Mail.

YMMV.

I get email.

#1:

The Social Media Query.

Many people try to use social media to offer work, often via FB Messenger or messages on Twitter, and sometimes they become agitated when they don't get a prompt response.

In general, it's a bad idea to contact someone for work on social media. If someone puts out feelers they are looking for work via this method, OK then go for it. But I never solicit work this way, never have, and repeatedly request people not do this. I even put the fact that I don't use Messenger right there on my FB page. If someone is actually interested in me or my work, they might read the post right there at the top of the page, but you'd be surprised how many people don't.

There are many reasons women don't want to communicate privately with strangers on social media and a lot of these reasons boil down to dick pics. One guy who kept writing weirdo posts on my Facebook Fan Page and Friends page finally got blocked by me, especially after I did a little digging and saw his criminal record which included a recent arrest for assault and stalking.

So after being blocked, he signed up to my Patreon and left a weird snarky note. I blocked him again. I considered keeping his money for my trouble, but nah. He got it back.

Anyway, because I don't read my messages, when someone does send a legit query, I might not see it for six months.

There is a CONTACT page at my website, and most artists have the same thing at their website.

#2

The Scolding for Lack of Prompt Response.

Invariably when I don't respond to queries I don't see, I get scolded for my non-response. This sometimes happens right out there in public. This can be rather embarrassing, because no one likes getting taken to the woodshed over a breach of professional protocol by someone who has breached professional protocol in order to do backflips to feel offended so they can then get attention by pretending your non-response to a relationship you never had is some kind of genuine offense.

In case you were wondering, I'm pretty touchy about this.

#3

Rejection Rage.

I have been threatened with lawsuits for politely turning down work with people. I kid you not.

One guy went on a rampage when I declined to letter his webcomic. It should be noted that I am not a letterer, and have never lettered anyone's work but my own in my life. I don't even do a very good job lettering my own work. I don't know why anyone wants me to letter theirs.

#4

The Boundaries Crossing.

I've had this issue a lot with women because I assume they are not going to send a dick pic. So I respond to them, and the next thing I know a boundary is crossed and I've sunk down a quagmire. 

Some people come to you with a "professional" query or a drama that isn't really your business or that you are not in a position to solve. And when you try to back away, they push. And you back away some more, and they go nuclear.

Case in point, a woman on Twitter contacted me with an urgent and important issue and asked me to message her. Since I saw other pros following her, I figured she must be a pro I just didn't know.

But nope, she contacted me with a screed about how she didn't like something about my art, which is fine but I don't need to hear it. I certainly don't need to hear it in a personal message. I quickly unfollowed her and stopped looking at her messages, which just kept coming, followed by an apology, which I ignored.

Another example is someone wanted my phone number in hopes that I would talk to an acquaintance about my experience with Hashimoto's disease since a friend of theirs had just been diagnosed.

In the past, I probably would have handed over my phone number, and then ended up in a drama because I had the distinct feeling this was less about chronic disease education and more about making a professional contact.

I did not give them my phone number. Instead, I pointed them to articles written by a doctor.

No one needs to be getting medical advice from a cartoonist.

#4

TMI.

Do not tell people your creative ideas. Do not send them your scripts. Professionals will not read your unsolicited work. We will not look at your unsolicited work. The minute something like that crosses our thresholds, it gets deleted. I cannot tell you how many "Will you draw my new series?" queries I get which contain the entire plot outline in the query. Unless you are coming at me from a major publisher, into the bin it goes. This is not me being a snob, it's for my own protection. I do not want to be accused of stealing the idea you have for a Barbarian with a Sword fantasy you told me about in 1993.

Many of my potential clients now ask me if I am available, and only after signing an NDA do I find out what the gig is.

#5

The Completely Unrealistic Expectations.

As God is my witness, I got a query in May to do a comic book which would be due the first week of June.

#6

The Demands.

I am sometimes contacted by people who want me to join them in a movement of some sort because someone has been accused of doing something wrong, or they want me to help them in some way. I do not have the time or energy to research all of these matters. In the past, I would rush to be involved and sometimes I did right by that and sometimes I did wrong. 

Life is incredibly complicated, people are complicated, I do not have the resources to adequately research all of the issues and players. 

I am not a lawyer. I am not a counselor.

Saying "no" or even wishing others the best with their problem usually just opens a door you can't close again, and if the querent then does not get the response they desire from you, then they kinda hate you.

This gets old.

I will be the first to admit when I could not get help I felt I should get when I was a struggling creator, I had bitter feelings toward the people who didn't put a hand out. It's impossible not to. It's a human response.

But I am only one person and I get requests to help, speak out, etc, every single week, sometimes every single day. I simply don't have the resources.

I'm going to just have to live with not being liked by everyone.

Eh, that's life.

#7

Silence.

Because of all of the above, I sometimes ignore my inbox completely, especially notifications on Twitter. I do nothing but post, but don't read. This makes for a much more pleasant life experience.

But it brings us back to #2.

Round and round we go.

No one remembers that I once did a graphic novel for Anne Rice. Some of it was well-done, some of it wasn’t. But here’s a look. Watercolor.