how often do you put out issues?

[CocoaPuss Zine]

i'm so busy. working on cocoa/puss #3. moved to a new state. started grad school. being a mama. written for some other zines. but i feel like if i stopped working for even 5 minutes i'd never start up again. how often do you put issues out? when do you work on them? is it ok to have huge chunks of time between issues? (of course these questions are all dumb because i can decide to do whatever i want and this isn't even my JOB or anything, but i just take it so SERIOUS all the time). i just love my zine way too much to stop putting it out but... i'm EXHAUSTED.

i just wonder how so many of you have the time to put out so many issues so fast with such a high quality. what keeps you going?

[tim scannell]

make a wee-zine...2x2...every day...4pp/8sides
make mini...once/week...1 sheet 8.5x11 folded twice...8pp(i use both sides)

send out mail EVERY day...usu. 2 items...zines and also
mail-art....have mail-art friends in 20 countries...russia/australia/japan
etcetera............
a dozen u.s. states...all of us corresponding for over 5 years

zine-aday keeps the dr. away
tim

[CocoaPuss Zine]

wow you guys go so HARD. my zines are usually half sized and and are about 40 pages. i've done two so far. almost done with my third. i just did a mini zine on a 11x16 piece of paper all folded up and i struggled with that too usually my zines are about women and sex but i just don't have enough material anymore because i'm not so wild. i could write about other stuff but i'm not sure what i want to write about. i'm definitely not going to stop.

thanks for the ideas. and encouraging me to keep at it. i needed to hear it.

lamesha

[tim scannell]

tops for me...
6............. 8.5x11 sheets folded once...24 sides...
over 50 poems...and
dallops of
CLIP ART...which i
LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUV!!!!!

CocoaPuss Zine said:

wow you guys go so HARD. my zines are usually half sized and and are about 40 pages. i've done two so far. almost done with my third. i just did a mini zine on a 11x16 piece of paper all folded up and i struggled with that too usually my zines are about women and sex but i just don't have enough material anymore because i'm not so wild. i could write about other stuff but i'm not sure what i want to write about. i'm definitely not going to stop.

thanks for the ideas. and encouraging me to keep at it. i needed to hear it.

lamesha

[CocoaPuss Zine]

the funny thing is i write blogs on facebook and myspace all the time. i might just put them in there and be done with it. i struggle with layout. i have a hard time making it look cool. it's wordy but it looks boring.

[Maranda Elizabeth]

Like Clementine, I go through phases where I put out a bunch of zines pretty close together, and then I'll go quite a while without. I think I put out six issues of Telegram Ma'am in 2008, and I have only put out one issue of Telegram Ma'am in 2009 (although I am currently working on another one, and I did put out two issues of other zines this summer). It all depends on when I am feeling inspired and motivated.

It's definitely okay to have a huge chunk of time between issues. I know folks who only put out one or two zines every few years, and I know others who seem to have a new zine every month.

I am lucky in that because I do not have regular work, I can make zines pretty much whenever I feel like it. I tend to take a lot of point-form notes over time when I think of something I want to write about, and then when I am in the mood to get a lot of writing done and really get into it, I just go ahead and go. I can put a zine together pretty quickly, then again other zines take months. Some ideas I've had kicking around for years but haven't written them yet... It totally varies.

One thing that keeps me going is simply that I have to write or I will die. That's all there is.

Other things that motivate me are reading everyone else's zines, daydreaming, getting awesome letters from all over the world, etc.

[St. Joshua Norton Press]

I have two zines currently, Haiku a Day comes out each month. That one isn't all that hard to put together, since it's just compiling the last month's worth of haiku and sending them out. My other zine, Late Night Thinking, comes out twice a year, released at each Shadow Art Fair (an awesome event out in my part of the world).

I do it this way because I have to have deadlines or I'll never do anything. It seems to work for me.

[Emma Jane Falconer]

My new year's resolution was to do a zine a month this year. I kept up to it until Aug/Sept when I moved house and it kind of went out of the window. I do have two projects I'm working on that should be finished in Oct though. I don't have a kid or a degree program though! (And uni in the UK seems far less intense than the US- they don't pile on the volumes of work)

[apartmentcat]

hi CocoaPuss,
I can really relate to feeling very busy and not having much time for making zines. I work full time and have lots of various art, craft, reading and writing projects on the go. Not to mention irrestistable urges to play computer games all night.
I first started writing zines about 2 years ago, and I deliberately decided not to write issues magazine-style, but do a series of one-offs. That way I didn't have to worry about producing them regularly (deadlines just pass me by and then I feel guilty), I can play with different topics and formats, put one aside for a year if it stops floating my boat. Also most of my zines tend to get very long and complicated, they're like creatures growing out of control, and they take a lot longer to finish than I think they will in the beginning. The layouts annoy me too. They take forever and I always have a niggly feeling that I could have done them better. Finally, sometimes the finished zines lay there for months in my spare room until I'm feeling confident enough for anyone to see them. All that can take a while!

[Grrrl Zines A-Go-Go]

I put out Radical Pet about once a year. Having a job and a business of my own, plus GZAGG, I know where you're coming from about being busy. Don't feel guilty! Make a zine when you feel compelled to, and no sooner. Otherwise you run the risk of resentment. --Margarat

[Aj Michel]

I've been averaging about one issue of SYNDICATE PRODUCT every 12 months or so. However, it's largely a compilation zine, so there are calls for entries, waiting time, more deadline extensions, etc. I'm happy to get one solid, well-designed issue out every year that I'm really proud of.

Would I like to publish more? Sure. But I also have a fairly demanding full-time job, two blogs, and other real-life pressures that keep me from publishing more.

Although I kind of like the idea of what some of the respondents said, about doing little 8-pg minis more often (though I couldn't do one every day... no time!)