Zines Should Make a Comeback
Big media conglomerates control much of what we see and read in the news. The cool thing about independent media sources is that, theoretically, anyone can create one. Of course, that’s a double-edged sword; that’s how you get entities like InfoWars.
But you don’t have to own a network or even get in front of a camera to get your message out. Whether it’s political, artistic, philosophical, or something else entirely, a zine can be an excellent vector for distributing your work and the work of like-minded people.
Diverse representation is sorely lacking in a lot of media. Sometimes, if you want to see yourself represented, you have to create or write or otherwise dream it up yourself.
Here are some steps you can take to delve into the world of zines.
Choose One or More Subjects
Your zine should have a clear focus of some sort. If you follow the local music scene, for instance, you may want to focus on that, covering bands and events and taking pictures and writing reviews.
I’m a foodie, I’m vegan, and I have ARFID — Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder — which causes my body to reject certain foods. My stomach is extremely picky, and I can’t eat more than a few bites at a time before I have to stop because it’s so uncomfortable. It feels like there’s a balloon stuck in my lower esophagus or upper stomach.
It’s made worse by stress, and I’m an empath, so the last few months have been extremely trying. I’ve had to learn to roll with a lot of things as they happen, just to stay afloat. And I majored in philosophy but also have an interest in nutrition and sociology, among other fields. My knowledge of BDSM culture is the cherry on top.
My point is, there’s a lot to work with here. I bet there’s a lot to work with in your life, too.
Partner Up With Your Community
This isn’t strictly necessary, but think about including others in building your zine. I mentioned art above, and you can put out a “call for papers,” of sorts on forums and message boards, Facebook, Twitter, and so on.
If your zine takes off, you may be able to pay people to write or create content, but in the beginning, the potential exposure will likely be the only compensation you can provide. But when you’re a struggling artist, that’s not nothing.
You don’t have to get too fancy, and it doesn’t have to be book-length. However, diversity is a great asset for most any publication, so don’t rule it out. You might meet some really cool people.
Digital, Print, or Both?
There are pros and cons to both sides of this. Ideally, you’d be able to do both, but if not, that’s not the end of the world.
Digital distribution has some obvious perks. It can be done for very little money on virtually any platform. You might create a “zine,” of sorts in the form of a Facebook page or a profile on deviantART, or you could go to Wix or WordPress and build a site. There are also sites like Issuu, Lulu, Blurb, and others. (Not affiliate links.) And of course there are publications in the vein of zines here on Medium. There is a huge range of pricing options if you want to get fancy.
Having said all that, a digital-only publication faces unique challenges in terms of promotion, even though it has theoretically infinite reach. Your main avenue for pulling in visitors may be ads, which can range from affordable to ridiculous in price.
Unless someone goes looking for a zine on your topic, they’ll likely never see it if you don’t advertise and do things like making posts on social media. That’s more demanding than it sounds like. Some people make careers out of managing the social media presence of a brand. If you put your promotional eggs into the digital basket, you should plan to spend a lot of time on that aspect of things.
But if you have a stack of physical booklets sitting in the local coffee shop or library, people walking by will see it, get curious, and pick one up. Those people might never have been interested readers otherwise, and you’re opening up their world just a little bit more. It’s a public service, in this respect. More accessibility is generally a positive thing. The above-mentioned websites can help with this, too, but brick-and-mortar establishments like Target Copy are also an option.
Content? What Content?
So, you’ve got an idea for a zine. What kind of content will you include, and how much? You need to figure out your release schedule, and your expectations for the kind of content and how much there is in each issue need to be realistic.
Don’t expect yourself to consistently churn out 200 pages a week. If you tried, it probably wouldn’t be very good. That’s why big newspapers and magazines have a large pool of staff who write and research and manage things. If you’re a zine, it’s probably just you, plus maybe a couple of friends.
I’ve written the above with the assumption that you will create content yourself. There’s another option, though: you can make your zine a platform for others to express themselves, too. If the subject matter is important to you, I’m sure there are writers and artists out there who feel the same and who would love to express it through their work. Sharing that work would mean sharing their voices, and that’s dope. (With permission and credit given, of course.)
Conclusion
Right now, more than ever, freedom of speech and expression matter. They matter a fucking lot. (Cursing for emphasis.)
Unless you’re a Nazi or something else heinous, I want you to speak up. I want a huge diversity of viewpoints and opinions and methods of expression to be commonplace. We all need to work together if that’s going to happen.
