Comic Submissions
BASE RATE: $140 per page.
Comics are creator-owned, so you keep all the rights.
Each year we hire about 25-52 guest artists to make us comics on Oh Joy Sex Toy (OJST). Each comic gives us some much-needed fresh voices and different expertise to this collection and keeps the whole thing going. We pay for all our guest comics and work hard to make sure the comics we showcase are of high quality and standard.
Making a guest comic can be a lengthy process. We’re very particular about what gets shown on our site: from topic to language to scripting to final hand-in files. On average, one guest comic can be almost 30 emails of back and forth work between the editor and artist. It’s often quite an undertaking!
However, if you’re game, this page is here to help you submit a guest comic pitch to us and for us to explain the process!
What’s the Guest Comic Deal?
– Each guest comic is 4-5 pages (9.5″ x 14.5″ 600dpi) that we stitch together into one long scrolling image for the website.
– The work is creator-owned (Which means YOU keep the rights to your work and can use and profit from it elsewhere. You just grant us a non-exclusive license to also use it.)
– Comics need to have atleast a simple coloring scheme.
– Comics may end up in a collected book or anthology, which, in addition to receiving a complimentary copy of, you’ll also have the option to buy additional copies at cost to sell wherever you please.
So, How Do I Apply!?
First, you must meet these criteria for your story pitch to be considered:
– You must have a body of comics work.
– You must be able to write AND draw the comic. We rarely take writer/artist duos.
– You must have professional work practices (communicate well) and good public protocol (if your social media accounts are filled with nastiness, we’ll probably turn you down!)
– Your ideas must be for a new comic made for OJST (we rarely accept previously-made work), and stand-alone (doesn’t need additional context to work).
If you meet those criteria, next up is sending us the RIGHT ideas.
Your Ideas
Your comic ideas can be about whatever you want: educational, autobiographical, pornographic, review a sex toy, etc.– seriously, whatever. It doesn’t have to be explicitly sexual! You could make a guide for holding hands or having a crush or talking about your first kiss, for example. If you want to do a comic on a sex toy, sex ed, or kink, we do require it to be something you have had experience with.
Since people come to the site expecting education we’re not looking for opinions, essays or theoretical pieces. Factual, real and honest is what we’re looking for unless you’re creating something completely fictitious. We also prefer to amplify the positives; deep and dark backstories arn’t as valuable to us, as the other side; the light and joyous moments of realization and growth!
Some ideas ARE better for OJST than others, so while we’ll happily accept pitches of all kinds, you’re going to get BONUS points if your pitch is:
+++ Kinks
++ Sex education, especially on something we’ve not covered yet! (or been a while since it was last covered)
++ Toy reviews of something stocked at one of the stores we have listed
++ Funny
+ Upbeat autobio / personal adventure stories
+ Super sexy
We won’t accept comic pitches on sexual assault, scat, pedophilia, bestiality, or anything of a sexually negative or shaming nature.
The Oh Joy Sex Toy Brand
There is an over-arching ‘brand’ and style that’s important to consider when making a pitch. We don’t want ideas that play contrary to the core direction of OJST.
Oh Joy Sex Toy is:
– Sex positive
– Friendly and approachable
– Positive and upbeat
– Respectful
– Funny and slap-stick
– Conversational (the sort of language and tone you would use if a friend approached you about sex advice at your fav coffee shop.)
How to Pitch
Here’s what we’re looking for in your pitch!
Send us an email with:
– A link to your body of work
– Short description of who you are
– Links to some of your social networks
– SEVERAL short ideas (just a sentence long per idea!)
Short and simple! Don’t send fully-made comics or scripts. Just ideas and an introduction!
What Happens Next?
-Pitch
-Expanded Pitch
-Contract
-Script
-Thumbnails
-Rough Art
-Final Line Art
-Final Files
You ought to hear back from us pretty quickly after you submit your pitch.
If we approve of an idea, we’ll have you sign a contract and send you the how-to document that explains everything from file format to good-font-size and correct word ballooning. So be prepared to be flexible in how you regularly make comics.
Once you’re all signed up and the idea is approved, you’ll script and send it to us for feedback. Sometimes scripts need a lot of work to get them right for the tone of our site, so this bit is usually the most feedback-heavy part.
When the script is approved, it’s onto the art. Each person is different at this stage so we play it by ear and give feedback at every natural stopping step, that works for your process.
Payment is made upon final delivery of the unflattened working files/pages. We’ll stitch them together into the long scrolling format that’ll appear on the site, so you don’t need to worry about that.
This whole guest comic process from pitch to final art takes about 2-3 months on average.
Still want to apply?
Heck YES! We’re excited!
Email Matthew here with your pitch:
Matthew Daniel Nolan at gmail dat com
Good luck!