hey...tips on making a zine? anyone?

[Kii]

i have one way of making one...but, it's kinda...eh.
anyone wanna tip me on how to like...actually put it together?
and get it going and all?

thanks! :]

[ciaraxyerra]

you might get some answers if you ask more specific questions. like naming exactly what you are struggling with. layout? content? etc etc.

[Kii]

hmm...like, maybe layout.
i'm pretty solid on content.

ciaraxyerra said:

you might get some answers if you ask more specific questions. like naming exactly what you are struggling with. layout? content? etc etc.

[peg leg]

just get an idea for the first issue,think of how many pages you want....12 or 24 pages.then roughly write it all out with images you might use.i do my the old school way with a light table, and template......once you get the first issue out it get really easy from there.trust me i've been doing it for a good 7 years..

[Samantha Trees]

Hey Kii! I'm happy to help. I'm no expert, but I can tell you how I do it. But first, what format are you planning to use? Do you want a half page sized zine, a quarter page, or maybe something totally different? Do you want to just fold the pages into a booklet, and then staple them in the middle? Or, do you want to do something like bind them like a book, or sew them together?

Honestly, before I go into any details, I gotta tell you that YOU have all you need with a brain and some time. I figured a lot of what I know out pretty quickly, after spending some time at the copy shop, messing up a few times, and then taking the time to think it all over and fix my mistakes.

Try and envision what each copied page should have on it. don't be afraid to make mistakes. and find somewhere to make copies where you can either scam them because they are a shitty large corporation, or get some kind of amazing deal so it's not gonna break the bank if you have to re do it all and scrap a bunch of mistake pages.

Maybe let me know what you have in mind for format, and I can help you a bit more.

Samantha!

[redguard]

Although there's a wealth of experience here for you to draw on, there are a couple of books that I found helpful when I started my zine. I found them especially helpful for illustrating different ways to lay out a zine.

"Whatcha Mean, What's a Zine?" by Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Watson
"Stolen Sharpie Revolution" by Alex Wreck (this is currently out of print, but you can still find copies of the 2nd edition for sale if you look around on the net)

Also this site has some useful links: http://www.zinebook.com/index.html

[redguard]

And then I missed the 15 minute editing window to correct my wrong spelling of Alex Wrekk's name. Sorry, Alex!

redguard said:

Although there's a wealth of experience here for you to draw on, there are a couple of books that I found helpful when I started my zine. I found them especially helpful for illustrating different ways to lay out a zine.

"Whatcha Mean, What's a Zine?" by Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Watson
"Stolen Sharpie Revolution" by Alex Wreck (this is currently out of print, but you can still find copies of the 2nd edition for sale if you look around on the net)

Also this site has some useful links: http://www.zinebook.com/index.html

[Alex Wrekk]

Thanks for the correction! I wonder how many people misspell it?

Also, Great Worm Distro from Canada has afew copies of the 3rd edition of Stolen Sharpie Revolution. I'm working on the forth edition and I'll get it out as soon as my house stops fall apart and I have to drain my savings every time.

redguard said:

And then I missed the 15 minute editing window to correct my wrong spelling of Alex Wrekk's name. Sorry, Alex!

redguard said:

Although there's a wealth of experience here for you to draw on, there are a couple of books that I found helpful when I started my zine. I found them especially helpful for illustrating different ways to lay out a zine.

"Whatcha Mean, What's a Zine?" by Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Watson
"Stolen Sharpie Revolution" by Alex Wreck (this is currently out of print, but you can still find copies of the 2nd edition for sale if you look around on the net)

Also this site has some useful links: http://www.zinebook.com/index.html

[Alex Wrekk]

When I make a zine I usually have a pretty good idea of what the final zine will looks like with the size (half sized, quarter sized, etc.) Then I cut up pieces of paper and do all my layout on single pieces of paper so that I can always rearrange things. Then I make a mock up of what it would look like folded up and place the pages in without gluing them so I have an idea of how many pages I'll need and get a feel for what the final thing will look like. Then I past everything into the template. Sometimes I'll make a master photocopy from that and put my original away so it doesn't get messed up and i'll make all my copies from the copy and when it wears out I'll just make another one from the original.

[David Lasky]

I made an informal "how to" zine, which I've posted on flickr for individual use...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26542262@N00/tags/zine/

[Krissy PonyBoy Press]

Don't know if you still are looking for help. But, I wrote a little how-to on my blog.

[amy // twelveohtwo]

Alex Wrekk said:

Also, Great Worm Distro from Canada has afew copies of the 3rd edition of Stolen Sharpie Revolution.

beat me to it!
http://www.greatworm.ca

[Emma Jane Falconer]

How I do mine is I fold 3 sheets of A4 paper into quarters. That's my 24 pages. I then arrange them in a booklet, and then I number each quarter for the page it will eventually be, by flicking through and numbering the top half in pencil until I get to the middle, numbering the whole bottom half, and then numbering the remainder of the top half. When you take the sheets apart, they look like this:
Side 1 - sheet 1
24- 1
12 - 7
Side 2- sheet 1
2- 23
8- 17

Side 1- Sheet 2
22-3
16-9
Side 2 Sheet 2
4- 21
10 - 15

Side 1 Sheet 3
20-5
14-11
Side 2- Sheet 3
6- 19
12- 13

Once all the quarters are numbered, I write in pencil the contents of each page if I have it planned. The pencil can be covered over, or rubbed out.

I have all the text typed out on separate bits of paper, along with the pictures, and I cut them out and glue them to whatever page they need to go on

That's just my method really, I find it makes it easy to keep track of my pages though.