Zines

A zine is a small self-published booklet or magazine that is usually aimed towards minority and obscure subjects and topics. These are usually released to a small circulation and reproduced using a copy or Xerox machine.

Over the years, zines have evolved greatly.  The first known zines were created in the 1930s and 40s by Science fiction fans. Tired of having their stories scrutinized by fans when printed in distinguished publications, sci fi authors began to respond to their fans letters and print the responses. This allowed fans to find each other’s addresses and exchange “fanzines” which contained fan written stories, and personal musings about fandom itself.  Zines were mostly used as a part of science fiction subculture up until the 1970s when the first punk zines emerged. By the 1980’s zines had developed their own following and have had such an audience ever since. 

In many ways, Zines were the old print form of a blog.  Anyone could be a producer and/or consumer of one and could write about anything they wanted. They offered a sort of freedom that had not been available for writers before they existed.  However, in our current technologically advanced age, I think zines are not a viable means of relaying information. Now with sites such as blogger, tumblr, and Wordpress, people can do the same things as they could with zines and not have to worry about printing or even distributing them.  Blogs are faster, cheaper, and read by a larger audience than zines.  Before we talked about them in class, I, along with many other students, didn’t even know what zines were. While they may have been a great way to express personal opinions and stories in the past, there are now many seemingly  better and more advanced outlets through which people can share these things.