Zine

This article is about the type of fan publication. For other uses, search, see the :Category:Zine Fandom, or see Zine (disambiguation).
The word zine is short for 'magazine' (and is pronounced like that). It has been used for several types of amateur periodical from different communities. Like the word fandom, it is usually understood in context, but becomes quite ambiguous when these different communities intersect. Some major types of zines include SF fandom zines (common from the 1930s on), 1970s punk zines, riot grrrl zines (starting in the 1990s, but still commonly distributed through feminist bookstores and some music stores in the 2010s), and media fandom fanzines.
Other types of fanzines focus on comics and graphic arts, horror films, rock & roll music, personal zines, punk, mod, local music, wargaming, role-playing, and sports.
==History of Print Fanzines==
:See also APA#History (for the history of the amateur press before "zines").
:See also History of Media Fanzines (for the history of zines that include fan fiction).
In the absence of any other solid medium, print fanzines are a record of what everyday people around the world were thinking and discussing before the Internet, and one way to understand trends in various fan communities until the mid-1990s when access to the computer and the internet became a given.
Fanzines shared origins with amateur magazines and the amateur press movement, starting in the 1860s. The practice of making fanzines originated in science fiction fandom in the 1930s, when they were called fanmags. The first printed fanzine was "The Comet," a fanzine published in 1930 by Raymond Arthur Palmer and published by the Science Correspondence Club in Chicago.Zine Wiki, accessed 14 May 2012
The term fanzine itself dates to at least 1940, and zine may be a back formation.See fanzine and zine entries at Science Fiction Citation. (Accessed 5 June 2011) The earliest cite for "fanzine" is 1940 in Louis Russell Chauvenet's fanzine Detours. The earliest cite for "zine" is 1946 in Startling Stories. The term and the tradition spread to the emerging media fandom in the 1960s and 70s. 
Another branching off occurred at roughly the same time with punk culture acquiring the practice via rock music fans who were familiar with science fiction fandom.See the Wikipedia article on Who Put the Bomp and Punk zine Note that punk zine scholarship usually ignores the existence of media fanzines and describes a narrative of historical evolution from SF zines to punk zines to a broader zinester culture.From Girl Zines: Making Media, Doing Feminism by Allison Piepmeier, page 25: "Most studies of zines identify them as resistant media originating in male-dominated spaces. They are positioned as descendants of the pamphlets of the American Revolution and Dadaist and Samizdat publishing, emerging from the fanzines of the 1930s and the punk community of the 1970s." Piepmeier's complaint about the official history of zines inevitably classing grrrl zines as an "aberration" could also apply to media fanzines. For example, Stephen Duncombe's study of zines, Notes from Underground: Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture (Verso, 1997), does briefly mention slash zines and the women who make them as a footnote to his main project of discussing zines as a (failed) radical leftist political movement. Since slash zines don't fit his vision of the purpose of zines, they only get a paragraph. This wouldn't be a problem if Notes from Underground doesn't appear to be (still, as of 2023) the only book-length academic treatment of zines that aims to be comprehensive. 
Another inspiration cited for the rise of nonfannish zines is the underground or alternative press boom in the 1960s. (See Wikipedia's Fanzine article for a history of SF fanzines and some other offshoots from them.)
Despite the common origins, the style and content of the zines in these different offshoots are radically different. (See Collage and Zine Art.) Although some SF zines did contain amateur SF stories, by the time that media fanzines appeared, SF zines were usually non-fiction, consisting of a variety of articles about fannish topics.Camille Bacon-Smith, Science Fiction Culture (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000), 112. These science fiction fanzines were mostly run by fans who themselves wished to become professional writers. Rather than giving their writing away for free, their goal was to sell it to science fiction magazines, including (and especially) John W. Campbell's prestigious Analog. in contrast, media fanzines often included or consisted solely of fanfiction. Meanwhile, although both riot grrrl zines and slash media zines were made by women, riot grrrl zines came out of punk culture and were explicitly feministAlison Piepmeier argues in Girl Zines: Making Media, Doing Feminism that grrrl zines had an additional antecedent in earlier feminist publications and traces a print lineage back through health pamphlets and 19th-century scrapbooking., while media zines were generally not intentionally political and might have featured letters and comments that sound extremely conservative to the modern fan.
