The Future of Political Cartoon Syndication

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By Daryl Cagle | May 18th, 2009 | PERMALINK

I was asked to speak about the future of syndication on panels at the National Cartoonists Society convention this week and the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists convention in July. The subject is a burning issue for cartoonists – burning a hole in the wallets of many cartoonists, as newspapers seem to be fading away before our eyes.

by Dave Granlund

The best-known editorial cartoonists have always been the cartoonists with the biggest list of syndicated client newspapers. Fifty years ago, when there were two or three times as many political cartoonists and the newspaper industry was thriving, newspapers would purchase individual subscriptions to star cartoonists from syndicates that were like cartoon boutiques with exclusive content. The cartoonist would mail his cartoon to his syndicate, who would print the cartoon on paper and re-mail it to all of the subscribing newspaper editors, in big envelopes stuffed with the other boutique, exclusive features that each editor subscribed to and slowly received, days after the news was fresh.

It would have been difficult for a cartoonist to self syndicate in those days because delivery and billing was a big job; there were efficiencies of scale for the syndicates, who had ambitious printing, mass postal mailing operations and sales forces that were constantly visiting editors.

In recent decades the individual sales have given way to “packages” of groups of cartoonists. It is cheaper and easier for an editor to subscribe to a group of cartoonists, with one monthly invoice for the whole group, than to keep track of individual subscriptions. By the 1980’s and 1990’s, competition between the packages had driven the prices for editorial cartoons down to alarmingly low levels, leading cartoonists to complain about the collapse of their profession.

In fact, it was almost impossible for a cartoonist to sell his own work to newspapers. If an editor could subscribe to the Copley News Service package of twelve great cartoonists for $24 per week, there was no sense in talking to an individual cartoonist about subscribing to only his work for $2 per week. The price for editorial cartoons had fallen so low that it would be embarrassing for an editor to even discuss price with a single cartoonist.

I started my little syndicate in 2000, at what seemed to be a terrible time, with ugly low prices and disinterested, unmotivated editors in an oversaturated market. But I had an edge; the other big syndicates were slow in transitioning from postal mail delivery to e-mail delivery, and had no download Web sites for their newspaper editors. I was the first to put up a nice download site, where the cartoonists uploaded their own cartoons, and the cartoons appeared immediately when they were drawn. We also delivered the cartoons by e-mail, and I assembled a group of great cartoonists to compete as a package, against the other packages. It worked and we built an impressive list of over 600 newspaper subscribers in the first three years. (Today we have about 900 subscribers.)

by Adam Zyglis

Now that newspapers are failing, circulation is dropping, editors are cutting expenses anywhere they can, and prices for editorial cartoons couldn’t fall any lower, the future looks even bleaker for political cartoonists. A few years ago it looked like the Internet would be our salvation. There are some Web sites that are good customers, but sales to the Web have turned out to be a disappointment. There is no culture of paying for content on the Web. Advertising with content on the Internet pays a pittance. The Web is a dud.

By Terry Mosher

Many cartoonists thought that animated editorial cartoons would be our future. The Pulitzer committee certainly thought so, picking three animated editorial cartoonists as winner and runners up recently when animated editorial cartoons were on people’s minds. Some cartoonists do excellent work animating their cartoons, but with a handful of exceptions, there is no business plan in it. No matter how good the animated editorial cartoons are, they won’t work without clients who will pay for them. Some cartoonists stubbornly cling to idea that animation will be our salvation. I wish them luck.

We’re now seeing more cartoonists who are willing to work for free for Web sites, with the idea that this will somehow lead to a paying job. As editorial cartoonists are laid off from staff positions at declining newspapers, they continue to draw cartoons in syndication as they did when they had real jobs. Our profession seems to be transitioning into a hobby.

Ironically, political cartoons are now more popular than ever. We have a big audience for our Web sites. Cartoons still dominate newspaper editorial pages. Our annual Best Political Cartoons of the Year books are popular. High school and middle school kids have mandated state testing on political cartoons in every state and teachers teach to the tests, forcing millions of students to love our art form every night as they grind through their homework assignments.

The quality of work that editorial cartoonists are doing now has never been better. The product is great, the audience is there for the product, and the problem is the business plan.

