Below, you can find some guidelines for content - especially how to format it.
​
VISUAL ART
​
Size
​
An art piece must be set at 300 DPI and CMYK color mode if possible. It can be formatted as either a portrait or a landscape, but keep in mind that the rest of the book will be in portrait orientation, so readers may have to rotate the book to get a good look at your work.
The print will be size A5, roughly 5.8 x 8.3 inches. Here is a site that will show you the size scaled to your screen, if you are on a laptop or desktop computer.
​
This zine is going to be “full bleed”, which means the pages with images are totally filled up – there’s no empty border along the sides. This is how manga and comic books are typically printed.
​
The size we’re printing is A5. However, because it’s practically impossible to print a bunch of book pages at EXACTLY the right size (the printer ink won’t go to the edge of the page), the pages will have to be printed larger and then cut down.
That’s called “bleed”: the images are a teeny-tiny bit larger than the actual size that the book will be, so they “bleed” over the intended edge of the page. This gives the printing company the ability to cut the white borders off completely and safely, by overlapping the blade with the image by just a sliver of an inch.
​
You don’t need to worry too much about this since I will be putting the pages together. Just keep a few things in mind when you’re setting up your file:
​
-
Set your images to the right sizes. For our purposes, a full page (including bleed) is 154 x 216 mm, or 1819 x 2551 pixels. Half a page is 77 mm x 108 mm, or 909 x 1276 pixels. Also, above ALL else, be sure to set the resolution to 300 PPI!
-
Set the image to CMYK color mode if possible. Some programs (like Photoshop Elements, at least in certain versions) don’t give you this option, but if you’re working in a program where it is possible, using it will make it easier for the printer to match the right colors, as all printing services use CMYK.
-
Make sure nothing too important is at the very edge of the image, particularly words in speech bubbles and facial expressions. It’s likely that part will get cut. The “bleed” area is only about 6mm, or ¼ of an inch, so as long as the best part of the image is not butting up against the side of the page, you’ll be fine.
-
In addition to the issue of “bleed,” one side of the page will have to be in the binding of the book. This will make it hard to see about 7 mm on one edge of the image. Again, try to avoid putting important content too close to the edge.
​
Polished Images vs. Sketches and Doodles
​
We have a huge variety of art in this fandom.
​
I’d suggest that whatever you submit to the zine should be about as complete as you make any of your other art. Certainly, there are lots of people who don’t draw super crisp lineart, or who work almost entirely in traditional pencil sketches without color. For that reason, I don’t want to set an absolute requirement that all art must be lined, colored, and shaded, with a background. Instead, look deep in your heart and ask, “Is this art finished?”
​
Ideally, any one single image, especially digital ones, should have a suggestion of a background of some kind. It can be vague and simple, like shadows, a pattern, or a solid color.
​
If you do not want to draw a picture that is exactly the size of the zine (when we figure it out), you can change the proportions. Just keep in mind, this will mean that your image will have white or black space around it.
​
If you're doing a fancomic, every individual panel doesn't have to be this complex. A variation in the complexity of panels is normal.
​
Full pages will appear in portrait orientation (taller than they are wide). If you decide you want to draw in landscape orientation, that’s fine, but be aware that the reader will have to turn the book to look at your work properly.
​
Half-pages will appear in landscape orientation (wider than they are tall). Again, if you decide you want to draw in portrait orientation with a half-page, that’s fine, but it will most likely need to be turned to look at the image properly.
​
WRITING
​
Authors won’t have to worry quite so much about formatting the margins. Unlike resizing an image, formatting margins can be done without decreasing the quality of the writing's appearance, so I can do that as I put everything together.
​
However, please do make sure that your paragraphs are done correctly! Set them to single spacing, with a line break between paragraphs.
​
Also, please, please remember the basics of organizing paragraphs - like the fact that every time a different character starts to speak, you must start a new paragraph.
​
If you are reading this for a second time, please note that instead of having every author use a font of their choice, I will now be looking for a specific font that will be friendlier to readers with dyslexia and/or vision impairments.
​
Length
​
With a minimum word count of 1000, it's my guess that most writing in the zine will be fairly short-form, although we may have longer work depending on what gets submitted.
​
You might find yourself wanting to condense, or choose a strategic piece of a more complicated storyline, especially if you have a lot of post-canon headcanons or want to write an AU. I personally tend to prefer writing short, and find it helpful to try to imbue individual moments with thematic meaning rather than churn through a lot of plot. Far be it from me to get in the way of anyone's creative process, though.
​
OTHER CONCEPTS NOT NAMED HERE
​
If you have your own ideas for concepts you'd like to submit but it doesn't fit into anything I've described here, please go ahead and submit it in the contact form. We can negotiate.
​
​