if i look back, i am lost
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@compassionpublications-blog
"Thatcher for a Fortnight" is now complete and ready for sale!
The zine addresses class divide and the perceptions of the poorer classes within the UK today.
Fourteen pages, A5 size and black-and-white.
Click here to pick one up. Distros, feel free to drop us a line at [email protected] if you'd like to stock this. It's cheap, and we'd love to get it stocked elsewhere!
x
"Thatcher for a Fortnight": The Construction Of
The first zine to be released through Compassion Publications will be Thatcher for a Fortnight, a critique and personal reflection on the perceptions of the poorer classes in the UK, in light of the death of Margaret Thatcher. The finished product will be fourteen pages, A5 size and black-and-white, and has been entirely hand-made using traditional cut-and-paste methods. I've provided a step-by-step guide in case anybody wants some zine-making tips (I used to struggle with A5 zines, so here's how I've started doing them).
1. I printed off the completed document of the zine at my local library, along with the text I would use for the front and back covers. I also gathered up the illustrations I'd be using for the zine. Make sure you print the zine script out with the page formatted at A5 size in your word processor. I wasted 70p printing it out in A4.
2/3. Using blank card (card is far better to use than paper when making your prototypes; this way, when it comes to photocopying, the reverse pages don't bleed through on to the initial image, which happens with paper due to its translucence), the first real and most logical step to production I find is to mount the front and back covers, along with the very first page. These can be gotten out the way easier than the inside pages.
4. The inside pages are the trickiest part, as once you've printed them off you don't know exactly how many pieces of card you'll need to accommodate the text (since you're not using fancy software). I find it really handy to stick the cut-up pieces of text on to the page with blu-tack first, so that if you undershoot with the amount of card you've used, you can simply pull off the text and add more card, rather than gluing them on immediately only to either ruin the card or print the text off again and start over, wasting ink and money.
5/6. Eventually, you'll have a card version of the zine (pictured both inside and outside), and at this point it's really handy to have incorporated page numbers into the design. I cut-and-pasted some page numbers from a newspaper to add to the zine, so this way I don't mix pages up and put them in the wrong order when I come to staple them.
7. You have your prototype zine! What I find best to do after this, before photocopying, is to fold out the zine flat, leave it on a flat surface and put something heavy on top of it. If you leave it as it is, the glue will bend the card and set it out-of-shape, so use something fairly heavy to press down on it to set it straight.
Thatcher for a Fortnight will be out on Monday to purchase, at which point we'll have renovated the online store and will provide links. This is the first step for Compassion Publications!
by Brian G. Wood
Back in 2011 when I was getting ready to finish up my first book, I was starting the process of querying agents and learning about the book market. On the guidance of my older brother—he is making six or seven figures for an international bookseller, so I figured his advice was pretty solid—I decided to self-publish. From what I came to learn, self-publishing is an incredibly fertile industry to get into at this point in time, if and only if you've got the chops to be noticed.
Read More
"What it all boils down to is that success in self-publishing requires striving to be a better and stronger person."
Solid advice in this. I've been a quitter for too long and I'm changing that.
Hi again. It's been a long time since the last post, but I got a surprise order last night for Compassion #2 and #3. It might sound lame but it made me feel so good. Compassion's internet presence has been dormant for so long, so it felt really cool that someone presumably stumbled across it and thought it was worth buying.
Even tiny little things like this inspire me to get back into not just zine-making again, but self-publishing in general. It's so rewarding to me. If I can somehow learn to distribute these things wider and more consistently, I want to set up doing this properly. I'm a quitter by nature; I get impatient and lose confidence. I'd like to stop quitting.
There's barely any copies of these left now. I'm going to send some to some zine libraries across the country, and the remainder will be left up on the store until they run out.
I just wanna say thanks to Marc who ordered these zines that have been sitting in my loft for months on end. I appreciate it.
I made a new zine! I’ve called it Memoirs of Unemployment and it details my time spent looking for work in contemporary Britain, commenting on the current state of affairs and my own personal experiences.
Ten pages, A5, cut-and-paste, black-and-white and photocopied. I’ve never made an A5 zine before and I’m really pleased with how it’s came out. Took a little work but I got there. I need to buy a large stapler but that can be done in a couple of days.
