PLEASE READ THE FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS(FAQ) BELOW. WE WILL NOT ENTERTAIN QUESTIONS THAT ARE ALREADY ANSWERED IN THE FAQ. IF YOU'RE TOO LAZY TO READ, YOU SHOULD BE READING COMICS, NOT MAKING THEM.

APPLICATION FORMS WILL BE AVAILABLE ON JUNE 22, 2009. Send us a note with your email address for your copy.
^{Note: Please do not bug us if we aren't able to send you your copy right away. Complaining that we should be servicing you instead of getting enough sleep for ourselves will not help your chances of getting your form sooner or your application approved.}

M3 Con '09 Indie Exhibitor's Application Guidelines


Eligibility

1. Each group applicant must have a representative of at least 18 years of age. Individual applicants must be at least 18 years of age or have parental consent.
2. Must have at least 1 complete, original, and approved indie comic product to be sold at M3 Con ‘09.
3. Completely independently produced and printed. (Not attached or affiliated with any existing publisher and/or company.)
4. Comic product must not be mass-printed or for mass distribution. (i.e. Print run of 500 or less.)
5. Comic product must not already be available at commercial outlets in mass quantities. (i.e. bookstores, magazine stands, etc. with a circulation of more than 500.)
6. Final product and its contents must be approved by Groundbreakers Inc.
7. Completed Application Form and all required documents.


General Rules and Regulations*

1. Each comic product must have the price printed on the cover (stickers and other temporary price tags alone won't be accepted).
2. Applicants may only sell products approved by Groundbreakers Inc.
3. Applicants may not sell products or merchandise that are not related to their indie comic/book. (i.e. posters, cards, toys, etc.)
4. Indie products must be completely original (not fan stories or a "doujinshi"). Spoofs are allowed upon approval.
5. Adult content must be strictly regulated. In addition to approval, any item with adult content must have the appropriate warning labels/notices printed on the cover.
6. Application and registration will be served on a first-come-first-serve basis only.
7. One application per individual/group only.
8. Members of each indie group must be exclusive to their respective groups. Contributors/collaborators may not be part of 2 or more groups applying for indie tables at M3Con.**

^{* Groundbreakers, Inc. reserves the right to disqualify/refuse/ban at any time, applicants found violating one or more (but not limited to) the above rules and regulations.
** This rule may be waived if all groups with shared collaborator/s or contributor/s avail of extended indie tables (Php 500).
*** Groundbreakers, Inc. reserves the right to change/modify/expand these rules as they see fit without prior notice.}

Indie Comic Table Details

Price: Free
Includes:
- ½ Shared Table (Half of a 6 x 3 ft. Table) & 1 Chair
- 1 Exhibitor’s Pass
- Right to sell 1 or more pre-approved indie comic product


Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can we apply under our school organization?
• Yes, as long as you’re selling an indie comic. You’ll also need to submit a letter from your school allowing you to join under the school's name.
2. Can I sell another person or group’s indie comic?
• No. We don’t see any reason why the original creators can’t sell it themselves. Especially since you only have one pass and one table, hence one person to work with anyway.
3. But they’re all too busy and can’t make it so they need me to sell it for them.
• Here’s a thought: If they don’t trust you to make you a part of their group, they probably don’t trust you to sell their product either.
4. May I sell more than one indie comic title?
• Yes. As long as your comics are produced by the same person or group. You may not sell another group’s product for them.
5. May I sell other merchandise such as posters, cards, pins, etc.?
• Yes. But they must all be related to your indie comic/book and you may only sell the items approved by Groundbreakers Inc. If you want to sell other products not related to your indie comic, you will have to get one of our commercial exhibitor tables instead.
6. Do we need to pay a percentage or consignment rate on what we sell?
• No. We do not take a percentage of your sales nor do we charge a consignment rate.
7. Can I have an extra chair, table, or pass?
• Yes. For a fee of Php 500, you may expand your space to cover an entire table with an extra chair instead of sharing it with someone else. Please note that your slot must be confirmed and all your items approved before the expansion is viable.
8. Can I bring my own table and extra chair?
• No. The space allotted to each applicant is limited and will not accommodate additional tables and/or chairs.
9. I can’t sell non-indie related products, but can I do art commissions at least?
• Yes. As long as you’re also selling your own indie comic, you may also do on-the-spot commissions at the event.
10. Can I put up posters around our table space?
• You may bring a display stand as long as it’s no wider than 1 meter, no taller than 2 meters, and display it behind your booth space. You may also tape such displays on the table provided to you. You may not use nails, staples and the like on the tables and you may not put up displays on the walls of the venue.
11. Can I distribute flyers or other similar collaterals?
• No. The indie comic table space is strictly for promoting and selling indie comics only.
12. What do you mean by “first-come first-serve basis?”
• We will serve applications as we receive them until all the slots are filled up. If an application is cancelled or is not approved, the next applicant in line will get the slot.
13. Why do you need to approve the comics beforehand?
• Mainly to ensure that the product being sold is truly an indie comic product. The indie comic tables are for independent comics only and we need to make sure that non-indie groups don’t take advantage of the booth spaces allotted to indie groups only. We also need to make sure that nobody uses the booths for things such as propaganda and the like. For example, we don’t want anyone using the booth space to distribute flyers for political propaganda or maybe to promote some new religion that worships potatoes and thinks that eating french fries is blasphemy/murder.
14. If my comic doesn’t get approved, can I pay more to get it approved?
• If you’re going to do that, why don’t you just get a commercial exhibitor’s table instead of trying to bribe us? Keep in mind, there are still limitations to what you can sell in a commercial exhibitor’s table, just not nearly as strict.
15. The deadline is too soon. We can’t finish the comic in time. Can we submit our comic for approval on a later date?
• Sorry, but no. If your comic is not approved for whatever reason, we need the extra time to give your slot to the next applicant in line. The deadline is the date as stated, not the next morning or the day after.
16. I/We don’t have enough money to pay the price for the expanded table space before the event date. Can we pay for it after the event from what we earn in sales?
• Again, sorry but no. Everyone, even the commercial exhibitors have to pay before the event date. We’re not making any exceptions. If you can't pay for the extra space, just stick to the free slot.
17. Can we propose some kind of ex-deal for the booth space?
• It depends on what your proposal is, but we generally aren’t accepting ex-deals for the event.
18. Why can't I be a contributor to more than one indie group?
• We're giving the booths for free this year specifically to support indie groups, writers, and artists. Allowing writers and/or artists to contribute or be a part of more than one group takes away opportunities from others who can contribute as well. We want to be able to give the most number of people the chance to show off their work, not give a free venue for one person to spam their work across the whole convention just because they're a better artist/writer than most.
19. You guys suck with all your rules!
• Just so we’re clear, you don’t HAVE to join.

20. Can we sell artbooks?
• Yes. As long as ALL of the content is yours and is original. The artbook must not contain any fan art of existing commercial characters (i.e. Naruto, Bleach, etc.). The mass printing, adult content, and cover price rules still apply.
21. Why can't we include fan art in the artbooks? People in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, *insert East Asian country here* do it all the time.
• The main reason we don't allow it is because of existing copyright laws here in the Philippines. While we don't know the details of the laws in other countries, we're pretty darn sure that under Philippine law, we're not allowed to commercially exploit the intelectual property rights of other parties. In simple terms, you cannot sell what you don't own. Even if the artwork itself is yours, the character is not. We're willing to give you a free booth, we're just not willing to go to jail for you.
22. Does that mean we can't do art commissions with characters that aren't ours?
• No. You may still do art commissions of copyrighted characters. Without going too much into legal jargon, it's okay since you're just making the one commission. If you make the one commission, then make multiple copies of it and sell each of those, THAT would be illegal.
23. What if I can get permission from the copyright owners to include their characters in my artbook?
• In that case feel free to do so, but we will need a written and signed letter from them that clearly states that they're giving you the right to use their characters in your artbook. Please note that the letter has to be very detialed and explicit in its wording since we are dealing with legalities here. It would be wise to include the contact details of this person as well.

^{Application period will be from June 22, 2009 to August 22, 2009. All items/books to be sold at M3Con09 must be submitted for approval NO LATER than September 21, 2009. Applications are not final until all items/books are approved by Groundbreakers, Inc. Applications that aren't served due to limited slots may still be considered in the event that a preceding application is rejected or not approved.}