The A-Z of Zines
By: Alaast Kamalabadi
@AlaastChen
Zines: independently published booklets or pamphlets of appropriated text and images for limited circulation.
So you’re curious about what makes a zine tick. Maybe you’re a seasoned zinester looking for inspiration or for a zine fact you’ve never heard. Maybe you’re a neophyte wondering if a zine is the same thing as a magazine. Look no further; here is a comprehensive, alphabetized, and illustrated list on how to craft, appreciate, distribute, collect, and study zines.
A. Assembly
The first thing to know about a zine? It’s all assembly—materially, a zine is a piecemeal affair, gathered from clippings and pastings and bric-a-brac. It unites its elements, gathered from eclectic sources, into a brand new creation. It comes together through the concerted efforts of its maker(s). It manifests as a small, unerringly portable object. And it brings people together.
Honorable mentions: Activism, Art, Alternative
B. Bricolage
bricolage[ bree-kuh-lahzh, brik-uh- ]
noun, plural bri·co·la·ges [bree-kuh-lah-zhiz, ‐lahzh] , bri·co·lage.
a construction made of whatever materials are at hand; something created from a variety of available things.
(in literature) a piece created from diverse resources.
(in art) a piece of makeshift handiwork.
the use of multiple, diverse research methods.
Zines may consist of:
Magazine cutouts, newspapers, photos, poster cutouts, comics, images, text, books, printouts, markers, pens, pencils, tape, paint, cardboard, stickers, sketches, drawings, musings, polaroids, scrap paper, lined paper, ink, textures, textiles, manifestos, scrapbooking scraps, poetry, prose, pencil shavings, gum, glue, glitter, hair, lint, tampons, yearbook photos, your old fursuit, your family’s heirloom cookbook…
Honorable mentions: Bitch, Boing Boing
C. Counterculture
The zeitgeist of the 60s and 70s was the counterculture—subcultures running parallel, or in opposition, to the mainstream, dominant culture, often flourishing in small enclaves comprised of groups of individuals with shared interests who enable your immersion in these cultures. Think of the punk movement, second-wave feminism, or the free love movement. Think of the marches, the protests, the demonstrations that became so ubiquitous. Was it any wonder that zines began to flourish during this period?
Honorable mentions: Circulation, Collage, Comics
D. DIY
The DIY ethos is intrinsic to the zine. DIY stands for “Do It Yourself”. Pretty self-explanatory. To put it simply, it’s a can-do attitude: handcrafted, homemade, made with your own two hands.
E. Easy
Here’s a quick and easy way to make a zine template out of a letter size sheet of paper (you may also do this with tabloid, A4, or even origami paper, though results may vary):
Image by: Alaast Kamalabadi
F. Fanzine
Fanzines—where zines meet fandoms. The first media fanzine ever to be circulated was purportedly a Star Trek fan publication called Spockanalia.
Honorable mentions: Fringe, Fold, Factsheet Five
G. Graphic
Zines often have some graphic components. Comics, perhaps, or abstracted shapes, or the cool geometry of design. Whether this graphic component derives from collaging or illustration or some other mode of image-making is entirely up to its maker.
Honorable mentions: Grunge
H. History
Now that we’ve established a few key features of the zine, here’s a brief overview of its history:
Pre-1930: Leaflets and monographs have always been in existence in some form, often as firebrands’ or artists’ tools for disseminating radical views or ideas. Late 19th century saw the advent of the amateur press movement.
1930s: First zine happened roughly here! The amateur press movement collided with the science fiction fandom subculture of the 1930s. The Comet is often named as the first zine, and credited with launching a number of sci-fi zines, most notably Fantasy Commentator (1943 - 2004).
1955: The World Science Fiction Convention establishes Best Fanzine as a Hugo Award category. (Zines then were generally narrower in scope and referred to as “fanzines”.)
1967: Spockanalia. Kirk/Spock slash shipping fanzines soon follow.
Image by: Alaast Kamalabadi
1960s onwards: Music subcultures like rock and roll, punk, and riot grrrl hit the zines. Cumulative developments in printing technology and the early internet each lead to rises in zine circulation, as production costs drop and technology grows ever more accessible.
Honorable mentions: Handmade
I. Interests
Zines are often a vehicle for common interests. They can be shared among family, friends, or circulated even more broadly for myriad purposes: to inform, to organize, to document, to teach, to respond, or to communicate.
