Toonthology Submission Guidelines
Introducing Toonthology: an ongoing comics anthology of short story comics! For our Toonthology series, WebcomicsFeed is looking for stories that will inspire, surprise, move and amuse both the young and old alike. We love fiction that puts us in the shoes of those who we do not necessarily share much in common with, but helps us realize we are more alike than we would like to believe. Fundamentally, we hope that Toonthology will be a hub for comic stories that provide hope in humanity to all our readers – irrespective of their background.
Initially the stories will only be published on our website with the possibility of a printed anthology in the future.
Here are the guidelines
- Elevator pitch: The story submission must be accompanied by a logline that will hook in the reader.
- Thumbnail image: UPON notification of acceptance, we will require an eye-catching thumbnail image, featuring the main character(s) of the story, for listing the comic on our website as well as social media promotion. Image size must be 1080x1080px(72dpi) and in JPG/JPEG format.
- Banner image: UPON notification of acceptance, we will require banner image for promoting the comic on our website’s home page as well as our social media platforms. The image will feature the story’s main character(s). Image size must be 1500x500px(72dpi) and in JPG/JPEG format.
- Page Count: The story must be a four-page comic, with at least 30 panels and at most 64 panels.
- Cover Art: Aside from the four pages, your submission must include a cover image for the story (with the title of the story). 1920 x 2485px, JPG/JPEG format. UPON notification of acceptance, 8.5 x 11 inches, in TIFF or PSD format, 300-600 dpi, CMYK.
- Audience Age Rating: This is an all-ages anthology, please keep content at a PG-13 level (no strong language, graphic violence, nudity, sexual situations please).
- Layout: The comic MUST be formatted for both print/desktop and mobile/webtoon layouts. Color or Black and White/Grayscale is acceptable. JPEG or PDF (for submission purposes); TIFF or PSD 300-600 dpi, CMYK will be the final format to be sent UPON notification of acceptance. Due to our anti-virus policy, please do not send zip folders. Submissions sent in any other format than those requested, will be deleted.
- Page Size Dimensions (Print/Desktop Layout): TIFF or PSD 300-600 dpi, CMYK, 8.25 x 10.75 inches (trim size) - please add bleed and set to 8.5 x 11 inches. Live area of important imagery and text should be no larger than 7.75 x 10.25 inches. Also send a JPG version of the file (1920 x 2485px, 72dpi).
You can download a template for the print layout here. The template can be used in either Illustrator or Photoshop. It can also be placed in most desktop publishing programs. Please remember to keep these templates on their own layer so that they can be deleted or turned off before saving your final files.
- Page Size Dimensions (Mobile/webtoon Layout): Comic image must be sliced up by panels, saved as JPG files, with each file 800px wide and a maximum of 1280px long and under 2MB each. Submitted UPON notification of acceptance.
Here are some good tutorials on converting a print formatted comic into a vertical/webtoon formatted comic: tutorial 1, tutorial 2, and tutorial 3.
- Genre & Themes: We are looking for slice-of-life stories that are inspirational in nature. Your submission will have a better chance of being accepted if the story is funny and heartwarming with a diverse (gender, age, religion, race) set of characters. There should be a clear source of conflict for your protagonist with a satisfying resolution at the end of the story.
- Self-contained: Please ONLY submit self-contained short stories that are 100% complete (finished art, writing, lettering). Please do not submit just a pitch; it will be deleted. The story must be complete in itself (i.e., not a fragment of a larger work).
- Simultaneous Submissions: We understand the need to accept simultaneous submissions. We only ask that you notify us promptly if your comic is accepted elsewhere.
- Number of Submissions: We accept multiple submissions, but only one will be selected in order to achieve the variety necessary for the anthology. Please use a separate submission form for each story.
- Nationality: We welcome submissions from anywhere in the world, but stories must be written in English (unless it is a silent story with no dialogue).
- Republishing: Only previously unpublished works will be considered for publication.
- WebcomicsFeed Account: You must create an account on WebcomicsFeed to submit your story.
- How to Submit: You must submit your stories via the submission form on this website. Submissions by post or email will not be read.
- Age Limit: We only consider submissions from adult creators (age 18 or above).
- Rights: Creators will retain 100% ownership of their work. We only ask for first-publication rights (for a period of one year, and general publication rights in perpetuity). We will maintain the right to publish both print and digital formats (on this site) and to reprint the story in a trade compilation or anthology. If we decide to reprint it, after the original run, we will pay another 25 percent of the original fee, for each subsequent reprint.
