ZINES

Zines



Zines

A zine is generally an undersized circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More generally, the term includes any self-published work of alternative interest more often than not reproduced through a photocopier on an assortment of colored paper stock(www.examiner.com).

A well-known definition includes that circulation has to be 5,000 or less, even though in practice the majority are produced in editions of less than 100, and profit is not the chief goal of publication.

Zines are printed in an assortment of formats, from computer-printed text to comics to handwritten text (an example being Cometbus). Print remains the popular zine format, typically photo-copied with a small circulation. Topics covered are extensive, including fanfiction, politics, art and design, ephemera, personal journals, social theory, single topic obsession, or sexual content far enough outside of the normal to be excessive of inclusion in more conventional media. The time and materials essential to make a zine are rarely matched by revenue from sale of zines. Small circulation zines are frequently not openly copyrighted and there is a fim belief amongst many zine creators that the material within should be freely distributed. In current years a number of photocopied zines have risen to distinction or professional status and have found broad bookstore and online distribution. Extremely distinguished among these are Giant Robot, Dazed & Confused, Bust, Bitch (magazine) and Maximum RocknRoll(dictionary.babylon.com).

alt.zines

alt.zines is a Usenet newsgroup made in 1992 by Jerod Pore and Edward Vielmetti for the debate of zines and zine-related topics. Its original charter was "alt.zines is a place for reviews of zines, announcements of new zines, tips on how to make zines, discussions of the culture of zines, news about zines, specific zines and related stuff." Since that time, alt.zines has seen more than 26,000 postings.

All through the 1990s alt.zines was a forum for ...