Once again from BoingBoing but

Once again from BoingBoing but quite interesting so I'll reproduce this
rant from PVP about getting comics syndicated in newspapers.

Why it all began... As Michael Jantze was kind enough to explain, the newspaper comics feature was invented as a tool to sell more newspapers. At the time, there were huge newspaper wars in almost every city as more than one paper would compete for readers. If your paper had a cartoon feature that the other didn't, you could draw more readers to YOUR paper. It was big business and the syndicates made a LOT of money from cartoon features. It was shady and handled in back-rooms sometimes. Michael says the term Yellow journalism was coined because of the sneaky things people did to get a hold of the first cartoon: the Yellow Kid. Over the years, things calmed down some, but competition between papers in the same city was still strong. The syndicated played an important role. They were there to guarantee that cartoon features were edited, family friendly and always delivered on time. The syndicates OWN all the cartoon feature, not the creators themselves. Should a cartoonist crap out, they could just hire someone else to draw it. The papers could buy 10 features and only have to write one check. It was a good system. The syndicates got money for their features and in turn offered something that other newspapers didn't have. Some papers would buy a strip and never publish it, just so the other competing paper couldn't have it on their funny pages. Today things are very different. The days of two paper cities have long past. Now there's one city per paper and competition is dead. In fact, sometimes the papers of many neighboring cities are all owned by one large corporation. Simply put, newspaper competition is over. Newspapers no longer need comic strips to help them sell papers. The comics page has simply become another expense for them. Michael Jantze told the crowd at our panel that a 20 comic funny page could cost a newspaper 150,000 a year. Now think about this, because this is the key to my announcement: newspapers are PAYING the syndicates for the privilege of developing their cartoon brands. Think about this. If Coca-cola wants to use newspaper advertising to strengthen it's brand, it has to pay for that kind of exposure. The syndicates makes millions from their comic features via books, television, movies and merchandise. The only way they are able to sustain that kind of income is due to the exposure and advertising that the newspapers give them. But the syndicates offer nothing in return. The funny pages are full of retreaded old strips that have lived way past their prime. Entertainment wise, they provide nothing. The syndicates really got a sweet deal. But that's about to change.