Put together by @Artisiie out of boredom and personal need

Disclaimer
Remember that this site is not done by a professional. Every part of this builds on experience alone throughout different projects, moderators, other guides and a personal learning experience and feeling. Not everything applies to every project and things are likely to vary based on your project, theme and plans.
The author of this site can not be held accountable for any misunderstandings or errors in your project and is not responsible for any issues, problems or any of that matter of your project.
Please also note that english isn't my first language so some grammar, spelling or general errors in the texts can - and most likely will - occur.

'Zine' comes from the word Magazine and what that is hopefully everyone knows. A normal magazine consists of Photography and writing where as zines usually - there are exceptions!- consist of artworks and written stories.A zine can work in many different ways and operate differently from project to project, but it usually all follows the same style.Generally you can split zines in 2 categories - Digital and Physical. These are - according to what it's called - differencing between their ways of production where as one has digital only contents and the other has printed / manufactured goods.Besides those there are again 4 general sub-categories that get down to the price of the project. Your project can be Free, Split 50/50, Charity or for profit. Of course there also is 'Pay what you want' but we'll ignore those for now because be real, those are rare as heck and basically the same as free.Usually you have those categories, everything else is great detail we go into later on.A zine can range from something from a certain fandom to something completely own and new with OCs or anything to that matter. There really isn't anything that doesn't exist and it can be paired and mixed in endless ways.Anyhow, a zine always - or in 99% of cases - is done by a group of people (of course there are also people who do zines alone and for themselves but that usually is on a much smaller scale and we won't focus on those here)
Zines and for a matter of fact Big- and Mini Bangs - are community projects, being called 'Fanprojects' for a reason. People with the same interest and passion get together to create one of these projects over the span of usually about a year, give or take a month or two.The stages that the zine goes through can be found in #timeline in more detail. The scheduling of Big and Minibangs follow a very similar pattern, save to say for PreOrders and possibly changes in how the applicaions will work. (more on that again later don't worry)

Depending on what your project is aiming to be, the timeline you have to prepare may differ. A zine has steps that a Big / Mini Bang doesn't have and vice versa. Some 'guides' are also different and while roles are mainly the same, the way a schedule should be set up for the project are different.Most of the main creation process is the same, so the main differences lay in how applications - or SignUps - go, PreOrders or publication dates and the general timeline close to the reveal / publication of your project.

Putting up a Zine isn't something that you do in a minute. If you want to have an actual quality product and not a flip book that looks like a kindergartner crafted it by hand shortly before its nap, you should take some time for this.
So.. what exactly needs to be done at this point before the project even takes off? Honestly not that much.First of you should know - do you want to start this on your own? Do you have a friend you can set your project up with, maybe even a friend who has experience if you don't have any? Would definitely help...Okay, so you're as lonely as most of us and start it on your own, that's totally fine too! We can make it work, don't break your head over it.Before you actually even start publicly you should set up your first few guides for yourself. That means deciding for yourself how big you can handle this project to be max, what position you would fill, digital / physical? A lot of these questions will get finalized during the InterestCheck but I personally always found it handy to have a starting point that you can build up on with the IC rather than setting everything up with the results alone. So do you want to be digital? Physical? Merch? Writing only maybe? There's many options really.Question A you need to have an immidiate answer to is WHAT IS YOUR ZINE ABOUT? And don't give me a 'well this fandom!' because honey that won't work (Unless you actually want a zine featuring everything from a to z and over 1 to 10 with some hyrogplyphs mixed in. Aka, something without any theme really.)
You need to have something like a theme, something that your zine resolves around. Is it gonna be about a certain character from your favorite shows? Do you want to have something with the topic on an AU? Coffeeshop? College? Dragons? Bonds between the cast?You see there is literally endless things, be it a ship-centric thing, hardcore NSFW or the cutest fluff to ever exist, you have the possibility. And if you want to start a project, you need to have nailed down what your project will be about. People won't be able to be interested in something that they don't know what it's about.What also is a question you should ask yourself is how your ideal plan would be. That means how big would your project be in your vision, what would the contents look like, how many participants and how would it be manufactured - or just send - and sold. These are all things that will be reworked later as already mentioned, but having an idea of the direction you want to head in with the points listed above can be useful, especially for moderator apps when time comes and if you decide to have those alongside the InterestCheck. (Which is a possibility, not a must mind you)

Okay great, you have your own personal basics done! You know your theme and what you want to head towards, now onto the scary part, actually going public.Now, what do you now even need that you're about to publish your amazing idea? You got all planned! Ha, no you don't. What about a posting schedule? Do you know how you want to announce yourself? Do you have a graphic to accompany it?

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Similar to the Zine Process, before you do anything publicly, you need a theme. What fandom do you want to create for, what are your sepcifics? A certain AU? Ship? Or just something open end?

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In Zines and also Big / Mini Bangs are extremely many different roles, most of them are the same no matter if your project is a Bang or a Zine. The differences and if the role is only needed in one project or another or other notes can be found on the specific roles themselves at the start+ Also keep in mind that those are just based on personal experience, other guides and a lot of asking around, the roles may vary a lot in your projects or be mixed and combined in whatever combination you may think it makes sense / works.