==Zines in Media Fandom==
The first science fiction amateur press associations began in the 1930s. In the early days, amateur fan publications carried fiction, factual articles and metadiscussions about the subject.
Perhaps the first media fandom type publication was The Baker Street Journal, about Sherlock Holmes, which dates back to 1946. Lennon Lyrics, the official John Lennon fan club zine from 1965 to 1968, carried factual material about John's work with the Beatles and independently. The earliest Star Trek fanzines had a similar format in addition to fan fiction, poetry, art, reviews and games.
In today's media fandom, a zine or fanzine is usually either a collection of fanfic stories, often edited; or a novel or novella-length fanfic story (referred to as a "zine novel", "novel zine", or "novel"). Other zine types included adzines (like Universal Translator or GAZ), or letterzines (like Not Tonight, Spock) or oddball ones (like Cold Fish and Stale Chips). Once finished, a zine is bound together and sold at conventions, or through the mail. Prices vary: some fans strongly believe it is wrong to profit in any way from someone else's copyrighted characters. Most pay themselves at least a little for their incidental costs above the cost of production and shipping; a few others believe that the people who put in so much time and effort into fanzines need to get paid for their work (among other reasons, because most fanzine publishers are women, who do so much unpaid work in society-at-large).
The majority of today's zines are for a single fandom, usually for stories about sexual relationships or friendships between characters, geared to a specific subgenre within that fandom (gen, het, slash), and may have a specific theme (kink, first times, AU, reviews, etc.). Others are "multimedia", which in this case means "multi media sources", or multi-fandom rather than including a CD or DVD of fan-produced music or video.
The sizes are generally either "full size" (8.5" x 11" for US publishers, A4 for European publishers), or "digest size" (5" x 8" for US publishers, A5 for European publishers). The bindings can be any type; the most common are staples for digest-sized zines, and comb bindings for full-size zines.
Production and distribution have changed with technology. Early on, typewritten submissions were mailed back and forth between contributors (or "tribbers") and editors, and then the final versions copied on mimeo machines (and later photocopiers) and physically collated into zines for binding.
In 1991, K. Kimberly Prosser and Lisa Swope wrote a guide to Fanzine Publishing for a panel at the National Beauty and the Beast Convention, held June 1991 in Orlando, Florida. In 1999, five zine publishers participated in a Zine Publisher's Chat where they talked about the history of zines, and the submission, editing and publishing process.
These days, electronic files are emailed back and forth between tribbers and editors, and the final copy of each story is compiled into an electronic copy of the zine (using a word processor or desktop publishing software), which is printed off and sent out for copying and binding. Some zines are even distributed electronically, as downloadable PDF files, and some of those are controversially still sold, even as file version. Zines are still in production albeit in fewer numbers. One of the remaining advantages to print fanzines is the ability to print high quality art. (See A 'zine! A 'zine! My kingdom for a 'zine! by LJC).
Edited online story collections posted in html format and not produced for print at all are called "online zines" or "e-zines" by some fans. For instance, in Sentinel fandom, a group of fans have been producing the My Mongoose Ezines since March 2001. Also, some fen have taken to making novel zines in PDF format of their fanworks, due to newer functionality in desktop publishing software like Microsoft Office and Open Office to export PDF files. These can be printed out in full quality.
In former times, there were many ways to get a zine other than just buying it. From the '50s through to the '80s, zines might appear in your mailbox gratis, with a note included explaining just why "You are receiving this zine".
"Returns" were common courtesy in the early days. When you received a zine, whether you'd bought it or it simply appeared, you wrote a short thank-you note saying that you had received the zine, and a few lines (or more) about what you thought of it. These returns were often printed in future issues. They were considered helpful feedback and encouragement for zine creators.
===The Appeal of the Media Fanzine===
Before the internet, print zines were one of the main ways fans could share fanfiction, fanart, poetry, discussion, meta, and announcements. Many zines earned part of their money through a classified ad section where other zines and fannish paraphernalia could be advertised.
