Producing A Zine.. anyone ever done this?

[SuburbanalCuts 0]

has anyone here ever made a zine? How exactly do you produce them? print out paper and staple it? j/k.I may make a zine or a magazine later when i'm older (right now I have a little known one page newsletter thing that reaches 40 peoples :-P ), and I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience and can give some insight. heh.

[Cammy 0]

I am interested in writing a ezine as well, but if you want some practice Blogger is good and easy to use. Blogger and if you are hosted by Xisto, wordpress is in fantastico along with some other blog programs. You can customize them to your liking even put up ads related to your ezine. Im not as technically inclined as some people on here but the good thing is you can learn at your own pace and a lot of the programs have support forums.

I also would like to know if there are any other programs out there too

[SuburbanalCuts 0]

I am interested in writing a ezine as well, but if you want some practice Blogger is good and easy to use. Blogger and if you are hosted by Xisto, wordpress is in fantastico along with some other blog programs. You can customize them to your liking even put up ads related to your ezine. Im not as technically inclined as some people on here but the good thing is you can learn at your own pace and a lot of the programs have support forums.

I also would like to know if there are any other programs out there too

141382[/snapback]

oh yeah Cutenews is great for that but I mean actual zines, not on the computer. see what im saying, homie? I mean like people sign up and they get sent thru the mail.

[jose_a1 0]

has anyone here ever made a zine? How exactly do you produce them? print out paper and staple it?  j/k.

 

I may make a zine or a magazine later when i'm older (right now I have a little known one page newsletter thing that reaches 40 peoples :-P ), and I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience and can give some insight. heh.

141240[/snapback]

You can use a software like Adobe InDesign. There are lots of crash courses on the internet. It's pretty easy --- something like MS Word if you get the hang of it.

[Fun4TheMoney 0]

The same rules apply to a zine as to a website. Your first 2 considerations should be content and layout. Neither of those need fancy software. Until you hit the big time, you can do it all on Word and keep your money in your pocket.Concentrate on your current subscribers. Find out what they want, what they like and don't like about your newsletter, then make it better and better and better. When you're satisfied that your product is EXCELLENT, then start offering incentives to increase circulation. You need numbers to make it successful. 40 isn't nearly enough for a zine, unless you're running one of those super-pricey stock market insider $200 a year subscription price kind of things. If you're a top expert in your field, and people will pay anything to read what you have to say, then disregard this whole post--you can do anything you want.Remember that turning your newsletter into a zine involves a whole lot more than just new software. The quality of your paper must improve. $$The quality of your printing must improve. $$If you're going to produce it at home, it will go slower and use up more toner if you add glossy full-color photos, which I assume is what you mean by the difference between a newsletter and a zine, so that's still more $$. Same if you take it to Kinko's--color, photo quality, and glossy paper cost more.All of this means raising your prices. Better poll your existing subscribers to find out if they'd be willing to pay more for a zine. If your newsletter is now free, it can be a big leap to get them to pay anything at all for your publication. If you discover that your costs have gone too high, you may have to start selling advertising to offset your expenses. Selling ads is not easy, and, for most people, it isn't any fun, either. Ask yourself why you're doing this. If your motivation is writing, sharing info with like-minded indivuals, or making easy money because you've found a nice little niche, maybe you have a good thing going and should leave well enough alone. While I'm being the voice of doom, don't forget that paid magazine circulation is way down because of all the free ezines available online. I used to subscribe to at least a dozen mazazines. I actually had a mag broker who called me once a month to sell me more and I looked forward to hearing about anything new that I might like. Now, thanks to the Internet, I don't have a single paid subscription to anything. If your dream is to publish a full-blown zine no matter what, unless you have deep pockets, ease into it gradually. You have lots of time-consuming, expensive surprises ahead. Sorry to be so negative. If you go for it, I wish you the best of luck. If I've scared you off, you can always start your zine online. That's what I'm doing. You can have all the fun and creative outlet, free. Then let Google Adsense generate the revenue so you don't have to sell ads, yourself.Suz

[Fun4TheMoney 0]

has anyone here ever made a zine? How exactly do you produce them? print out paper and staple it?  j/k.

 

I may make a zine or a magazine later when i'm older (right now I have a little known one page newsletter thing that reaches 40 peoples :-P ), and I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience and can give some insight. heh.

141240[/snapback]

IMHO, if it's single sheets, stapled together, it's a newsletter. A zine would be laid out on large-sized paper so it can be folded and stapled down the middle. More expensive, more work, more difficult to lay out. These are not laws, however. With desktop publishing, you can do pretty much anything you want and call the result whatever you please.

 

Suz

[SuburbanalCuts 0]

The same rules apply to a zine as to a website. Your first 2 considerations should be content and layout. Neither of those need fancy software. Until you hit the big time, you can do it all on Word and keep your money in your pocket.

 

Concentrate on your current subscribers. Find out what they want, what they like and don't like about your newsletter, then make it better and better and better.

 

When you're satisfied that your product is EXCELLENT, then start offering incentives to increase circulation. You need numbers to make it successful. 40 isn't nearly enough for a zine, unless you're running one of those super-pricey stock market insider $200 a year subscription price kind of things. If you're a top expert in your field, and people will pay anything to read what you have to say, then disregard this whole post--you can do anything you want.

 

Remember that turning your newsletter into a zine involves a whole lot more than just new software.

 

The quality of your paper must improve. $$

 

The quality of your printing must improve. $$

 

If you're going to produce it at home, it will go slower and use up more toner if you add glossy full-color photos, which I assume is what you mean by the difference between a newsletter and a zine, so that's still more $$. Same if you take it to Kinko's--color, photo quality, and glossy paper cost more.

 

All of this means raising your prices. Better poll your existing subscribers to find out if they'd be willing to pay more for a zine. If your newsletter is now free, it can be a big leap to get them to pay anything at all for your publication.

 

If you discover that your costs have gone too high, you may have to start selling advertising to offset your expenses. Selling ads is not easy, and, for most people, it isn't any fun, either.

 

Ask yourself why you're doing this. If your motivation is writing, sharing info with like-minded indivuals, or making easy money because you've found a nice little niche, maybe you have a good thing going and should leave well enough alone.

 

While I'm being the voice of doom, don't forget that paid magazine circulation is way down because of all the free ezines available online. I used to subscribe to at least a dozen mazazines. I actually had a mag broker who called me once a month to sell me more and I looked forward to hearing about anything new that I might like. Now, thanks to the Internet, I don't have a single paid subscription to anything.

 

If your dream is to publish a full-blown zine no matter what, unless you have deep pockets, ease into it gradually. You have lots of time-consuming, expensive surprises ahead.

 

Sorry to be so negative. If you go for it, I wish you the best of luck. If I've scared you off, you can always start your zine online. That's what I'm doing. You can have all the fun and creative outlet, free. Then let Google Adsense generate the revenue so you don't have to sell ads, yourself.

 

Suz

143144[/snapback]

thanks for all the info. I'm probably never to going to charge my current subscribers because right now it's just a newsletter. BUT, eventually, like I said I'll probably turn it into a zine later. I'm also thinking of using recycled paper eventually, which will probably cost much more too. Anyway, he reason I don't want to do a zine online is because...well...it's more traditional or something. I'm recieved responses from some of the people that get it saying it's better to get it through the mail. Besides, when reading from paper you absorb more stuff than from a computer. heh.