What's the deal with zines anyways?
Are you familiar with zines? Have you heard of zines and wondered why people are leaving the first half of the word magazine off? A zine is a mini-magazine, usually created through a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) process and traditionally focused on topics not normally covered by mainstream media and society. According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, a zine is “a noncommercial, often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject matter.”
No matter what your background or perceived artistic ability, anyone can make a zine. In this guide we will see many examples of the various forms that a zine can take. There is no right or wrong way to make a zine - they can be fun and silly, or focused on social justice and important issues. Zinesters can be any age, race, or gender and everyone has something to say - so come on in and get started making your first zine today. I hope this guide serves to inspire and teach as you begin the process of zine creation.
Searching
Search Strategies and Terms
Searches for this guide primarily used Google to find relevant DIY websites that have zine resources and instructional materials. Due to the underground and non-mainstream nature of zines it can be hard to find information on them in the major databases.
The UAlbany Libraries search function was also used to find books and reference materials pertaining to zine history, but not actually to zine creation. Traditionally, zines do not have ISBNs!
Important Keywords:
DIY, art, creators, zines, fanzines, activism, politics, anti-establishment, punk rock, music, mental health, western society, lifestyle, poetry, How-to
These search terms were used when searching for zines and zine creation materials to be included in the references section of this LibGuide. What search terms describe you and the zine that you are going to make?
When searching the supplied resources for zines be sure to try variations on "zine", "zines", fanzine", etc.