Soft and Warm

Welcome, welcome~
Soft and Warm is an upcoming sapphics charity zine focusing on big women love!
Current Status: Left Over Sales~

[email protected]

About

Soft and Warm Zine is an original charity zine featuring plus-size Sapphic OCs.

END PRODUCT

Physical Zine: Soft and Warm. ~100 pages. 8.25x8.25, perfect bound.
Bonus NSFW Digital Zine: Silky and Hot. ~20 pages.
Merch: 2 stickersheets, 2 prints (holo + foil), 4 polaroids, 2 double-sided acrylic charms (with heart chain), 1 wooden pin, 2 digital wallpapers.
Stretch Goal: die cut sticker, enamel pin, NSFW book physical upgrade, possibly shaker charm.
Charity: https://www.womenforwomen.org/
Store: Bigcartel.
Contributor Compensation: Free physical zine + shipping if possible. If not, all digital items free, everything else at production cost.

CONTENT

Contributors: 5 poets, 5 prose writers, 20 illustrators, 3 comic artists, 5 artist/merch artists, 5 merch artists (digital and physical).
Rating: PG-13 (Main Zine) and Mature NSFW (Bonus PDF).
Allowed: He/Him lesbians, Bi/Pan/Poly/Ace women and enbies that are depicted in WLW or NBLW relationships. Trans-friendly. Relationship between Non-plus-size and plus-size allowed, so long as plus-size OC is the focus. Traditional works allowed. Original characters only.

Schedule

  • April 26th (Lesbian Visibility Day): Interest Check Starts

  • May 17th (International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia): Interest Check Closes

  • May 23rd: Contributor Applications Open

  • June 14th (International Non-Binary People's Day): Contributor Applications End

  • June 28th (Stonewall Anniversary): Contributor Applications Results Sent

  • June 30th (End of Pride Month): Due Date for Acceptance Steps

  • July 12th: Assignments/Ideas Finalized

  • August 1st: Check-in 1

  • August 19th: Check-in 2

  • September 5th (International Day of Charity): Final Submissions

  • October (LGBTQ+ History Month + a bunch of events): Preorders

  • April 18th: Leftover Sales begin

  • May 16th: Leftover Sales end

[email protected]

The Team

BOTANIST ROSSIE
Head Mod | Social Media

Experience
https://twitter.com/fashionstuck

Socials
https://twitter.com/rossiecore

CULTIVATOR HUMANBOB
Organization | Finance

Experience
https://zinesgalore.carrd.co/

Socials
https://humanbobjeanpants.tumblr.com/
https://humanzines.tumblr.com/

FLORIST ELLE
Graphic Design | Layout

Experience
https://fantasyfashionzine.tumblr.com/
https://fairiesandlorezine.tumblr.com/

Socials
https://elle-arts.tumblr.com/

GARDENER ZELINA
Contributor Management

Socials
http://aisling-daugherty.tumblr.com/

ARCHITECT MARY
Writing | Shipping

Experience
https://sapphiczines.tumblr.com/ https://luminescence-zine.tumblr.com/

Socials
https://writingwoodard.tumblr.com/

[email protected]

Application Guidelines

Multiple Roles: Allowed, so long as you can deliver the work. You'll receive 1 email with all your results.
NSFW Portfolio: You must leave a warning in the application. Failure to do so may result in disqualification.
Portfolio Must Include: Women or nonbinary people. It must be easily accessible and work is clearly visible at the start. We will not contact you if your links have errors, and failure to follow instructions will deduct points from your application, so please check before submitting!
Portfolio Ideally Has: Sapphic themes, plus-sized depictions, and the style you will bring to this project.

Artists and Merch Artists

Sample Artworks: Fully colored, complete pieces with background. Sketches, WIPs, incomplete work can go in your portfolio.
Art Portfolio: Minimum 5 pieces.
Traditional Art: Acceptable, as long as you can provide high quality scans of your work (a minimum of 300 dpi resolution).
Illustrators: 3 complete illustrations as samples. A good sense of composition building and background set design, and a good grasp on anatomy, especially fat people's bodies, as this zine is meant to showcase them.
Comic Artist: Sample pieces show proficiency in sequential arts. Text balloons and art fit within each panel and are legible. Panels are readable at first glance, regardless of setting and situation. Storytelling does not feel rushed or sluggish in a short amount of pages.
Merch Artists: TBD.

Writers

Sample Literature: Minimum 2 pieces up to 3k words long that showcases the style you will bring to this zine, whether that is poetry or some sort of prose. Excerpts acceptable; please note at the top of the piece.
Literature Portfolio: Minimum 5 of your best written works. Ideally, experimental works and works that intentionally aren’t grammatically correct should be noted as an intentional stylistic choice.
We’re Looking For: Engaging narrative, vivid descriptions, and a strong grasp of grammar.
Tip: Not all pieces in your portfolio will be read, so focus on presenting your best works showing your current style in your sample pieces.
Fanfiction: Acceptable, but should ideally be stand-alone pieces readable with limited knowledge of the fandom. You will not be allowed to make fanfiction for the final zine.

