#zine guide

[starkittyzines]

30 days to start making zines / a list of quick daily tasks to get into zine making

i tried a lot of "30 days challenge to [blank]" when i was a teen. they claimed to help you get into a habit. never worked for me, i've heard the science was junk but also the habits in question were rarely fun anyway.

i wanted to take a fun twist on those and make a list of tiny tasks you can do over the course of a month to get into zine making. when you want to commit to a project, making contact with it regularly is the goal! not necessarily achieving big steps in said project every day.

so here's my take on a zine making calendar! each day has a small task that can take a few minutes to however long you have and want to put into it. by the end you'll only have made one or two minizines if you only follow the list

i have a printable version available here, you could cut each strip of paper, fold them leaving only the number visible, and store them in a jar or envelope to pull your surprise task of the day over the 30 days

(i also have it in french)

lmk if you try it<3

[littlealienproducts]

A Pocket Guide to Amphibians Zine by ArtofClaireSpiller

[nanaimay]

Metropolis Article: A Guide to Zines in Tokyo

Here is my latest article for Metropolis, on my favorite topic in the whole world! For a week, I visited different big and small bookstores, galleries, and shops in search for the best places to buy zines. If you're interested in getting to know more about them and where to find self-published works in Tokyo, please have a look.

"In an era with high demand for digital content, it may seem contradictory to invest in print work. But these two worlds aren’t mutually exclusive. Thanks to social media, zines have boomed in Japan in the last ten years. In a country where self-publishing is more accessible than in the US or Europe and customers have a deep appreciation for craftsmanship, the zine community has thrived and continues to expand.

It can also be argued that the increase in the number of hours we spend online, whether for work or entertainment, has led some of us to search for offline forms of spending our free time. Zines are not only a medium of self-expression but also a way to connect with our inner selves and others in a creative way. Anything on paper tends to stay with us much longer than on a screen.

With a long history of self-published creative work, Tokyo has much to offer for zine fans, from specialized stores to events and workshops. If you’re looking to dive deep into the world of self-made print work, here is a guide on where to find zines, where to meet like-minded people, and how to make them. Who said print is dead?"

You can continue reading this article on Metropolis' webpage.

[ftcg-zine]

Here are the guidelines containing everything you’ll need to know for the zine coming up! Check out this link and read up on it! There will be things you need to know for the application later, so look closely!

Applications will be opening soon so keep an eye out! Stay polished~

[teampunkzine]

I wanna apply but...

I get it. We’ve all been there. Zines are a beautiful, strange thing and we just get so pumped to participate. Maybe you’ve just got wind of what a zine even is. Maybe you’ve been watching them develop from a long time, even buying some. Maybe you’ve already applied to some before. Maybe you’ve been rejected.

So, you want to apply. But...

I don’t think my art is good enough

This is a valid concern we all go through. There’s just so many pretty, popular art and fic going around and sometimes we just feel frustrated. 

But, what as the artist you may see as ‘’boring’’ or ‘’nothing special’’, as a spectator we may be extremely moved. There’s so many skilled artists and writers I’ve heard saying their creations weren’t good enough. It shakes me. 

What you think it’s not good enough, it’s usually you being very hard of yourself. Of freaking course there’s always room for improvement! And a big part of that frustration you feel with your art comes from that part of you that knows you are capable of so much more! and YOU ARE! You are a human being with the amazing skill of creation! You have the space to grow and develop as big as you want to!

But, my golden advice? Give yourself the time and patience for that growth. Don’t stop trying, don’t stop practising but also be kind with yourself. A great chunk of the artistic cycle is having blocks and resting, living experiences that will eventually help you grow as an artist and a human being. 

You are already being the best artist version of yourself that you can be at the moment.

I’m going to get rejected/ I’ve already tried in so many zines and I always get rejected 

Are you sure, though? Are you sure? Do you have physic powers? Can you see what I’m going to do next month? If you are already looking there, by the way, can you please peek and tell me if I’m going to have a gf by then?

I’d advice not giving up based on previous experiences. We are not those other zines, we are not those other mods. Hell, you are not even the same artist! You’ve grown! This is a whole different situation and experience. 

I’m not going to sugarcoat it: You may get rejected. Or you may not. You don’t know that, I don’t know that.

What I do know is that there are 0% chances of getting in if you don’t apply.

You ask for a submission of two of my best pieces. I don’t know which of my works are my best

I always have this doubt when applying for zines. It’s nerve wrecking! I feel like I get one shot and I have to do it right! 

Well, in our case, you have 2 shots. So, if you are in between 2 options, you can post both ;D 

Apart from that, I always ask a server/a friend/a pal from somewhere which one they think it’s more impressive. If it’s a fandom friend, I explain it’s for a zine. If it’s an irl person, I’m just asking their opinion for something bussiness-related.

In the case you don’t have the option of consulting someone, I reccomend you take a few days without looking or thinking about it. Then, go back and watch/read your stuff with fresh eyes. 

A few criteria to self evaluate your pieces...