J. Janus/Aurora
The most prominent science fiction feminist zine of its time, Janus—later renamed Aurora—stood as one of few safe havens for women writers in an excessively male-dominated field. Created and edited by Janice Bogstad and Jeanne Gomoll in 1975, Janus featured short stories, essays, artwork, articles, reviews, and letters of comments from a number of notable women figures in science fiction. Among its contributors were authors such as Octavia Butler, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Joanna Russ. Janus/Aurora was nominated for the Hugo Award for "Best Fanzine" three consecutive years beginning 1978, until its dissolution after 1980, five years after its conception.
K. Keepsake
The Chaffey College Rancho Library maintains a zine archive of its own, where you may submit a photocopy of your creation for posterity.
L. Labor of love
Zines are always labor of love. They are flesh and blood, sweat and toil. They are wrought with your own two hands. Guard your zines with your life.
Image by: Alaast Kamalabadi
M. Magazine
What differentiates a zine from a magazine? Despite the superficial similarities of these two terms, they are rather different creatures.
Zine Mag
Niche Mainstream
Low-circulation Comparatively high-circulation
Periodical or one-off Generally periodical
Personal Commercial
Lo-fi Hi-fi
Highly appropriative in content/material Explicitly appropriative content is rare
Self-published Small or large press
Small/pocket-sized Book or larger, though still relatively thin
Non-glossy Generally glossy
Reproduced via photocopy Reproduced via color printing
Honorable mentions: Media
N. Niche
Many zines address a niche (see Q. Queercore and R. Riot Grrrl)—a specific, tailored area of interest common to the people who create, circulate, and collect these zines. Are you a fan of vintage cheerleaders? Maybe it’s time to start a zine publication on those hairsprayed, black-and-white babes. Maybe you’re obsessed with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) babyfaces turned heels. Try getting your wrestling club to make a zine on your all-time top ten heel-turn moments in wrestling history.
O. Original
Zines you create are always going to be one-of-a-kind, because all your life you have been amassing experiences and developing likes and dislikes and idiosyncrasies no other person shares exactly, and because with such a colossal pool of raw materials to make your zines from, no two zines will end up looking quite the same.
P. Perzine
While all zines are to some extent personal, a perzine is a zine that describes your own experiences, opinions, musings, internal monologues—a hyperpersonal breed of zine. Almost like a blog in zine form.
Honorable mentions: Punk, Politics, Photocopy machine
Q. Queercore
An offshoot of punk, queercore began in the mid ’80s. Queer sensibilities and discontent with heteronormative society abound. Magazines, music, writing, film, and of course, zines.
Image by: Alaast Kamalabadi
Credit: Not Your Bitch, Riot Grrrl, Bikini Kill
R. Riot Grrrl
Bitch magazine was a zine at its conception. Bikini Kill, the fanzine circulated by the prominent riot grrrl band of the same title, broke the Riot Grrrl Manifesto. Riot Grrrl Press was founded by zinesters Erika Rienstien and May Summer. The riot grrrl subculture was composed of tons of zine-compatible things in a time when these subjects were hardly broached in the mainstream: music, feminist thought, scrapbooking, and progressive women-geared health pamphlets.
S. Self-published
Zines are self-published, so no, you don’t have to go looking for a literary agent to represent you, or cast all those cold call pitches, or slave ten years to get that book deal, or send off all those painstakingly culled art portfolios just to suffer thirty consecutive rejections.
Honorable mentions: Small press, Subculture, Scrapbooking, Spockanalia
T. Topics
Not sure where to start zining? Here’s a list of topics to get you started:
Art & design, poetry, politics, fanfiction, ephemera, personal journals, horses, music, social theory, feminism, single-topic obsessions, comics, porn.
Honorable mentions: Text
U. Underground
Zines feed on the need to circumvent the commercial realm. Freed from the restrictions of that realm, one could easily piece art, politics, culture, and activism into one eclectic publication, negotiating its dissemination on one’s own terms. Zines are practically a guerilla movement, passing outside the jurisdiction of conventions and regulations.
V. Voice
Zines have always been allied with the counterculture, fringe, marginalized, and unheard. They give powerless voices a forum for self-expression.
Speaking of voice, make sure you’re pronouncing the word correctly. It’s “z-EE-n”, not “zyne”, you philistine.
Image by: Alaast Kamalabadi
W. Writing
Just as graphics may play a part in zines, text may also play a part—prose, poetry, or typographical elements, all is fair game.
X. X-perimental
There are no hard, fast rules here. Go out and x-periment.
Honorable mentions: Xerox printer
Y. Youth Culture
“Killed my dog and I don’t think it’s fair.” OK Boomer. Make a zine about it.
Z. Zine
Now you know your ABCs, next time won’t you zine with me?