Getting syndicated is a massively challenging task and as a result, highly comptetitive. I was extremely fortunate when I had the interest of a major syndicate editor, but due to economic reasons, the launch wouldn’t be possible for at least a year. At the same time, I had been speaking with Bill Kellogg, the Marketing Director for Ink Bottle Syndicate and the man responsible for bringing “Tundra” to over 550 newspapers in the U.S. and overseas – no easy task. As a matter of fact, the major syndicates are very interested in Bill’s success formula, which in my opinion is good, old-fashioned hard work – Bill is one of the busiest people I know! With only a minimum of threats of violence to his person, car, pets, wardrobe, and associated inanimate objects, he agreed to sign “Spectickles” (I’ll remain camped out on his front lawn wearing an intimidating grimace till we officially launch, or until my wife yells at me to stop it, whichever comes first.)

This is an incredibly exciting time, and Bill has begun the long process of introducing “Spectickles” to editors nationwide. If, perchance, you are interested in seeing “Spectickles” in your local newspaper, here’s what you can do:

If you would like to see “Spectickles” in your newspaper, and if you are willing to write a short letter to your paper to request that they consider Spectickles, please e-mail my marketing guy, Bill Kellogg, at bill@inkbottlesyndicate.com with your city, state and newspaper name. He will e-mail you the name and contact information of the person at your paper who handles the comics section. Requests from actual readers can make a big difference.

Well, that’s it for now – I’ll keep you posted as new developments occur. See you in the Funny Papers! Cheers!

In cartooning we have a term called ‘slanting’ where we create work specific to a magazine or publication’s theme, such as cuisine, wine, golf, etc. We develop a series of concepts specific to that editorial need. Exactly what I should have thought of prior to the meeting.

Another key factor is shape. I draw my cartoons in seven inch square boxes with text beneath. When I first started working as a cartoonist, I’d read that this was the preferred format for newspapers, so that’s what I did and never had any reason to change. In many cases, it works well for art licensing, particularly for greeting cards, t-shirts and anything where a rectangular presentation fits. There are a number of manufacturers I would love to partner up with, but I know the current format I use won’t work. Should I have the good fortune to sit down and meet with those companies, I would make those alterations, and perhaps create a mock-up showing how my work would look on their products. A case in point is my latest licensing partner Hi-Look who manufacturers lens cleaning cloths for eyeglasses, iPads, iPhones – you name it. The format had to be exactly square which required some reworking. And so I did.

Humor is a great fit for many manufacturers who license art for their products. But having a great humorous illustration may not be enough. Remember to present material topically appropriate to the manufacturers needs, and make sure that the formatting will work in an attractive and enhancing way.

Now, here’s what happened in New York City. Admittedly, I’m not a fashion mogul. As a matter of fact, I’m not sure I even know what one is. But, being aware of that, and knowing I would be going to a place where such things are noticed, I thought I might better show up wearing something other than my typical cargo pants and hiking shoes.

My son-in-law Nik is the peripheral opposite of me in terms of fashion. He knows his stuff, so I asked him to give me some pointers, to which he graciously offered to accompany me on a trip to Macy’s to correct my fashion deficiencies. And so we went. After trying on a dozen or so fancy-schmancy pairs of jeans, then a like number of button-down shirts, sport coats, and shoes with a squarishly pointy end, very expensive but surpizingly thin socks, and a belt that looks just like the belt I always wear, but for only three times the cost, I was ready.

The evening prior I made the 5 hour drive to Albany to spend an evening with my parents. The next morning I woke up well before sunrise, showered, shaved, and started getting dressed into my new, fashion-savvy clothes. I caught the early train to New York City and arrived without incident. As it turns out, Penn Station is a pretty massive place. By the time I found my way through a sea of people to the 7th Avenue exit, my feet, jammed into their high-fashion squarishly-pointy shoes, were painfully blistered.

It was at this moment I reflected on what a bad idea it was to buy expensive, squarishly-pointy shoes, not breaking them in, and having to walk over a mile through the busy streets of Manhattan to my very important appointment.

Within only a few blocks I was visibly, painfully limping, trying to scrunch my toes into different positions to alleviate the friction which was sanding the skin off of the outsides of me feet and heels. At long last, I arrived at the Madison Avenue address. Three and a half hours early. And it was very cold. But fashion didn’t allow for a jacket. Time for more reflection.

