and so we tend to be a little more egotistical than others. This means that you need to ask yourself if you can suppress your ego enough to work with someone else, someone who may have needs and suggestions that need to be considered in order to ensure that the partnership will work.

While this is not to say that you shouldn't fight for your own considerations, it does mean that you need to debate issues that will come up; you will need to decide which lines you won't cross. However, this should not sound like you're gearing up for war; generally, the two of you should be able to talk everything out by compromising on certain topics. You just need to decide if it's worth it to you to make those compromises, and it generally is.

What You Bring to the Table

Before you propose a collaboration, you need to create a list of what you bring to the table. You need to be honest here, and more so than on a resume; you have little wiggle room to pad things, and this is one situation where you have to be honest. You need to recognize that this is a full-on business relationship, and so you need to be honest about your skills and background; your potential business partner needs to know exactly what they are in for.

Normally, it's okay to say you can do something and then learn how to do it later; this is not that time. If you can't do it NOW or just assume it can be figured out later, you are just better off not mentioning it in the first place. Honesty is the best policy, and that's definitely true in this case.

Pick the Right Partner 

You also need to make sure that the person you are debating collaborating with is the right person for the situation as well. You need to make sure that the person is just as willing as you are to compromise while having their own standards. You also need to make sure that your skills are compatible, and that the person is just as interested in a business relationship as you are. Make sure that they are as advertised and that the two of you have enough disparate skill sets so that you both bring something valuable to the table.

Keep in mind that you want to avoid someone who is overly manipulative or dramatic; the former will keep pushing you in directions you may want to avoid and the latter will tend to weigh things down.

With all of this in mind, you should be able to find a great partner.

Niches Lining Up

You also need to make sure that your niches line up. Illustration works best when it is paired with writing that is compatible with it: If you want to write an erotic thriller, it may not be a good idea to work with a children's book illustrator. This may sound obvious, but too many try to work in genres that are just not for them, and it can create some interesting problems for both sides.

If someone is interested in changing their genre to work with you, you shouldn't disregard them out of hand. You should ask for samples to see if moving forward is worth it; you would be surprised by how well some people take to a genre that you would think would be outside of their wheelhouse. Thus you should always give a talented artist a chance if you can.

There is also the possibility that choosing someone outside of the genre may not be a bad idea. There are times when someone may have the right style for a project even though they may not think so; a person known for his organic dark fantasy can work rather well for science fiction horror, or a more kid-friendly style can add an additional layer to a dark story. Thus, you should keep an open mind but know what you are looking for; sometimes the niches just don't line up and it can cause the implosion of the project.

Different Crowds 

Part of collaborating is that both partners are looking for a greater number of readers. This business aspect should not be set aside; sure, you can collaborate just to see what happens and that's fine, but the more readers that both bring to the table can only help the project to succeed. As such, you need to make sure that the two of you don't share too many of the same people in your respective audiences; if the two of you hang out in all of the same groups, have too many mutual followers, and generally have identical demographics, you're just not going to expand your readers all that much.

If you can draw a Venn diagram of your followers and it's virtually a single circle, collaborating may not be good for business.

Mutual Respect

When you are sniffing out potential partners, make sure that the two of you respect each other. This does not mean you need to like each other; you just need to have some sort of respect for each other's skills and talents. The two of you will be working together and so you need to respect that the other can do the work in such a fashion that will get the work done when it needs to get done. You don't need to enjoy each other's company, but you do need to work together well, and the basis of that is respect.

Without respect, the project will not last long and will end up creating a possibly bitter ending. That rarely works out for either side, so do what you can to avoid it from the beginning.

Informal alliances

Don't be afraid to look for informal alliances. While this is not a full-on business relationship, sometimes having someone willing to do an occasional guest page, help with marketing, or even just say a kind word is well worth pretty much any price. If you can work out some sort of mutual benefit, such as sharing links or boosting each other's notices, then you can create a working if informal business relationship.

This is why networks tend to work: With everyone working together to spread the news of individual members, they can get out the word on their individual projects to a larger audience. Informal alliances are a form of collaboration that can work, so take advantage of them when you can.

How Far It Goes

You need to define exactly which role each person will perform. While some people will resist this (they just don't like to define themselves too exactly), the better the roles are defined, with expectations set for each partner, the more likely the partnership will succeed. This goes beyond just who will do the writing and illustrating, but also who will deal with which aspect of the marketing, as well as how each partner will contribute to that marketing plan, even if it's just links and posting on social media.

Good fences make good neighbors; this is because everyone does better when things have been defined as well as possible. The same applies to contracts: The better you can define what the roles are from the beginning, the more comfortable both parties will be.

Remember the Backlinks

It may sound obvious, but too many collaborators forget about the links. This means more than posting on social media and personal sites; it also applies to links for networks and aggregator sites. It should be noted that while search engines dislike backlinks, this only applies if you put too many links on your site; the search engines have learned that sites with too many links generally do so just to spike their numbers.

You just want to make sure that the link to the project is shared, as well as links to the sites of the partners involved when possible. Do that and the project should be successful.

How Many Allies Is The Limit

While "partner" has been used throughout this article, it should be noted that collaboration can include more than just two people. Just apply the suggestions noted to all such partners, especially defining roles as precisely as possible in order to avoid stepping on people's toes and that each person brings more readers to the audience. However, keep in mind that too many cooks can spoil the meal: If you have too many people involved, it may just be time to create an actual company so as to better manage everyone involved.

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While it may seem like it's all sorts of complicated, this is actually one of the simplest partnerships out there. Just remember to keep the lines of communication open, be honest with your partner, and be open to changes. With the two of you, it's easier to roll with the punches; if you don't know what to do, then your partner might. Between the two of you, you should be able to figure out most problems. So if you're missing some sort of vital skill, a collaboration may be just the thing to get you from just thinking about creating a comic to actually making one.