I'd like your opinion

[Bird in the Hand Zine Shop]

I have a bookshelf full of zines that for one reason or another I do not require anymore. In many instances it's because I've got doubles or have read & enjoyed the zines already and would like to pass them on to someone else. The latter reason is why I started a zine distro: to pass on zines that I terribly enjoyed.

The opinion that I am asking of you good zine people is, is it OK for me to sell these at a zine fair at very cheap prices? I feel it's similar to the way I would definitely feel OK selling books off that I have read or records that I am done with but for some reason I feel slightly differently about zines - will people see this as 'wrong'?

I look forward to your thoughts & will endeavour to answer any clarification.

[Gianni Simone]

I assume that zinesters who don't want their zines to be sold by other people, do not sell their own stuff but do trading only. If you only believe in trading, I guess my only option is to respect your position. But if I actually buy something from you, I really don't see why I shouldn't sell it to someone else. We also have to consider that re-selling a zine can't really be considered speculation. No way you are getting rich with that. On the other side, chances are the seller is going to reinvest the money in some new zine project.

[ciaraxyerra]

except you spent maybe $2 on a zine & the person who made it possibly spent several hundred once you consider art & office supplies, copies, postage, not to mention the time & labor of writing & layout, not to mention the emotional labor that sometimes goes into certain types of zines. i mean, if someone is going to straight up say, "i have the right to re-sell your work because i bought it in the first place," that person is going to get himself an entry on my list of people i will never sell/trade/give zines to. & yes, i have a list like that.

i actually don't even really think it's right for people to trade away the zines that someone else has made in exchange for other zines/mix CDs/whatever. but considering that it's pulling teeth to get people to even accept the fact that charging money for work that is not your own is perhaps not a very respectful way to interface with the zine medium, i doubt my hardcore trading stance will win many converts. but it's something i follow in my own zine work (i make zines & run a zine distro). everytime i'm at a zine fair, people come to my distro table & ask if i will trade. & i always tell them i can only trade for the zines i made myself, because benefiting from someone else's work in the form of zines or artwork or whatever for me is wrong. i'm just the conduit between zinester & reader. just as anyone else would be when they have a zine they wish to part with & someone else wants to read. charge for postage, sure. but it's not your work & you shouldn't be charging anything more than that.