What was your introduction to the zine world?

[Samantha Blythe]

I started making my own zine before I knew that anyone else made them, and the first zines I saw were actually just excerpts in the book Zine Scene by Hillary Carlip and Francesca Lia Block, and that was close to 10 years after I started making mine. It was only a few years ago that I finally ordered a pack of zines from Parcell press.

[kit feral]

I don't even remember, I was nine, and I had no idea anyone else made tem. When I was junior high aged, I discovered that book and a few others, and realized other people did, but I didn't know WHERE they were. I guess I was 15 or 16 when I started going to this writing group every year that made zines, and soon after sort of stumbled into the culture. At least, I found my local zine library and went to a zine fest. It's only finding this site in the past month that's actually made me realize how many people actually do this, but I still haven't reaaaally found the scene in my town. I don't think there really is a big one, sadly.

So yeah, I'm an oldie when it comes to zines themselves, but a little bit new when it comes to the whole culture.

[Amy]

"Hard Love" by Ellen Wittleger. Then I forgot about them until I saw a mention of them online three weeks ago, and now I"m hooked.

[Harley R. Pageot]

I don't exactly recall but I believe it was something like:

Lo, and there was an Internet!
Through it I discovered indie rock. That led to indiepop. That led to twee/anorak/cuddlecore. And somehow or other that led to me discovering the zine Bottle Rocket. I know about zines before I'd actually seen or read one. It was just one of those things that you kind of start to piece together and understand. But I ordered some issues of Bottle Rocket and loved them. That led to Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams and zines from Yay Records and Cloudberry and onward and inward.

[Amy]

I only write because of a random google search in the 7th grade.

[raequel aka systris]

hmm i read sassy in middle and high school, discovered maximum rock n roll and factsheet five soon after...then found out more via the internet starting in 1996.....but didnt act on my ziney-ness until 2003 after many many many false starts.

[kami]

i read an article about science fiction zines from the 50s in a horror mag in the 70s! and when the horror/splatter explosion of the early 80s hit i started doing a zine about them, then a music zine when i was doing a punk radio show... faked it all the way! :D

[Clare Marshall]

It was fairly recently when a friend of mine told me about a local zine fair. I'm a journalism student always looking for things to cover, so I took my camera and went. I met Alex Wrekk (Hello!) and interviewed her and some others, and did a piece on it (thefax.wordpress.com).

Since then, I've been infected with this disease that is driving me to create. I love writing fiction, so I'm in the process of creating a serial fiction zine. Much to the dismay of my other journalism assignments, haha!

[Melanie]

Definitely Sassy introduced me to zines, even tho I still didn't understand what they were until 1994 when I ordered my first one.

[amy // twelveohtwo]

some local fanzines that were being passed around at shows and in my highschool cafeteria in the early 90's and then sassy + a bunch of old riot grrrl(esq) list-serves (the old 'rebelgrrrls' list that angie ran, words + guitar, etc.) was how i got into perzines.

[Derek Neuland]

Bought a copy of Maximum Rock 'n' Roll from a local record store and fell in love. Started ordering zines from the review section and picking up every local zine i could get my hands on. This was '94/'95

[NicoleIntrovert]

I created a zine called Entry Point this past summer for International Zine Month which is a compilation of how folks got into zines. It is a free zine, but if you can help a gal out for postage or by trading something fun (another zine, a mix CD, etc)... i'd love to send one to you. I am contemplating doing a Vol. 2!

Nicole Introvert
PO Box 35501
Richmond, VA 23235
USA

[APFuchs]

The Horror Fiction Review, which ran for 4 or 5 years in print before switching to an online format.

You can find it on the World Weird Web here.