Membership Application
Anyone making comics in any capacity around the world, whether professional or casual, is invited to apply for membership.
This includes artists, writers, colorists, and letterers. The benefits of becoming a member include:
- Access to a private forum and Discord server where you can work alongside and learn with other cartoonists.
- Add your comic to our online curated catalogue.
- Watch archived private workshops and sign up to see upcoming member-led lectures.
- Exclusive benefits and discounts from companies and organizations who partner with us.
- Eligibility for promotional campaigns and access to an extensive marketing team and plan.
- Access to a members only newsletter with open calls, exclusive resources, and more!
Membership is free but requires a minimum of activity such as supporting one promotional campaign or providing a service to another member every 6 months. Some examples of ways you might provide a service to other members: offering creative feedback, editing, proofreading, offering design assistance, writing promotional copy, seeking blurbs, sending out ARCs, helping with social media engagement and more.
If a member uses the cooperative’s promotional services, they are required to support other members by contributing to 3 other campaigns or volunteering their skills in reciprocation within a year. Contributing to a campaign can mean anything from writing an email or making a simple social media graphic. Running a strong cooperative requires everyone contributing a little so no one member gets overwhelmed with work. Members who use the cooperative’s campaign services will also be asked to provide sales and referral data to better help us optimize our efforts.
Note: Membership doesn’t guarantee that your comic will be offered a promotional campaign. The cooperative’s site is curated and each comic will go through a vetting process that looks at the comics quality, subject matter and more.
The Cartoonist Cooperative reserves the right to reject applications for:
- Making comics with AI-generated images and/or involvement with NFTs.
- Content from the applicant or the applicant’s work that is openly bigoted.
- Unprofessional behavior from the applicant towards cartoonists and/or other comics workers.
- Conflict of interest between the applicant and working members of the cooperative.
Volunteer Application
Not a cartoonist but want to be involved in supporting the Cooperative? Then we invite you to become a volunteer! With access to our private community, you’ll be able to help cartoonists create and promote their work.
Comic Submission and Campaign Application
This application is for both:
- Submitting your finished comic to the website catalog.
- Applying for a promotional campaign to market your finished, unpublished comic.
Published Comics: We are happy to add your comic to the co-op catalog! Published comics are ineligible for a promotional campaign but may be promoted when relevant on the home page, the journal, the newsletter, and elsewhere. These comics must be a minimum of 16 pages and may be published physically or online as webcomics.
Promotional Campaigns: If you have a finished, unpublished comic that is at least 16 pages long, the cooperative is able to offer you promotional support. We can also offer assistance with crowdfunding campaigns meant to help produce your comic. The co-op needs at minimum 3 months lead time from the release date to consider your comic for a campaign.