What the Future Holds …

by Jeff Stahler

We see two big trends in our little business. First is the decline in newspaper clients – what used to be the whole reason for drawing editorial cartoons.

Second, we’re seeing growth in strange, oddball subscribers. Our new subscribers and pay per use customers come from all over the globe, like Southeast Asia, Arab countries, Eastern European countries, places we would never expect. And they are all different kinds of companies, including foreign newspapers, magazines, newsletters, book publishers, TV stations and oddball Websites. These are customers who find us because we’re easy to find on the Web (search Google for “political cartoon” or “editorial cartoon” and we come up first). Most of new customers are overseas, their numbers are growing and there are enough of them to make up for our losses in newspapers, keeping our little business stable and making us optimistic about continued growth.

The new, oddball customers have something in common, they don’t comparison shop, they come to us and subscribe or purchase pay per use. They don’t know anything about other online cartoon sources like stock illustration houses, or other syndicates and they don’t care; we have enough content that they can find something they like.

by Mike Keefe

In the old days syndicates knew just who to sell to - they all sold to the same list of newspaper editors, in a limited market, so it made sense that each syndicate had exclusive arrangements with their cartoonists, to differentiate their content from their competitors. Now there doesn’t seem to be so much value in exclusivity. A number of our cartoonists are non-exclusive and some are sold in other online stores or are represented by other syndicates – we’ve never heard from new clients who have noticed that.

It would seem that the new paradigm is to think of a syndicate like a store. A store in a good location has lots of customers who find the store. A store in a poor location draws few customers. Stores in different locations draw different customers.

Cartoonists are like producers who create products to put in the stores. Cartoonists should want their cartoons to be sold in as many different stores as possible, because those stores now have different customers.

by Daryl Cagle

Exclusive syndication deals now have less value to the syndicates and tie the hands of the cartoonists. The new paradigm for editorial cartoonists is to be resold in as many ways, in as many places as possible.

I think this is a future that many cartoonists will find difficult to accept. Cartoonists have always been drawn to the idea that a syndicate is a benevolent Mommy, who will take care of all the nasty business stuff while they can concentrate on their creative work; this is a model that hasn’t worked for most cartoonists and is even worse now, but cartoonists keep coming back to it and keep signing long term, exclusive contracts with old world syndicates.

From the syndicate’s or “store’s” point of view, it means we need to find a way of presenting our product to more, non-overlapping groups of customers on the Web. We’ve looked at sublicensing our content to be sold by another store, like Cartoonbank, but I think there is a basic problem with that. Once we hit the point of having enough content so that a customer can easily find a cartoon he likes, there is diminishing value to adding more content, or cartoonists. Putting more content into a store that already has plenty of content doesn’t make for more sales overall in that store. We need more stores, in different wrappers, in different places, reaching more potential customers in different ways. That’s our plan now.

I would expect to see more cartoonists getting together to start their own online stores and syndicates as I did - as Malcolm Mayes did with Artizans, and as Sarah Thaves did with Cartoonistsgroup. The barriers to entry are low in the Internet age. It won’t work for self-syndicating cartoonists to call the same 1,500 daily newspapers who are sick of getting so many sales calls, but I expect that more cartoonists will lay claim to bits of the vast, odd and foreign client potential on the Web.

by Angel Boligan

My advice for 21^st century editorial cartoonists is: draw a consistent, steady flow of great cartoons that are not about local events, with a global audience in mind. Sign non-exclusive deals with as many syndicates, online stores and stock houses that you can find, around the world, and allow those “stores” to sub-license your work through other “stores.” Have your own Web site where your work is easily available to any customer who is interested just in you, and publicize your site as best you can. Manage your work as a database of all your work. Your product is all your work from past years, not just what you’re drawing today; and when you join a new online store or syndicate, bring all your past cartoons with you so that your archive is easily accessible and can continue to generate sales of second rights. Don’t accept long term contracts with syndicates, agents or online stores; always be free to move. And don’t rely on anyone to take care of your career, but you.

————-
I look forward to seeing some comments on this screed. I plan on putting this into our next Best Political Cartoons of the Year book, with some changes in response to the comments. Maybe I’ll include some of the comments in the book.

