Create your own self-published zine

Zine History, Inspiration, and Planning

Brainstorm
What do you want your zine to be about? It can be about anything, so let your creativity run wild!

For example, I'm working on an art show revolving around people and their relationship to plants. I'm going to make my zine about this.
Plan
As part of the planning process, determine the following:

Size How big will this zine be?

Page Count How many pages will your zine be? Will it be a bunch of content on one piece of paper and folded? Or will it have multiple pages?

Paper What type of paper will you use to print your zine?

Print Method Laser printing? Inkjet? Risograph? Offset? How will you print your zine?

Binding Method How will you keep your pages together? Staples? Sewing machine? Mind control?

Answer these questions, and you'll be well on your way to making your zine!
Sketch
After brainstorming and planning, it's now time to sketch and show your fellow classmates what your plans for your zine are.

Provide 5 rough sketches (in any format of your choosing) that illustrate what you plan your zine to look like. Get as creative as you want. Now's your chance to wow us with your ideas!

Share your progress in your project section to get feedback from other students

David Broderick illustrates his five zine ideas on his project page:

Making and Promoting Your Zine

Start creating
The planning process is complete, and you know exactly how you want to make your zine (e.g. size, paper, printing method, binding). Now it's time to get to business and start creating the content that goes inside your zine!

Making it How will you make your zine? Will you use photographs? Illustrations? Text? All of the above?

Layout How will you layout your zine? You can do it the old fashioned way by hand, or use an application such as Adobe InDesign or Photoshop to assist you.

Create 10 pages (or 5 spreads) of content that communicate your initial concept.
Make a cover
This is the first thing a potential reader will see when coming in contact with your zine, and should communicate the content inside.

To make a cover, think about the following:

What do I want to communicate to my readers? How can I make it visually appealing and eye catching? Will I include the title on the cover? What type of material will the cover be made of? Cardstock? Paper?

Isabel Urbina presents her front and back cover:
Print and assemble your zine
Based on your planning process, you chose a type of paper to print on, as well as a binding method. Now it's time to print and assemble your zine.

Example of how I'm assembling my zine:

Cover Colored cardstock Paper - White paper, with a colored centerfold

Printing Method Full colored inkjet cover, black & white duplex laser printed pages

Binding Method Staples

Quantity 50 copies (Since my zine will have 10 pages, I'll be using 5 sheets of paper to print each one...which means I'll need 250 sheets of paper!)

You can print as many or as little as you want. Have fun!
Upload images of your zine to the class
Share your progress with the class. Offer feedback to your fellow zinesters.

Anne Winberg's zine printed and ready to share:
Promote your zine
Use one of the resources I've provided to promote your zine.

Additional Resources

Zines 101

A Shory History on Zines - This slideshow provides a brief overview on what constitutes as a zine, as well as an informational timeline.

Zines 101 - Published by Zine World (their site is currently undergoing a redesign, so there's no content). This PDF gives you the scoop on what a zine is, where they can be found, why you should make them, and a brief how-to.
Books on Zine Making

Behind the Zines: Self Publishing Culture (2011) - Edited by Robert Klanten. Published by Gestalten, a German publisher with a focus on art, design, and architecture books.

How to Make Books (2007) - By Esther K. Smith. Covers different types of book making techniques, including zines.

Indie Publishing: How to Design & Produce Your Own Book (2008) - By Ellen Lupton. Covers all aspects of book making, from cover design, a crash course on using Adobe InDesign for layouts, binding methods, and different types of books. There's also a brief chapter on zines, which shows a few examples.

Whatcha Mean, What's a Zine?: The Art of Making Zines and Minicomics (2006) - By Mark Todd and Esther Watson. Covers the basics on what is a zine, various categories of zines, and also teaches how to design and print your own zine.

Stolen Sharpie Revolution 2 (2009) - By Alex Wrekk. An updated and expanded edition of the well-known all-around guide to zine making. A very good resource.
Inspiration

Nieves - An independent publishing house based in Zurich, Switzerland with a main focus on artist books and zines.

Museums Press - An independent publishing house based in Glasgow, UK with a focus on working with artists on creating zines.

Catalogue Library - An independent publishing platform for artists and designers.

Put A Egg on It! - A nice example of a food zine.

Needles & Pens - A San Francisco based shop that specializes in carrying a variety of zines, books, and other goods. The content of their zines range from topics such as art, comics, and home.

Exhibitors from the Brooklyn Zine Fest

Zine Exhibitors from the NY Art Book Fair

Exhibitors from the LA Zine Fest
Making a Zine

Rookie Mag - How to Make a Zine

LA Zine Fest - Video on How to Make a Zine

Barnard Library - Resources on Making a Zine
Paper Resources

Crane - Makes the paper for the U.S. treasury, high quality. Also makes a stunning letterpress paper called Lettra.

French - Manufactured in America, uses clean, renewable energy. Speckletone, dur-o-tone, pop-tone, construction, patterned etc. Good for letterpress, silkscreen as well as digital printing. Database of amazing free illustrations. Recommended by Max Heimberger, senior

Mohawk - Commercial and fine art papers, via and carnival smartt lines are good for letterpresss. Mohawk Superfine is sold in the campus store.

Neenah - Very nice, high quality paper supplier

Papersource - Gorgeous paper and stationary store with bookbinding materials and fancy scrapbooking supplies. Nearby physical locations in Bethesda, Annapolis, and Georgetown.
Printing Resources

Inker Linker - Helps you find an awesome printer based on printing method, location, and likes.

Print Resources for Independent Art Publishers - Maintained by the awesome store Ooga Booga in LA, which sells art objects, amongst other things. Lists different criteria in finding a printer, including by location (not limited to US), price, and print method.

An Atlas of Modern Risography - An interactive map that's a directory of publishers, print shops, and design studios using Risograph duplicators in a creative context.
Bookbinding Tutorials

An online compendium of bookbinding videos that go through various processes by Sea Lemon.

Basic book binding - tools, needles, and thread

Japanese book binding (stab method)

Saddle stitch with thread

Coptic stitch

Perfect Binding
Places to Share and Promote

ONLINE

Zines on Facebook - Daily info on zines, zine fests, and zinesters. Also on Twitter & Tumblr.

Zineswap - A place where people can swap their zines with one another. Based in London, this acts as a free distribution service. When you send one, they'll send you one back :)

LIBRARIES

Many libraries are looking to include zines in their collections. Below is a list of a few libraries that are doing this. Visit your local library to see if they have a zine collection, and if you can donate yours.

Reanimation Library's List of Libraries that Collect Zines

Brooklyn College - Collection focused on zines related to Brooklyn, and zines about the working class and people of color.

Barnard College - Collection focused on Riot GRRRL zines, and zines created by women.

Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh - Heavy focus on collecting comics and art zines, and personal zines.

Multnomah Library Zine Exchange - For those living the fine state of Oregon

Ontario College of Art & Design - Art, Comics, Information/DIY, Music, Poetry, Politics, Queer, and Stories.

ZINE FESTIVALS

Brooklyn Zine Fest

NY Art Book Fair

LA Art Book Fair

LA Zine Fest

East London Comics & Arts Festival - Happening June 17th for those of you in London!

SF Zine Fest

Sylvia Kim

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