Zine
A short field guide · DIY publishing

PaperRevolt

Zines: small, self-published, photocopied. How a stapled booklet became the house medium of every underground since the 1930s.

Photocopier mid-run, pages stacking in the output tray
Print run · After hours
zine.pressField Guide01 / 08
Zine

What Countsas a Zine

01
Self-published. Made by its author, printed in a small run, answerable to no publisher.
02
Built with cheap tools — typewriter, scissors, glue stick, and the nearest photocopier.
03
Passed hand to hand — sold at fairs, traded by mail, left in record shops.
House rules
No ISBN. No gatekeeper. No minimum print run.
zine.pressField Guide02 / 08
Zine

ThreeWaves

Etymology
"Zine" is a clipping of "fanzine" — fandom named it first.
01
1930s · FanzinesScience-fiction fans print the first fanzines and trade them through the mail.
02
1976 · PunkSniffin' Glue starts photocopying punk's first dispatches in London.
03
Early 1990s · Riot grrrlA feminist punk movement spreads scene to scene through zines.
zine.pressField Guide03 / 08
Zine

The CopyMachine

The photocopier made self-publishing cheap — and cheap made it everyone's.

Access — a printing press within walking distance of almost anyone.
Cost — a print run priced like pocket change, not a publishing contract.
Speed — write it tonight, copy it tomorrow, hand it out at the show.
Control — no editor, no license, no one to say no.
zine.pressField Guide04 / 08
Zine

MakeOne

Cut-and-paste layout desk with scissors, glue, and paper scraps
1.
Write & pasteDraft the pages, then lay them out flat with scissors and glue.
2.
Copy & staplePhotocopy the master, fold the stack, staple the spine.
3.
CirculateTrade at fairs, mail to strangers, leave copies where your people are.
zine.pressField Guide05 / 08
Zine

FieldNotes

FACT 1: The first fanzines predate the photocopier — 1930s fans used the printing tech they could reach.
FACT 2: Most zines are traded, gifted, or sold near cost — circulation runs on the scene, not on profit.
FACT 3: Cut-and-paste collage, handwriting, and typewriter text became the look because they were the tools.
FACT 4: Libraries and archives now collect zines as primary-source history of their scenes.
zine.pressField Guide06 / 08
Zine

StillPrinting

01
Zine fairs put makers and readers at the same folding table.
02
Zine libraries — public, university, volunteer-run — keep the culture lent out and alive.
03
The tools changed; the promise didn't: anyone with something to say can publish it.
Zine fair table stacked with stapled booklets, hands browsing
zine.pressField Guide07 / 08
Zine
Your turn

Make theNext Issue

Write it. Copy it. Staple it. Hand it out.

zine.pressField Guide08 / 08
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