Art: Think of the use of lighting/shadows, characterization, anatomy, color use. The most important question is, though... ‘’do I like this?’’ ‘’am i happy i did this?’’ . If you like it, it will work <3

Writing: Think of it being clearly redacted, of the emotion it conveys (if it fits whatchu wanted it to convey). Again, the most important question is ‘’do i like this?’’ ‘’am i happy i did this?’’’ If you like it, it will work <3

You ask for a submission of a previous Hunk+Pidge piece. I don’t have any.

We ask an example of your work depicting Hunk and Pidge for two very simple reasons. 

1) We want to see the characters through your eyes, we want to know what you bring to the table.

2) We want to rule out any possibilities of whitewashing Hunk, making him overly skinny or oversexualizing Pidge. Y’know, we just want to see beforehand you respect basic character traits like Hunk being fat and dark skinned and Pidge being a human being without anime-like titties. I’m not saying this to scare you. I’m not saying this to police you. We just want to avoid any uncomfy conversations in the future!

Apart from that? GO WILD WITH YOUR TAKE ON THEM! Add a beard on Hunk, give Pidge green hair, give everyone 80s clothes! As long as we can still see the characters we love, we are okay with you going off the mold. Hell, we encourage you to!

If you are a writer, a simple drabble with the two of them interacting would do. If you are an artist, a simple colored drawing it’s okay by us!

I’ve never been in a zine before

And if you let us be your first, that’d be our honor! It’s my first time modding a zine too!

We are not looking at your resume. So, to us, it’s not a problem. It’s okay to be scared or nervous, specially if this is your first zine! But remember: you won’t be alone! Us mods are here to guide you and help you! And you’d have the rest of the participants too! We are all new in something, this is a chance for each of us to grow and learn!

I’m not a popular artist/writer

*motions around* ...and this is not a popular team of characters... 

We are not popular ourselves. We are not looking for popular people. We are not looking at your follower count, the number of reblogs you have or the comments your fic gets. We are looking at what you offer us, at those submissions you deem your best, at your take on Hunk and Pidge, at what you can bring to the table.

Will I squeal if I recognize your name? Yes, because I’m happy someone I already know is here. Will I holler and yodelei around bc of your submission piece and see how much you bring into the table? HELL YEAH DUDE.

The application form scares me/ I haven’t even looked at it.

Oof. Filling forms for me is scary. But that’s when you know you’ve got stuff to lose! This? This is for FUN! 

An advice? Look at the form first and write down in a piece of paper what you will need. I swear, until you submit, all the times you look at the form won’t be decisive. 

I swear the more you look at it, the less scary it gets. To break it down, we ask for very basic stuff: examples of your work, examples of your work featuring Hunk and Pidge and a profile where we can peek at more of your stuff. Oh, and a mail where we can contact you. That’s the important stuff. The rest are questions to know what’s in your mind, who are we interacting with. We’d like you to fill it but if you don’t know what to answer, say just that. It’s okay <3

So, it’s okay! It’s for fun! YOU CAN DO THIS :D

You don’t want me to apply :(

There’s nothing more i want in this world right now that u filling that damned application form, boi.

IM STAYING UP TILL 4 AM TO WRITE THIS !!!!! :))))

I can’t find the application form

There you go ;)

A zine is not an élite art gallery. We do have a selection stage but we are also that space where you can practise, interact with other creators and make the best of yourself! We are just looking for passionate creators!!! Applying is the first step to get there. If you don’t apply and you want to, you are not even giving yourself the chance to participate!

As my dad says: you put the effort, the other evaluates it. You can only just control the effort and love you put in so invest your time and energy worrying about that, not about the result.

WE CAN DO THIS!!!!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!!! WE WANT YOU TO APPLY!!!!!!

love,

Mod Ami

[cambrasine]

Zine Organization Guide/Tips

There’s been a huuuugee influx of friends and friendly strangers asking me about how to run a zine -- so under the cut is my spiel! 