Thanks,
Daryl

Comments: 22. ADD A COMMENT.
Tags: AAEC, Artizans, Association of American Editorial Cartoons, cagle cartoons, cartoon, cartoonistgroup.com, Copley News Service, editorial cartoonist, inc., journalism, national cartoonists society, NCS, newpaper, political cartoonist, syndicate, syndication

Comments

Comment from Mike Simon
Time May 18, 2009 at 11:44 pm

I don’t think the web is a dud. I think the ubiquity of artists who can get their work published without having to go through a million and one hoops to do so is what is really hurting cartoonists’ price point. This came from many thousands of artists who really wanted to break in, but got the cold shoulder from editors who didn’t want to take the time to cultivate talent and worse, other comic artists who didn’t really want the competition in exclusive markets. With the web, people can publish their cartoons, grow their audience through community and reap the rewards without going through a system that still largely is closed.

Some would call this rationale sour grapes from someone who couldn’t make it in the real world of newspaper cartooning, but the real world has changed. The web is a meritocratic clearinghouse of talent that’s impossible to close for news, cartoons, music and just about every other content medium you can imagine. (IMO) People who are only looking at newspapers as the key market for their cartoons simply don’t want to compete in an open market where their cartoons have to be as good and polished and consistent as comics like Penny-arcade.com, Sinfest or a host of other comics that have found vast niche success.

I think your idea of creating clearinghouses or syndicates is good, but better at this stage might be creating a meta-syndicate that creates a standard to which all others conform. Something with a voting feature that lets cream rise to the top, but can’t easily be gamed as other systems have in the past. Sounds like an easy thing to setup technologically speaking. More difficult is keeping it from becoming a closed system too

Comment from Rock Cowles
Time May 19, 2009 at 12:06 am

Daryl,

I appreciate the article. I wanted to be an editorial cartoonist when I was younger. I ended up being the staff cartoonist for a small non-syndicated paper and it in itself was an experience. The competition for the few slots open for any of the papers or syndicates for a cartoonist or editorial cartoonist was absolutely vicious, and required staying current on all politics, as well as bowing down to your editors. I decided to pursue other ideas.

It does seem the Internet opens a lot more opportunities to get exposure, but this is the first article I have read with some guidance towards making it profitable.

Thanks.

Comment from Donna Barstow
Time May 19, 2009 at 1:45 am

The proof of the business plan is the pudding, and Daryl has lots of pudding, so he should know! This is a great series of cartoons along with this post, btw.

I’ve been feeling very sorry for myself all month, as I can’t afford to go to the Reubens, even though it’s 15 minutes away from me . Oh, and angry, too. NCS does a p!ss-poor job of promoting itself, even within the group, so I didn’t know there would be any panels as interesting as this - just people like Sergio, Mike R, Steve, who I already know. I wanted panels, tech stuff, etc. No response from Keane. So $450 for 3? meals - that part wasn’t clear, either- just seems a little out of line this year.

But this is a mini-talk, Daryl, so thanks for this.

You’re right, too, that I’ve always hoped/thought of a syndicate as the best type of uncle who will get me jobs and give me affectionate hugs! I wish!

Oh, must say: I never heard of Artizans, but Sarah Thaves was unprofessional - twice!- in my books. But maybe it was just me, so by all means, others should try her.

Do you have signups in different languages, Daryl? And do they translate the cartoons themselves, once they buy them? I’m surprised they don’t support the cartoonists in their own countries first.

Mike, it sounds like you enjoy the freedom the web offers. But that unlimited, unsearchable quality doesn’t work for businesses who need a particular product. I think some people get discovered - I don’t know who, but some, I read do - but cartoonists just on the web seem to support themselves through tshirts or products. Which is great, but it makes sense to offer your business to the companies who need you, rather than just sit and wait on the internet.

But that gets us back to Daryl and speaking as one who does make calls, I guess it is hard both for me and the editor, sometimes. But not always.

And I’m sure the Reubens will be great fun for anyone who gets to go.

Comment from kwerboom
Time May 19, 2009 at 1:54 am

As a lurker on your website for the past eight years, I feel that I have to say the following: THANK GOD SOMEBODY IN OLD MEDIA IS FINALLY GETTING IT!!! Between this and your embed code project, I see things looking more up then down for political cartoons these days. I really do enjoy the the fact that you put political cartoons online for everyone to see. It is good to see someone from analog media thinking outside the box and trying to find ways to make the worthwhile oldies and goodies work in the information age.