Page Art Contributors are needed in both Zines and Big / Mini Bangs. However where as in zines there mostly are requirements, set sizes, stuff to consider like bleed, quiet area etc, that isn't needed at all in a Bang. Usually the application phase is also different, Bangs you can often just sign in and don't have to wait to get accepted or rejected where as in zines you have a 50/50 chance of making the application project and actually getting to participate in the project. You may also often create as many pieces as you want for a Bang where in Zines your pieces will be limited (unless specifically communicated via the mod team).

Usually the thing that gets most apps and is needed most is page artist, be it spread pages, singles or just spots. (Generally, again depending on the project!) So with art apps it's usually a long and tedious phase, especially when applicants are incapable of following some simple steps that honestly should be considered manners by now. Mods usually put a lot of effort into setting up guides, forms and clearing all questions before they even arrive so the least to do is to make sure some things are the way they are supposed to be.A) READ THE GUIDELINES
Seriously, it sounds like it's something clear but the amount of apps i saw where the instructions weren't followed... As a mod those are situations where you aren't sure if you should laugh or cry.
When the questions states to LINK your socials then you use LINKS, like the funky html thingies like www stuff. Just an @ doesn't tell us anything, as a mod it's like having to go on a treasure hunt which only steals time and nerves. Especially because it can be avoided so incredibly easy. Besides that it also helps you to maybe pick out what to use for samples. It can be hard to determine your 'best piece' so you can use some guides (if existence) to weed out some of them and submit stuff that benefits you not only because it looks good but because it maybe even showcases stuff the mods were hoping to see. (Example: when the guides state 'pieces of character x aren't required but prefered' which can happen quite often).B) CHECK YOUR PERMISSIONS
This ties into the first point but is important enough to deserve it's own mention, really. Check your submissions! Most submissions will be via Google Drive links so you have to make sure that other people can actually view them. You can't be rated nor accepted if noone can see your samples.
Usually - mattering on how hard the mods kick submissions off based on these things - they will go look at your socials, mainly the first few pieces and those most probably aren't your best works. Or in the other cases your app may very well get discarded completely.
You can double check your submission by copying the link and opening it in an incognito tab! That way you can see if other people are able to view them as well. Or send it to a friend beforehand and ask if they can see it or not.

Now, usually those are the two things that have to be considered in every application.
Besides that; what else is there to look out for?One Generally what you always should keep in mind: your portfolio is only as strong as your weakest piece.
So make sure that you rather have only few pieces but all of them amazing, rather than tons of works and some of them are something you made in 5 minutes.Well, usually it's set in the guides (oh look, useful to read again! Unbelievable..) what the mods of the project are looking for, be it a certain skill or experience with certain aspects of an artwork or a specific character. However mostly when you're choosing your samples and setting together your portfolio there are some things that you basically always can look out for and keep in mind, it's also what the art mod probably will be paying attention to in the creation process.A) ANATOMY
Usually when reviewing apps you have a close look to the anatomy of portrayed characters. Now that doesn't mean it has to be hyper-realistic with the an accuracy that would make Da Vinci cry in envy, but it has to work.
Everyone has their own artstyle and that sometimes includes bending anatomy a bit here and there. So unless the project is actively looking for a certain artstyle that is close to realism, they will most likely check if it works overall, if anything looks wrong or out of place.B) COLORS / SHADOWS & LIGHTS
This is more general and a bit less to artstyle, but mostly there will also be a criterium for how your colors are used. Does your piece look like someone tripped over a bunch of color buckets? Are they harmonized? Convey an atmosphere? Is everything bright and neon and screams at you demanding to be looked at? Usually you can't do much wrong with colors though and even the weirdest color combinations can work if the theme, style and or motive of a piece fits. Again - it has to work as a whole.
However it's worth mentioning that even if your neon-only pieces work there is a higher chance of not being what is needed in the project since those are rather specific colors, so having one or two pieces with more 'usual' color combinations is worth putting in! If unsure you can always send it as a question via CuriousCat and most of the times you'll receive an answer if your bright pink kitty with poisen-green background will do your app good or not.
Together with that also come shades which usually can be broken down to the two questions: a) 'are the shadows / lights in the right place?' and b) 'do the shadows look muddy or out of place?'
(How to avoid the second or practice the first can be learned via youtube or tutorials, there is a ton if helpful stuff out there so use it!)C) BACKGROUNDS
Ah yes, enemy of most. Backgrounds.
Backgrounds are usually - or often - on the side of 'prefered but not required' since often simple things also do well in a project. However it still is a huge plus if you have anything more than a solid colored background or some random squares and circles. As simple as it could be, a sketched, blurry tree with a mustache-bird is worth a lot more than 'look i made a square with a gradient'!D) OVERALL COMPOSITION / ORGINALITY
Those two tie in a bit more and while originality is something that depends heavily on a lot of other things as well (color, motiv, general artstyle, shading, ...) the overall composition is either something that ties the piece together as a whole or makes it look wonky. Where in your piece is the drawing placed? If you have a background, is it just floating there with your character in the perfect middle or is it tied together? Is there a visible light source and do the shadows and light-reflections actually work together with it or does it make something look out of place? There are also things considered as to what motives you drew, what characters and - if existing - what backgrounds, but generally speaking those are points that aren't or shouldn't be considered as much. It may bring up the question 'can this person create something interesting and unique for the project?' but that is mostly settled via pitches at a later point. Still it is something that mods may notice, even if it doesn't weight in as much as other aspects maybe do.