Outside the building were a number of circular benches, one of which I quickly planted my butt upon. The relief to my feet was wonderful. So now I have lots of time to kill. In the cold. I took the opportunity to commence shivering. As I looked around I noticed a great deal of security, both within and outside of the building. My attention focused most specifically on the bomb-detection officer and dog which seemed to, in turn, be focusing on me. I suppose my look of obvious discomfort didn’t help their perception of why I might be sitting there.

The hours passed while I chattered away until the appointed time finally came. I limped into the building and approached the security desk to check in and get my badge. Into the elevator I went and up to the floor to the offices where the meeting was to be held. I was still about a half-hour early, so I stood in the hallway looking awkward, fidgeting in an attempt to appear as though I belonged there. Here’s where the military did me a disservice. For all of my 20 year Navy career it was mandated that you show up to your appointed station or watch 15 minutes in advance. In most circumstances, this is good advice. It wasn’t on this day. 15 minutes to the appointed time I energetically limped straight through the door – into the middle of someone else’s very important meeting. Yet more awkwardness. I smiled embarassingly, apologized profusely, and backward limped out of the room to resume my awkward place back in the hall, where sweat began to bead on my forehead. After a short time, the gracious people whose meeting I intruded on walked by with kind smiles – the kind you give someone who is on their way to a root canal. I entered the room, and the meeting proceeded as I’d described above. Upon its conclusion, I limped back to the elevator and into the lobby. I raised the lapels of my sport coat to ready myself for the cold, limp-hindered walk back to the rail station when I noticed all the umbrellas. Umbrellas are a key indicator of rain. And so it was. So I finished my day with a higher quality level of shivering, wet to the core, limping like Captain Ahab on a train where I came away with one very significant, non-pain related lesson: bring artowrk that suits the occasion and the prospective client. And wear hiking shoes next time for Pete’s sake.

I’m elated with the results of the “Success In Comics” seminar I attended in Annapolis, Maryland, where I not only met with some fantastically talented cartoonists and industry icons, but I was presented with a couple potential opportunities – something I hadn’t considered prior to attending. If you are a cartoonist, I can’t recommend the seminar enough, given by comic marketing genius Bill Kellogg and exceptionally talented and successful Chad Carpenter, the warped mind behind “Tundra”.

While I sway back and forth between gag cartooning for business magazines and licensing, my recent push has been solely on licensing. As a matter of fact, there are two very exciting prospects that I’m very much looking forward to, should they come to fruition. I may be taking a trip to Manhattan very soon to meet with executives from a company who have taken to my “Spectickles” cartoon characters and want to see more. Additionally, I had the extraordinary good fortune to meet with one of the major syndicate art directors, and we may be meeting in the late spring or early summer to discuss putting “Spectickles” in daily newspaper syndication. Nothing is ever definite till the ink is dry on the contracts and you’re slurping back champagne paid for with that first royalty check, but it’s a very solid start.

Hallmark UK introduced the “Spectickles” line of greeting cards at the Spring Fair in Birmingham, England this past February, which is a major milestone for my characters. The market will determine whether or not they become a successful line, but you’ll never know unless you step into the arena. Like my grandmother used to say, ‘throw spaghetti against the wall and see what sticks’.

There are a number of other discussions that are ongoing with some excellent licensing partners and we’ll see how far they go, including a potential book deal with a popular book publishing company, a new line of greeting cards in the US and Canada, among several others. As is the case with all business, all of these things could happen, or none of them. But as long as we keep charging forward, immeasurable potential exists.

While levity or humor may, to some, seem innappropriate during this time, it’s my belief that its curative effects shouldn’t be entirely dismissed or discounted. I offer this Christmas cartoon in the hopes of restoring happiness, in some minor and momentary way, in this, the saddest of times. God Bless all, most especially the children.

So, what is syndication and how does it work? First, I must state that I am not syndicated with one of the major syndicates. My work is distributed nationally in the Funnies Extra through Ink Bottle Syndicate, led by Bill Kellogg who has made the comic Tundra one of the more successful dailies in the marketplace – over 500 newspapers. But I, like most cartoonists in the early stages of their careers, read everything I could on the subject (see resources below), and have a reasonable handle on the process and potential outcomes.

A syndicate acts as a powerful sales force on behalf of a cartoonist. They represent and distribute cartoons to newspapers nationwide and, in some cases, internationally, for which they receive approximately half of the revenue generated by the comic. That figure varies depending on the success of the feature, and the negotiating skills of the attorneys involved.

