Member Application season is now closed!
Results for the 2019 application season will be announced via email the first week of September. Thank you for your applications!
Application Requirements
All applicants for the July 2019 round are required to:
- CURRENTLY be updating their webcomic at least once a week, or be scheduled to return from hiatus independent of being accepted. Exceptions are made on a case-by-case basis.
- Have one full, non-prologue chapter (for longform comics) or 25 strips/updates (for shortform/strip format comics) complete and available to read online. No exceptions!
- Have basic knowledge of HTML/CSS and be able to take responsibility for the maintenance of their own comic site.
- Reapplying comics are REQUIRED to seek critique via our Constructive Critique forum before January 31st of the application year, prior to reapplication. If you have yet to do this, you will have to sit this season out!
Have questions?
Member Requirements
After being accepted, members must adhere to the following:
- Participate in voting during scheduled application seasons
- Display the SpiderForest rotating network banner above the fold of your comic page
- Is not a member of other private comic-related collectives or networks
- SpiderForest site cannot be hosted on a brand network, such as but not limited to: Comic Fury, SmackJeeves, Tapas, Webtoons, or Tumblr
- SpiderForest site must be at least one update ahead of mirror sites (The exception being under paywall support systems such as on Patreon)
- Maintain your own website
- Provide your own promotion materials (Images, news, etc.)
- Attend yearly roll call and engage with the SpiderForest community regularly
- Be responsive to admin emails and keep in touch regarding expected breaks or hiatuses from your comic
Want to know more about how we operate here?
Other Policies at a Glance
- SpiderForest is offering free hosting for accepted comics this season. Those who need help setting up their site will be paired with a volunteer member, but once they are set up, members must maintain their sites on their own. We provide our own exclusive content management system (CMS), Ran Jado’s proPanda, for use on SpiderForest sites, however, members are allowed to use any CMS they choose.
- SpiderForest does not and will never make any claims of ownership over anyone’s comics, art, writing, or other related content. Your work belongs to you.
- SpiderForest is a community collective, not a publisher. While we offer members advice and limited social media promotion, we do not handle any business or advertising matters for them. We do not run on a business model; everyone at SF is an unpaid volunteer, including the founders and administrators.
- At SpiderForest, we treat each other with respect. We are a diverse group, and abusive or derogatory behavior toward the background, identity, or beliefs of any person or group of people will not be tolerated.
- Becoming a member of SpiderForest does not require signing a contract, and a member may leave at any time.
- We encourage applicants to have their comics posted to a comic host such as SmackJeeves or Webtoons prior to application — especially if needed for the purpose of having their comic on a site to present to us. Should the applicant be accepted, they may keep these outlets as a mirror. However, we require that a member’s SpiderForest site be at least one page ahead, and that site should either be hosted privately, or by us.
- What a member puts into SpiderForest is what they get out of it. We advise members to join in on collective projects and seek connection/advice from the rest of the community, but ultimately, whether they do so is their choice.
- We strongly recommend that applicants read through the full Policy Charter. Should any doubts remain, we encourage reading the Application FAQ as well. They’re linked above, but here they are again, just in case: The Policy Charter and the Application FAQ.