I made a free local zine to get people into zines, you should too.

[Emma Jane Falconer]

I picked up another free zine in a local record shop which was ok, but I thought I should do one too but with more stuff in it. So I did. It's called Something for Nothing, is free and has 8 pages. There's a shameless plug for the Brighton Zinefest, equally shameless plugs for Stolen Sharpie Revolution and friends' zines, a step by step guide to making your first mini zine, an interview with Pete and the Pirates and some other bits. It was basically meant to be an introduction/gatewayy drug for people who don't really know about zines, and to try to get them involved and making their own stuff. I'm going to copy some later this week and leave them at various places for people to pick up. It's just made of one sheet of paper, so will hardly set me back any money to give it out free.

So I think that various members here should make a similar free mini zine for where they live, with the emphasis on inspiring/helping people to get involved and make their own zines and discover ones you like.

[Alex Wrekk]

Nice name for the zine! Good luck!

[Grrrl Zines A-Go-Go]

We have done a couple of these. They are both minis made from a single page of paper. One is our group manifesto that covers why zines are important ("Zines Build Strong Culture Three Ways"). The other is information about finding zines, both locally and online (it's called "If A Zine Falls In The Forest...").

It's always nice to hear back that people picked them up. We even know of one person who copied the style of the zine to make one about breast cancer and her foundation that supports the cause so she could put them out of free like we had. That's cool!

Margarat

[Emma Stronach]

Brilliant idea, I am definitely going to do that ;)

[photogirl]

Me & Flick (Flick & I?!) are making a local zine :)

[Emma Jane Falconer]

Hooray for everyone (who replied)
There's lots of free listings magazines in Brighton with nice articles and so on, but I wanted to make something quick that wasn't just for people to pick up and passively read, but try to make them feel that they can actually make something themselves too. I'm hardly rich, so a mini zine seemed like a good idea. There was another free local mini zine but it was more "here's some bands I like and a drawing"

[Emma Jane Falconer]

Oh, Eleanor and Alex you got some shameless plugs in the lists of things people should read

[Amazing Sunflower]

It cracked me up that you called your mini zine a "gateway drug" to get people hooked on zines. Someone should do a zine like you're recommending and call it "Gateway Zine." That would rock!