Yes, if Tear is not running it can't receive DBus messages. You can use a commandline startup to work around that.
Code:
/usr/bin/tear "file://%s"
this actually sends a message to itself if it is already running, if not - it starts.
So is there a comprehensive script I can enter into the Quick Clip settings field that incorporates this commandline startup so that tear will launch even when not running? Certainly this has to be possible, right? I mean, wouldn't it be something similar to whatever happens when I use the tear bookmark plug-in to have tear open to a bookmarked page?
Thanks!