It’s been a little quiet lately on the Zingerfront.  The holiday season slowed down development, but we’re ramping things back up now that it’s 2010.  Here are some updates:

Home Page We’re about to roll out an update to the teaser site with a little more clarity, a bold link to the comic strip submission page,  and a few other minor changes.

Submissions We’re still looking for cartoonists for the Zingerding Six.  There have been steady signups on our email list but the aforementioned link to the submission page will help.

Forums They are live, though not very pretty.  Development efforts are going into Zingerding.com before we dress up the forum software.  However, they work and you can feel free to comment and ask questions.

Communication This blog and Twitter remain our primary outlets for connecting with the comic-loving community.  Please subscribe and follow.

Development Finally, we’re marching closer to the site’s launch.  I know many cartoonists are waiting patiently for word on timing.  I’m leveling with you here – we cannot make any estimates at this point.  We’re making progress and when we have a better feeling for when we might launch, I’ll let you know.

Revolution Big things don’t happen overnight.  It takes planning and the buildup of small action upon small action, until change starts to grab momentum.  We’re still taking our first small actions.  We invite you to take them with us.

Twenty-ten is going to be an important year for comics online. Things have been a little slow lately because of the holiday season but we’ll be ramping up shortly after the new year. We’ll soon be making a big announcement regarding the launch of Zingerding so stay tuned.

Happy New Year from our team!

I started to set up the Zingerding forums last week, then slipped on a patch of ice and broke my wrist in six places…after a few days of rest (and lots of Percocet…) I’m back at it. :)

We did a fair bit of research to determine what forum software to use. The Forum Matrix website provides a nifty comparison tool that was quite helpful. We settled on Vanilla, in large part because of the level of flexibility they provide.

We’ll be updating the look & feel as my left-handed typing skills improve — visit the Zingerding forums and let us know if there is something you’d like to see.

Zingerding has launched online forums available at http://forums.zingerding.com. They aren’t much to look at yet but we’ve posted some important information for cartoonists.

Cartoonist Terms and Conditions. This is the agreement between Zingerding and cartoonists that will publish on Zingerding.com when the site goes live.

Cartoonist FAQs. While the terms and conditions cover the legal info, they don’t quite cover all the questions cartoonists need answered at this time. If you have a question that’s not covered, please ask in the forum.

We posted this information in the forums so that anyone can easily discuss the topics. We’ll be checking in to be part of the conversation as well.

There’s been some concerns about our lack of publicly posted terms while taking submissions. We’ll be posting them shortly. Stay tuned.

Dec. 11 Update: It’s important that we say exactly what we want when we publish the terms so we’re taking the time to do it right.  Wording matters. I’ve been ill and another of our team had a minor injury today.  Please be patient with us.

Dec. 13 Update: I know we said the terms would be posted a couple days ago, but a slip on ice and a seriously broken wrist delayed us. We apologize for keeping those who have been waiting. They are now posted on our forums.

We’ve introduced Zingerding to you before on the blog, but I want to talk a little bit more in depth about what we’re doing.

Zingerding is a free, open platform for cartoonists to publish their comic strips.  We’re creating slick publishing and comic organization tools.  Each cartoonist will have their own “Publishing Studio” where they can manage their work and connect with fans.  Marketing tools will be built right into Zingerding so cartoonists can find more readers, and reward the ones they already have.

Each comic series will have its own profile page; a home for that comic.  This will be a launching pad for readers to discover more about the comic beyond the individual strips.

Zingerding is a destination for comic strip readers.  We’re building simple, fun features for fans to read, enjoy, share and discuss comic strips.  Each reader will have their own “Zingerhome” where they can build their own custom funny pages with just the strips they like to read.  An easy, unified design across all comics fosters a better experience for readers to stick around and enjoy more comics.

Zingerding is a community around comic strips.  We’ll have public online forums for anyone to talk about the strips they enjoy.  Cartoonists can join in the conversation as well.  Future features on the site will be interactive and outer-connected so that people can rally around their favorite strips.

Zingerding is the future of comic strips.  It’s going to take time as we roll out future features but we will incorporate the latest in web and social technology.  This means mobile comics, integration with other networks and innovation in digital distribution.

Zingerding is a serious business.  We intend to create an economy around comic strips where cartoonists can benefit financially and otherwise.  We’ll make money too but we really, really want to create real career opportunities for cartoonists online.

Zingerding is a revolution!  It’s more than a publishing platform, a community or a business.  It’s an uprising of cartoonists and fans!  It’s the transformation of an industry!  It’s what needs to be done for the art of comic strips to survive!

It often sounds corny to some people when you proclaim your lofty goals.  People are commonly skeptical, not necessarily because of negativity, but because they just don’t see the vision like you do.

Creating art is like that.  It’s why people often tell artists that they’re amazed by talent.  They themselves don’t have the skills or they cannot see the vision in the first place.

Those are the two ingredients to achieving lofty goals – having the vision and executing it.

Our lofty goal: Zingerding will ignite a revolution in online comic strips.  We’re going to be the ones who do it right and do it big!  There have been a lot of challenges for cartoonists as their art form moves from print to the internet.  Though some have been successful, the best solution has yet to materialize.  Zingerding is stepping up to provide new opportunities to cartoonists where they haven’t existed before.