Now if only the movie industry and music industry (MPAA & RIAA) would get it, content would finally get the respect it deserves. Very few people want to be thought of as pirates, but when content is locked under obscure security and laws that are thirty years out of touch with the Internet, it gets very hard to find, use, and enjoy creative works let alone pay for them. I really hate it when one of the out-of-touch types says something like when Sony CEO Michael Lynton said, “I’m a guy who doesn’t see anything good having come from the Internet…(The Internet) created this notion that anyone can have whatever they want at any given time. It’s as if the stores on Madison Avenue were open 24 hours a day. They feel entitled. They say, ‘Give it to me now,’ and if you don’t give it to them for free, they’ll steal it.(http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10242526-62.html)” As Dave Rosenberg said in that very same article: “Instead of embracing new technologies and delivery methods, Sony chooses to stick to the old, now failing ways, as evidenced by the company’s recent $1 billion loss. ”

Speaking of paying for things, I agree that it will be hard to make that work now days. I think embed code with ads is a good start. Also, advertising on Cagle.com also helps. It also sounds like you do have help from a nice collection of new “oddballs” that are paying for creative content. Maybe doing something like Daily Kos use to do and have a small yellow box display when an ad blocker is detected at the top of the screen to remind those who use ad blockers to not block on your website or pay for a subscription if they insist on blocking ads on the site might also be a good idea. Finally, I wouldn’t judge anything about what is going on for the past several years up through end of 2010 because of all the economic troubles people have been experiencing. I mean, the whole reason newspapers are dying now is because they are USING AND CHARGING an ungodly amount for the SAME information that is FREE ONLINE and people are looking to cut expenses right now. Newspapers shouldn’t be competing with the World Wide Web but creating local niches where the web can’t properly penetrate or do so as well as paper could.

Thank you and loved the rant.

Comment from ben
Time May 19, 2009 at 3:50 am

Thanks for the great advice… I have just started putting up some of my UK specific political cartoons and only have a handfull at the moment. They are mostly about the state of our parliment at the moment and all our MPs having been caught fiddling expenses.

It was interesting to read about creating cartoons for a global audience and making them accessible to as many as possible. This is a really new area to me and for me it is on the hobby side of things at the moment but I have about 500 cartoons to digitise and put on my blog and this article has made me think about oportunities. Would love to read more like this.

Thanks
Ben
benjaminharvey.co.uk

Comment from Sweetnote
Time May 19, 2009 at 2:50 pm

Daryl…wow…this is a great article…and SO very sad. Who\’d have ever anticipated the demise of such great institutions and the need to change up the game plan for Editorial Artists? The upside is probably MORE people will see the wonderful art of great people like you online than what was ever viewed by the public in all the years of Paper Journalism. The UP side is the great amount of Political Fodder that still spews from All corners of the world. So many subjects to draw upon, so little time. I for one will continue to devote time to the fine art of appreciating the Editorial Cartoonist/Satirist and look to you to lead the charge!

Comment from Rob Waite
Time May 19, 2009 at 3:01 pm

Great article! Great advice! I’ve always thought that a political cartoonist could also do public speaking that is informative, educational and humorous, just like the cartoons themselves. Corporations, schools, trade organizations could all be interested in the political cartoonist as public speaker. Also, what about local or national TV? Couldn’t you also do 45 second to 90 second politically humorous commentaries to syndicate to TV news outlets? The cartoonist’s future will be through many, many media outlets, not just one.

Comment from Steve Greenberg
Time May 19, 2009 at 4:32 pm

I know I have recently become one of those cartoonists giving stuff away for free online — actually, I’m drawing for 3 or 4 paid places, and have been giving stuff away for free to just one site (LAObserved.com) for just two weeks at this writing — in hopes of it leading to something paying.
Well, I just got a good-sized freelance illustration assignment from a publication because the art director saw my work on LAObserved.com, and after some email exchanges I got the assignment… plus a decent chance at future assignments there, plus a possibility of picking up freelance illustration work from a sister publication of this one, plus the editor of the web site may have connections to get me work on a magazine he writes for.
I see the free cartoons as (a) hugely improving my media visibility in L.A., and maybe becoming seen as the go-to guy for local editorial cartoons, and (b) a marketing and promotional tool for myself, not unlike an illustrator sending out glossy fliers and postcards of his work to art directors.
Can’t speak for Milt Priggee,who’s doing the very same thing in Seattle, but I would bet he’s getting some payoff from doing this too.

