When the artwork and layout of your comic are complete, then it's time to make the rounds and send out your series pitch to the publishers.
Not all comic book publishers today accept pitches. Also many of them are looking more for artists than writers. The ones that do accept pitches are almost always looking for original work and nothing based off of existing characters. For instance, if Marvel accepted submissions, they wouldn't want to see a pitch about Wolverine.
With all that being said, here is a list of some of the current publishers accepting pitches. (This can change, so double check these sites before sending any work to them)
Image Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Avatar Press
Top Shelf Productions
Dynamite Comics
Red 5 Comics
This isn't an all inclusive list, but this is a good one to get you started.
For the self publishing route, the biggest site I know of is Comixology, which was bought by Amazon.
Each publisher has slightly different requirements for submitting pitches. In general though, you'll need:
- Contact information of entire creative team.
- Series synopsis. (Try to keep it to one page)
- At least 4 to 8 illustrated, inked, colored (if applicable), and lettered pages. Can send entire issue if it is completed.
- Some require you to mail pages, others are ok with email, so a PDF would be needed.
Package up all of this work and send it off, whether through mail or email. The hardest part then is waiting to hear back. There's a possibility that you won't get a response from any of them, but stay positive. If nothing should come of it, then chalk it up to experience and move on to the next project and try again. If you truly love comics and creating them, then rejection shouldn't stop you.
So I hope these posts helped. If you want more detail on any part of the process leave a comment.
Best of luck and I look forward to seeing your work on the shelves.