- Fan Fiction: Please do not send concept art, completed comics, or fan fiction with copyrighted characters. We want original new material only please.
- Contract: WebcomicsFeed will contract with only one team member per submitted work.
- Deadline: First round - August 31st, 2022.
- Compensation: We pay a flat rate fee of $200 for each accepted story. Payment will be made via PayPal once you’ve signed your contract and you have sent over all the requested assets. You will also get a FREE LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP to the WebcomicsFeed platform(with reader subscription fees waived for the lifetime of the account).
Please pay close attention to the above requirements, any submissions that do not adhere to these may not be accepted.
Please honor your work and ours by submitting stories that are appropriate for an audience that includes young readers.
*Submission is not a guarantee that your story will be published on our platform*
We look forward to seeing your beautiful stories.
Good luck!
WebcomicsFeed is seeking fictional, slice-of-life, short comics for our ongoing anthology series - Toonthology. The stories should be inspirational in nature. They must be four pages in length (between 30-64 panels). They can be any style and on any subject as long as they are highly engrossing for a reader. The stories must have some form of conflict, with a satisfying resolution at the end.
We accept only JPEG or PDF files.
Yes. WebcomicsFeed pays $200 per story. WebcomicsFeed is independently funded and we pay for this venture out of our own bank accounts! We're hoping as we start to break even between paid subscriptions and fees that we can increase all of our rates.
No. WebcomicsFeed is looking for previously unpublished material. Stories previously published online—on blogs, personal websites, online comic publishing platforms, or forums—will not be accepted.
Yes, but please withdraw your submission immediately if your submission is accepted for publication elsewhere.
No. Since WebcomicsFeed receives several submissions each week, we are unable (due to time constraints) to comment on individual stories.
We strongly prefer that you only send us final drafts, but if you must upload a new version, please contact us first.
No. Please send us new work. Revisions of previously rejected stories will not be considered and will be automatically declined.
All submissions should be submitted on this website (click on the Next Steps tab above for instructions).
Emailed submissions will be deleted and will go unread. We do not accept paper submissions.
We accept submissions from June 15th to August 31st.
We do our very best to respond to submissions within 6 weeks after they are received. If you don’t hear back from us within that time, please be patient! It is our goal to make sure that each submission gets a good read.
Yes, WebcomicsFeed considers international submissions. All submissions must be written in English.
No. You will only be ceding universal first publication rights to WebcomicsFeed for a period of one year, and general publication rights in perpetuity. If a company like Netflix decides they need to make a movie out of a story we’ve published in WebcomicsFeed, they’ll have to go to you, not us.
We are looking for funny, heartwarming stories. Here is a list of suggested topics:
- Bullying
- Embarrassing moments
- Death in the family
- Divorce
- Depression/suicide
- Falling in love
- Struggling with school grades
- Dealing with teen-angst
- Friendship
- Pets
- Dealing with self-image
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Step 1:
Create an account and login.
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Step 2:
From the profile dropdown menu(under your avatar in the navigation bar), click on the Toonthology menu.
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Step 3:
Make sure you have the following items ready before submitting your form.
- A title for your story.
- A logline for your story. Make it as enticing as possible to draw the reader in.
- Your 4-page comic, either as a PDF file OR 4 four JPG/JPEG files corresponding to each page(each 1920 x 2485px).
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Step 4:
Fill out the form.
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Step 5:
Submit the form.
If you have received a notification from WebcomicsFeed that your submission has been accepted, first off, YAY!😊 Congratulations! Now, we will require a few more items from you:
- Your signed contract.
- A thumbnail image featuring the main characters of the story. Image size must be 1080 x 1080px (72 dpi) and in JPG/JPEG format.
- A banner image featuring the main characters of the story. Image size must be 1500 x 500px (72 dpi) and in JPG/JPEG format.
- Cover art image with the title of the story, 8.5 x 11 inches, in TIFF or PSD format, 300-600 dpi, CMYK.
- Cover art image with the title of the story. Image size must be 1920 x 2485px (72 dpi) and in JPG/JPEG format.
- Comic art files for desktop/print layout, 8.5 x 11 inches, in TIFF or PSD format, 300-600 dpi, CMYK.
- Comic art files for desktop/print layout, 1920 x 2485px, in JPG/JPEG format, 72 dpi.
- Comic art files for mobile/webtoon,JPG/JPEG file format, 72 dpi. Images must be sliced up by panel with each file 800px wide and a maximum of 1280px long and under 2MB each.