I might set up an Etsy and make more copies up to sell if anyone gives a shit, and upon that I may start releasing new issues bi-weekly or monthly or something maybe. I wouldn’t charge a lot, probably around £1 or something excluding P&P.
Zinester for life!
New zine project of mine!
This was going to be the front cover for Issue #4 which would have been released if Compassion hadn't ended. I just found it in my room. It's one of my favourite covers that I did, it's a shame it never saw the light of day.
Despite Compassion being six feet under, and despite the online store taking on the same role as a neglected market trader in a town centre who still thinks mobile phone covers are a lucrative business venture, I thought I'd make some sort of "Making Of" photomentuary (new word?).
The following steps are how I've made each issue of Compassion, and I hope I can leave this here to provide some advice on how to make a zine if you're struggling with production ideas. I always made A4 zines because it was much simpler. A5 is more practical for distros, but I always got bogged down with the construction of an A5 zine. It's probably not as hard as I imagine, but for hand-made zines, A4 is far easier. So, here goes.
Type up the zine in Microsoft Word, source any pictures you want to use inside the issue and on the front and back covers and re-size them accordingly (a simple program like IrfanView will do, no need to ponce around with Photoshop). Print it all off, then cut out and glue each paragraph on to a sheet of card, using both sides of the card, and cut and paste each picture you want to use wherever you feel its necessary. Card is much better to use than paper to improve the photocopying results.
Once you've mounted all the text and pictures on to the card (so that you've essentially got a non-stapled, card version copy the zine), get to a photocopier, take some plastic folders with you, and photocopy each page of the zine for as many copies as you want/can afford, making sure you select it to photocopy each side of the card. You'll have loads of copies of each page, so separate each page into a different folder and keep the folders in page order. (See Picture 1)
Now that you've got multiple copies of each page, take them back to some sort of workstation and pile up all the folders (in page order, obviously). Take an individual page out of each folder and order them appropriately, thus creating the zine before binding. (See Picture 2)
Bust out the stapler of justice. I find a very useful thing to do is to make note of the size of the staples that the stapler uses and write it on the stapler. I used to think that staples were a one-size-fits-all-thing until I had to buy new staples, then I had to buy a new stapler and waste money. (See Picture 3)
Fire some staples into the top left corner, and SORTED! You've got a zine! Don't go overboard with the staples, and don't staple diagonally like I did in old zines that I made. Two vertical staples in the corner should do just fine. (See Picture 4)
Shove them in a bloody lovely tote bag to keep the dust off them.
Stick something rad on your stereo, like that Chalk Talk / Sirs split in Picture 6.
Repeat steps 3 - 6 until all your pages have run out.
This is the method I've been using for a long time to make zines. It's a bit time-consuming, but ultimately rewarding. Obviously, there's no set way to make a zine, so this is just one of many methods. Issue #3 was a thick bastard too, so it took longer than normal.
Sam x
compassionzine.bigcartel.com
facebook.com/compassionzine
<Insert Brief, Callous, Arrogant Goodbye Message Here>
For a number of reason, Compassion is calling it a day. All these reasons are explained with care in this Facebook post:
Compassion has been incredibly quiet for a while. Silent, perhaps. Basically, the direction of my life is ever-changing, and right now it's finally coming round to something I want to focus 100% on. I'm getting back into releasing records, I'm slowly pushing my way into the world of freelance writing, I'm making more music, and eventually I want to set up a professional publication (loss of punk points, right there). I'm also doing the big move to London around July/August time, and all of this means Compassion will unfortunately have to call it a day. As such, issues #2 and #3 are on offer for negligible prices. It would be hugely appreciated if you could pick one or both of these up. Properly hugely; and once they're gone, that's it, completely. Anyone who's supported Compassion since its inception is extended the most sincere of thanks; Party Wound Productions, strictly no capital letters, FALLACIES, Cold Heart Collective, Moshtache Records, and any other distro that I wish I hadn't forgot to mention, along with anyone who bought a copy and tolerated my despondent writing. Thank you so much, I actually received kind words about this zine and it always made me really happy each time someone complimented it. I'm pleased with that I did here. But the future is no longer something I'm scared to face.
Sam Hunt/.
All available copies are being sold at negative-profit prices at the store. It would be so hugely appreciated if you could pick up a copy. Thank you.
Sam/.
