What Is A Zine?

We will be concentrating on describing media zines. 

Simply put, a zine (pronounced zeen) aka fanzine, is a book of fan fiction. They come in two types: anthology and novels/novellas. An anthology is a collection of short stories, usually by many different authors. A novel/novella is a single story by one or two authors (generally). There are zines that contain gen material, adult material, and slash (same sex pairing) material. 

Zines can be fancy or plain. Some are elaborate and some are not. 

Zines are put out by fans who have a 'Press' (a small publishing venture that is devoted to publishing zines) or just someone who wants to put out a book of fanfiction. It seems more common now for fen to choose a press name, however.

Zines come in two basic sizes - full-sized and digest. (Note the tape measure for sizes in inches.)

Here is an example of the inside of the zines.

Zines are bound with various types of bindings. Here's some examples:

Coil and Comb bindings come in a rainbow of colours.

Generally speaking, the editor of the fanzine you choose to trib (contribute) to will edit your story for many different things - plot holes, punctuation, spelling mistakes, continuity, and more. Most presses have guidelines up on a website, or will email them to you, so read them carefully. Ask questions if you're not sure. Editing differs from Press to Press.  Generally speaking, when you trib a story to an anthology zine, you receive one free copy of the zine that your story appears in. Novels/novellas are handled differently, so ask your editor what you will receive for your submission of a novel/novella, if the guidelines do not say.

Artwork in zines can be either hand drawn or computer manipulations. Here's an example of both art forms:

Interior art is sometimes included, sometimes not. It can be in colour, or black and white. Black and white seems to be the most common as it's less expensive to reproduce, but many zines do use colour interior art. Some zines have no art at all, not even on the cover. However, in the States, most (but not all) do have at least a colour cover.

Zines are sold via mail order and at Conventions. You can buy zines directly from the Press or from their Agent. Prices of fanzines depend on many factors - including the number of contributors, where they live, costs to produce the fanzine, and how much demand there may be for that book. Fanzines are a non-profit hobby. 

If you've got more questions about zines, or are just interested in learning about what zines are out there, you might consider joining ZineList, a mailing list at yahoogroups which focuses on media zines. Go here to read the rules and to join. 

All images and zines on this site are copyrighted AngelWings Press/devious developments press/Requiem Publications and the editors. Content of the stories and the artwork is copyright the respective artists and authors. Questions? Comments? Email Bast. Permission granted to forward this link to any interested persons/fannish lists. Please keep the link in fannish circles, thanks!