[I try to start my day writing 250 words on anything. I’ll post one every Tuesday until I run out of good ones.]
I recently wrote about how I’m reluctant to give advice because it might be very wrong. Another reason is that it would be irrelevant. My career path is not replicable. Conversely, creators today have opportunities I never did. It’s a different world.
My first job out of college, I was hired by a small daily newspaper as a part-time night-shift sportswriter. That was my foot in the door of professional writing. Back then, that paper had an editorial staff of about a dozen people. Now it has three. My entry-level job is extinct.
As a freelance writer, I sold articles to magazines. Today, many of them are defunct. The number of print outlets for freelancing of all sorts—writing, photography, illustrations, cartoons—has withered.
I started my graphic novel career by mailing my Mom’s Cancer webcomic to four publishers. One, Abrams, plucked it from the slush pile and published it. I never heard from the others. I would not advise anyone to do that even though it worked for me.
On the other hand, the Internet didn’t exist when I was young. In a time when anyone can create and instantly distribute content worldwide, the challenge is getting noticed and paid. I know nothing about that.
Every successful creator I know has a different origin story. The only commonality I’ve found is that they did a lot of work, put it out into the world however they could, and did more of whatever people liked. That's my best career advice.
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