Zines

What's a zine, anyway?

"The Spirit of the Zine"

What do you find in a zine?

Text

• Poetry
• Short Stories
• Essays and Commentary
• Points of View
• Word Art
• Lists 
• Manifestos
• Opinions
• OR maybe no text at all!

Visual Art / Images

• Drawings
• Photographs
• Paintings
• Collage Art
• OR maybe no images at all!

What else? (traditionally)

• Collaborative Work
• Marginalized Voices
• Edgy Styles
• Comic Styles - Mini Comics
• Handmade / Homemade Feel
• 80s-90s "old school" cut and paste aesthetic
• Photocopier look
• Notebook look
• Collage
• Edgy Topics
• Political Topics
• Personal Narratives
• Anything really!

The Bottom Line?

A zine may include anything artistic or otherwise that you may wish to express! The idea behind a zine is that you express your intentions in some sort of "pamphlet-esque" or "book-like" form, replicate that creation, then share!

STEP 1: CREATE
STEP 2: REPLICATE (MAKE COPIES!)
STEP 3: DISSEMINATE (SHARE IT!)

A Brief History of Zines in the US

• 1930s - Science fiction fanzines get their start and are "published" for the first time
• 1930s-1960s - ZInes are produced with mimeographs - ink is pushed through a stencil - not ideal for large editions - more pulp sci-fi magazines circulate
• 1970s - Further developments in printing technology (photocopiers and copy shops) make zine fabrication and distribution easier, indie music scene emerges, DIY ethic and culture develops
• 1970s-1980s - Punk subculture scene, music world, zine culture hub - grungy DIY aesthetic emerges; international political movements and underground presses print zines as a method of communication
• 1980s - Photocopiers and risographs are more readily available to artists
• 1990s - Riot Grrrl movement - underground feminist punk movement - began as a zine scene based around the women and their music, but transitioned to a political movement of third-wave-feminism and zine-making and zine communications
• 1990s-2000s - Rise of the internet and desktop publishing sees blogs* and e-zines or Webzines.
• 2000s-2010s - Rise of zine fests, online zines, and zine artist collectives; libraries collect zines; more bookstores begin selling zines; zines are sold, traded, or given as gifts; diverse communities embrace zine-making (POC Zine Project, QZAP – Queer Zine Archive Project, Latinx zines – both online and physical); ZineWiki is established 

*Blogs are not zines, although may be considered closely related to digital zines

Zines are not Blogs, Blogs are not Zines

Are you unclear about the difference between a zine and a blog?

This article by Jenna Freedman may help you distinguish between the two more easily.