We’re starting the comic strip revolution and we mean it!  Join the cause.

We’re launching a new initiative to garner momentum for the Comic Strip Revolution.  Join the cause on Facebook to declare your support for comic strips on the internet.  If you’re on Facebook, simply click to become a member of Free the Comic Strip!

You’ll then be able to invite your own friends to spread the word.  This isn’t only about Zingerding.  It’s about showing that you, as a cartoonist or a reader of comic strips, want a better experience online. That’s the larger cause!

Click the image below to view or join the cause.

A few hundred comic strip cartoonists (who knows how many) entered the Comic Strip Superstar Contest sponsored by Amazon.com, Andrews McMeel Publishing and Universal Press Syndicate.  The entries were pared down to 250, then 50, then 10 by a panel of professional cartoonists, before a singular comic strip was chosen by the public.  Only the top 10 were publicly announced.  A strip titled Girl was deemed the winner yesterday.

At the start of the contest, there was a lot of buzz forming within the cartoonist community.  It sounded like a grand new opportunity, a new path toward syndication.

I’ll say though, yesterday’s big announcement seemed quite anticlimactic.  I don’t mean it as a criticism of Girl, rather a criticism of the contest itself.

I previously compared the contest to American Idol, but for cartoonists.  However, the level of hype and excitement behind the popular television show was exactly what the Comic Strip Superstar Contest lacked.

Amazon, Andrews McMeel and Universal Press Syndicate did little to publicize the contest.  There was an air of mystery shrouded around the judging as each level of finalists were announced.  Months passed in near silence from the contest officials and the only clues came from cartoonists themselves.  Nobody got to share the experience of those who were cut or moved ahead (outside of family or Twitter followers).  Amazon published a very rudimentary page to showcase the contest and eventually the 10 finalists.

There was no drama, no tears, no fanfare.  I think the creators of the contest intended to do for comic strips what American Idol does for singers.  But the mood around Comic Strip Superstar was nothing like it.  Of course, a TV show about music and a web contest about comics will have different atmospheres.

But there’s something to be said about fanfare and creating big anticipation.  It’s important not so much for the sake of showiness, but to rally people around the winners.

Dana Simpson, creator of the winning comic strip, Girl, has won an impressive contest.  On the merit of her talent, she rose to the top.  From what I could find with a moderate search on Google, Twitter, some blogs and forums, nobody is talking about it much outside of the cartoonist community.

When a performer on American Idol triumphs in the end, a nation of fans explode in cheer.  The amazing thing is that this fan base is brand new.  Before the show, practically nobody knew the talent of the winner.

Now who’s celebrating Girl?  Where are the fans?  Where are the people already pining for the book release and the possibility of reading it in their local papers?  Yeah, I’m sure some exist… somewhere.

Do you realize how rare it is for a comic strip to make it in today’s newspaper climate?  It’s one of the most challenging fields to break into because the space on a newspaper page is severely limited and old strips don’t die easily.  A single comic strip now has a chance at joining the ranks of Peanuts, For Better or For Worse and Get Fuzzy.  Few strips earn the opportunity to touch the lives of people on such a scale.  Girl has an opportunity.  If you ask me, she deserves fanfare.

What Amazon should have done was created a marketing engine behind the contest.  There should have been a blog, tweets to follow, a Facebook page, sharing features, etc.  These staples of today’s internet are what creates hype.  These aren’t small companies with minimal resources.  Major corporations ran this contest.  The internet – beyond cartoonists – should be celebrating, signing up on Dana’s email list and buying copies of her past comics.

What we’ve learned is that quiet competition neglects fans, which in turn neglects the cartoonist.  Now Dana will be working hard to push her strip to the level of newspaper syndication (if it’s not already).  By next week, many of us will have let Girl slip to the back of our minds.  Perhaps in a year from now, she’ll be popping up in some papers here and there.  Maybe the public will remember the contest – most will never have heard of it.  The result will be that Girl will be in the same position as any new strip trying to build a readership from scratch in a struggling newspaper industry.

The saving grace might be Dana herself.  If she can build momentum from this point forward and create her own fanfare, she might have a good chance at success instead of just a chance.

Following the contest has been an eye-opening experience for those of us who want to launch the next set of great comic strips.

Zingerding is out to ignite a revolution in comic strips, and we need six talented cartoonists to join the cause.  Here’s what we’re looking for:

• Humorous comic strip, any genre.
• Publishable at least three times a week.
• Quality in writing and craftsmanship.

Here’s what cartoonists get:

• Slick, easy publishing tools and comic management.
• Each series gets its own profile and each strip gets its own page.
• Cartoonists earn 70% of revenue.
• Readership feedback and statistics.
• Zingerding’s marketing engine will find you readers.
• Exclusive opportunity to help shape the revolution.

This is only the beginning, though.  It’s your chance to get in on the ground floor.  To apply, visit Zingerding.com and “Zing in on the action”.  If your strip is already online, please provide a link.  We’ll be in touch shortly about what happens next.

For questions, email marilla@zingerding.com.