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Usually the thing that gets most apps and is needed most is page artist, be it spread pages, singles or just spots. (Generally, again depending on the project!) So with art apps it's usually a long and tedious phase, especially when applicants are incapable of following some simple steps that honestly should be considered manners by now. Mods usually put a lot of effort into setting up guides, forms and clearing all questions before they even arrive so the least to do is to make sure some things are the way they are supposed to be.A) READ THE GUIDELINES
Seriously, it sounds like it's something clear but the amount of apps i saw where the instructions weren't followed... As a mod those are situations where you aren't sure if you should laugh or cry.
When the questions states to LINK your socials then you use LINKS, like the funky html thingies like www stuff. Just an @ doesn't tell us anything, as a mod it's like having to go on a treasure hunt which only steals time and nerves. Especially because it can be avoided so incredibly easy. Besides that it also helps you to maybe pick out what to use for samples. It can be hard to determine your 'best piece' so you can use some guides (if existence) to weed out some of them and submit stuff that benefits you not only because it looks good but because it maybe even showcases stuff the mods were hoping to see. (Example: when the guides state 'pieces of character x aren't required but prefered' which can happen quite often).B) CHECK YOUR PERMISSIONS
This ties into the first point but is important enough to deserve it's own mention, really. Check your submissions! Most submissions will be via Google Drive links so you have to make sure that other people can actually view them. You can't be rated nor accepted if noone can see your samples.
Usually - mattering on how hard the mods kick submissions off based on these things - they will go look at your socials, mainly the first few pieces and those most probably aren't your best works. Or in the other cases your app may very well get discarded completely.
You can double check your submission by copying the link and opening it in an incognito tab! That way you can see if other people are able to view them as well. Or send it to a friend beforehand and ask if they can see it or not.

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The role of the organisation moderator already explains the basic tasks of the role. This person - often not specified and executed by the head mod - is in charge of the whole organisation. That often means creating forms, spreadsheets for voting, maybe a contributor handbook, the discord layout and sometimes also keeping track of all contributors progress so the art/writing/merch mod can focus on giving feedback to contributors if requiered.
Organisation Moderators are mostly also in charge of the zine's mail and the communication.Existing Zine / Big or Mini Bang experience is often prefered in this role since that usually means that the person knows what is needed in a zine, the basic schedule and how to work on certain tasks. However any kind of organisational task is usually a good enough start to try for this role - it's recommended to then have someone in the team though that knows the process of a zine and the necessarities.Organisational Mods' work is always throughout the whole zine process. They need to create forms on the run and there is usually always something to do organisational wise.

Qualities that fit this role:
- Timely
- Good communication
- A good sense of deadlines and overviewing work
- 'Desire' / 'Capability' to work mostly from behind the scenes.
- A certain level of skill in regards for google forms, documents and spreadsheets

If you're not a full own organisational Moderator, you might be a communications mod. This role is solely what the name says - communication. Be it via Mail, CuriousCat, Tumblr Ask box or Twitter DM, usually this person is designated to handling all kind of questions that people might have for the zine.This often also includes the participants of the project, asking about missing pieces or when problems arise while also assisting on questions.

Qualities that fit this role:
- Good communicaton (duh)
- Likes to work close to people / participants
- Capable to handle all kinds of people (also icky ones)
- Skill to stay calm and unbiased in most situations

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Creation Kit (ENG, 2021/2022) = Tumblr Blog with a great explanation on specific roles, general Zine building and other detailed Recourses and Informations.
by @Calamari-san and @flux_fiction

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Zine There, Zine That (ENG, ~2020) = Tumblr Blog with guides for mods starting a project and wanting to join one with description to the different phases of a zine.
by @Slumberish

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how to run a zine (ENG, 2021) = A google document with closer descriptions to the different steps of a zine.
by @J

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re: zine etiquette… (ENG, 2018) = A Tumblr blog with general DO's and DON'T's for zines.
by @thecookiemonster77

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Specs = Specifics of the project. For example page size, merch types, contributor or page count
MoQ = Mindest order Quantity. The smallest count of items you can order at certain stores / sites of a certain product
Apps = Applications of the project, either for mods or for the contributors

There always are incredibly many projects going at once, all from different fandoms, moderators, with different themes etc etc. Having an overview of when what is going can help you avoid clashing dates with other - possibly similar - projects.
To avoid that as best as possible or to just check once in a while what projects there are I have a small calendar here. Via the submission form you can also submit newcomer projects of your own if not already added.