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Please do not apply to Shortbox Comic Fair. Here's a thread:

I was among the participants that were going to exhibit my comic at SBCF 2025. I applied to this fair due to its reputation and very few, almost no bad press about it. The only example I could find is the organizer's anti-competition statement here. (sorry for QRT, Duke)

Only during the course of participating in this fair, I learned why the Shortbox brand was so clean: the sole organizer, Zainab, would often send out emails to participants, scolding them and telling them to NOT say anything bad about their own Shortbox comics, -

One month prior to the deadline, I asked Zainab if my comic could have an 'extended' version, which I can link to Shortbox' customers after the fair so they can access it for free. She didn't comment or review my comic, -

- but copy-pasted a statement from the participant guidebook about "exhibiting work post-Shortbox" (to summarize, we're not allowed to lower our prices or put up the comic for free immediately after the fair ends, an example can be seen here, sorry for QRT again).

Instead of a vendor fee, 2025 SBCF participants would have to deal with a 'drop out' fee, which applied to me later. The five months after the Lunar New Year in March 2025, the comic for Shortbox was my entire priority. I took no breaks to finish the comic as fast as I can.