questions, answered
May. 4th, 2013 12:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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diyfanzinesSo I’ve had people asking some questions about the fanzine project, and I figured I should answer them. If you have any other questions, please send them my way! Signal boosting this post would be particularly welcome, as it rounds up the whole project in one place.
1. What’s a zine? What’s a fanzine?
A zine is an amateur magazine. A fanzine is an amateur magazine about fandom. There are different types of zines found in different communities— most of my experience is with the zines made in the punk/DIY community. Those zines tend to the short side (often 4-10 sheets of paper, folded in half and stapled) and are usually about things like music, politics, and personal subjects. They often contain hand-drawn art and layouts made by hand. Scissors, glue and white-out are essential.
In fandom, zines have a slightly different history: the ones I’m most familiar with are bound volumes of fanfic, some quite long. Fanart is also featured.
The zines I’m trying to make will be fannish in subject matter, but more in the punk/DIY style of production— lots of short pieces in a shorter zine, with a handmade aesthetic.
2. What zines are you making?
Currently on the slate are four single-fandom zines and two multifandom meta zines. The fandoms are Doctor Who, Discworld, Pushing Daises, and Les Mis. One meta zine will be about the experience of being othered by your fandom (ie being a woman in comics or gaming, among other examples); the second meta zine will collect people’s stories of how they found fandom.
3. What kind of content do you want?
I am NOT PICKY. I want these zines to be eclectic. Meta and fic are of course welcome, as is fanart, as are comics. I’m also hoping to get things like instructions for fannish craft projects, lists, recipes, and other interesting bits of text.
4. What size/format should contributions be?
Text contributions should probably be capped at 1000 words, and can be any length under that. You can send any text to me in the body of an email; if you have particular font or formatting preferences, a Word or Open Office doc is fine. Art and comics need to be b&w, as I don’t have the budget for color. A single page in the zine will be 5.5”wx8.5”h, so try to fit into that space.
5. When are contributions due by?
I need everything in hand by June 30, for reasons that will be made clear in the next question.
6. What are you going to do with the finished zines?
I plan to take the zines to DC Zinefest on July 20, and mail zines after that to anyone who wants a copy.
7. Are you charging money for the zines?
Yes, but only enough to cover actual production costs and shipping. Zines will probably end up costing $3-4 apiece, and any extra money I end up with will either be plowed back into making more zines, or donated to an agreed-upon charity. I will NOT be counting my time as a production cost— just actual physical materials, copying costs, and shipping costs of contributor’s copies.
8. How do I get a zine?
Either attend DC Zinefest (you should, it’s awesome), or email me about getting a copy after July 20. Contributors will get a free copy of the zine their material appears in.
9. This sounds fun! How do I get involved?
Email me at hollimichele at gmail dot com if you have any material you’d like to contribute— I’d love to hear from you! If you are making a fanzine of your own and want it represented at DC Zinefest, I am going to be tabling and would love to have more zines to offer.
10. I have read the word ‘zine’ so many times it has started to lose all meaning.
WELCOME TO MY WORLD.
1. What’s a zine? What’s a fanzine?
A zine is an amateur magazine. A fanzine is an amateur magazine about fandom. There are different types of zines found in different communities— most of my experience is with the zines made in the punk/DIY community. Those zines tend to the short side (often 4-10 sheets of paper, folded in half and stapled) and are usually about things like music, politics, and personal subjects. They often contain hand-drawn art and layouts made by hand. Scissors, glue and white-out are essential.
In fandom, zines have a slightly different history: the ones I’m most familiar with are bound volumes of fanfic, some quite long. Fanart is also featured.
The zines I’m trying to make will be fannish in subject matter, but more in the punk/DIY style of production— lots of short pieces in a shorter zine, with a handmade aesthetic.
2. What zines are you making?
Currently on the slate are four single-fandom zines and two multifandom meta zines. The fandoms are Doctor Who, Discworld, Pushing Daises, and Les Mis. One meta zine will be about the experience of being othered by your fandom (ie being a woman in comics or gaming, among other examples); the second meta zine will collect people’s stories of how they found fandom.
3. What kind of content do you want?
I am NOT PICKY. I want these zines to be eclectic. Meta and fic are of course welcome, as is fanart, as are comics. I’m also hoping to get things like instructions for fannish craft projects, lists, recipes, and other interesting bits of text.
4. What size/format should contributions be?
Text contributions should probably be capped at 1000 words, and can be any length under that. You can send any text to me in the body of an email; if you have particular font or formatting preferences, a Word or Open Office doc is fine. Art and comics need to be b&w, as I don’t have the budget for color. A single page in the zine will be 5.5”wx8.5”h, so try to fit into that space.
5. When are contributions due by?
I need everything in hand by June 30, for reasons that will be made clear in the next question.
6. What are you going to do with the finished zines?
I plan to take the zines to DC Zinefest on July 20, and mail zines after that to anyone who wants a copy.
7. Are you charging money for the zines?
Yes, but only enough to cover actual production costs and shipping. Zines will probably end up costing $3-4 apiece, and any extra money I end up with will either be plowed back into making more zines, or donated to an agreed-upon charity. I will NOT be counting my time as a production cost— just actual physical materials, copying costs, and shipping costs of contributor’s copies.
8. How do I get a zine?
Either attend DC Zinefest (you should, it’s awesome), or email me about getting a copy after July 20. Contributors will get a free copy of the zine their material appears in.
9. This sounds fun! How do I get involved?
Email me at hollimichele at gmail dot com if you have any material you’d like to contribute— I’d love to hear from you! If you are making a fanzine of your own and want it represented at DC Zinefest, I am going to be tabling and would love to have more zines to offer.
10. I have read the word ‘zine’ so many times it has started to lose all meaning.
WELCOME TO MY WORLD.
