Lots of people have probably made a zine before without even knowing it. It could be a handmade minibook from school or a short comic made at home- most DIY books can be classified as zines, no matter how professional the content is.
A zine can be loosely defined as a self-published book made to share ideas. These books can be about anything. An idea can be completely weird and crazy and still be zine-worthy! Just having an idea makes it worth sharing, and anyone can express these ideas in the form of a zine.
Creating a zine can be simple or complicated, depending on how the author chooses to make it. There are lots of different sizes and forms of zines. They don’t even have to be fictional or full of professional illustrations- undefined scribbles and stick figures are just fine! There aren’t really any rules for these books, and it’s up to the author on how to make their zine and what to make it about.
When it comes to publishing, zines are usually not sent out through well-known companies or famous corporations. They are independently published, meaning authors publish their books themselves. They print copies of their work and distribute them in many different ways. This includes leaving them around town for people to find, putting them in free little libraries, and even asking bookstore owners to sell the zines at their stores. Another way to share zines is by going to a zine festival.
Zine fests are when zinemakers come together and sell their work in one place. People can rent tables to sell zines at or they can pass them to people at the festival.These books sometimes take a lot of effort to make and can be priced at 2-10 dollars, so people attending a zine fest should expect a few high costs. On the other hand, some zine authors will be willing to trade zines instead of getting money.
Again, all ideas are worth being shared. It doesn’t matter how much experience a person has with zinemaking. Even taking some leftovers from lunch, throwing that onto a piece of paper, and publishing that- that won’t make an idea any less zine-worthy. Anyone can make a zine, regardless of what they want to share.
RAMONA SCUREK
- RAMONA SCUREK