Gaining the interest of a syndicate is, in itself, an enormous achievement. King Features Syndicate, for one,  receives thousands of submissions every month from cartoonists, covering a wide spectrum of talent levels. Much of the wave of submissions they open are of a high, professional quality, yet they still end up in the rejection pile. Not only does your cartoon need to be of the highest standard, it has to be consistent in quality, it has to have sufficiently developed characters that will be engaging to a diminishing reading public over time, and it has to be unique in a world awash with cute puppies, talking cats, and unique, kooky families.

If you find yourself with an indication of interest from a major syndicate, you still must be prepared for significant challenges. As you likely already know, the newspaper markets are continuing to shrink, and those that remain have desperately tight budgets. Supposing you are offered a development deal, the income you can expect will be insufficient to pursue cartooning full time. Even after a successful launch, and a well established feature, many syndicated cartoonists now have other full time careers in order to pay their living expenses. There are still a few comic leviathans making a handsome income from their cartoons, but many of them are ‘legacy strips’ – those that were started long ago by a now deceased cartoonist, and continued by a family member, or an artist appointed by the syndicate.

Depressed yet? Don’t be. Yours may be the feature that connects with a public starving for something new and fresh, and a big syndicate may put it’s massive marketing power behind you and your cartoon. But what if it doesn’t? Is it the end of the road for your work? Hardly. As mentioned earlier, I’m represented by a small syndicate run by Bill Kellogg. Bill single-handedly approached newspaper editors around the country and succeeded in getting the very funny “Tundra” comic into 500 newspapers. If I’m not mistaken (and I very well could be), the average income per 100 newspapers was around $40,000 per year, give or take. That number has likely decreased since I’d heard that figure, but if it’s still reasonably correct, that’s $200,000 from the newspapers alone. Certainly a livable income (depending, of course, on your tastes!)

Self-syndication is the process of acting as your own sales force, marketing agency, and, of course, creator – in effect, your own syndicate. While this is a challenging and time-consuming route, there are also significant benefits. First, you keep all the money rather than split it with someone else. That means that you’ll need fewer newspapers to sign your feature in order to make a livable income. Second, you can be assured your strip is getting the backing it deserves. If a syndicate’s sales force doesn’t get behind your strip, regardless of its potential, it’ll end up a flop and the syndicate will terminate your contract. With you driving sales, you’ll have your fingers on the pulse of the market-place, and you will determine the ultimate outcome. Have a look at the List of Newspapers – there’s links to 25,000 different papers broken down by country. By contacting their features editors or managing editors, you may find yourself with a very viable cartoon property.

While the traditional syndication route has lost much of its financial potential and momentum in conventional print markets, it’s hardly the end of the road. A new dynamic is emerging, and cartoonists with ambition, drive, and a good product stand to do very well. As with all things, having perseverance, a clear goal, and a vision for the future, are the ingredients for a successful and fulfilling career in cartooning.

For more information, I’d recommend (among others), the following resources:

Successful Syndication: A Guide for Writers and Cartoonists

Your Career in the Comics

How to Be a Successful Cartoonist

How to Self Syndicate a Comic Strip

Selling Cartoons To Newspapers

Bill Kellogg Launches New Comic Syndicate

Ink Bottle Syndicate

NCS Syndicate Directory

Before we work our way into specifics, I would offer this recommendation: have a vision for your work. What is the ultimate outcome you’re looking for (other than, perhaps, becoming filthy, stinkin’ rich)? Have you developed strong characters that have broad reach and appeal and can be built into a brand? What sort of applications can you see for these characters? What products would your work be best suited for? What countries and cultures might you be able to connect with – could you see your work in other languages or are there barriers that would have to be overcome? Are there other forms of media such as animation where your characters might be suitable? Who is your target audience? How recognizable are your characters to the public now – where have they appeared thus far?

By answering these questions (and others) for yourself, you’ve got a roadmap to help you get where you want to go, and give a licensing agent a better grasp of your expectations. And remember, while you may have a passion for the characters you’ve created, be open to the feedback you’ll be offered. Licensing may not be a viable route for what you’ve got so far, but by being open to experienced input from industry professionals, you may be able to alter your current roster, or create new work that would be better suited to this specific business avenue. Flexibility, when in good measure, is a strength. Loyalty to unmarketable characters, from a business perspective, is a weakness  - you’ll have to decide what is more important to you, sticking with characters you’ve fallen in love with and feel like family but will never make you a dime, or making the changes necessary to make them appealing to  manufacturers and a buying public. That choice is solely yours.