"Parallel Planes" Documentary Film
I've had some money in my PayPal account saved up from sales of Compassion for a while, so I had a major Crass-like moment and donated all of it (plus an extra fiver) to this project I saw being posted on my personal dash.
Parallel Planes is a documentary film interviewing thirteen musicians and, from what I can gather, provides a refreshing perspective on underground musicians. They've released a trailer featuring an interview with Justin Pearson, and they've interviewed Ian MacKaye and stuff; it seems really awesome.
Click on that link above to go to their site and find out more, donate if you have something to spare. Keep our world spinning. I feel like Penny Rimbaud right now. I'm really looking forward to this film.
x
Issue #3 / Issue #2 Discount
Compassion #2 and #3 are available in the store for a buy-one-get-one-half-price kinda thing. Issue #2 is running low, so head over there. £3.25 for both of them; dead sound!
compassionzine.bigcartel.com
x
The Construciton Gallery will be hosting the first Tooting Zine Fair from 12pm-6pm on 25th February 2012! Construction Gallery and Cafe 74 – 80 Upper Tooting Road London SW17 7PB Nearest Station: Tooting Bec Underground Contact: [email protected]
Slowly but surely, Compassion #3 has arrived.
This is one thick motherfucker of a zine, and is an account of the European tour I went on with Fallacies in December 2011.
It feels like it's taken an eternity to write, but finally, all the hijinks from that tour are published and on paper. Pissing the bed, hitting on Czech girls with boyfriends, vomiting in a toilet in Coburg, sleepwalking, all that fun shit that tour throws at you.
Due to its size and the amount of labour involved, the price has increased, but I'm still no rip-off merchant. Head to the BigCartel to pick one up, and any distros/stockists, send us an email!
Peace x
D.I.Y Publishing
So I was talking to a friend of mine the other day, and she said that self-publishing is an easy cop-out, which leads me to explain why I think self-publishing is so important.
I think she's coming from a mentality where getting an article printed in an established magazine/newspaper/whatever brings high social connotations along with it. If I was to get published in, say, The Guardian, that would be quite an accolade because The Guardian is dead big and posh and stuff. Whereas if you set up your own publication (and I think she's thinking more along the lines of a blog or website), it cuts out the work involved in achieving publication in a more established magazine/newspaper/whatever.
But self-publication empowers the writer directly, and if you only view being published in something established as worthwhile, I feel it accepts some sort of hierarchy too blindly. You accept that your own personal efforts are vastly smaller than the efforts of an established publication, and therefore your own endeavours are grossly inferior, and ultimately pointless.
Firstly, it's obvious to say that nobody becomes established without working from the bottom up (unless they have an unethical father who runs a magazine/newspaper/whatever, or they suck some dick or something). Deeming self-publication as a cop-out, and therefore inferior, ignores the work involved in making yourself established as a self-published writer.
Secondly, and most importantly for me, going into self-publication means that you don't have to rely on multi-million-earning companies to put your work out into the world. It grants you the power to print it, distribute it and establish it, and along with the many other factors of running a zine (no matter how big or small that zine may be), this is what gives me an enormous amount of satisfaction. Sure, it's hard work trying to plug what you're doing, especially in such a corporate and perhaps cynical society, but with work comes happiness. This is the key.
I felt compelled to write this because it's such an important and intrinsic standpoint to what I do. Yeah.
Peace
x
nottingham, as part of THEMELESS #1
Wherever Jake Kent roams, something awesome appears.
Copies of Compassion on sale in Coburg, Germany, at JUZ Domino on 17th December 2011 while on tour with Fallacies.
The upcoming third issue documents the many ups and downs of that tour. The writing is very much near completion, and design work will start shortly. This is my biggest zine project yet, and it's gonna be a fat issue. Maybe I'll have to bind it with something better than staples. Going up the ladder one step at a time.
Sam x
This books seeks to explain homelessness while in college as well as a myriad of other chapters that relate to individual experiences along the way. Philosophical at times, the book portrays life in a little known situation that is seldom, if at all, documented. Help spreading the word would be greatly appreciated, even if you can’t support this work.
Just got a message off this guy. Whether it was an automated message or not, the idea for the book is really cool. Check it x
(The page has to be opened in a new window, but I checked the donation page and it looks legit)
