Print zine pulishing is too expensive (Duh!)

[Yul Tolbert]

Maybe for some it's not, but for me it is. That's why the last print zine I did was about a year ago. You add that problem with the fact that very few if any people are willing to buy my zines, and the expense goes through the stratosphere. I have to conclude that the only way to afford producing print zines is to either become extremely wealthy or only produce a zine once a year or so. Or perhaps I can produce the kind of zines that the zine public wants. But if I did that, I would no longer be expressing myself freely. Plus that's too much like the mainstream press where you're also not allowed to express yourself freely. I guess that's what happens when you live here on spaceship Earth: The biggest ship of fools in the universe! A planet populated by the human race: The ultimate mainfestion of evolution gone mad! Just had to bring that up.

[Steve Deefekt]

This is the reason I want to work on producing an E-Zine, I have the time, the contacts the experience but not the spare money, any spare cash I get does on drum equipment of sound equipment, I enjoyed the printing process and the selling at gigs, but these days it seems less and less zines are coming out, and most people are logged on, jacked in or what ever, so I thought lets use the new dam fangled way of internet cyber-space and maybe just give out flyers to people, so I get the best of both worlds, do a zine not have to worry about selling it, and then have the fun of going up to people at gigs and chatting to them without feeling like your a drug pusher trying to get people to part with their money.

And also there is the great thing of being able to re-interveiw people and you have all the information there so you can link from old information to new, up date. plus my Dyslexia can be checked, which I still cringe about some 'gone to print' pieces from before..

[Kate]

Can't say I've ever felt like a drug pusher when someone showed interest in buying my zine. If you print something people are interested in reading, they'll figure out a way to part with their money. It's about them, in the end, not you, right? I can see how printing would be expensive if no one wants to buy the final product. I understand that the implication of the original post is that somehow there is a flaw in the "zine public," a specific and classifiable closed-mindedness. What is a message if there is no recipient? What are you printing in your zine that is so categorically uninteresting to what you see as the zine community?

What I'm replying to here is the notion that an Ezine (note to self: start thread on We Make Ezines regarding the line between an Ezine and a Web site) complemented by advertising fliers (which require printing) is in any way less expensive than printing a zine. How?

If you don't somehow print your zine free or for a negligible cost, is it because you have issues with it or because you genuinely cannot figure out a way that does not require you to be, as the original poster put it, extremely wealthy?

Breakdown: If it's interesting, you sell it for money. That's how you do it without going broke. If it's not interesting, you lose money or take it to LiveJournal. The problem isn't that printing is expensive, it's that people print uninteresting things and expect to make money anyway. I almost exclusively print uninteresting zines and have a lot of experience in this regard. Print for free or cheap (if you're seriously faltering on this, message me -- I'll print your zine for you) or adjust your expectations. Simply painless.


Steve Deefekt said:

This is the reason I want to work on producing an E-Zine, I have the time, the contacts the experience but not the spare money, any spare cash I get does on drum equipment of sound equipment, I enjoyed the printing process and the selling at gigs, but these days it seems less and less zines are coming out, and most people are logged on, jacked in or what ever, so I thought lets use the new dam fangled way of internet cyber-space and maybe just give out flyers to people, so I get the best of both worlds, do a zine not have to worry about selling it, and then have the fun of going up to people at gigs and chatting to them without feeling like your a drug pusher trying to get people to part with their money.

And also there is the great thing of being able to re-interveiw people and you have all the information there so you can link from old information to new, up date. plus my Dyslexia can be checked, which I still cringe about some 'gone to print' pieces from before..

[Aaron Cynic]

"Plus that's too much like the mainstream press where you're also not allowed to express yourself freely."

I think the movie Field of Dreams applies here - if you write it, they will read it. It's about what you want to get out of doing a zine. If you want fame and fortune, you should probably pitch someone a reality tv show. If you want to express yourself, write a zine or blog or whatever. Every zine I've ever made I've done at a loss. I think I broke even once or twice. But I make them because I love doing them.

[Patrick Golden]

I think everyone should start utilizing press releases, which is basically an article published to search engines and the press release article directory that includes newsworthy information about anything that is any bit important. But you have to be crafty and not explicitly advertise your zine. Just make a loophole by including a newsworthy article in your zine and then make that the focus of your press release. Just rewrite the article in your own words and then press release sites will allow it to be published.

Something like "[Zine Name] Supports the Protection of Snow Leopards in Central Asia" will get published as long as your press release is predominantly about snow leopards, where they live, why they're endangered, what people are doing about it, etc. and then a tidbit of it is about your zine and where you can get more information about your zine. And also scatter your zine name throughout the press release so you can make sure people know who is writing the press release and will also remember your zine name. You could also say that zines are available for purchase for those who wish to learn more about snow leopards and endangered animals (assuming your zine is about animals; lol). But that might be pushing the advertising envelope, since a press release is supposed to be objective, so maybe just include a link to your website or something.

It is rather nifty and a lot of places offer press release publication for free. They sometimes submit your press release to the major search engines and also publish it to their front page, depending on who you submit to. Most also offer upgrades if you have the money. They range from $1 (which actually can provide a lot of benefits) to $80 to even $300+. A list of free press release sites: http://mashable.com/2007/10/20/press-releases/

Here are a few sites that provide information about writing press releases:
http://www.publicityinsider.com/release.asp
http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Press-Release

All links in this post open a new window. =]