How the Issue Is Made

From your moment on a Tuesday to a cover on Sunday night. What the editor looks at, what never counts, and what you control.

Every week, a handful of moments posted on WHATAQUEEN become the Issue. That means a cover, a few features, the newcomers, the community hero and the week’s most-crowned moments. Here is exactly how that happens, so nothing about it feels like a mystery.

It Starts With Your Moment

Anything you post during the week can end up in the Issue. A look counts. So does a marathon finish, a first suit in thirty years, a wig you built yourself, or a living room you finally made yours. It doesn’t have to be a photo of your face.

When you post, there’s a box marked Can be considered for the Issue. It’s on by default. Leave it on and your moment is in the running. Turn it off and the editor never sees it in the shortlist, no matter how many crowns it gets.

The Friday Shortlist

Toward the end of the week, the editor opens the shortlist. It holds the last seven days of moments that can be featured and haven’t been in an Issue yet. Next to each one is a plain line explaining why it might belong, for example ♛ 4 · 2 notes · First Appearance.

The shortlist weighs several things together.

Crowns from other members.
Notes, which count for more than crowns, because a kind, specific note takes effort.
Saves, when people bookmark a moment to look at again.
A First Appearance, when it’s someone’s very first moment on the site.
Answering the day’s prompt.
A contact sheet, when you add a close-up, a detail or a candid.

That order is only a starting point. The editor reads the captions, looks at every photo and decides. Crowns help a moment get noticed. They never decide on their own, and the top of the shortlist doesn’t automatically make the cover.

What Goes in an Issue

Each Issue has a Cover Star with a short cover line, and a few features with their own headlines. The editor opens it with a short note, usually a few sentences about the week.

Some sections choose themselves. First Appearance shows up to four people whose very first moment landed that week, picked regardless of crowns, so newcomers always have a way in. The Crown lists the ten most-crowned moments of the week. Curtain Call honors one member for making the community better, like the person who left a kind note on every newcomer’s moment.

Two more pages belong to members who never posted a photo that week. Note of the Week prints one kind, specific note someone left, with their name. Letters to the Editor prints up to two short letters members wrote about the last Issue. You can write one from the bottom of any Issue.

If one of your moments is featured and you’ve marked a note on it as a pull quote, that note can appear beside your moment in the Issue. You choose the note. The editor doesn’t.

The Sunday Drop

Most Issues are scheduled to go live on Sunday at 6 PM Pacific time. Before then, the homepage shows a countdown, but never who’s on the cover. At 6 PM the Issue publishes itself and becomes the homepage.

If You’re In It

The moment the Issue goes live, everyone featured gets a note in their Activity. Open the Issue and it scrolls straight to your page.

On your moment’s page you’ll find a short note from the editor about why it was picked, and your press kit, with a story-sized image, a post-sized image and a small “As featured in” badge for your link page or flyers. They’re made for you to share anywhere.

What You Control

In your settings there are two separate switches. One decides whether your moments can be featured in the Issue at all. The other decides whether featured moments can appear in printed editions or merchandise. Printing is off unless you turn it on.

You can also delete any moment, or your whole account, at any time. Issues you were in stop showing your moments.

What Never Counts

Nobody can buy a crown, a feature, a cover or a better place on the shortlist. Sponsors, when there are any, are labeled and never choose who’s featured. Follower numbers don’t exist here, so they can’t count either.

How to Get Noticed

There’s no trick, but a few things help the editor see what made the moment matter.

Write the story in your caption. “My grandson said I looked like a movie star” says more than a list of brands.
Answer the day’s prompt when it fits.
Add a contact sheet if there’s a detail worth a closer look.
Leave kind, specific notes on other people’s moments. That’s how Curtain Call finds people.

Everybody has a cover-worthy moment. The Issue is just where we print them.