After almost a year’s silence, and a sudden though exciting mini-announcement to kick it off, Viz Media is now accepting proposals and submissions for original series. A posting on Viz Media’s blog offered just as few details as the Twitter posting that originally let me know, but at least the concept itself is pretty self explanatory. Have a story or series that you’ve been working on and believe is ready for publication? Put together a pitch package and submit to Viz for consideration!
Last we heard anything substantial about Viz’s original pitch project was back in February when news circulated that Viz Media was putting their original submission project on hold. It previously had a short run when Viz held portfolio reviews at SDCC 2008 and more recently when Viz Media editor Eric Searleman appeared alongside other comic industry folk for panels and portfolio reviews at the Savannah College of Art and Design.
Creators and the curious can download their Pitch Submission Release (PDF) which is to accompany all submissions to Viz Media. It also includes the physical address of where to send your material.
What I’m curious about now, same as I was when they originally shared that they’d begin actively seeking this kind of original material, is what kind of stories we may see from this endeavour. Are they looking for any particular genres? Certain age targets? Minimum or maximum lengths? Straight to graphic novels or serializations? Things are pretty vague right now but if Viz recieves a good amount of submissions, it’ll be interesting to see if they put some suggestive guidelines in place.
Simon from Icarus Publishing brings up excellent points about the incredible circulation power that Viz’s Shonen Jump magazine has to offer and the likelihood that creators could retain their copyrights to the works submitted. With the growing popularity of Viz’s online manga reading websites, Shonen Sunday and IKKI, there’s also a great potential for original works to be offered to new readers in the digital format as well, offering Viz a chance to promote and ‘test the waters’ without immediately committing to print. This is similar to the benefits both Tokyopop and Digital Manga have recently begun to really dig into with their current online releases of material from creators around the world.
Personally I’m really eager to see what kind of stories and artists come out of the woodwork to submit. Hopefully we’ll see some returning faces along with some great new talent. Best of luck to those who submit – take your time, do your best, aim to impress and have fun!
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