We take fan made content that can easily be translated into a printed publication. This includes, but is not limited to;
Fan Fiction (Ex: Felicity and Elizabeth kill Annabelle with a Banana: The Saga)
Original Character overviews and fiction (Ex: Meet My 1830s Character, Meet (insert your characters name))
Opinion pieces that do not target real individuals by name (Ex: âAll the Reasons Collector Sarah is Evil and Terribleâ would not be allowed. However, âThis is Why I Donât like Felicity Merriman,â âWhy Kailey is the Best GOTY,â âAG Dolls with Heavy Makeup Make me Uncomfortable,â âWhy You Should Support Corrinne,â and âWhy Tenney Is Not That Badâ would be allowed.)
âRankingâ Articles (Ex: âAll Of Kirstenâs Outfits Ranked,â âThe Historicals: Ranked,â âMy Least Favorite American Girl Outfits.â)
Articles Relating to the Culture or Time Period of An American Girl (Ex: âWhy Gwenâs Story is Still Relevant Today,â âToys Addy Would Have Had,â âBasic Spanish with Josefinaâ)
Reviews of AG Books, TV shows, Stop Motion or Movies
Personal Posts (Ex: âWhy I Collect AG,â âWhat AG means to me,â âCollecting while Blackâ)
Speculation and Discussion of Leaks that does not include the leaked photos or content itself.
Digital, or traditional fan art that can be mass printed without me needing a scanner (so a clear photo, or your willingness to give me copies of your work).
Tips, Tricks and Instructions
Fake Ads for Ridiculous Doll Products
Photography (if you want your photo to be put into the magazine in a specific way that isnât just printing it out, like it being a Polaroid taped into the zine, you will have to tell me and possibly provide the materials.)
FLAT extras (if you want to provide me with stickers, business cards, prints, bookmarks, etc to stick into the zine as an extra)
Riddles, Word Searches, Crosswords, Word Scrambles, Etc..
Personality Quizzes, How Well Do You Know ___ Quizzes, etc
Lists of Books and Other Media that is relevant to a given character (Ex: Like Addy? Read these books!!)
Recipes, Activities, Party Ideas, Etc.. from RETIRED American Girl Content (must tell me the source)
Submissions to Standing Columns, such as:
The Advertising Column (Ex: Advertising your small business, account, or if you need donations)
The Baby Boom Column (Got a new doll? Want to show them off?)
The CYO and Custom Doll Column (Got a new CYO/Custom? Have a Favorite? Have a CYO you really want but canât justify the price? Want to them off?)
The Help! Column (Run like the Help! Section of American Girl. You can send in Help! Submissions through ask for the community to respond to, and to eventually get published in the zine. Can be serious inquiries or funny ones.)
The Meet The Collector Column (Run Like the Meet The Reader column in American Girl. Basically⊠An Interview⊠With Yourself.)
Scans of Illustrations and RETIRED AG Content
Defamatory Content towards Individuals, Interpersonal Drama, and Mean Rumors.
This isnât a drama tabloid, and we wonât publish anything that could run someone out of the community, severely affect their mental health, or affect their irl life.
Anything That Could Get Me Sued.
This is why I allow speculation and talking about rumors, but I donât allow photos of leaked products. Publishing scans and retired content is a very grey area, but AG doesnât often get angry at older, obscure content being posted.
Plagiarism and Stolen Content.
Again, this is rather grey, considering I will allow scans and retired content. However, I will never allow large portions of main series books (or popular books like the mystery series), recent content (2018 onwards) that hasnât been âchangedâ in some way (making a Corrine collage would be okay, posting chapters of her book would not), other collectorâs photos that havenât been used with permission (stock photos are fair game), etc. Everything must be credited accordingly, and you must get permission if you use other collectorâs work.
Bigoted Content and Elitism.
This zine will be open to all opinions, however I reserve the right to draw the line if your content is eye meltingly offensive. If your fan art has racist caricatures or is severely white washed, it will not be published.
This includes content sexualizing American Girl Dolls, EXCESSIVE swearing (fine in moderation), DDLG (does not include age regressing as a coping mechanism) and any sort of k!nk, any sort of slurs (even in reclamation. I am autistic and cannot tell whether a slur is being used as reclamation or as a slur), g0re and trauma porn (With certain historical characters, there will be need to talk about hard subjects like police brutality, lynching, domestic violence, etc.. And thatâs allowed. But it must be done tactfully and not for shock value.), and using the zine as some type of tindr. Just donât be a weirdo.
Submissions that are not Predominantly in English.
For now. This is to keep the community safe, and make sure that all the content published in the zine follows the guidelines. I know quite a bit of Russian and Spanish, but Iâm still not comfortable reviewing content in those languages. Maybe in the future we will have others who can vet content in other languages, and this will be updated to show that. Any dialect of English is acceptable, and you do not have to be fluent in English to submit. This publication does not condone racism, classism or ableism towards how someone may speak and write in English.
Hard to Read Fonts and Colour Combos.
