Even if you plan to pull an Emily Dickinson and forever hide your comics in your sketchbook, one day you may change your mind. In case you do, here's how you can show your work to the world.

There are two ways to publish your comic--the hard way and the easy way. Take your pick or try them all.

The Hard Way

The Corporate Publisher
The comic book industry is made up of studios that create, publish, market and distribute their own comics. The top two major studios, DC and Marvel, have been around a while and continue to create major publications like "Batman"(DC) and "Spider-man"(Marvel). There are also smaller studios, such as Slave Labor Graphics or Fantagraphics Books, that tend to publish more alternative styles of comics, like "Ghost World."

Within a comic studio, each project is usually broken down into separate jobs, and often someone may do more than one job. These jobs are: editor, breakdown artist, penciller, inker, scripter, letterer and colorist (see the glossary for definitions of these terms).

Although studio representation is notoriously difficult to get, there is nothing stopping you from applying. Many studios encourage creators to send samples of their work for consideration. Be sure to follow all the submission instructions carefully. Before you send original artwork, you'll want to be certain that you'll get it back. You should also be clear that the work is copyrighted and you own exclusive rights to your work.

Comic Conventions
Another way to get your work seen by publishers is to rent a table at a comic convention. You'll want to bring a lot of copies of your work and even business cards or postcards with your name and contact info. Check out the Resources page to find a convention near you.

Newspapers and Magazines Regular publications go through a company called a "syndicate" (see glossary), who is much like an agent for the comic artist. Syndicates such as King Features accept submissions, choose the best ones to market and sell to newspapers and magazines. Syndication is tricky because you have to have a lot of work to prove that you can fulfill a daily or weekly requirement for years to come.

Some magazines, like "The New Yorker," accept comics directly. They have a huge comics library where they collect all the good comics they receive and keep them to possibly be used in future issues. You may end up sending 40 different comics to a magazine and never make it into the comics library, or you may send just one and they could choose to publish it right away. Syndicates receive over 5,000 submissions for new comics a year, and about three get chosen. Uh-huh, we said THREE. Feeling lucky? Then go for it!

The Easy (or Easier) Way

DIY baby!
Photocopy your work and make your own self-published comic. Staple your pages together or get a little fancy and take it to a copy shop and have them saddle stitch or glue it together. You can also scan your finished work and print them out at home from a computer. If you want to spend more money and go pro, you can contact a local printer (like someone who prints pamphlets and business cards) and talk to them about your options. If you have access to a printing studio, you could use hand-printing processes like silkscreen to create one-of-a-kind finished comics.

Think Locally
Once you have a finished printed piece, you can ask if your local bookstore, comic shop or any other shop for that matter would be willing to sell it for you. If they say no, you can always ask to give it away for free in a box near the door. Sure, you lose money on the deal, but you gain exposure and people will see your work. You can also take your comic to comic conventions.

Anthologies
Another way to get your comic printed is to join up with other comic artists and self-publish an anthology (see glossary). This is a great way to pool your resources and get a slick book published without the hassle of a big publishing company.

Online Publishing
If you love the web or hate paper cuts, consider publishing your comic online. Find out the submission policies of websites such as gURL.com (hint, hint) or comixpedia.com, which post web comics. You might consider creating your own comic blog or website as well.