Short for “fanzines,” zines are, in the words of one scholar, “nothing if not motley” (J. A. Radway 12). As a genre, they are defined more by their variety than any one particular unifying feature, varying widely in size, content, and material.
We will learn more about what, exactly, a zine is by examining examples of zines together in class.
Here are some things to think about:
Content — What is this zine about? Is it mostly made up of text, images, or something else? Who is(are) the author(s)?
Materials — How big is it? What kind of paper is made from? What colors, fonts? How is it held together? Does the material enhance the content? How?
Audience — Who would read this? Who would not? How do you know?
Process — What can you gather about how this zine was made from reading it or looking at it?
Bring the zines that you ordered to class. We’ll spend some time together reading them and examining the zines for craft moves— what about these zines is working? What ideas do we want to steal for our own work?
Where did you order your zines from? Why?
What made you choose the zine that you chose?
Describe the packaging of the zine. Did your zine come with any additional material?
What is your zine about (content)?
Do you like your zines? Why or why not?
How is your zine produced? What stood out to you the most? Which ideas would you like to steal for your own work?
Before we begin working on creating our own zines, we’re going to spend some time doing research in the library. However, the research that we do might look and feel a little bit different from what you’re used to— we’re going to go on a scavenger hunt! Zinesters (you are all zinesters now!) often use found material (images collected or purchased from junk shops) to create their zines. While we don’t have a junk shop on campus, we do have something potentially even better to find interesting images that can amplify your ideas for the zine or spark new directions for your creative work— O’Neill Library! During our class session, you’re going to have time to explore, search, and collect as many images from the library that you can to use in your zine production.
Think of key terms that are related to the zine that you plan to create. You can use the online catalog to find sections of the library with books or materials that connect to your zine ideas. Once you find a section in the library with books connected to your interests, consider looking at other books in the same location. The library organizes books by subject, so you will likely find other books related to your interests by proximity.
A huge part of the research process involves exploration. Sometimes, you come up with ideas or find the exact source you didn’t even know that you were looking for by serendipity. Allow yourself to be open to finding topics and books that you might not have considered before entering the library. Show yourself compassion if this process is taking longer than you thought that it would— the information and ideas that you need will find you. Express gratitude to the librarians and library staff members who help you. They’re extremely knowledgeable experts who are happy to help you navigate the library.
Once you pull a book, do not put it back on the shelf. You’ll want to return it to the librarian desk or the book return and allow the professionals to reshelve it.
Once you find material that you wish to collect for use in your zine, you have a few options:
You can photocopy the material you wish to use (keeping in mind the cost to photocopy)
You can scan the material you wish to use and then print that material later. If you scan the material, you might be able to save some money by cropping images and manipulating them so that you can maximize what you are able to print on a single page.
We’ve spent some time exploring zines together to figure out what they say and how they are saying it. You’ve begun some preliminary research for your own zine through our library scavenger hunt and we’ve been reading a variety of scholarly and journalistic works about different pop culture trends. Now, you’re going to formalize some of your ideas by getting them down on paper.
In a single-spaced document, please address the following information about your proposed zine. Keep in mind— you are not beholden to any of these things! Your ideas can and likely will change. That’s not only okay, it’s an expected part of the process. Writing up all this information serves a few purposes:
Allows you to clarify your plan
Gives me an opportunity to respond to your work in progress, including offering suggestions to help you with this workÂ
Content:
What will your zine be about? What themes are you going to address?
What do you think the title of your zine will be?
How will your zine engage with and connect to the themes of this class?
Materials:
Bindings: How will you bind your zine? Will use staples, tape, string, rubber bands, folding…?
Paper: What type of paper will your zine be made of? Think about the color, weight, size, and texture.
Printing: What will your printing look like? Will you print in black and white? In color? A mixture of the two?
Extras: Will you put glitter stickers, washi tape or anything extra on your zine?
Format:Â
Size: What will be the size of your finished zine?
Total Pages: How many pages will you use?
Design: How much of your zine will be text? How much will be images? How will these two components work together? Will you use collage, pen and ink? Will you use any digital components? What will your margins look like?
Layout: Do you plan to layout your zine by hand or on the computer (or a combination of both)? Where will you fold your zine?
Circulation
Copy Count: How many copies will you make? (You must make a minimum of 17- one for each person in the class, one for me, and one to archive)
Distribution Beyond Our Classroom: Will you distribute beyond our classroom? How?
Production Cost: Design choices you make about your zine will influence its production cost— either in materials, labor, or time. For example, color will cost more than black & white, heavier weight paper will cost more than lighter weight paper, etc. Think about: the number of pages, the number of copies, expenses for materials, access to tools, methods of reproduction, means of distribution.Â
Before you start making your zine, you’ll submit a storyboard as a prototype. You’ll receive feedback on this in class and from me, your instructor.
Create your zine! You’ll have some dedicated time in class to work on making your zine. You are also welcome to work together during my office hours if you wish to have a more collaborative zine-making space.
Respond to the following in the form of a written statement (1,000-1,500 words):
Look back at your proposal. To what extent did you meet the goals you set for yourself? How?
Think about how you were at the start of this process. How have you grown and changed? How do you know?
How did you arrive at the idea for your zine?
How do you see your zine fitting into the themes of this course?
Reflect on the choices you made to create your zine. How did you choose the materials you used? How did the materials allow you to express or complicate the expression of the original vision for your zine?
Think about the process of creating your zine in terms of your identity as a writer. How did creating this zine align with or complicate your personal goals as a writer?
What did you learn about the members of our classroom community from our Zine Fest? What surprised you? What delighted you?
What will Issue #2 of your zine look like? How will it build from the lessons of Issue #1?
You will also reflect on the process of creating your zine for your final portfolio presentation.
This deliverable asks you to compose a multimodal product thinking about the affordances of zines and how you can best leverage those affordances to communicate a specific purpose to a particular audience.
 Based on the work of Jason Luther in “Self Publishing” https://www.diy.futureofwriting.com/2019/04/01/hello-world/
Radway, Janice A., editor. Girls, Zines, and the Miscellaneous Production of Subjectivity in an Age of Unceasing Circulation. University of Minnesota, 2001.