In progress.

Zines

About

A zine is a self-published, non-commercial, often homemade publication. They are generally the product of a single person (sometimes a partnership or small group compilation), and usually created with paper supplies, scissors, glue, a photo copier, and staples. Usually a zine is defined by editions of 1,000 or fewer copies, though many authors print less than 500.

The term 'zine' came from the word magazine. Pronounce it like that. (Like "lean" not "line.")

Zines are part of DIY (do-it-yourself) culture and many people have very specific ideas of what a zine can/cannot be. The concept of zines can be traced to the late 19th/early 20th century, and zines are historically any type of creative expression: art, poetry, activism, fiction, self-reflection, and so on.

Wikipedia notes:

The 1920s brought "little magazines" created by a group of Black creatives in the Harlem Renaissance - a literary magazine that allowed them to express freely.
In the 1930s-60s, science fiction fanzines made a rise. The term fanzine was coined in 1940 by Russ Chauvenet for his zine, Detours. This genre moved past sci-fi into comics, horror, and board games.
Punk zines emerged in the 1970s with the subculture along with wider access to copy machines and publishing software. Punk and DIY go hand in hand, so it is no surprised that many activist and music zines came out of this.
Zine-making continued into the 80s where zine folks began cataloging and reviewing zines, forming networking points for zinesters.
In the 90s, the riot grrrl movement welcomed DIY punk in zine-making. These zines generally held a more feminist edge than the zines in the 70s and adopt creative styles from "girl" hobbies like scrapbooking. In the mid-90s, e-zines came on the scene where zines were published on the internet and distributed globally without the constraints of postage/supply costs. The 90s also brought commercial adoption of zines as a "marketing theme" and commodifying the DIY culture for profit.
Zines still exist in the 2000s but they have been increasingly overshadowed by other forms of digital expression. Zines hold a very strong presence online now whether as distros or webzines and one can find zine communities or libraries via websites more often than street signs. However, you only need to go to one small press exhibition to see that zine-making is alive and well with no plans to stop. And I bet your city (or one close to you) has a yearly zine fest that over-crowds with curious and creative people.

My experience

I've been making zines since 2012!

Current projects:

Free zines to print: Zine Library
Free self-directed alternative to therapy: Zine Therapy
Making seasonal zines in 2025
Doing Zine Therapy round 2

Quotes

Links

Garden