It might be helpful, before you seek the services of a licensing agent, to answer this question, “How will this agent benefit from representing my work?”, which relates strongly to the series of questions we asked ourselves earlier. It’s important, because that’s what they’ll likely be asking themselves when they see your initial email. Here’s where brutal honesty will be your friend. How professional is my work? When I put the work out there myself to magazines, or wherever else you made it visible to the public, what sort of feedback did you receive? Has anyone been willing to pay you for your cartoons in the past? Have they been competitive markets or smaller local venues (Your Mom and Dad don’t count for our purposes). Have you approached the greeting card market (something I recommend both as a litmus test for your work in a royalty-based enterprize, and as a way to begin building a recognizable brand if you aren’t currently or have no desire to be syndicated – and you’ll open your mailbox and weep with joy at the checks that miraculously arrive every three months – how do you like them apples?) Listen to the feedback and determine what is genuinely objective and useful to you, then step up to the plate and make those changes. If you are pursuing licensing, it means you are a business, and your decisions need to be less emotional and more market-reality-based.

Now, here’s where the rubber hits the road. Which licensing agents or agencies should I be targeting for my cartoons/characters/brand? This is by no means an all-inclusive list, but Joan Beiriger’s Blog is a fantastic resource for this, and other art licensing industry information. Not on this list is the ‘Big Kahuna’ of character-centric licensing agencies, CopCorp. Their industry leadership, global reach, and track record of stunning successes (Hello Kitty, Happy Bunny among many, many others) puts them at the top of the character licensing spectrum. If you have the opportunity to attend licensing shows such as the Licensing Expo held in Las Vegas, you’ll no doubt be impressed by their presence there. If you should decide to approach them for possible representation, you’ll need to be at the top of your game – they represent only the strongest candidates for success. I would  advise against wasting their time with anything less, and make sure you’ve done your homework by answering the questions we’ve presented above.

If you start with an agent or agency that has a more regional focus such as the U.S., North America, Canada, UK, etc. but you believe your work has a broader appeal, I’d again refer you to the links to licensing agencies outside the U.S. Ms. Beiriger makes available on her blog,  and there are some very good and capable ones to be sure. I can tell you from experience that MGL Licensing is an extraordinarily effective agency (why, they carry the magnificent work of the charming, well-mannered, snappy dressing, tall dark and gruesome Bill Abbott! What more do you need to know?)

What can you, in return for providing broadly appealing, professional, timely, well rendered, and marketable material, expect from your relationship with a licensing agent? First, in the ‘getting to know you’ phase of the relationship, after they’ve decided to represent you, open, honest, and frequent communication is critical. Knowing your expectations of the agent, and their expectations of you will be key to creating a long-lasting and successful relationship. And to be clear, it is in every respect a relationship. You are trusting them to actively seek appropriate opportunities for your work and to follow the roadmap that you’ve sketched out in your discussions. In turn, they will expect you to deliver professionally rendered work on time, and be flexible to potential changes necessary to make the work suitable for the licensing categories where there’s a good fit. Your licensing agent will seek to obtain advances on royalties as good faith payments for your work, to be deducted from future royalties. Your licensing agent will handle the administrative functions required in your licensing program; negotiating mutually beneficial contract terms, seeing that the contracts are properly executed, managing incoming royalty payments and seeking remedies should there be issues with those payments. They will frequently travel to the numerous annual licensing shows and display your work for potential licensees to consider for the products. There are a number of other functions and services that they provide, but those are the biggies.

How will the licensing agent be compensated for representing you and taking on the considerable workload mentioned above? There are a number of ways, some I’d recommend, some not so much. In the agents and agencies I’ve worked with, there is a royalty-split arrangement, meaning we divide the advances and royalties at a contractually agreed-upon precentage rate. Those rates can vary greatly, and it’s something you’ll want to very carefully consider. The rates typically run from 25 to 50%. I haven’t heard of any that fall outside that range, but it’s certainly possible. There are many other very specific terms that will be contained within the contract you’ll be expected to sign with your agent, all of which you must be intimately familiar with, either by working with a suitable attorney with experience in licensing contracts, or from doing your own homework. Remember, nothing is written in stone. A contract is just an agreement between two people or entities and there’s virtually nothing that can’t be changed to reach that amicable middle ground. Don’t be shy – speak your mind – you’re legally binding yourself, so be comfortable with whatever you lay your signature down on.

