Hi! So it's not necessarily a question about this zine, but I figured since you both have experience you seemed to be good people to ask... what advice/info would you give to someone interested in organizing a zine? For instance, how do you fund them, since printing can get rather pricy? How do you decide the number of writers/artists? Sorry if you'd rather not get into it, and thanks for your time anyways!
Hey Anon!
We welcome all zine-related questions and queries! :)
The answer is quite long and detailed. Okay. SUPER LONG AND DETAILED. I AM SORRY but I hope it helps you out!
I wish you all the best for the zine you wish to organize and hope it does super well and you have fun with it. :)
If you have more queries/questions you can contact me personally and we can talk one-on-one too! Happy to help! ^^
Thank you!
- mod aish
1. Have fun with it. No matter how intimidating it looks/is, how stressful and nerve-wrecking it can get, the ups and downs, whatever, try to enjoy it to the fullest. ;)
2. Choose the topic of the zine. Fandoms, original, any-content, theme-related, rating, etc. RESEARCH. RESEARCH. RESEARCH.
3. Know about the target audience as it will help you estimate the avg. response and you can decide if you wish to go forward with it right away or hold it for a while longer.
4. If its your first project, I’d 100% recommend starting off slow and little. Invite your friends or artists you like to take part in the zine, keep the participant number in range to 10-15. This is because, irrespective of your sales, chances are high that you can compensate the participants by sending them their own copies. THAT’S IMPORTANT.
5. In general, an ideal size of the zine is A5 with 24-30 pages. It can be more or less, it entirely depends on the organizers.
6. If you decide to do a non-profit charity zine, its best you refer to organizers who’ve done it similarly to help you advise how and where to send the money, which charities are legit/scam, etc.
7. If its a for-profit zine, you can either split the money per page (artists get money/page they’ve illustrated) or divided it equally between the no. of artists (irrespective of how many pages an artist creates.)
8. Its up to you if you wish to take a little % for yourself as you’re organizing the zine, will get it printed and shipped. It depends on an individual but there are zines where the organizing team also takes a %.
9. PLEASE PRIORITIZE COMPENSATING YOUR ARTISTS-WRITERS WITH THEIR OWN COMPLEMENTARY COPIES OF THE ZINE. INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING INCLUDED. (physical or digital, depending on the zine type!)
10. Be as organized as possible! Make plenty notes, communicate a lot so that everyone is in the loop, be as open as you can about it. This will also help your fellow artists-writers know a little about the process it takes with organizing a zine.
11. Respect their wishes if they wish to remain out of the loop. Be kind. AND PATIENT. Don’t rush things.
12. Always keep an extension ready. Like, just take an est. of 7-10 days with deadlines and the whole schedule.
13. Things can and will go wrong. Try to compromise, adjust and overcome it.
14. If you are going to get the zines printed, its best you first try and find a local printer in your area. Ask, Printer-san if they get books/magazines printed or not. If yes, browse through the multiple page types/qualities and ask about the price too. Depending upon this, choose the paper quality suitable for your zine. If its 30-40 pages, you can have a more thicker paper, but if it exceeds 40+ its best you choose a lesser thick paper. Gloss/semi-gloss is idea. And looks pretty.
15. Usually, printers will print if you give them an ideal quantity/batch, be it 25, 50, 75 or 100 copies. Otherwise, its also possible they can get a single copy printed too. Try to bargain :’) and get it as low as logically possible but listen….this is how they earn too, so ask for the min. production costs per batch size (25/50/…)
16. If not a local printer, online is the way! You can easily go through various websites which explain paper quality/quantity/size/price, etc.
17. Once you can get an est. price of a SINGLE ZINE, try and find shipping est. for locals and international customers. This will help you determine an est. for the production and shipping costs of a SINGLE ZINE. And then you can multiply it with as many zines as you wish to/hope to sell.
18. Once you have an est. production and shipping value of a single zine, you can determine the RETAIL price of the zine. (How much to sell it for?) Be up-to-date with the current costings of other zines too and price it accordingly. It isn’t fair to a customer if you oversell it, unless that is an only option and it isn’t fair to the creators if you under-price it, especially if its a for-profits zine. THIS ENTIRELY DEPENDS ON THE PRODUCTION AND SHIPPING COSTS OF THE ZINE.
19. Ask yourself if you, YOURSELF, will be able to buy YOUR ZINE at $X or $Y and go with it. (Don’t overprice-underprice it!)
20. Keep a detailed list of all the budget being spent, printing the zines, shipping them, shipping materials (envelopes, tape), etc.
21. For an art-only zine, its important you pay attention to how many artists will contribute a single page submission or multiple page submission, etc. This will help you know how many pages the zine will be.
22. For a zine with writers, choose a word-limit and stick to it! When you have the layout of your zine ready, make a mock page with the fic in it to know which font style you wish to use, the size of it, spacing, etc.
23. Try to reach out to people who have organized a zine before and request for their help. It’s the best as they can guide you well and this way you can make newer mistakes, instead of making the old ones. LOL. I AM SORRY BUT REALLY THAT’S TRUE.
24. OH! YOUR STORE! Where do you wish to sell the zine?! Tictail, storenvy, etsy. That’s up to you!
25. Also, keep a margin est. of the online fee deduction which stores and PayPal do. So that your own budget estimations are as accurate as possible.
26. Chances are you won’t break even (cover the production-shipping costs) and don’t lose hope. I will get back to you ASAP in case it happens with me. HOPE NOT. But I believe you will break-even if you price it well, promote it better and produce an awesome product.
27. Chances are you will do great! If so, CONGRATULATIONS!
28. Try your best to choose applicants according to their skill levels and not friendships. Really. It will be tough as heck…but right then you are the MOD, don’t half-ass it. If you can’t, make a zine with invite-only policy and ask your friends to take part in it. ;)
29. Schedule it in a way that you yourself can give it as much time as possible as YOU ARE THE ONE DOING IT FIRST. The zine comes to life thanks to the artists and writers…but you are an important PILLAR. Don’t over-exert yourself, take breaks, time it well, ask for help whenever you need.
30. Promote the zine well, be kind, be open to changes, but stick to your deadlines and schedule. Have as many discussions as possible and keep in touch with your whole team.
31. PLEASE BE POLITE. DON’T BE A RUDE-ASS NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS. Really. Be calm, even in crises. Take a break and think things over before you say/do something unkind. A zine is supposed to be a fun and exciting creation to bring together people from all over the world, different artists/writers, new artists/writers, customers, friends, etc. MAKE IT FUN. BE KIND.
I think I have covered many things. I can share more about budgeting, pre-orders, etc. but its best you contact me personally as I am too exhausted to add more to the list. I am sorry. These are the things which came to my mind like WOOOSH! If I have skipped a topic, let me know! If I remember something in the future….or learn something myself, I will update the list. :D
If someone strongly disagrees with a point, please know that these are 100% my own opinions, from my experiences and research.