Questions/Concerns? Ask Mod Mary!

[email protected]

Products

Q. What is a zine?
A. A zine is a fan-created, non-official publication dedicated to a specific genre typically read by other fans who have similar interests. It can contain short stories and pieces of artwork.

Q. Will there be a physical book for purchase?
A. Yes!! With very positive responses from the interest check, we have decided to make the main zine physical, with a digital NSFW zine!

Q. What are the zine specs (image dimensions, how large the zine is going to be, how many contributors, etc.)
A. All zine specs we have decided on are now in the About section! We may add more info as we go along. May be subjected to change. Contributors will receive more info needed for them to complete their pieces.

Q. Will there be merch?
A. Yes, both digital and physical.

Q. Do you have producers in mind for some if the merchandise or know where to find them?
A. Yes!

Zine Process

Q. Mods: do any of the mods in the team have organized and coordinated a successful zine before?
A. Yes! Please look at our portfolios linked in the Mods Page. We'll also be posting individual mod intros on our socials, in which we will talk about our experience!

Q. What time zone will you be basing everything on?
A. EST!

Q. Where will you be shipping?
A. If we do end up having physical products, we will be shipping from America. We will be shipping internationally though!

Q. Will the zine continue despite COVID19?
A. Absolutely! There may be some delays here and there, particularly for shipping and production, but we aim to continue this zine until the end.

Q. Will contributors be receiving anything for being in the zine?
A. Depending on sales, we aim to treat all contributors with a free zine, shipping included. Everything else the contributors can buy at production. Contributors are also free to decline the physical zine, thus having the proceedings go to charity. Regardless, all contributors will receive all the digital items for free.

Q. Will there be a beta reader?
A. Yes - it will be Mod Mary!

Applications

Q. Will you be opening applications for finance/shipping mod?
A. Nope! Mod Humanbob has offered to be the finance mod, and Mod Mary will be handling shipping.

Q. Who can apply for a contributor position? (I'm not plus sized myself so I wouldn't wanna take away a spot from someone able to represent themselves.)
A. Any age can apply for the SFW positions (merch and main zine). The mini NSFW zine will be available only for 18+ applicants who have turned 18 before they have submitted their application.
You must be sapphic/WLW, but not necessarily plus-size, just body-positive. We aren't going to ask BMI to verify you're plus-sized or not, and also there's a huge range of body types within the "plus-sized" umbrella! We care more about your ability to respectfully portray plus-sized women in a flattering, positive, and incredibly Sapphic way.

Q. I'm a traditional or photomanip artist, can I still apply?
A. Of course! All art forms are welcome as long as it can be scanned and submitted at the required art specifications listed when the Zine Specifications are out.

Q. The terms of selection? Many zines end up just recruiting those who have the most followers and/or their personal friends and that's always a bummer! If yall could do blind selection it would be great!
A. We definitely understand the concern and won't be basing votings on follower counts and personal friends and whatnot! We don't want to rely on contributor's follower counts

Q. Do I have full rights to my piece?
A. Of course!! You put your blood, sweat, and tears into this. Your piece is YOURS! We just ask you not to post the piece prior to the end of the publishing period. As soon as sales are over, you can do whatever you want with your work!

Content

Q. Besides bein' chub and WLW is there any other overlying themes??
A. Yep! Language of Flowers had a grand voting lead over the other themes in our interest check, so we will be having that as our sub-theme!

Q. Will there be a diverse set of sapphics aside from them being plus-sized? (Is this zine trans-women positive? Are Enby, Trans, and He/Him lesbians allowed? if I'm nb and bi or pan am I welcome to contribute?)
A. Definitely! We’re committed to having diverse pieces and really want to represent plus-sized sapphics from all walks of life - culturally diverse, racially diverse, gender and sexuality diverse (within the Sapphic umbrella), etc. Steps taken will include: asking potential contributors to list ideas they have for their pieces to help us see what contributors might create, and looking at portfolios for examples of diverse representation.

Q. If you have a plus size wlw oc paired with a non plus size wlw, would that still be acceptable for an artistic piece? Or is the zine purely focused on the plus sized gals and their experiences?
A. As long as the plus-sized character is the focus of the piece, that's totally fine!

Q. Is fanart/fanfic allowed? Can you depict fictional characters or real people?
A. Since this is an original zine, only original characters who are not part of existing intellectual property will be allowed. In real life celebrities are also not allowed in this zine.

Q. What "rating" should pieces have (g? Pg13? R?)? Since the zine is focused on body, is nudity allowed?
A. Main zine will be PG-13; partial, non-sexual nudity is allowed (artists: swim-suit area covered; writers: non-explicit, vague references to sex). Bonus NSFW mini-zine will be only available for contributors over 18+ and will permit full nudity and sexual content.

[email protected]