Comment from Robert Sutton Myers
Time May 19, 2009 at 5:15 pm

Great piece.
I was one of those syndicated in the late 80s /early 90s(NorthAmerica Syndicate) who just let it go when my 5 year deal was expired. I think i was making about $300 a month and that was with 50 papers.
Steve Greenberg, hi and thanks for you entry, too.

Comment from Cartoons For Licensing
Time May 19, 2009 at 8:44 pm

Probably one of the more interesting articles to come down the pike in ages. Congratulations for laying it all out so clearly Daryl. I don’t think it could have been written better as I read through paragraph by paragraph. The same philosophy was adopted by me several years ago when the magazine market began to crumble and no longer needed gag panel cartoons as you may well realize. A recent reflection of the magazine market is Playboy Enterprises recent decision to cut back monthly production of it’s flagship, the ubiquitous Playboy magazine. In fact, if you haven’t noticed, recent issues were as thick as your local hospital newsletter. Same goes for Mad magazine who just recently decided to go to bi-monthly. I was literally forced to make the leap into getting an online “store” and had to learn on my own how to lay out web pages and learn HTML in order to present my portfolio and images in a presentable portfolio so potential customers could find my site. I would have to reiterate what you say 100% that getting your best work archived online and offer it in as many ways as possible is the best possible way to deal with the so-called dwindling cartoon market. Keep up your great work. I read you all the time. And I had to chime in after reading your views since the publishing market as we know it will soon morph into something we least expect. At least if you’re online, you have a better chance of injecting yourself into that new realm when it comes to pass.

All the best -

Dan Rosandich

Comment from Stephanie McMillan
Time May 20, 2009 at 5:28 pm

Thank you for a valuable addition to the widespread and ongoing discussion about how to keep making a living drawing cartoons. There\’s a lot of good advice in your post. I look forward to your presentation at AAEC!
Best,
Stephanie

Comment from Daryl Cagle
Time May 20, 2009 at 10:25 pm

Nice to see you here, Stephanie!

Comment from Laroquod
Time May 21, 2009 at 5:38 pm

The web may be the dud, but the web is now an incontrovertible fact, innit? And if you aren’t on the web you will increasingly cease to exist; no rational being looking at history and the way things are going could conclude any different.

So this dud is now the world, and those who fail to see and exploit the good in it, are doomed to become tech-trampled duds themselves, aren’t they? That is also inevitable.

I don’t much see the point in discussing it as if anyone’s got any choice in the matter, because we really don’t.

Comment from Laroquod
Time May 21, 2009 at 5:42 pm

Second half of the article is pretty good!

Comment from John Trever
Time May 22, 2009 at 9:49 pm

Very interesting essay, Daryl, with some cogent insights. For those of us still hanging on to regular newspaper jobs, however, I couldn’t help noticing a dilemma in your advice. In recent years surviving staff cartoonists have been urged to prove their unique value by doing local cartoons. But in the brave new world of syndication you describe, we need to have as much global appeal as possible.
So I guess our new bumper sticker should be THINK GLOBALLY, INK LOCALLY. Or vice versa…

Comment from Susan Shelley
Time May 24, 2009 at 1:55 pm

Newspapers have lost touch with their readers. Editors want to win Pulitzers and be invited to appear on cable news shows. Readers like editorial cartoons, puzzles, and columnists. Editors make cuts to the content that readers enjoy most, publishers raise subscription prices, readers cancel their subscriptions. Repeat until deceased.

Comment from Joseph Rank
Time May 25, 2009 at 12:30 am

Cagle, such a myopic nob.
Content is king, and local is irreplacable.

Corporate jerks have had their time…including You Know Who.

We know where Daryl is comng from.

Give it up, DG.