What has been discussed above is a mere surface scratch on the enormous amount of information on the subject of character licensing. Yet to be discussed are such important topics as branding, character development, and so much more. As more questions come in, I’ll try to elaborate to the best of my ability, as well as seek input from other more seasoned professionals.

My intention in creating these articles is to arm my fellow artists with the information necessary to take meaningful and immediate action. The rest is up to you – will you step up to the plate or watch the game from the sidelines?

A fellow cartoonist emailed me after reading the earlier article and asked about publishing rights. Again, for a more complete, legal answer to rights and how they work, I’d refer readers to attorney and cartoonist Stu Rees, who happens to be the leading expert on this topic, particularly because his clientele is made up primarily of cartoonists. He has negotiated many syndicate contracts and is passionate about protecting the rights of his fellow scribblers. And he’s just a nice guy, which helps.

Here’s how I understand rights, and what I negotiate for as I make my work available in the publishing markets. I’ll preamble the remainder of the article with the understanding that all of what follows will be in regard to U.S. rights, since that is where the majority of my personal experience lies. As you negotiate with a publisher, the territory the rights are to apply to must be very clearly delineated – worldwide rights are sometimes required, but often unnecessarily broad, and become an avoidable hindrance for the artist. If a magazine distributes solely in North America, it should be sufficient to provide only those territorial rights. Negotiate for the actual area of likely distribution – remember, the more you provide, the greater your compensation should be.

First, and most advantageous for the cartoonist is “One-Time, Non-Exclusive” rights. What that means is you are giving permission for that magazine, book, website, newsletter or other media to use your cartoon one time, and that it will NOT be exclusive to them. Now here’s something to consider; as a professional courtesy, even though the magazine or other media may only be seeking these most basic of rights, I would refrain from turning around and selling that same cartoon to another entity in the same category, or a reasonably assumed competitor of the first. For instance, if you sell one-time, non-exclusive rights to use your cartoon in a golfing magazine, then in the same month sell it to another golf magazine, while you would be within your rights to do that, it is nonetheless bad form. Selling one-time non-exclusive rights to use your cartoons or illustrations permits you to maintain an active and expanding inventory of art – the more you keep, the more you can use that same cartoon in the future to bring income. At the end of the transaction, you still own all unrestricted rights to your work to do with as you wish, and that’s good business. When you are negotiating with a magazine or other publishing entity, communicate actively with them to determine what they really need in terms of rights. They may as a matter of course seek more than they really need, which is a detriment to you, and them, since the more rights they require, the more expensive it will be to use your work. It’s like buying a new car – you can get a completely unadorned basic model, or you can go full-on fancy schmancy, or somewhere in between, but you know going in that every additional ‘extra’ will need to be paid for. Same with our cartoons and illustrations.

Since I work in the United States, and at least at this time, the majority of my work is sold to U.S. publishing entities, this article will reflect that as we discuss the next tier of rights. I would be relatively certain that there are close parallels in the UK, Australia and other markets, but that discussion should be generated by someone with a more complete understanding of rights in those areas.

First rights are exactly that – the right to be the first to publish your specified artistic work. Here’s where it gets tricky; some publications purchase material far in advance of publication, which means your artwork will remain inaccessible and in limbo until that entity decides to publish the piece. I’ve heard a number of horror stories regarding this issue. For example, what if the magazine editor who loved your work leaves, and another who isn’t so enthusiastic comes in – your work could be held up for years. Only after publication will you be free to re-enter that particular work back into the marketplace. If possible, try to agree on a “publish by” date, or a release date so your rights to the work will be clearly specified and understood.

First North American Rights reflect exactly what the term implies – the right to publish your cartoon or illustration, which has not been published anywhere else in the past, for the first time in North America. As you can see, this is a bit of a step up in rights from the one-time, non-exclusive, and would be more expensive for the publishing entity. Once the cartoon or illustration has been published, all the rights revert back to you to sell again to another magazine. Nice, right? A caveat should be added here – English language should be specified within the agreement as North American rights, when discussing art rather than other goods, typically refers to the U.S. and Canada. Should Mexico be included, foreign language rights (Spanish) should be made clear and agreed to. Another feature that can be added to these rights is a period of exclusivity. For instance, if the magazine is seeking First Time North American Rights with one year exclusivity, they want the rights we have discussed above, and in addition to that, they don’t want anyone else to be able to publish for one year. Again, another warning: that period of exclusivity should have a clearly understood commencement date, such as at the time the rights to the work are purchased (to be published at a later date), or at publication, which takes us back to that fuzzy area that should also be made clear – an agreed “publish by” or release date.