Wait, who are you? Hey! I’m Jennie. I’ve run a couple zines and am working on a couple more. I’ve participated in hmm let’s see one two three four (more?) others, too! Okay, now for the guide.. First off, though It’s incredibly rewarding, don’t underestimate how much time running a zine takes. Most projects I’ve been a part of have run over the course of 3 - 8 months. Admin stuff takes a lot of time day-to-day too - setting up a blog, forms, spreadsheets, store, answering questions you’ve answered 1000 times, assembling, packing, etc. etc. Don’t take this the wrong way - I am a zine enthusiast but just make sure you have enough time to take this on, or team up with a friend or two to multiply the fun and share the workload! :)  ORGANIZATION If you open for applications / submissions then I suggest using google forms. That way everything is in one place and organized in a spreadsheet. Similarly, I suggest google sheets for keeping track of things. For example, we made a google sheet to share with all participants. Next to their username they can fill out things like their e-mail address, how they wanted to be listed in the artist directory, what they will be drawing (to avoid excessive repeats), etc. plus a little box to check off when they complete their piece. You can also make multiple tabs which is fun (For YoI zine we had a cover sheet (explanations of each tab, announcements), participant info, templates, FAQ, timeline, wip share, and bundle sign ups). It’s all in one place makes it easy for the organizer as well as participants to keep track of! For your own sanity MAKE A TEMPLATE for your participants to make their art on — At the correct size (including bleed if you’re printing full bleed), resolution (300 dpi+), and color profile (CYMK) for printing. SOME PEOPLE WILL STILL NOT DO IT CORRECTLY. Mentally prepare yourself LOL  > Make sure to leave room for title page/credits/thank you - whatever!  > Printing goes in multiples of four so be prepared with a back up if someone drops out and screws up your page count! > Leave cushion room around your deadlines. Build in a week after your deadline for people who need extensions because people ALWAYS need extensions! > Making a WIP/check in deadline was really helpful I think > It’s a nice thing to do to offer participants a copy as long as you can afford it. Otherwise there’s not much motivation to participate;; If it’s for profit, give them a cut. DISTRIBUTION DIGITAL As far as distribution, gumroad is a classic for digital downloads, plus they have this nifty ‘pay what you want’ option. They do take some fees though, less if you pay $10 for a month but you have to balance an equation to see if it’s worth it. Since we didn’t know when to set the release date for, we skipped this and will just be emailing the file ourselves, but I have used gumroad in the past. PHYSICAL > I would try out bigcartel - it’s totally free to have 5 items or less. Haven’t tried it myself. > Storenvy is probably best option after that. There’s a 10% fee for purchases made through the marketplace, but you can turn it off and just sell from your custom storefront.  They introduced ‘’'Storenvy fees’'’ where they charge customer an extra fee now (usually .99 I think) which they withdraw from your accounts afterward > Etsy is fine, there’s the .20 listing fee but it’s not very customizable visually... I just don’t love it, ok? lmfao You can give it a go > Tictail is OK (can’t turn off marketplace / 10% fee from marketplace orders, doesn’t integrate with shipping easy easily, can’t make different item groups for shipping, etc.) PRINTING If you’ll be printing, check with local printers. Get quotes. GET A LOT OF QUOTES. Some people will not respond at all. Some will be crazy and not understand how to price books/booklets and try to price you for 1000 prints instead. You just have to look around.  Side note: Hard copy proofs are great! If it’s your first time assembling a zine, I’d highly recommend you get one. Some recommended printers: 

Smart Press US based. Love them!! Good quality, good customer service, usually one of the less expensive options. Solid A grade :) RA Comics Direct/Nations Print California based. Haven’t used them myself, but heard very good things. They'll mail ya a free paper sample booklet if you ask! Pixartprinting Based in Italy. Usually the cheapest option, print quality is good, but not /amazing/ No hard copy proofs.  Catprint NY Based. They only do saddle stitch binding, and I’ve never used them for books but their print quality was great. You can get a paper sample booklet from them too, and they have so many freaking paper options.  PrintNinja China Based. Everyone and their mother seems to love their quality. They have high minimums and very little flexibility on them (250, 500, 750, etc.) but they also have lots of cool options like foil, embossing, debossing, etc. if you’ve got the cashflow. SHIPPING (from US) USPS is pretty much always the cheapest option. Once you know the weight, you can easily calculate on the site how much it will cost to ship. For reference, a 20 page book I made weighed about 5 oz, a 60 page one weighed about 7 oz. Bubble mailers are your best friend! I like the poly ones vs the paper ones bc they’re waterproof. I like these ones a lot, the adhesive is strong!! For shipping the 20 page one, I included a piece of cardboard for rigidity. For the 60 page one, it wasn't necessary and only /one/ out of the 400+ shipped was damaged. The easiest to way to ship through USPS though is to use a service like ShippingEasy. You can do buy postage for 50 packages each month on their free plan but if you ship more than that and want to use them, you'll have to pay $x a month. With ShippingEasy you import your orders, can choose your standard shipping settings, etc. and buy postage online. That way you can do it any time of day, don't have to hand write labels, etc. I also bought these labels so that you just peel and stick them on the package - no tape necessary! If you use Etsy or Storenvy, you can set it up to automatically receive your orders. If you use Tictail, you're going to have to export them to a spreadsheet, then import them - which is a pain and is only available on paid ShippingEasy plans. There's a free month trial tho if you time it right! Also with USPS - if you can safely leave packages outside - you can schedule a pick up online and they'll come pick your packages up at your house! No lugging heavy boxes to the post office! END NOTES Every project is different. You’re bound to hit a few bumps in the road but hopefully the above will help keep those to a minimum!  It’s hard work, but it feels amazing once you have the book in your hands! I’ve met lots of my amazing artist peers this way. It’s great for making connections and even a few friendships! If you have any specific questions please feel free to ask!! Good luck with everything!! <3

OTHER GUIDES: By the lovely Jeanne who co-organized the ML fashion zine and Menons la Danse with me Another and another by artists I admire By May, who ran the Ladybug Charity Zine 

[nanaimay]

“Shower Thoughts” is a collection of funny observations that occurred to me in the shower. Written in comic style, this 24-page zine is bilingual (English/Japanese) and you can purchase it at MOUNT ZINE's physical or online store.

[orangezines]

Carrier Pigeon Quarterly / Summer 2025

> https://ko-fi.com/s/9aa19ff043