Humor writer turned hobby into career writing gags for cartoonists

Freelance writer Robert Rafferty likes to crack jokes. He takes those jokes and writes gags for cartoonists who incorporate them into illustrations. In addition to writing gags for cartoonists, Rafferty has written several nonfiction travel books, children's TV show scripts, short plays and humor pieces. What began as a hobby for Rafferty became a career that has now spanned almost 40 years.

How does writing for a cartoonist work?

I write my ideas on 3-by-5 cards and then send them to cartoonists. I make myself a copy of it and then I send the card out along with maybe another dozen other ideas to the same artist. If the artist doesn't like my idea they usually will send it back so that I can repackage it and send it to another artist. You have to write in advance. I'm writing now for Christmas.

There are three types of cartoonists I work with.

Freelance artists: If they like my idea they have to sell it, and if they sell it I get a commission.

Syndicated artists: They have a flat fee, so if they like my idea they take it and they pay me the fee right away. I also work directly for Playboy.

Can you draw?

No. I can't draw a straight line. The way I got into this is I was in college and I had no extra money. I read an article about cartoonists using gag writers and I thought I could do that. I started looking up cartoonists and writing based on the instructions that the article suggested. About six months later I got my first sale and I have been doing it ever since.

How much money does being a gag writer bring in?

I've never tried to do it as my primary source of income. I've gotten some checks as much as 20 years later. I make 25 percent of whatever the cartoonist gets. It could be as little as $5. It's usually about $50, but for Playboy I get $150. That is why it's a volume business; if you don't send out lots of ideas, you don't make money. Some of my work recycles. A gag I wrote 20 years ago may be something I can rework and try again later to make more money off of it.

Where has your work been featured?

Harvard Business Review, Parade, Wall Street Journal, New Yorker, and some of my work is going to be in a new book I've been working with a cartoonist on that was sold to Carnival Cruise Lines. It's about amusing incidents that happen on cruise ships and will be for sale in the gift shops onboard.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

As for writing in general, it is very hard. There are some months where nothing comes in. I'm retired military or at times I might not have been able to do it. With book writing, don't start writing until you have a contract. When it comes to gag writing, don't do it. It is too hard to get started and the cartoonists that will usually look at gags have no sales record and you will spend a fortune on postage with no return. The cartoonists who are well established already have gag writers, so they don't need them. I would not try to get into this business today. When I got into this it was fairly new. Unless you are very good and can come up with New Yorker-quality gags, one right after the other, you have no chance. There is more opportunity in nonfiction book writing than anything else other than maybe romance novels.

Where does your inspiration come from?

It's very easy to do and I enjoy doing it. I can sit in a doctor's waiting room and write gags. You watch the news and you can get gags. I can get ideas from anything I hear. I have lots of books and I have a lot of cartoon and humor books. The type of gag I like to do is one that is current, but if a current gag doesn't sell right away it dies, so I don't write too many current gags. I can be watching television and think something is funny. I get three newspapers and read everything and I'm always finding articles I can play with. Right now I'm starting to collect clippings on twitter and in another couple of days I'll start writing on that.

What's your favorite thing about being a gag writer?

The world is a crazy place and there is humor in almost everything. No matter how serious the subject, there is humor and I like to find the humor and write it up. My second favorite thing is that after doing it all these years gags are easier for me to write.

What's your least favorite?

One of the biggest problems I'm having with gag writing is I've been in the business so long that most of the people I started with are dead. When I got started with them, I was young and in college and they were already established cartoonists, so I have fewer cartoonists I work with.