What brought you to making zines?

[Stephanie]

So, I've made a collaborative zine with a local group and it was super fun! I'd love to make my own zine, I think I've got plenty of stuff to say and I love the creative aspect of zine making. Blogging? ha, that's so 2007. :-)

Seriously though, here's a couple questions:
A)what brought you to making zines?
B)Did you approach your issue #1 with a sense of "OMG. This won't be any good. WTF am I doing?" and if so, how did you make yourself get over it?? I think that's where I am.
I think that's enough questions from me.

[Ren!]

I started reading zines about '04, and thought it was so cool that you could publish anything by yourself! It took me damn well long enough to make my own (I just finished my first real zine a few weeks ago!) but it was well worth it.

I at first was worried that it would eb crap because it was my first, but the more I worked on it, the prouder I got-- it might not be the best thing in the world, but you are putting your heart and soul into it and that counts for something! Always be proud of what you have created with your own hands, and never forget that!

Best of luck, I hope your first issue comes along nicely ♥

[kitty magic]

well, i wanted to make my own zine after i went to a library and borrowed a heap of hardcore fanzines, and i was like "wow i could do my own!!"
and yes, i had many moments where i panicked and thought i would never be able to do it, or that people were gonna say awful stuff about it. but i haven't heard any awful words about it, only nice words. and if somebody does say bad stuff about it(i have it planned out of what i will do): i will look at their zine and be mean back. and also, the thing that makes me feel good about my zine is that is actually is the best music zine ever, cause it has all my favourite bands in it!!!!
and also, i am 17 and have been told i'm an idiot, but i still managed to create the best zine ever!!! so you can too!!

[Kirsty Win]

Old thread but will give my input.

I started reading zines back in 2001-ish though not sure how I first heard about them. Ordered from some local distros (which sadly are no longer around) and loved the feeling of opening my mailbox to see the zines I ordered.

I decided to make my first zine in late 2002 after deciding, hey I can do one too. It was pretty rushed (I wanted to make it in time for a concert I was attending) but I was super proud of it at the time.

I didn't do any more zines til 2005/2006 where I offered to put together some zines for a regular youth event run by the town's youth group. Those had a few other contributors so I was more the editor of it. Still copies around and had a few people tell me they enjoyed them.

 

As for question B I had those feelings but I think it helped that I also thought that most people in my small town (that I lived in back then, Auckland has quite an active zine scene) would have no previous encounters with zines. I tried to be encouraging to myself that if the first one sucked at least I could improve on it in the second issue (which is coming, almost 8 years later)

[Molly Ramdon]

A) I am tired of facebook as my only means of communication and expression of thoughts and feelings, a zine feels more spontaneous and it feels great that even though i cant put privacy settings on it I CHOOSE what kind of info goes out and how.

B)my original issue 1 never even saw the light of day in 2008 but now it's a perzine so since i dont have to rely on people i can take as long as i want and sell it for however much i want and not care about people i collaborate with think about what I wrote

I dont think I could work with anyone at the moment not because of diva ways or selfishness but because I am too insecure, one thing is for a stranger to send me a letter about how they liked or hated my zine another is to argue with someone when the launch date is closing in and nothings been done yet. <experience

[Nona Morris]

Its something I have had on my mind to do since around the year of '98/'99 when I worked on a pen-pal "newsletter" with my aunt.  Now that I'm "all grown up" the idea keeps resurfacing in my mind.

Until very recently I've never seen/held an actual zine in my hands, so I have nothing to base my own work off of, except internet articles about zines.  But for roughly 12 years the idea of it hasn't left me alone.

Right now I'm working on 2 different ideas for a first zine.  I'll probably do a mini-zine trial run, and "OMG. This won't be any good. WTF am I doing?" pretty much perfectly sums up how I feel about it, which is why I've not finished it YET.

[Ari Jayne]

I have some experience, but definitely not as much as some of the folks here. I've never actually had a more widespread paper zine, because when I put together a paper zine as a teen I didn't get to send it abroad and most people in my area didn't care about feminism and punk. Now that I'm older it's easier.

A) I got into the whole riot grrrl thing when I was younger. For several reasons I'm not into it as much anymore, but those years made me learn many valuable things and I've always been fascinated by zines. I also helped run a webzine for a while but it was a very ambitious project and we were lacking collaborators so it never quite took off.

B) I think my first zine ever was completely crap. It was a great way to understand how printing works, how to print things to fold them into a A5 format, how to figure out costs, etc. I'm not saying that your first zine ever will be crap at all, just that even if it is (worst case scenario) it's still going to be an awesome way to practice. :)

[Chrysothème A.]

it's something that crossed my mind a few times over the years, but i didn't act on it until i read Stolen Sharpie Revolution. now it seems i can't stop zining! i don't even have a wide readership but i'm already working on a third issue. the writing process has been really personal & therapeutic for me. with my first issue i just gathered some old writings i had lying around & made the layout within a day. it's having my work viewed by other people that makes me anxious, but i'm a little proud of my work too.