Scoping Out the Zine Scene

SELF-PUBLISHING ALLOWS AUTHENTIC, UNFILTERED NARRATIVES TO BE SHARED

Written by Sam Downey, Arts Staff Writer Illustrated by Mac Gale, Staff Graphic Artist

Have you ever wandered to the back of a bookstore and found a shelf full of what looked like handmade pamphlets for sale? You might have been intrigued by the doodled cover art or the niche-sounding subject matter, but ultimately wandered away in pursuit of more familiar options. Next time,

I recommend stopping to browse.

These “pamphlets” are actually zines, a type of small, self-published magazine.

I encountered my first zine—pronounced “zeen”—at a local art fair in my hometown as a child, and at the time, I remember thinking they were the most incredible thing. I even planned to make my own before I got distracted by the hustle and bustle of seventh-grade life. Years later, I still remember being impressed by their creativity and craftsmanship.

Zines have a handmade, personal touch to them that traditional media forms often lack. They can cover just about any subject, and provide a means for creators to share ideas that may be underrepresented in mainstream publications.1

Because they are handmade, zines are usually printed in small batches of less than 5,000 copies and are almost always in black and white to save money. They are bound simply by folding and stapling and are often decorated with drawings and ransom-note style lettering. Zines are usually circulated for free or at inexpensive prices, so profit is not a strong motivator in their production. If anything, people who make zines often expect to lose money in the process, but this means that artists can share their art without worrying about marketability.2

Beyond that, traditional publishing may require you to simplify your work, remove controversial or political statements and censor things such as strong language or nudity that may be central to the message of a piece. The lack of a rigorous editing process

¹ “Zine Collection,” University of WIsconsin-Madison Libraries, accessed Oct. 2021. ² Robert Wood, “Is It Worth Publishing Your Writing in a Zine?” Standout Books, accessed Oct. 2021. also makes zine publishing a great way for emerging writers and artists to get their work out there in a more concrete form than digital publication.

On the other hand, this opens up the possibility that errors will go overlooked, and the lack of sensitivity readers could mean problematic content slips through the cracks, even when the author or artist doesn’t intend to be offensive. Additionally, choosing to work with a publishing house often comes with more credibility, resources for professional binding and marketing—all things that zines usually lack.

For many creators, though, the tradeoff is worth it. The rarity of zines can inspire fan loyalty, as readers feel a sense of cultural street credit for knowing about and owning certain zines. The small-scale nature of zine publication can also mean readers care less about the lack of polish in exchange for the raw content they’re getting. Many zines, for example, focus on topics that are of little interest to the general public, such as niche art and music subgenres, or

that have historically been ignored or criminalized by the power structures of which publishing houses are a part, such as social justice movements.

The roots of the modern zine trace back to the “fanzines”—that is, zines made by fans of a given media or franchise—of science fiction in the late 1930s and ‘40s. These grew in popularity throughout the ‘60s: the first “Star Trek” zine, “Spockanalia,” eventually gained enough popularity to feature letters written in character from the cast members. Similar fanzines were influential in organizing the letter-writing campaign that got “Star Trek” renewed for a third season in 1968. Later, in the ‘70s, zines like “Punk,” “Slash” and “Sniffin’ Glue” rose in popularity within music-focused subcultures. The ‘90s even saw a progressive pushback to the male-dominated punk scene through the “Riot Grrrl” zine and feminist movement of the same name.3

The possibilities offered by the socalled “very small press” excited many in the ‘90s. Mike Gunderloy, creator of the popular zine guide “Factsheet Five,” writes, “these people, the few thousand publishers and the few million readers are the ones at the cutting edge of social change. . . A groundswell of publishers is appearing, people who realize that people can get things done, without the help of the major organizations which we tend to assume run society.”4

Today, the niche that zines filled in the ‘90s have largely been replaced by the internet. Like zines, social media allows anyone to say anything at no cost, with

³ Chloe Arnold, “A Brief History of Zines,” Mental Floss, Nov. 19, 2016. ⁴ Mike Gunderloy, “Zines: Where the Action Is: The Very Small Press in America,” ZineWiki, accessed Oct. 2021.

Zines have a handmade, personal touch to them that traditional media forms often lack. They can cover just about any subject, and provide a means for creators to share ideas that may be underrepresented in mainstream publications.

the added bonus of potentially reaching billions. On the downside, social media algorithms promote certain kinds of content at the expense of others, often suppressing material that has to do with social justice or political movements—just think of the bizarre, censored way people spell things on TikTok to avoid getting flagged.5

Zines, both historically and to this day, are authentic in a way that very few forms of media can claim to be. The lack of censorship, whether imposed by publishers or by one’s own financial instincts, means that the final product is truly just art for art’s sake. Zine-makers trust that their ideas will connect with other people, even in their unrefined state—and maybe even because of it. Though many zines are now at least partially online, physical copies continue to be made and circulated. You can find zines in indie bookstores such as A Room of One’s Own in Madison, Wisconsin, in collections like those of the Kohler Art Library and the Wisconsin Historical Society, through digital archives such as the Milwaukee-based QZAP and elsewhere. The Madison Public Library also hosts an annual zine buying and making event called Madison Print & Resist each summer, where you can browse locally-made examples and even try your hand at making your own. Although I myself have never gone, I’m excited to go next year and finally fulfill my seventh-grade dream of making my very own zine. I hope to see you there! ■

⁵ Abby Ohlheiser, “Welcome to TikTok’s Endless Cycle of Censorship and Mistakes,” MIT Technology Review, July 13, 2021.