Zines 101: the tip of the iceberg

People have always wanted to share their experiences, or tell their side of the story - especially people that aren’t really seen in or represented by traditional media outlets (or sometimes even anyone else). Which brings us to zines.

“What is a zine?”

People ask me this a lot and I’m often pretty stumped because they’re everything. So I’m putting this on the internet in an attempt to have something to point to by way of explanation.

First of all, it’s pronounced zeen. Like (maga)zine. Sometimes people even spell it ‘zine.

“People who create zines [“zinesters”] are likely to be more motivated by self-expression and artistic passion than they are by profit: zines are usually inexpensive and sometimes distributed for free or in trade for other zines, goods, and services.”

— The Bindery, binderymke.com

(Oh so many) types of zines

As you might have guessed, defining a zine is a bit tricky. It can be a collection of poetry or a cooking book or rant or a prayer or an instruction manual that teaches you how to make your own fakelek (a fakelek is a zine that is entirely made up of fake facts).

There are so many types of zines: art and photography zines, literary zines, social and political zines, music zines, travel zines, health zines, food zines. And the list goes on and on.

But there are also some specific types, for example:

• Perzines - A perzine is a personal zine, often created by people who want to share their experiences with their peers. These are usually photocopied and stapled together in some kind of weird way that makes them look super DIY and cool.

• Fanzines - A fanzine is made by fans of specific topics like science fiction or video games; they mostly just have pictures in them but sometimes have articles too

History of zines from William Blake to The Comet to riot grrrls

Zine culture has been around for a long time. It’s self publishing in the least effort form.

I would argue that the explosion of mechanised printing systems in the 18th century was the true beginning of a more recognisable DIY indie self publishing culture.

In Do it yourself publishing from monastery to modernity, they back this up: “In the late eighteenth century, huge changes came to the world of publishing, with the invention of rotary presses which allowed serious mass-production of books and pamphlets; and with the development of mass production came the need for mass distribution and marketing…  Self publishing was not however dead, though at the time it was known as private publishing. The most famous private publisher was William Morris, whose Kelmscott Press produced limited editions of illuminated print books; but apart from William Morris, who was a special case, quite a few 19th century and early 20th century authors, including Mark Twain, Rudyard Kipling, George Bernard Shaw, and Walt Whitman, all published some of their own books.”

There are other tributaries to the zine bloodline too, of course.

In A Brief History of Zines, Mentalfloss writer Chloe Arnold notes that the first zine is often traced back to a 1930s sci-fi publication by the Chicago Science Correspondence Club called The Comet.

Riot grrrl: girls to the front

Zines, as we recognise them today, however, really came into focus in the 1970s and 1980s as an alternative to mainstream media, and they were intimately bound up with music and political activism.

The riot grrrls (a vibrant subcultural movement that combines feminism, punk music, and politics) were one of the first groups to use them as political activism tools, using zines like Bikini Kill to spread their messages about feminism.

"BECAUSE we girls want to create mediums that speak to US. We are tired of boy band after boy band, boy zine after boy zine, boy punk after boy punk after boy . . . BECAUSE in every form of media I see us/myself slapped, decapitated, laughed at, trivialized, pushed, ignored, stereotyped, kicked, scorned, molested, silenced, invalidated, knifed, shot, choked, and killed ... BECAUSE every time we pick up a pen, or an instrument, or get anything done, we are creating the revolution. We ARE the revolution." — Erika Reinstein, Fantastic Fanzine No. 2

So what do you do with zines, then?

You can sell them if you want, either through selling physical copies at zine fairs in person (which is one part I love, love, love, loveeeeeeee about zines) or you can sell them online: check out my shop!

Looking for ideas for your next zine?

Or are you brand new to them and looking for tutorials? I’ve got you covered, yo.

Check out 13 tutorials and a zillion ideas to make your own zine. Enjoy!