APA

APA stands for Amateur Press Association, and an apazine (also APA zine) is a kind of fan publication in which all the materials, generally letters, would be sent to a central person, who would simply copy the entire packet in the cheapest possible way (e.g. mimeograph, spirit duplicating, xerography, offset printing; APAs far predate the photocopy machine.)Francesca Coppa, "A Brief History of Media Fandom." In: K. Hellekson, K. Busse (eds.) Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet. New Essays McFarland, 2006. p 43. Sometimes each of the contributors sends as many copies of their submission as there are subscribers to the central mailer of the zine, who then collates and mails these, and does not have to take care of the printing.
APAs were, and are, important media for fannish conversation, discussion, and interaction: sort of a fannish mailing list or LiveJournal in print sent by snail mail.
Many apazines require a minimal amount of submissions from their members, like the dues some mailing lists such as for example the Sentinel Angst List have for membership, so that no lurking is allowed.
==Contributions==
Fans' contributions had a variety of nicknames or slang words; most common were "trib" (contribution, a contributor was a "tribber") and "zine." A less common use was "distie" (short for "distribution") used in Strange Bedfellows.
==History==
The amateur press is an important part of American subculture, dating back to the 1860s. The closest modern analogy is blogging. There were many amateur press associations, with the National Amateur Press AssociationTruman Spencer, A History of the National Amateur Press Association. From his book History of Amateur Journalism, published through the good offices of The Fossils and Sheldon Wesson. and the United Amateur Press Association among the most enduring.Maria Popova, Happy Birthday, United Amateur Press Association: H. P. Lovecraft on the Early Spirit of “Blogging”. The Marginalian, undated article. H.P. Lovecraft, a longtime member of the UAPA, describes the history and origins:
Amateur publications covered a myriad of topics. Lovecraft said a typical publication might have "verses, fictional thrillers, puzzles, jests, philately, numismatics, curiosities, and bits of general information." S.T. Joshi, Lovecraft's biographer, says:
Members of every age, gender and race participated; many women were involved in amateur publishing, and Afro-Americans served in leadership positions in some associations, although this could cause racist members to flounce out and start segregated societies. There were several Afro-American amateur press associations, some run by women.Jonathan Daniel Wells, Women Writers and Journalists in the Nineteenth-Century South. Cambridge, 2011. Children and teens also put out amateur publications and some served in administrative positions. Since materials were inexpensive, the printing quality could be quite high.See Truman Spencer's "The Advent of the Low-Cost Press" in his book The History of Amateur Journalism (The Fossils, 1957). Unlike modern APAs, members who printed their own publications mailed copies to whomever they chose. Members could also submit writings to central bureaus for distribution to papers looking for material. Amateur publications devoted solely to science fiction and fantasy fandom began in the 1930s. Press associations for these were more loosely organized.
==The Subject==
Letter columns, critiques and reviews were extremely important in the early amateur press, but as APAs evolved they became less about publishing your own newspaper and more about discussion. Fantasy and science fiction apas were usually subject-specific and primarily discussion-oriented.
==The Use of the Term "Zine"==
"The object collated by the Official Editor and sent to the members of the APA has been termed in standard fanspeak as a 'Mailing' not a 'zine.' The reason for this distinction is to avoid confusion, since the publishers of the individual contributions consider these to be 'zines' or 'apazines.' 'Bundle' or 'Distribution' are sometimes used to describe subsets of mailing. 'Bundle' is sometimes used for those which are not stapled together -- this is in the tradition of the mundane Amateur Journalist Press Printing groups, whose productions may vary in size from posters to calling cards. The 200th quarterly mailing of fandom's FAPA a year or so ago contained over 700 pages (400 pages is the average), ranging from folded 8.5 x11 through Australian, British and Swedish standard sizes, obviously impossible to staple. And many independent members design their zines as independent entities and wish them to remain so. Distribution' was decided on by either APA F (the Fanaclasts in NYC) or APA L (Los Angeles SF Society) as most copies were handed out at club meetings and calling them 'Mailings' was inaccurate." from a LoC in Comlink #40
==How Does an APA Differ from a Letterzine?==
One fan in Spectrum #35 explains the difference between the two types of zines. 
In 1993, Sandy Herrold explained the difference between an APA and a letterzine, in the context of the Virgule-L slash mailing list:
In 1992, on the Blake's 7 mailing list Lysator:
==How Does an APA Differ from a Round Robin?==
Members of an APA send a copy of their contribution to a central mailer who then mails it to members. In a Round Robin, a fan writes a letter, sends it to the next fan, who adds a letter, who sends it to the next fan, and so on.
==Examples==
* Anime-Janai (Anime)
* APA-69, covering romantic and sexual relationships
* APA-L, the official APA of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society (LASFS). It has existed for over fifty years.
* APA-AV
* APA-Century 21
* APA Enterprise (Star Trek: TOS, 1980s)
* APAritions (The Real Ghostbusters)
* APA-VCR for video tape exchange
* Fantasy Amateur Press Association
* Dandruff Droppings (Blake's 7)
* Mobile Suit: The Gundam APA (Gundam and mecha anime)
* K/S & Kindred Spirits (K/S - Star Trek) (1990s)
* Late for Breakfast (multifandom)
* MilwApa (science fiction fandom in and connected to Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
* On the Wing (Blake's 7)
* Rallying Call (Blake's 7, 1990s)
* Rant! (media science fiction, around 1995)
* Revision X (Anime; offshoot of Anime-Janai; 10/1994 to 2004 (?))
* A Sense Of Occasion (The Sandbaggers)
* Slash: The APA (multifandom slash, 1990's)
* Strange Bedfellows (multifandom slash, 1990's)
* Terra Nostra Underground (multifandom slash, 1990)
* The Rolling Rose, (Yellow Rose, 1984)
* Trelainia (Anime, 1983-?)
* Whereabouts Unknown, (The X-Files, Alex Krycek, late 1990s)
==External links==
* LJ community for people interested in fanfiction APAs
* Sister comm on DW
* Amateur Press Association at Wikipedia
* Horvat apazines at the University of Iowa
* History of the National Amateur Press Association
* Underground Press at Wikipedia
* How Women Fought Misogyny in the Underground Press by Jeremy Guida. Jstor Daily, JSTOR, July 11, 2021.
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Zine GlossaryCategory:APA