Contribute to Zine World

[Jerianne]

Zine World is looking for writers, reviewers, and artists to help with the next issue, which will be released this summer. Here's how you can contribute:

* Writers -- We need articles and columns on topics of interest to zinesters. Potential topics could include writing, publishing, creativity, DIY, censorship, mail art, free speech-related news, etc. Original content or already published pieces ok. (I'd really like to get an article by someone who runs a distro, writing about your experiences.) Email jerianne at undergroundpress.org with your ideas. Articles for the next issue would be due in early June.

* Reviewers -- We need reviewers who are passionate about zines, who can write concisely, and who are not afraid to express their opinions. We like to have a variety of reviewers on board: people who are interested in different genres of zines, people of different ages, people who are culturally and geographically diverse, new zinesters and old timers. You must be able to meet deadlines. If you'd like to try out as a reviewer, please email jerianne at undergroundpress.org; include a note about yourself and 5 sample zine reviews, following the format we use for our reviews. If you are not familiar with our review format and style, take a look at the sample reviews on our website.

* Artists -- To overcome the inherent textiness of a review zine, we welcome contributed illustrations. If you'd like to join our stable of artists, email art at undergroundpress.org. Find more details at our website.

Zine World would not exist without the help of volunteers. We'd love to have your help!

[JennyTheArtist]

I will be drawing up an illustration and emailing it to you...

[Ericfishlegs]

Joe Biel said:

I personally have always valued and enjoyed Yul Torbert's rants about Zine World, especially in the pages of said zine. That said, I feel like they are slightly lacking here. Yul, can you step it up to its former glory? Outdated? Conservative? Unwilling to change? Don't you have better accusations than that?

But Eric, c'mon Yul is WAY more entertaining than Rush! Seriously!

Also, I've been waiting on the first issue of Zine Solar System for about six years now. Did it get lost in the mail?

Other than that really under-researched article that Zine World did about Microcosm in 2007, they seem to generally put out quality work and have their hearts in the right place. Even in that case, the latter was true.

Maybe the glory days of Yul's ZINE WORLD rants have passed us by. But I see from these forums that some people haven't heard them before and seem willing to engage Yul in discussion so maybe we're just too jaded.

And I must be the only human being alive who has read Yul's ZINE SOLAR SYSTEM. I got a stack of Yul's stuff a few years back to review for XEROGRAPHY DEBT and ZSS was one of them. It was maybe 12 pages and as you may guess it did not stand up as a replacement for ZW.

[Madrea Marie]

I haven't bothered with Zine World in years...last time I sent them a zine to review, I also sent them $3 so they could mail me the zine, which they never did. I'm not really putting them down, I'm sure they get more zines than they have time to review, but the last few issues I've read ( and again, its been years) most of the reviews were just plain mean spirited, almost as if the people writing them hated zines. I know a lot of zines out there do suck, but who wants to read a bunch of bad zine reviews? I want to read review which make me want to order the zines.

[Wes White]

Still up for contributing if you'll have me Jerianne.. never heard anything back x

[Mikelle DeAundre Street]

It's fun reading zinesters chat!! I love it! Anywho I would be really dumb if I passed up an opportunity to try to get an article into Zine World.. the problem is I have lost ALL my zine contacts. So... if there is some way for me to get some zines to review can you guys tell me. Umm or send in yours and I'll of course send my review into Zine World and umm if it's a good review I'll post on my blog... and truthfully if I don't like the zine I'll write a review and send a copy of the review and zine back to you because I know you'll find someone who likes it.

I don't blog about stuff I don't like though... but I"m undecided about sending it in to zines...

[Jerianne]

Zine World #28 will be released at the end of January.

This issue should have been out months ago but has been delayed repeatedly for a number of reasons. Because all the content in this issue was collected and written in the summer and early fall of 2009, we are giving ourselves the rest of this month to update it a bit. We're writing some new reviews and we'll be expanding the review section.

We'd like your help in pulling together updates for some of the other sections. If you have something you'd like to contribute, please email it to jerianne at undergroundpress.org no later than January 15. Please send us your:
* address changes
* classified ads for zines, distros, or DIY projects (50 words or less)
* display ads (see our ad rates)
* new listings for zine review zines/website or zine libraries
* listings for zine events happening in the first half of 2010
* your stories, comments, or feedback about zine events that happened in 2009
* listings for zine resources, postal tips, etc.

See you in your mailbox soon!

[Rick Bradford]

Hooray!

[James N. Dawson]

It would be nice to see the letter of comment I wrote ZW.

[Sarah Arr!]

Jerianne, I'm still listed on the Other Places That Review Zines, and I don't really. Haven't in awhile. I'd love to be a reviewer for ZW though.

Hope you're doing well. Keep up the awesome work.

[Jerianne]

If you'd like to get on the reviewer volunteer list, just send me some sample reviews, then I'll email you with more details. I'm actually in need of some new reviewers right now, so it would be great timing!

Sarah Arr! said:

Jerianne, I'm still listed on the Other Places That Review Zines, and I don't really. Haven't in awhile. I'd love to be a reviewer for ZW though.

Hope you're doing well. Keep up the awesome work.

[Matthew Mu]

Do you seriously not review zines that don't have mailing addresses? That seems incredibly...out dated. None of my zines have mailing addresses because I move so much. I have no idea what country I'm even going to be living in in six months time.
With websites and email addresses and stuff there doesn't seem to be any reason to make that a requirment as long as one of those is active.

Jerianne said:

Zine World is happy to review just about any type of self-published media (or otherwise produced outside of the mainstream). The only things we restrict are that we don't review music, we only review books that meet certain criteria, and we won't review zines that don't have a publishable mailing address for orders. Zine World's content reflects the contributions we receive -- and that includes the zines, comics, chapbooks, and other things that are mailed to us for review.

[Jerianne]

Yeah, that has been our policy, although we are considering changing it. It started out because a few years ago we still had a lot of readers who didn't use the Internet/email. My reason for continuing the policy: a. If you're sending the zine through the mail, you should be willing to provide a mailing address for your zine, b. Yes, addresses change, but you're more likely to get mail forwarded than to get email forwarded. When someone changes an email address (or stops using a website), that means of communication is just gone. and c. We find a lot of email addresses that bounce and URLs that are no longer good within 6 months to 1 year of a zine being published.

Like I said, we're thinking about changing that policy tho. If anyone has an opinion on the matter, I'd love to hear it.

Matthew Murray said:

Do you seriously not review zines that don't have mailing addresses? That seems incredibly...out dated. None of my zines have mailing addresses because I move so much. I have no idea what country I'm even going to be living in in six months time.
With websites and email addresses and stuff there doesn't seem to be any reason to make that a requirment as long as one of those is active.