- Click Quick Join Now in the upper right.

- Use your new email account to create a profile and validate the account, following the onscreen instructions. This example uses the name "CindiInSpace"

HINTS AND TIPS: The username can be your name, your property name or any name you like. It must be alphanumeric and cannot contain spaces, underscores or punctuation.  The email address will be hidden from other users. See EXAMPLE A below.

- With Quick Join, you only need to fill out the basics at the top and enter the Access Code. You will be prompted if you leave out a required field. Entering your real name and address or accepting the Manga magazine subscription and e-mail blasts are all optional.

- Click Quick Join. Don’t worry if you get an “Invalid Access Code” message. Just try again. It’s hard to read the code, but it changes each time you fail and eventually one will appear that you can read.

- Once you're done (or if you hate reading instructions and want to jump ahead) check out the result. We actually made a profile for Cindi in Space. Click HERE to see it!

CREATE A TOKYOPOP PROFILE: EXAMPLE A


- When you are successful, you will see this message:

VALIDATION EMAIL SENT

A validation email was sent to cindiinspace@yahoo.com. Please follow the directions on the email to validate your account.

- Check your email account for a message confirming your registration. Click the link to validate your account and activate your profile.

-Next you will see this message:

VALIDATION COMPLETE

Thank You for validating your email address. Please click here to continue.

- Clicking this link takes you to the home page. Log in using your email address and password. You will see a message in the top right:

WELCOME CindiInSpace

- Click your user name or the default avatar image and you will come to your profile. Congratulations! You now have an identity on TOKYOPOP.com. See EXAMPLE B below.

DEFAULT BLANK PROFILE PAGE: EXAMPLE B

 PERSONALIZE YOUR TOKYOPOP PROFILE:

- Okay, you have a Profile, but it's looking mighty empty. Add information to your profile by clicking Edit to go to the Settings screen and filling in the blanks. Click Save Changes and check that everything looks the way you like. You can change the text in Settings whenever you want. See EXAMPLE C below.  

DEFAULT SETTINGS SCREEN: EXAMPLE C 

ADD A CUSTOM AVATAR TO YOUR TOKYOPOP PROFILE:

- Click the Avatar tab at the right in Settings.

1) Go to the Edit/Settings screen and click the Avatar tab. Click “Select a new avatar from the avatar gallery or upload your own here”

2) This link will take you to the Avatar gallery. You can pick one of the avatars provided and jump to step 4, or you can make your own unique avatar. To make your own, choose Post New. Then switch to an image-editing program and create a square image. Make it a JPEG at 72 dpi about 200 pixels square, and in any case no larger than 500kb. Any image is fine as long as it's not obscene. A lot of people like to pick a character from their own property as their Avatar.

3) Upload your JPEG image, choosing whether to make it private or public.

4) Then select the image you chose and make it your avatar.

See EXAMPLES D1, D2, D3 and D4 below. 

ADDING A CUSTOM AVATAR (DEFAULT AVATAR SCREEN): EXAMPLE D1

ADDING A CUSTOM AVATAR (AVATAR GALLERY SCREEN): EXAMPLE D2 

ADDING A CUSTOM AVATAR (NEW AVATAR UPLOAD SCREEN): EXAMPLE D3

ADDING A CUSTOM AVATAR (CHOOSE AS YOUR AVATAR SCREEN): EXAMPLE D4

UPLOAD YOUR MANGA OR COMICS:

- For the property you would like to show on your profile, create JPGs of your property cover, credits and interior pages. Page files need to be 425 x 632 pixel JPEGS. Make them around 250kb or smaller to load quickly. Number them in order, in this example from Cindi_000 to Cindi_999, using three numbers so they sort in the correct order. The cover should be first, e.g. Cindi_000.

ADD TEXT AND UPLOAD PAGES TO THE VIEWER:

- Click the word Manga in red text at the top of the profile itself and click Add Entry.

- You will see a screen with one field that allows you to type or paste a large amount of text information and below this, a content management system (CMS) uploader for book pages and cover. There are also places at the bottom to add tags and categories (these help people to find your work with a search engine). See EXAMPLE E below.

NEW FORM "ADD ENTRY" TO UPLOAD TEXT AND PAGES: EXAMPLE E

- Paste or write text. You can include synopsis, character info, creator bio, reviews and anything you think is appropriate. Plain text only, please. No HTML or hyperlinks. Then add tags as a series of words or phrases separated by commas, and check one or more categories.

- Click the Browse button and navigate to each file in turn that you want to upload. click Open in the Open file dialogue box. A list of files will grow beneah the Browse button. Prior to this step, you will have created JPGs of your property pages in the specified size.

- Typically, your cover should be first and named something like Cindi_000. Your first page is File_0011 and should be a left-hand page. If your story starts on a right-hand page, add a plain black JPG or credits page as File_001 after the cover for correct pagination.

In the box at the top that says "Cover Image#" type 0 if you want File_000 to be the poster image on the launch page

- Click Add Entry at the bottom to upload images and  text.

- If you are successful, you will see a screen like the one below that is the new launch page for your manga or comic.

HINTS & TIPS:

- If the pages are out of order, click the Edit button below the poster image on the launch page. Drag the pages into the correct order.

- If you try to upload too many pages at once, some may not be uploaded. Try uploading four or less at once, uploading batches  in the correct page number order.

- To add more pages,click click the Edit button below the poster image on the launch page. Add more pages by browsing as you did before.

- It's OK to conclude the uploaded property pages with a final page or pages with a text graphics URL to your home page or promotion of other titles.

UPLOAD TEXT AND PAGES (CREATE NEW ENTRY): EXAMPLE F1 

UPLOAD TEXT AND PAGES (FILES QUEUED FOR UPLOAD): EXAMPLE F2 

UPLOAD TEXT AND PAGES (LAUNCH PAGE): EXAMPLE F3 

UPLOAD TEXT AND PAGES (EDIT AN EXISTING ENTRY): EXAMPLE F4 

UPLOAD TEXT AND PAGES (MANGA VIEWER): EXAMPLE F5 

END OF ARTICLE