Customer Reviews

Make a Zine!

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I took this book off the shelf hoping that it would teach me something new and/or fun about zinemaking and the world of zines. Instead it's mostly a how-to, geared towards those who are interested in investing serious money and technical skill into their zines. It tells plenty about distribution, dealing with stores and the postal service, and gives advice on layout and putting the scene together.

For someone who's going to work on a large scale, this is good stuff (I was going to give the book two stars before I remembered that it wasn't necessarily geared towards me). But for someone in my position- making a zine with a print run of under one hundred- this is extraordinarily impractical. I should spend HOW MUCH on a postage meter/saddle stapler/hot glue thingy? If you're broke and making copies secretly on a faculty copier, it's not much help.

The other thing I disliked about the book was that it gives the impression that it's a surefire way to make a great zine. Not true. I struggled along for four years before my zine finally started becoming something I could be proud of. Just following instructions does not give the same result as a couple years of practice; beyond that, let's face it, a lot of zines are simply not well-written. I'd rather have a single readable, simple zine than a dozen gorgeous-looking zines with writing that lacks clarity and effort.

In short- some good advice. I recently found myself drawing on the comments about burnout, but for the low-key zinemaker, I suggest you look elsewhere.

Yes there are lots of good tips in this book, but no one has mentioned yet one important fact about this book: The author is the publisher of a SEX zine, and many of his examples and pointers are specific/relevant to sex zines...this book may not be a suitable choice for young readers! In addition to the many references to sex zines throughout the content, there is an entire chapter for "Sex Zines and Queer Zines", and this fact needs to be mentioned so that adults of young children who wish to start a zine can consider this fact when deciding to buy this book.

Ask anyone who works for a magazine -- it's a job. Ask anyonewho works on their zine -- it's a passion. This is true and I wouldlike to confirm these words from the first page of the Make A Zine!

20 years ago, when I was young and the Soviet Union was still struggling for communism, I co-published with my friends a jazz zine. It was real SAMIZDAT -- an illegal self-published independent zine. We printed it on the electric type writer with print out of 50 copies or so. It was dangerous but it was passion. Today I am working for a popular computer magazine -- and it is just a good job, not more.

This book is destined to be the starting point of an independent magazine self-publishing. You will find the answers to virtually any question you have regarding how to self-publish zine or e-zine. And it's fun to read even if you don't want to publish.

Bill Brent gives the best introduction to layout, typography, stats, and design I've ever seen. But he also pays too much attention to his sex zines. In appendix of the book there is a good directory of stores and zine distributors (esp. sex-positive), but valuable in the USA only.

Now, in the time of the e-zine explosion, veteran and novice zine editors alike are discovering the joys of paperless publishing. With Internet pulishing everyone is absolutelly independent and free, and there are no expensive print or postage bills.

So, make your zines, ladies and genlemen. And I believe computers & Internet someday destroy any ...totalitarian state.

Okay I confess I stopped reading around page 60 or so, and bybrowsing ahead I determined there was no reason to read anyfurther. Unless you are very, very new to the concept of printed material, this books is not helpful. For most of the really important information on specific facets of self-publishing, the author suggests you go get some books on the topic and study them, or ask your printer about it. You are better off spending your ten bucks on other zines you can look over. The other reviewer is right, all the sex references make this book unsuitable for kids...but the level of writing and the information offered will not be of much use to adults. Also, the constant references to his sex zine can be extremely tedious - be forewarned about that if you are so new to the notion of zines that you think the information he offers may be worthwhile. END

I had been doing a zine for two years, and thought I knew what I was doing but I didn't. Thanks to the tips in Make A Zine, my zine's circulation has jumped from a few dozen to more than a thousand, and I've been picked up by Desert Moon and Tower. THANK YOU, BILL BRENT!!!

Over the years, I've accumulated a fair-sized collection of "how to publish" books, looking for tips on putting out a zine. And here or there, I have picked up the odd tip - the use of the folding bone, the joy of rubber cement, the ecstasy of offset - but for the most part, I learned the way every-one else does: the hard, trial & error way. But now Make A Zine! has made the hard way superfluous. Bill Brent, of Black Sheets infamy, has assembled the definitive guide to publishing a zine, and it's a must for any neophyte zinester. Even the most grizzled veteran can pick up a few tips. Of course, anyone telling zine publishers what or how to do anything is bound to catch some flack; they're such an anti-authoritarian bunch. But Bill doesn't shy away from any aspect of zine publishing. From the nuts and bolts of getting things ready for the printer and running things in a somewhat sane, businesslike fashion, to more touchy-feely things like handling the temperamental contributor and dealing with the inevitable sense of burn-out, sound advice is dealt out in a light, breezy way. Hey, it's fun to read even if you don't want to publish! The best stuff is in the production sections. Bill really knows his stuff. He gives the best introduction to layout, typography, stats, and design I've ever seen. Nor is he a piker on the business side of things; sooner or later, money becomes a consideration (generally the amount lost), and you'd better be prepared to deal with it. There's also a useful primer on the legal side of the zine game (copyrights, libel, and taxes), and the inevitable list of store and distribution contacts. It's hard to think of anything that isn't here. Make A Zine! is destined to be the starting point of many a zine, none of which will make the same stupid mistakes I did. Frankly, I'm already jealous. -John Marr

This book is a wonderful introduction to the zine world for those who have little or no knowledge of desktop publishing or graphic arts. It was instrumental to me in the launching of my own zine, Beyond Bizarre. The only reason I do not give it five stars is that the references to sex and rebellion (the author spends some time elaborating on his "philosophy" of zines) is a bit gratuitous. Overall a very good book for adults.

Everything you ever wanted to know about doing your own zine, but didn't know who to ask. Bill's been publishing zines since before forever, knows his stuff inside out, and keeps no secrets. Most highly recommeded, and why so affordable???? I'd pay a lot more than ten bucks to have a successful, big-circulation zine publisher tell me absolutely everything he knows about zines...

kudos to Bill Brent -- this book is really a terrific guide to self-publishing. It's like absolutely everything you ever wanted to know about zines. excellent!!!

great read, tells you everything you need to know to get your message out there. excellent!