How many copies of your zines do you print/photocopy?

[AD]

Hello!
I've printed 50 copies of my first issue, but the second will be 100 because it's a split zine, 50 for both of us. So, what about you? And how do you decide?

Oh and sorry if the subject has already been discussed, but I'm pretty new here and there are 692 discussions...

[Angry Violist]

I've just done 75 because
a) this is my first zine and I don't know what I'm doing
b) there are a few places that I wanted to stock it so I have printed 10 copies for each of them, plus a few for interested friends, plus a few for trade, plus about 25 in my back pocket for selling on etsy and just in case I bump into anyone who wants to trade.

I have to pay for my copying and the price comes down after a certain amount so it all makes a kind of sense eventually.

[Angry Violist]

Oh, and there's nothing quite like having a big pile of copies of your zine to look at and admire before you send them out!

Angry Violist said:

I've just done 75 because
a) this is my first zine and I don't know what I'm doing
b) there are a few places that I wanted to stock it so I have printed 10 copies for each of them, plus a few for interested friends, plus a few for trade, plus about 25 in my back pocket for selling on etsy and just in case I bump into anyone who wants to trade.

I have to pay for my copying and the price comes down after a certain amount so it all makes a kind of sense eventually.

[Bethany]

I print 30...at a printer so it's alotta $. Can't afford to do more.

[Josh West]

I am starting with 250/300 copies of my first zine!

I am decently sure i can shift em at gigs and stuff...

[Amy]

I haven't printed mine yet. I plan to start with maybe fifteen, send about five of them to review sites, give a couple to friends, one to ZAPP and one to the library. The rest I'll leave on the bus and that sort of thing.

[Harley R. Pageot]

I print up about 10 at a time, though it obviously depends if I'm going to a fair or something, where I'll make more to ensure I have enough.

I never understood the idea of zines being "sold out" because I figured "well, why can't you just print up more?"

But I'm running out of my first zine from back in May of this year and I know I'm not going to print up anymore because I'm just tired of it now and don't feel like it's an accurate portrayal of me anymore. I'd rather people read #2 or #3.

So I'm now going to set a cap of 50 for each zine I make, I think. Unless there's really a huge demand.

[Amy]

Yah. I figure I'll start small and see what happens./

[Tom Hendricks]

During many of the early years it was 500 copies. I've scaled back due to printing costs to around 300 and instead of doing a monthly issue - I have cut back to bi monthly. Zine is Musea. Musea.us

[Amy]

yah... I've found some zines printed years ago (Flying Lesson, I Hate This Part Of Texas, and Book of Letters.)

[Dan 10things]

I would like to openly challenge anyone doing zine runs of 10-30 issues to double their next print run. You're going to so much work to create your zine, and to provide your own unique voice and perspective in the world of publishing--which let's face it gets more and more consolidated every day--that it's a crying shame that your zine doesn't reach more people. Even a few dozen more people. Try printing more issues, sending more out for review, and growing your audience and reach. Make an impact with your DIY publishing venture, even if it's small. Gawd knows the world needs more independent voices.

[Dan 10things]

Joe Biel said:

You answered your own question here about zines being sold out. Imagine ten years going by or more. Imagine how much a person's perspective, ideas, and personality changes in THAT time; even in adulthood. There's undoubtedly many things printed in my zines that are still circulating that I would have done differently now.

The first 5 or 6 issues of my zine were really badly written and laid out, my friends and I just had no idea what we were doing. So I just stopped selling back issues of those. The punk zine archive guy asked permission to scan them in and I said yes, but kinda cringed at people looking at them again. Oh well, I'm sure it's the same way for most zinesters. No one does a killer first issue, save for maybe Jim Goad with Answer Me. I wonder what the first issue of Cometbus was like...

[Harley R. Pageot]

I do 10 at a time due to cost processes but my aim is to send off 50 copies of each issue out into the world by the time I'm done.

I've run out of my first two issues now and don't plan to make any more copies but, if somebody really wanted one, I could be coaxed into running off another one for them.

I'd set aside my feelings about #1 being messy if somebody truly wanted to read it and truly wanted to pay me $3 to do so.