You're the only experienced zine blog online, and I really like your stuff, so,, I have a burning question. Do zines use the money they get from preorders to make the copies of the books, or do they use money out of pocket? I'm sorry if this is a stupid question, but I plan on making my own zine soon!
Oof, thank you for the compliment! We're sure there's more knowledgeable zine mods out there that can answer questions better than we can, but we'll definitely tell you what we know!
Sliding a cut in here due to zine talk + general length. Feel free to disregard this post if you aren't interested!
Ideal: all zine expenses (zines + bonus merch) will be paid for from preorder money!
With our previous zine, we did a lot of money crunching. I mean, A LOT. Get quotes from your potential manufacturers ahead of time. If you don't know exactly what you're ordering, ask for multiple quotes on any vague idea you might have. SHOP AROUND. Don't take the first manu you see. Expensive does not necessarily mean good quality. Cheap does not necessarily mean bad. Popularity doesn't necessarily mean anything. If the companies you're looking at offers samples, free or for a small price, GET SAMPLES!! If you're doing digital only, look into your hosting websites (such as Gumroad or Etsy) versus sending out a Drive link. Stripe/Paypal take fees from your profit (as does everything, lbr) and there's shipping software subscription to pay for. Taxes. Please, save yourself the pain and guesstimate your taxes ahead of time, because you DO NOT want to eat that cost.
Costs add up! More than you'd think.
But yes, long story short, your preorders should cover the cost of your zine, but things can go wrong, or change, and that's the nature of creating a thing and working with others to do it. I'd suggest making sure you have a back-up plan, just in case. Plan in setting aside some of your own money with the hopes of not having to use it, but it's there if you need it. You don't want to get all the way through your creation period, or worse, through preorders, to then find out you won't have enough. There's been zines that go AWOL after final deadlines, which renders all of our participant's hard work for nothing, and there's been zines that take preorder money and VANISH. And you do not want to be that zine.
Probably this all sounds daunting!! It is! There's no way around it! But personally? I have found so much joy in being able to create a thing from start to finish, even through the worry and uncertainty. Hence why I've got more zine ideas ready to go! Make sure you have patience, preparedness, and, most of all: A GOOD PARTNER!! Don't run it alone. You can, and I know people who have and have crushed it! But I had a really amazing co-moderator in Masozii (and still do!) and I would 100% not do it without her.
If you're interested in finer details, feel free to send a DM to here (or Twitter, if you're inclined!) If you're interested in basic zine-running stuff, I highly recommend this zine start-up; there's links upon links on there and I went back to this SO many times when the first zine was getting started.
Zines are fun, and you meet so many people within your own contributors! But be ready to plan; it really, honestly makes your life so much easier to have it ready ahead of time and not be surprised in the end.
stormborns
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vaporwave
