Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Rejections for my cartoons

From 1998-2003 and then in spurts since, I split my time between writing books and writing (plus drawing) single panel cartoons

Here are four of my favorite responses to submissions—two rejections, one acceptance, and one something else. This was back when things were done on paper, via postal mail.

 Punch was an influential, long-running humor 
magazine in the United Kingdom. In fact, it helped 
define “cartoon” to mean a humorous illustration.
This part of the last line of the letter is what sells it:
“To be honest, I don’t think you stand much chance.”
(I went on to license cartoons to Punch 
fairly regularly till it folded in 2002. I also
befriended this editor, Steve Way.)

 Not all Playboy cartoons have adult themes.
I tried unsuccessfully to sell to the magazine
for a while, then sent a note with samples to 
Playboy CEO Christie Hefner because she
and I both went to Brandeis University
(separated by 20 years). Again, the last
line is what made this a keeper.


A bit more than six months later...


(Different editor. First of several cartoons I licensed to HBR. The moral: as long as no one will get hurt, try whatever you want as many times as you want to.)

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