Trust Yourself

The first Newsletter post I wrote, over a year and a half ago, was about owning wanting to be a writer and beginning to say it as often as possible to keep my career momentum going. I have gotten better at it, it’s still hard, but now there is a growing voice within me that responds to the challenge by saying “Hey, we have to do this. We have to let people know we’re available for work. We have to let people know what kind of work we want, and that’s the end of it.”

Last week I sent a good number of samples out to a number of editors, and in the weeks ahead I’ll be emailing even more as the next round of comic projects I am working on wrap up. The responses I have gotten are largely positive, very cordial, and lead me to believe that I may have more comic writing work ahead which is great.

In the last weeks I have also spoken to a few people who have asked for advice about reaching out to editors, advocating for their own work, and defending their goals. It’s come up so much in my life the last few weeks I thought I would write about it a bit here this week.

If you are anything like me you may have a default setting that sounds something like “I just don’t want to bother anyone.” This is understandable. I truly believe that most people do not want to be annoying, do not want to add challenges to people’s days, and don’t get a reputation for being someone who can’t read the room. Here’s where that default setting festers into something negative that will get in the way of you doing what you need to do to get more work and promote the work you have.

When you consider emailing someone, making a social media post, or doing any kind of self-promotion you think of the most annoying person you know. A person who has very little social tact, has no regard for other people’s time or feelings, and at worst is a brazen opportunist who doesn’t know they are embarrassing themselves. And if you don’t know a person like that you create them. Worse, whether you know them or make them up, you think that if you start promoting yourself you are going to become this annoying person.

That is not true. You have to believe that you are a kind, considerate, reasonable person who is going to act the same way you do in real life. Are you kind to people you do business with? Do you treat waitstaff and restaurants and bars with respect? When you have a problem and you have to call any type of customer service are you calm, measured, and direct with what you need? At the jobs you have had, have you been good at dealing with the people you interact with whether they are customers, your bosses, the people who work with you, and anyone you have had to manage? Are you someone who knows how to speak to others?

“Dave, those aren’t the same, we are talking about my dreams here.”

Right, but your dream is getting involved with businesses who will make you a partner in a sense. Who will publish and promote your work. Who will ideally hire you to do more work if you are on-time, turn in good work, are easy to work with, and especially if you strike lightning and sell comics/work like no one has ever sold before. You have to take this dream off of a pedestal. And I know that’s hard. It’s hard for me to do too. Every time I type an email sending out new samples and saying I want to get more work, I am frightened, and I talk myself down every single time.

In some regards, sitting down and doing the work is the easiest part. It’s getting the work, maintaining the work, and supporting the work when it is out in the world that is hard. But I promise you, like anything else you do…if you just come at it as a reasonable person, willing to take feedback, willing to put yourself out there, willing to try, willing to fail, more good things are going to happen for you than not.

“What if no one responds to my social media posts? What if no one responds to my emails when I send work?”

You wait until you have a new project/new work and you email again, preferably a few months after you emailed the last time. And you don’t take the lack of a response personally, because it’s not personal. It’s possible your work isn’t ready for primetime, isn’t people’s cup of tea currently, or honestly…editors are some of the busiest on the planet, they just might have the time to get back to you. But if you keep trying, keep producing work, genuinely try to grow with each project, and keep promoting yourself in a reasonable way…something’s going to change. I know that to be true.

On the social media front. You just try, and try again. Make new work, put that out there, be consistent, do not give up.

“You were an editor did you respond to everyone who wrote to you looking for work?”

No, I did not. I got a lot of inquiries. I would respond genuinely to the people I felt like were ready for the type of mainstream super hero comic work I was doing, I would stay in touch with the folks I thought were close, and I wouldn’t respond to the people I thought were way too far off, or the rare person who was rude. And as I’ve mentioned before there were people who emailed me regularly who I wanted to work with, who I didn’t have space for until the very end of my time as a DC Comic editor. And now some of those people? They are huge comic superstars. I’ve seen this happen, guys, you gotta trust me on it.

“Do you have any advice on getting over email anxiety?”

Have a friend you trust read over the email and listen to them if they think you can be a little more professional or personable for that matter. When you email someone, be intentional, make sure that you know who you’re talking to. If you are emailing work to an editor, make sure it’s an editor whose work you know and actually want to work with. If you want to do big sci-fi stuff and you’re emailing an editor who does street-level crime stuff? You may not be talking to the right person. Do your homework about who you are reaching out to.

Also, not for nothing…write the emails in advance, schedule them to be sent, and then don’t think about it. Let them go into the universe and see what comes back.

“Do you have any advice on promoting yourself on social media?”

Do it consistently. See how other people you admire are doing it and try to gently copy the things you like that they do, but also have your own platform. I write this Newsletter every week. Some weeks I go “No one cares.” But I do it anyway. You are never going to grow a following unless you are consistent. And try to do things like podcasts, Youtube Videos, text-based interviews, just try. Doing something is always better than doing nothing.

“Worst case scenario what if someone scolds me for sending them my work?”

In that instance, it’s possible you may have been rude or said something mean. But in the very rare case that you sent a polite, normal email, with appropriate work, and did not send something in your email or work that was offensive…then don’t work with that person. If someone yells at you, or disrespects you, or makes you feel less than, run the other direction as fast as you can. There so many people who are kind and care about artistic people. Work with them if you are lucky enough to.

I posted that picture of myself at the lead of this piece because I have to trust myself everyday with my career. And that’s scary. Dave Wielgosz has done a lot of silly and stupid things in his life, I have had a front row seat to them. But he’s also kind, smart, cares about other people, and learns from his mistakes. I trust Dave to advocate for Dave. I hope you feel the same about yourself.

A Warm Response to Northampton Ninja

Last week Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Nation #6 came out, and it featured the story “Northampton Ninja” written by me with art by the incredible Vitor Cafaggi. The story, as I have stated many times on this Newsletter, was a very personal one, and one I was proud of. The response from critics, fans, and fellow creators was more than I ever could have hoped for.

Specifically, I want to give a shout out to the brilliant Sophie Campbell, who just relaunched Supergirl for DC on top of many other accolades, who is integral to the modern incarnation of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and created or greatly guided many of the characters we used in our story. Sophie was kind enough to read the story, let Andy Khouri know privately how much she liked it, and then posted online how much she enjoyed it. It meant everything to me as a writer. To hear that someone whose life was these characters felt I had done justice to what they built was amazing. And just to hear that a creator who has such a brilliant body of work like Sophie does thought that Vitor and I did good period, was a very nice thing to read. Thank you, Sophie. For your kindness, your brilliant work, and the inspiration you have given my generation as creators.

HELLO DARKNESS #12

A reminder the first original comic I have written that the great Riley Rossmo has drawn titled “Tiny, Little Men” comes out in BOOM! Studios awesome HELLO DARKNESS #12 on sale on July 9th, 2025. The final order cut-off date is June 2nd, 2025. Next week I am going to share a little art from the story, and if he’s game, talk to the great Riley Rossmo about it.

The story is really cool. It was great to get to do my first original comic with someone I trust so much like Riley. And our editors were amazing. They gave us great guidance, tremendous notes, and helped us make this story so much better than what I had originally envisioned it being. Also take a look at the credits on that cover…an amazing group of creators are on this issue. Also after years of being in the credits of great comics with James Tynion IV and Riley Rossmo, it’s an extreme honor to have my name listed on the cover of a great book alongside them.

That’s it for this week, team, I look forward to talking to you next week.

Stay safe!

—Dave Wielgosz