There are other levels and nuances to rights, but we will cover what I consider to be “The Big Ones”, the above which we’ve briefly discussed, and now the last, all rights. While there are legitimate reasons to sell all rights to your work, they should be exceedingly good reasons accompanied by prodigeous amounts of compensation. Once you sell all rights, the work belongs entirely to someone else, and they may do with it as they please, including licensing it out for royalties, making it available to other publications, and sell it for their benefit over and over again, and you’ll never make another penny from it – your work. I have been approached on several occasions in the past to sell all rights to my work, but have yet to do so, as I have not yet been given a compelling enough reason, or financially substantial enough offer to surrender forever the fruits of my labor. And even if you should be given a compelling enough reason (like a gajillion dollars and all the free bon-bons you can eat), specific language should be included in the agreement that bans the creation and use of derivative products from your art. It would be understandable and perhaps necessary that foreign language translations be permitted, but that would be the reasonable extent of alteration to your work. This is especially important if you’ve created recurring or recognizable characters, which could end up being used in an infinite number of ways with no expectation of compensation to you, and in which method of use you may disapprove of.

This is a very brief, birds-eye view of rights as I use and negotiate them, but as mentioned, I’m not a lawyer or legal expert. My sincerest thanks to Stu Rees for giving this article a ‘sanity check’ prior to its publication – he has improved its content, accuracy and usefulness greatly, and through the course of more than one draft. I strongly recommend the numerous books on the topic, and I understand Stu Rees will be writing a series of articles on this topic for our benefit, which he anticipates having available sometime in the next few months. I suspect those will be required reading for anyone who is serious about their art and its commercial uses. I hope this helps and I’m always open to input for the illumination and education of myself and fellow artists.

Having had all these wonderful experiences, it compels me to offer whatever assistance I am able to newer cartoonists who are trying to make their way in this sometimes confusing, if not daunting, world of rights. I’m not a lawyer, nor do I pretend to be an authority on copyright law, I only offer reflections of my own experience – something that may have value to my fellow cartoonists. For specific information, I would happily recommend attorney extraordinaire, Harvard Law graduate, and passionate cartoonist Stu Rees. Stu has written the definitive work on syndication contracts and has made it available for anyone with aspirations of working with a syndicate. Check out Stu’s site and the National Cartoonist’s Society site for more information.

First, I divide the rights associated with my cartoons into two broad categories. The first is licensing rights, and the second is publishing rights. In my Neanderthal head, it’s easiest to simplify things this way in order to better understand them based on their uses. Licensing, as I define it for my own understanding, is one entity granting permission to another entity to use it’s visual property for the purpose of producing products or materials that would benefit from having that visual property incorporated on that product or material. In other words, a guy who makes coffee mugs won’t sell many mugs if they’re plain, unadorned mugs. Put a “Spectickles” cartoon on it, and it will no doubt sell a hundred gajillion – at least. So mug-maker guy approaches me to ask if he can put my cartoons on his mugs in order to sell lots. At this point, we need to figure out how I should be compensated for it, and under what specific conditions he can use the cartoons, and what the geographic limits are – all of which have monetary value. In our discussions, we find that mug-maker guy has a big operation and produces a lot of mugs – enough to fill trucks that go to gift stores all over the United States and Canada. Sounds like he’ll need North American rights. Since he doesn’t (yet) distribute his mugs outside of the US or Canada, there is no need to provide rights outside that area. If he expands in the future, he’ll need to come back to you and seek permission to use your cartoon on his mugs in an expanded territory. And since mug-maker guy only produces mugs and nothing else, you need only grant him the specific rights for coffee-mugs. Since this is made clear in your agreement, you can then take the same image and offer it to greeting card companies, calendar companies, and so on – just NOT to other coffee mug makers in North America. If you are approached by another mug maker who happens to be in England or Australia, you would be well within the confines of your agreement to offer it in these places, as long as their distribution channels keep the mugs in their respective territories.

By carefully managing your rights, you can have a single cartoon used in a variety of licensing categories, all providing streams of royalty-based income. That’s without any mention of publishing rights, which are yet another source of non-conflicting income, separate from licensing. As mentioned earlier, I would recommend more specific discussions with someone like Stu Rees, who are indisputable experts in the world of rights as they pertain to cartoonists.