Comment from Scott Johnston
Time May 25, 2009 at 7:44 pm

Though I have never spent much time looking at my local newspaper’s web site (sfgate.com), I am open to the idea of reading a local web site with an editorial cartoonist that addresses both local and farther-flung issues (and subsidizing this by paying attention to local advertisements). I guess what I’m waiting for is a local journalistic website that goes all out — stops publishing paper , starts making me want to read it, starts making me want to pay money now and then for extras.

It seems the underlying problem with monetizing web journalism is the global competition for things people can read on the web. But I wouldn’t count the local editorial cartoonist as down and out just because their work isn’t on paper. It seems a new kind of local journalistic business vehicle is needed, and one can’t bemoan that it doesn’t kill trees.

Comment from ImNotBlue
Time May 26, 2009 at 1:47 pm

If you want to predict the “Future of Political Cartoon Syndication,” read the blog post directly following this one.

Then you’ll realize why their eminent demise will be less than surprising.

Bottom line: Insulting crap from the certifiably crazy doesn’t sell.

Comment from Jim Sizemore
Time May 28, 2009 at 8:26 am

Great piece. And it strikes me that the advice you give to editorial toonsmiths applies as well to the nearly extinct magazine gag cartoonist. Much food for thought and I’m thinking about it.

Comment from Steve J
Time June 7, 2009 at 7:32 pm

Always LOVE your cartoons..We think alike.

Here is a GREAT idea for a cartoon…

To show Gore as a modern day Noah preaching to deaf ears…
The so called Christians are supposed to be listening and concerned, but are oblivious until the worlds end….a great parallel.

You have my permission to use this idea.
Steve J

Comment from Rajesh KC
Time July 17, 2009 at 7:20 am

Daryl is DARING.

He is daring because he’s shared great information and advices for aspiring artists. He dared because he’s self confident with vision.

“Burning a hole in the wallets of many cartoonists” is not because people are fed up with cartoons. I strongly support Daryl’s line- “Ironically, political cartoons are now more popular than ever.” Obviously, we have to follow the perception of the changing world.

Thanks for posting a great article. Here I would like to share my experience on how political cartoons evolving in the third world.

There were only two (English and Nepali language) daily newspapers (without cartoon) in my country (Nepal) before 1992. In 1991, I approached to them with my proposal of editorial cartoon. Since it was a state-run media, editors had to be self censored and my cartoon used to be heavily censored.

In 1992, after the establishment of multiparty system in the country, the first dailies from the private sector were registered. I took my samples to the editor and soon I was appointed as a staff cartoonist. Both broadsheets were launched in 1993 with my cartoons. I became country’s first cartoonist to start daily editorial cartoons.

Earlier, cartoon was a new stuff to the Nepali readers. It was difficult for the readers to understand cartoons. But still I had to make readers used to of cartoons. Cartooning was not regarded as a respectable profession as well. I was also not sure whether cartooning would earn me a leaving but I pushed myself relentlessly.
Gradually cartoons started becoming the talk of the morning.

In 1998, I received the Cartoonist of the Year award. In 2000, a survey showed that my cartoon’s panel was the most popular and widely viewed column in the country. I bagged several honors as a creative person. Currently there are dozens of dailies carrying editorial cartoons prominently. Every morning, more than 30 community radios all over Nepal read cartoons visualizing the scene verbally.

Editorial cartoons became so popular and powerful. When King Gyanendra grabbed power on Feb 1, 2005, declared emergency and put leaders behind the bar, his military generals warned me against drawing cartoons that would hamper security force’s morale. Several top leaders and journalists had been detained, and several newspapers were shut down. On top of that, all the communication’s line had been cut down, including internet. One hundred soldiers were stationed in my newspaper office. Army officers used to delete any material critical of the king or his government.

Cartoonist became bolder enough to satire the autocratic regime which, according to the senior journalists, had helped writers and columnists to pick up their writing pace against the King’s rule. Thus, an Indian national daily The Statesman wrote, “Despite the mounting maladies, Nepal’s political cartoonist try to balance the situation with their daily dose of humor.”

Cartoon is an indispensable part of the print media in Nepal. Most of the media have salaried cartoonists. Celeb cartoonists draw salary double than our Prime Minister does.

Good luck !

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