Mini Zines!

[Samantha Trees]

I recieved a donation from an old co-worker with a bunch of really amazing mini zines in them! I am really excited about mini zines, because they are totally the kind of thing you could make in one sitting if you want, perfect for zine workshops!

I would love to hear about any mini zines people on here have made, or have read and really liked. I would love to carry more mini zines at the zine library, if anyone has any tips on good places to get them, that would be awesome!

Would anyone be interested in doing a mini-zine trade with me? I am going to start making some mini zines about my puppy and my bird, and would love to share them!

[Emma Jane Falconer]

I like to do mini zines, 1 sheet of A4 paper folded into 8. I've done a few cut n paste ones, whenever it takes my fancy, and also a colour one of pocket sized polaroids

[Jethrobot Press]

I have done 12 issues of my Banzai Robot Wars comic as mini zines, one sheet folded into 4 (you can see the cover images in my photos section) also did a mini issue of Banzai (#1.5) that was free at a show at my house. I love mini zines and have thoughts on doing more. I would be VERY interested in trading any of my mini zines that you would like to trade for. I am currently in the process of doing a mini zine about beards. Yes, beards.

[Emma Jane Falconer]

Jethrobot Press said:

I have done 12 issues of my Banzai Robot Wars comic as mini zines, one sheet folded into 4 (you can see the cover images in my photos section) also did a mini issue of Banzai (#1.5) that was free at a show at my house. I love mini zines and have thoughts on doing more. I would be VERY interested in trading any of my mini zines that you would like to trade for. I am currently in the process of doing a mini zine about beards. Yes, beards.

I've got a story I wrote in one of my zines about a beard that left the ugly face it grew on to find love on a handsome face. I'll have to wait until the end of the month to sort out swaps though, I just moved city and I want to set up a PO Box when I get paid.

[Sage]

I love making mini zines! I just made one for a swap, it's simply called Summer Zine. Let me know if you'd like to trade ...

[Milo]

I make minizines. Also, @ QZAP our interns are asked to do 2 zine projects over the course of their internship. The first is to make a minizine. I think that they're a great way to get folks who have never made a zine to start thinking about production and distribution without having to make a huge commitment. 8 pages isn't a lot, and Letter/A4 constrains the space a bit. Also, there's no need to worry about binding, so it becomes easy.

We first learned how to make them from Anne Elizabeth Moore when she was touring for "Hey Kids! Buy This Book" in 2005. She made a zine called "How to make this very zine" witch is a minizine about how to make minizines. Very meta. We've got a copy of it up on QZAP, and I've gotten it translated into French and Dutch (if I can find them)

[Avocadess]

What are the dimensions of a mini-zine? Do they generally weigh less than an ounce?

[Avocadess]

Okay, scratch my last question. I got hold of the "How to Make This Very Zine" pdf and made one and now I see it is just one 8.5x11 piece of paper which is obviously less than an ounce. In fact, you could make up to 4 mini-zines per ounce. Depending on weight of paper and staples (if you staple them), but I'm pretty sure you could mail 4 e-zines in one envelope for under one ounce.

Here's something exciting: I just made the e-zine as described in the pdf and discovered that you could have just the 8 pages OR you could print on the back side of the original page. I could try to describe how to do this so you have the pages set up right. I'll call the original layout from "How to Make This Very Zine" the "front side" especially since the front side contains the front and back cover for the mini-zine.

By doing this, you will have a 16-page mini-zine rather than an 8-page mini-zine, without using more paper. Hopefully this has not already been explained, but just in case not I may as well lay it out here for anyone who could benefit from it.

This is looking at the front side with "How to Make This Very Zine," the cover page, showing up on the bottom far-right panel or "cell" of a "table" that is made up of 4 columns and two rows. The top row all the wording is upside-down whereas the wording of the bottom row is right-side-up. The cover page is what I am calling "page 1" since it will be the first page of the book. The following shows the line-up of which pages are what numbered page in the final 18-page mini-zine:

Top row of front side (which is upside down to the eye):
Pages from left to right: 9, 8, 5, 4
Bottom row of front side (whose wording is right-side-up to the eye):
Pages from left to right: 12, 13, 16, 1

Then you will need to copy the back side of this page with the mirror image of the front side in terms of the top row being upside down while the bottom row is rightside up.

Top row of backside, (upside down to the eye), pages from left to right will be:
3, 6, 7, 10
Bottom row of backside (right-side-up to the eye), pages from left to right will be:
2, 15, 14, 11

Okay. In order to do this you first follow the instructions for "How to Make This Very Zine" exactly as printed (except that you also have the backside printed) and fold and cut just as described.

Then, once you have it folded with the front and back covers in their rightful places, open the zine so it is flat and showing pages 4 and 5 of original layout (or pages 8 and 9 of the 16-page layout) and STAPLE the page right in the middle, aligning the staple perfertly sideways to follow the middle crease. (If you have a standard sized stapler you may have to fold in one side a bit to get the stapler to reach the crease and can unfold it after you have stapled it.) Once this has been stapled, go ahead and with scissors, exacto knife, letter opener, what have you, and "open" all the creases that are hiding the pages from the back side, and -- viola! -- you have a 16-page e-zine that is the same weight as the 8-page one except for the added staple.

Hope this helps someone. I want to make little mini e-zines to give away that tell the truth about things that corporate-controlled media never or rarely ever cover.

[Avocadess]

P.S. To increase content while keeping the mini-zine readable, I will do most pages on the computer with Arial font at 9 or 10 size. I can type them into tables in Word and just have to cut and paste for the upside down rows and use a photocopier at Kinko's to get the front sides and back sides to be on front and back of one sheet.

In this way I can fit 150-180 words on each page that is text-only and not a front or back cover. If I use only half the pages for text only in this way I can put 1200 words into one printed mini-zine that has 6 pages of illustrations plus front and back cover for instance. You can say a LOT with 1000 words.

Not being an artist, though, mine will probably be pretty much all text and will have an average of 1800 to 2000 words once I figure in spaces between paragraphs. Spaces between paragraphs are important because it makes text copy more readable. I am basing these calculations using very small margins by the way. Before I put my table in Word, I set up the page with .4" margins on all sides. I also add a middle row to the "table" of just one or two lines to make space for and allow for the crease.

[Avocadess]

Oops, and there is more I should say:

* Be sure to give enough room for the crease between the table rows. Nearly an inch is needed there (though not a full inch).
* page 1 becomes the front cover, page 2 becomes the inside front cover, page 3 becomes the first page of text if doing this book-style and want to number the pages. Page 15 is the inside back cover and of course page 16 is the back cover.

This is fun, actually.

[Avocadess]

Okay. It's a little bit more complicated still, but if you are into doing it, it can be done. You will also need to make sure to allow for margins between each column in order to make a good readable booklet.

Paper zines are IMPORTANT especially if and when the Internet becomes excessively controlled. In that case making inexpensive zines to distribute on a large scale will become very important indeed.