If you submit your writing using highlighter yellow wingdings and are adamant that it be published using highlighter yellow wingdings, itâs not going to be published. Be respectful and pick a legible font for the body of your writing. Go crazy with the title and headers though.
Personal Information that Could Put You Or Others in Danger.
Donât dox yourself!!! In sections like ISO, include a social media account you can be messaged on, and THEN go over sensitive details. Use your own judgement when including things like your city, state, PayPal/Venmo/Cashapp information, other social media accounts, your phone number, etc. Make sure that sensitive information such as your address is blurred or otherwise covered in photos you submit. If youâre still in grade school, please DO NOT tell us your school. I canât catch everything, but I still reserve right to ask you to omit something!!
Younger People and Submitting.
American Girl is targeted at kids, and young people are allowed to submit. With this in mind, this is a publication aimed towards adult collectors, and may not always be kid friendly in its tone, language and content. If you are a young person looking to submit, please do not go behind your parentsâ backs. I am a college student and donât want to deal with your angry parents. I have my own parents to deal with. You know your rules, and if you go against your parents, you will not be allowed to submit anything until you turn 16, and I will have to block you. It may be harsh, but Iâm saving your ass and my ass. Either donât go against your parents, or be sneaky about it. Just donât get me in trouble.
With younger people, I also have to amp up my safety rule. If you are under 16, I request that you use a pseudonym, or we will pick one for you. Do not name drop your school, or city. Do not include links to unrelated accounts. Do not include photos of yourself that show your face. Donât include your age, birthday, etc. Make sure you have complete parental permission, and if you are 13 or under, I will need direct contact with a parent to make sure that it is okay to post your work.
When working with minors, we urge you to be professional, and understand that the rules exist for a reason. Before publishing any work from 15 and unders, we request that you email us at [email protected].
Rules for Submission//How To Submit.
If you are over the age of 16, you can submit to our zine very easily!!
We request that you include:
How you want to be credited
A name or explicit instructions that you want to be anonymous
Your fandom account on any platform (dollblr⊠agigâŠ) (optional)
Watermarks for your work as you see fit (we will not add them for you)
Any file, PDF, google document, etc.. Must have sharing turned on so we can print and edit it into the zine.
Any specific instructions or wants as to how you want your piece to look in the magazine. (This includes if you have a font preference).
Whether or not it is okay to edit your work (We will always okay the final copy with you. Editing would mostly fix spelling errors and minor grammatical errors. The only edit that will be done without your permission regardless is proper crediting if you use excerpts from another work in your writing. I donât want my ass to be Mattel grass.).
How To Submit//Contact Us!!
The admins of this account are currently @kirstensleepey and @doll-collecting-aerialist, and you can reach out to us for questions. @kirstensleepey usually handles the design inquiries (if you want to help with that, talk to them!!) while I handle the technical and organizational stuff.
We have an email, which can be used for minors who wish to publish their work, lengthy inquiries, large files, and anything else. We ask that if you use our email, to keep it professional.
For more casual information, @kirstensleepey has a discord server with a channel dedicated to the zine. We will respond to you almost immediately over there. We also have our asks turned on with this account (and you can send media through them!!). DMs are finicky on this account, so weâd rather if you dmed submissions to our personal accounts or to our email!!
(You donât have to be professional on Tumblr/Discord lol)
Sometimes we will have prompts for the community to weigh in on that will get published!! This will either be done through a tumblr post (which is why you should follow us) or a google survey.
It will never be our aim to be exclusionary, and we wish to give everyone the chance to have their thoughts seen. This is why we do not discriminate based on English fluency and dialect.
This is still a relatively small zine, so I wouldnât worry about not getting chosen. I will literally make this 60 pages long if it means everyone gets their work published.
Not to mention that more submissions means more issues that we can make.. So please, submit to your hearts content.
We want to remain a relatively neutral zine, and will not lean towards one opinion or another, but we also do not tolerate any sort of bigotry. If you are a well known bigot, a TERF, p3d0, or elitist, we will not publish your work.
Influencers do not get special treatment. You have to pay for your copy like everyone else, or download a digital file of it. We will also never make a zine specifically about YOU due to your âinfluencerâ status, and your work will not automatically become priority simply due to this status. Youâre not special, you just have a lot of followers.
No. This is a purely voluntary, fandom made zine. Etsy costs cover shipping and supplies expense, and anything else benefits a charity AG is currently partnering with (AAPI Youth Rising, or Girls that Code as of Jan. 2022) or if a member of our dollblr community is in need (housing, rent, medical bills).
We might have some hiccups along the way, and may need to play with the price of the zine, but we promise to try and be as transparent as possible when it comes to what weâre doing with your money.
Why is this voluntary/unpaid?
For starters, we wish to keep the zine affordable, and we wish to follow the model of zines in the late 90s and early 2000s that were âscrappyâ and community based, over making a profit.
There is also a mega grey area when it comes to the legality of profiting off of fandom work. With AGâs recent crackdowns on fandom content, Iâd rather lay as low on the raydar as possible. I doubt theyâll be super angry with a $2.50 magazine.
