Zine Scene: Do It Yourself Guide to Zines

by Francesca Lia Block, Hillary Carlip

A guide for girls to the unpredictable, unedited, and uninhibited world of zine publishing offers advice on selecting a genre, art work, writing, raising money, and distribution

Genres: Nonfiction, Writing, Art, Reference, Teen, Journalism, Music

120 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1998

About the author

Francesca Lia Block is the author of more than twenty-five books of fiction, non-fiction, short stories and poetry. She received the Spectrum Award, the Phoenix Award, the ALA Rainbow Award and the 2005 Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as other citations from the American Library Association and from the New York Times Book Review, School Library Journal and Publisher’s Weekly. She was named Writer-in-Residence at Pasadena City College in 2014. Her work has been translated into Italian, French, German Japanese, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish and Portuguese. Francesca has also published stories, poems, essays and interviews in The Los Angeles Times, The L.A. Review of Books, Spin, Nylon, Black Clock and Rattle among others. In addition to writing, she teaches creative writing at University of Redlands, UCLA Extension, Antioch University, and privately in Los Angeles where she was born, raised and currently still lives.

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the books I adored as a teen. I read and was inspired by this book dozens of times over. As a creative teen looking for an outlet to express myself, this was loads of fun. Very 1990s! Sadly, nobody today would ever craft a book about making your own magazine with tips on how to generate subscriptions.

[Danni Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was fun. If you want to see many examples of different things people have done with their zines, this is the book for you. It's more of a collection of snippets from people's zines than a how-to guide, with plenty of examples to inspire aspiring zine-makers.

[Katrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently started a teen writing program in my community, and part of the program will be creating a zine for their work every few months. This is a great resource for anyone thinking of starting their own zine. It tells the amateur zinester everything they need to know about layout and design, printing, content, and the history of the zine movement.

[Katrina Winchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was super informative about zines, however it is now a bit outdated due to the internet. The information was still very useful.

[Montse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick, good read for all writers. You will feel buoyed and validated in Goldberg’s hands.

[Lo · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I liked about this book was how accessible it made zines. I love creating zines and have been making them for about 14 years (yikes, I'm OLD.) and I never get tired of them. This book, while helpful in learning the ropes, is better as a photo diary on zines. It has a lot of early and/or popular zinesters. I find it every inspiring and people seem to love this book as evident by the number of copies I've had to replace because people didn't return it after borrowing it.

[Liesa spring · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay i didnt even know what a zine was before i read this book but im glad that i do now. It made me want to make a zine of my own [though i still havent] BUT am planning on it =] very cool characters and nice ending. not too hokey or predictable and realistic issues between the two main characters.

very good book =]

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was my Bible in high school - inspired, motivated, and drove me to finally make my own zine. Five years later, I still refer back to it.

[Vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE BOOK THAT INTRODUCED ME TO ZINES

back when I was an early teen (14?) visiting the library's young adult section, good times

[Gianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Presented so many awesome ideas and excellent stories about people's zines. This makes me so eager to make one of my own.

[MaryAnn McK · Rating 4 out of 5]

really was helpful in terms of basic 411 on putting together a zine. seemed to be geared more to the teen zine scene...but still had some helpful tips & ideas.

[Jessie McMains · Rating 5 out of 5]

My super-old zine, Hero Grrrl, is briefly mentioned in this book!

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

fun to flip through!

[tee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wonder where my copy of this is.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nostalgia trip to late-1990s afternoons spent mailing off money orders to a zine distro in Olympia and sneakily using my mom's eBay account to bid on back issues of Bikini Kill.