Some reasons fans create and consume fanzines:
* for the joy and satisfaction of creating something to share, and for the fun
* to fill in gaps in canon narratives and to fix what they consider other unsatisfactory errors or oversights in canon and characterization
* as responses to other fanworks
* a way to include things they wish could be included but can't be shown due to censorship or societal norms, such as sexual and other intimate relationships and gender exploration
* to interact with other fans
* as a "training ground" for professional writing
* as a way of taking back power, refusing to be passive consumersMetaphysical theses have been written about the universal human practice of rewriting/improving on/adding to existing stories and songs and the difficulty of continuing this tradition under increasingly draconian copyright laws. See Joseph P. Lin, Copyright Law's Theory of the Consumer and the book/CD Fair Use: The Story of the Letter U and the Numeral 2 by members of the experimental sound collage group Negativland.
A fan in 1997 wrote: Another fan in 2014 wistfully recalled the days of hard copy fanzines:
==The Decline in the Number of Zines Published==
The arrival and accessibility of the internet, among other things, led to a profound and lasting decline in zine production. But this decline hit different fandoms at different speeds. Older fandoms with many years of zine production, such as K/S, The Professionals and others maintained zine production longer. Different fandoms tried different strategies throughout the late 90s and early 2000s to accommodate fans who were acting out more of their fannish life online.
But even before the Internet, fans noticed a drop-off in number of new zines. See Why Fewer Zines?.
== Where to Find Zines ==
Zines are available for sale at many cons, on eBay, and through publishers' websites. Some academic and public libraries, as well as fannish archivists, also maintain zine collections.
Or you could get lucky and stumble across a plea like this from a fan who had to clean out her storage locker: "...my muggle sister and her lovely minimalist Buddhist husband [now] have 15 boxes of ‘zines in their living room that are PERIOUSLY [sic] CLOSE TO BEING PUT IN DUMPSTER." post by a fan at MediaWest*Con's blog, April 30, 2015
== Zine Production ==
Information includes "Early Zine Production," "Roles in Zine Production," "Common Parts of a Zine," "How Much Did/Does it Cost to Make a Zine?," and other topics related to creating zines.
== Doujinshi and Zines ==
Media fanzines are similar to, or an equivalent of, doujinshi. Both practices arose similarly, both are female-dominated, and both feature quite a bit of m/m fanworks, although they developed quite separately from each other and use distinct terminology. Although they were named separately, the "shi" in doujinshi is the kanji for magazine, the same word from which "zine" is derived.
A few Japanese-speaking doujinka (doujinshi artists) have used the term "zine" for doujinshi which are based on Western source texts which have fandoms that use the term, e.g. English-speaking Supernatural fandom uses "zines" so some doujinka have called their doujinshi "zines" as well. Many fanartists in English-speaking anime/manga/game fandom have called their manga-style fancomics and published booklets doujinshi.
Doujinshi are more likely to be in a visual art style (e.g. manga or artbook) than zines, and the creation and selling of doujinshi/zines is a much more prevalent activity in Japan. The largest convention for self-published works in the world is the doujinshi convention Comiket.
== Art Zines ==
Art zines are alive and well in the internet era of fandom. The advance of digital art and affordable high quality printing led to more and more artists taking on independent projects of their own or banding together to create professional quality artbooks and anthologies.
The professional level of production means many of these zines have rigorous application processes, often with hundreds of artists competing for a few dozen spots in the finished booklet. With the growing acceptance of fandom activities in the mainstream, art zine curators and contributors often view their participation in zine creation as something to include on resumes and portfolios for future jobs.
The evolution of the word "zine" to refer to these high-production-value, competitive art anthology books intended to make a profit as well as cheap do-it-yourself booklets causes occasional misunderstandings and arguments on social media.
Art zines can be either digital or printed, for-profit or with proceeds donated to charity, and can include fic, or not. Common printing options include "perfect-bound" zines and "spiral-bound" zines, often bundled together with extra merchandise like charms or standees.
Examples of artist anthologies include Banquet: A Hannibal Artbook, Meat Popsicle, and the Supernatural Artbook. Solo efforts such as Eälindalë or Shooting Stars are also fairly common in the fanartist community.
==See also==
* For articles on individual fanzines, see Zines.
* For controversies over zine reprinting, see Zine Pirating.
