Zines!

Photo by Giulia Bertelli on Unsplash

Are you excited about zines? Do you know what zines are? Would you like to know more? Here is a good place to start if you are interested. 

What is a Zine? 

According to zinelibraries.info, a zine is unofficially known as “a self-published work with a limited print run…Zines are usually created with the intention not to profit monetarily but to share one’s thoughts, feelings, creativity, experience, and/or knowledge with others. Zines are part of a DIY (do it yourself) culture which often includes people from marginalized communities or those who don’t have access to more mainstream publishing options.” 

Here is a non-comprehensive list of zine genres that exist, created by Barnard College 

Another list by Barnard College of zine libraries around the world 

How do I get started? 

A go-to guide for all things zine-related: Stolen Sharpie Revolution by Alex Wrekk 

A brief history of zines in slideshow format: History of Zines presented by Rachael Kaun for Aunty Mabel’s Zine Distro 

A list of reference texts for greater context on zine culture from Collins Library at University of Puget sound. (All texts listed there are also available via Summit or as eBooks online through Clark Libraries) 

Another introduction to zines: Whatcha Mean? What’s A Zine?: The art of making zines and minicomics by Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Wilson available via Summit 

An easy guide on how to make a zine out of a single sheet of paper: How to Make this Very Zine by Anne Elizabeth Moore (available in 8 different languages!) 

How do I publish a Zine? 

As soon as you have a finished zine, you can make copies of it and distribute it to the people in your life! That counts as self-publication. If you are looking for something more formal, you can submit your work to your local small press publisher, or zine distributors. Lists of both publishers and opportunities to share your work are included below! 

Here is a list of zine publishers, distros, and libraries in the U.S. created by the Library of Congress. 

If you are interested in attending a zine festival or small press fair either locally or internationally, Broken Pencil has a whole list of them! 

Stay tuned for more opportunities to create zines at the library or contact us at Library_ReferenceLibrarians@clark.edu for more information!