Open Letter to Fandom by Alexis Fegan Black Regarding Zine Pirating

Open Letter to Fandom by Alexis Fegan Black Regarding Zine Pirating was a 1993 widely-distributed open letter. The letter's author was the very well-known and prolific zine publisher and fic writer, Alexis Fegan Black. 
The letter's audience was fans who bought, read, and created print fanzines, and the subject was zine piracy.
==A Series of Open Letters: by Zine Publishers/Con Organizers==
In 1993 and 1994, a number of Open Letters circulated in fandom regarding the photocopying of in-print zines.
See: The Revelcon Zine Piracy Letters.
==Some Background Information==
Making copies of zines that were still in print could be financially damaging to many zine editors and publishers. It was an issue that was first publicly discussed in media fandom in the eleventh issue of Probe in August 1977. The editor, Winston A. Howlett, wrote: 
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, there were strong feelings in fandom about some fans who were making copies of zines still in print and were, from one point of view, "stealing" from zine publishers by copying in-print zines. There were also strong feelings about zine editors who kept zines in print forever, thus continuing to make sales while the story authors never received any additional compensation. This coincided with growing resentment among other groups of fans regarding rising zine prices, often for zines which they felt were not worth the higher prices.
 
Three years later, many of these tensions came to a head at, and after, RevelCon.
==An Open Letter to Fandom Regarding Zine Pirating by 	Alexis Fegan Black==
The following letter was sent out by Alexis Fegan Black, (co-signed by Wendy Rathbone and MKASHEF Press). It was directed to fandom in general, and was printed in many, many zines.
 
==Related Editorials by 	Alexis Fegan Black: 1993==
Alexis Fegan Black also addressed this subject in many zine editorials. This one was in 5 of Hearts and Otherwhere, Otherwhen #3: 
==The Message Comes Full Circle==
Due to the slow nature of communication (letters, phones) in the pre-Internet days and that both news and facts tended to be distorted through multiple re-tellings, one of the greater ironies of both Alexis' and Bill Hupe's Open Letters, is that they and their authorized agents were, in turn, accused of zine piracy.
In the K/S letterzine, The LOC Connection, Alexis' and Bill's letters stirred a vigorous debate on the evils of zine piracy. As issue after issue focused on the topic, fans whipped one another into an anti-piracy frenzy. It cumulated when one of the subscribers unknowingly confronted Bill Hupe's agent Peg Kennedy over 'pirated' Alexis Fegan Black zines:
==Other Fan Reactions==
This original letter set off a flurry of responses in the form of more open letters. See: A Series of Open Letters: by Zine Publishers/Con Organizers.
Some fans pointed out that Alexis' letter failed to acknowledge that market forces were stacked against the $30 fanzine. When fanzine buyers headed over to Kinko's to copy a zine, they were "voting with their feet," essentially choosing both reduced costs and good stories. The reason that a $30 fanzine could no longer compete with a $6 Kinko's copy was not because fen were greedy and unappreciative, but that fanzine publisher's overhead and profit had become excessive in the age of cheaper printing costs. Instead of attacking fans, fanzine publishers should adopt a more pro-active stance and ask what zine editors/publishers could do to make their product better. And alternative distributions methods, such as zines on floppy disks could solve some of these pricing constraints.Morgan Dawn's personal recollections of 1993 discussions on the Virgule-L mailing list.
While some fans agreed with Alexis, others felt that she was trying to speak for all zine publishers, and resented the way she presented her feelings on the issue as if all of fandom shared them. 
Some fanzine publishers also drew a distinction between casual fan sharing and copying for resale, something that they felt that Alexis letter had obscured in its vehement tone.
===1993===
 
 
 
==References==
Category:1993 Meta
Category:Meta in Print
Category:Zine Piracy Open Letters