* History of Media Fanzines (zines which include fan fiction)
* For much discussion over costs, zine production, and other topics, see Fanzines and the Internet or "Whither Thou Goest, Orion Press?".
* List of Zine Publishers
* Zine Production
* Zines and the Internet
* Zine Art
* Zine Flyer
* Letterzine
* Ad Zines
* Underground Comics
* Samizdat
* Underground press
* Zinewiki
* Fan Culture Preservation Project
* The Zinedom Archive Project
* University of Iowa Fanzine Archives
== Further Reading/Meta ==
===Unknown Date===
* (date unknown)
* by Flamingo (unknown date)
===1985===
* by Bast (unknown date)
* Let's Hear It For Cheap Zines! by Maggie Nowakowski and its counterpoint What Happened to the Cheap Zine? by Carolyn Cooper (1985)
* The Worst Zine in the World by Paula Smith (1985)
===1989===
* Ethics and Etiquette: A Proposal for the Buying and Selling of Fanzines by Mary Urhausen (1989)
===1992===
* by Jo Davidsmeyer (October/November 1992)
* by Karen Yost (October/November 1992)
* 'Zines help fans keep the faith article in the Toronto Star about music fanzines and fan clubs, June 6, 1992
* 'Zine Scene article in the Toronto Star about fanzines with an emphasis on the punk scene, August 22, 1992
===1997===
* by Nick Cooper (1997)
* My God, what a concept! by The Divine Adoratrice (1997)
===1998===
* , a general primer by Celestial Cat (1998)
===1999===
* "Fanzine" is a term that has been in use since the 1930s, a coinage that spread through "first fandom"... by paghat the ratgirl (discussion at alt.horror.cthulhu) (August 8, 1999)
* Zine fans, zine fiction, zine fandom: Exchanging the mundane for a woman-centered world - Gillian, Cinda Lynn
===2000===
* Here Today, Zine Tomorrow by Lucy Gillam (2000)
* A 'zine! A 'zine! My kindom for a 'zine! (2000)
===2001===
*Here Today, Zined Forever by Teresa Kilmer (January 23, 2001)
* Print versus 'Net Publishing: One Very Biased Fan's View by Lorelei Jones (August 2, 2001)
*Fanzines looking for submissions, Archived version (discussion at alt.tv.quantum-leap.creative) (September 9, 2001)
* by Kate Birkel, Cheree Cargill, Alex Jones, Teresa Kilmer, Kelly Kline, Cara Loup, and Allison Shaw (2001)
=== 2005 ===
* A media empire built with scissors and tape an article in the Toronto Star about physical zines in the e-zine era, June 1, 2005
===2006===
* The State of the Furry Zine, 2006, Archived version by Watts (May 2006)
* Seven Reasons Why Selling Fanzines Isn't Bad, Wrong, or Hazardous to Your Fannish Health (September 2006)
* YOU DO NOT MAKE MONEY OFF OF FANFIC. EVER. (September 2006)
===2007===
* ; archive link, by Morgan Dawn (2007)
===2009===
* Would you buy a print slash zine? posted to the muncle LJ community on May 31, 2009reference link; WayBack link. (2009)
* What do you think about published fanfic? (2009)
* Profiting from fanfiction by fluterbev (2009)
===2010===
* comments at The Safehouse, "what is a zine," questions from The Professionals fans (2010)
* (2010)
===2013===
* Re: 'Eras' of fic; or: nonnie is a curious young whippersnapper Wayback Machine link. (2013)
===2014===
* My Fannish Journey: The Fanzine (2014)
* Jeanne Gold on The Rise and Fall of the Fanzine (2014)
* (2014)
===2017===
* (2017)
* Why diverse zines matter, Ramdarshan Bold, M (2017)
===2022===
* Camelia Heins, Generation Zine: Why the Revival of Zine Culture Is Crucial Today. New University, official newspaper of the University of California - Irvine, January 8, 2022.
==Resources==
ZineWiki online and open-source zine database.
==References==
Category:Non-fiction Writing
Category:Fiction Writing
Category:Zine Fandom
Category:Visual Art
Category:Science Fiction Fandom Glossary
Category:Zine Glossary
Category:Fan Activities
Category:Social Media Feature-Terminology Thursday