Call for Calls for Submissions: Spread the Word About Your Zine/Distro/Library!
Share your call for submissions, let people know about your distro or zine library, announce your newest zine, let people know you are crowdfunding a zine project… If you have an announcement to make that has to do with zines, do it here! Sea Green Zines wants to be your megaphone. Even better? It’s an automatic shout out on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr when you advertise here.
Big fuzzy love hearts to those who have a .jpg call for subs, but all are welcome. Get in touch by emailing theauthor[at]inkyblots.com or comment below.
International Zine Month 2017: Day 1
It’s IZM2017, and that means 31 days of zine-related activities. Starting us off on day one…
1. Make a Top 10 List of reasons why you love zines.
1. I like to pet them. Ahem.
- Zines are DIY. Like a lot of people, I see all the pretty craft projects and want to make them but can’t because I don’t have blah blah blah. Zines? Zine are DIY. They’re a piece of paper or a word document. A marker or a pen. A collage or a carefully crafted layout. Have at it!
- Anyone can make them. There’s no membership fee, no minimum age, no secret handshake… If you want to make a zine, you can! A lot of people make zines before they’ve even heard of the word zine. It’s a party, and everyone is invited.
- If you can’t find your genre/topic, you can start it. Last year I spent a lot of time looking around for a zine on PCOS. Not finding one, I decided to go ahead and make my own! Even better, someone who saw my zine pointed to me to another zine about PCOS. Win win.
- Zines bring people together. I have met such amazing people through zines. If zines were personified, I would give zines a big hug, some Tim Tams, and my neverending thanks. Whether I introduced them to zines or they introduced me to something zine-related, I truly adore so many people I have connected with through zines.
- You can express yourself without permission from the mainstream. When I was growing up, I thought that mainstream publishers were the only way I’d ever express anything. The trouble was that I had so much to say that would never sell enough to make a publisher interested. Finding zines was a true ‘mind blown’ moment. Years later, I still get soooo excited about the prospect of being able to write about anything.
And read about anything, too! - They come in unlimited varieties of shapes and sizes. Binding and buttons and printing and paper. Okay, so I don’t know about the buttons, but I like alliteration. I have read zines folded like origami and seen zines the size of posters. There’s no limit for what and how you create.
- They’re not expensive. I feel a bit squidgy mentioning this one, but it really is a factor. I can get a brand new, lovely, handmade zine to read for a dollar or two, and it’s mine to keep. Or share.
At those prices, I’m less precious about keeping it to myself. (Only a little, though. I’m a zinehoardercollector.) - Zines make me feel challenged and safe at the same time. If you’ve been reading here for a while, y’all know I’m a squishy marshmallow person. Zines help me to explore the world through others’ eyes and challenge my perspectives while making it possible for me to stay comfortable at the same time.
- Zines are great teachers! Yes, there’s the grain of salt thing, but there is so much to learn
- Because I do. Before you start yelling ‘cop out!’ for my number 10, I just want to say that there are wordless ways to love and appreciate, and I have that kind of love and appreciation for zines.
Other Zinesters Top 10 Lists (Let me know if you’re joining in, and I’ll add you to the list!):
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Play along with 31 Days of International Zine Month Activities here!
Happy International Zine Month! – Announcements
Hello zine friends! I know it’s not quite July 1st everywhere in the world just yet, but I am so excited and don’t want to hold off jumping into International Zine Month!
If you’re new to the whole shebang, July is International Zine Month where zine enthusiasts around the world get their zine groove on in a multitude of ways. One of those is by doing the activity-a-day
prompts by Alex Wrekk:
I don’t imagine I will be surprising anyone when I say that I am aiming to do each prompt of the day. I won’t be postponing or changing the usual schedule, so be prepared for quite a few posts coming your way this month (especially if you’re signed up to receive post notifications by email).
The activities in the list are a smidge dates, so I’ll provide an alternative activity for the day here and there, but I’m not going to swoop in and make a whole new IZM list.
I am absolutely thrilled to announce that, along with IZM, we can now celebrate the brand new shiny home of We Make Zines: WeMakeZines.com!
Go there, sign up, and get chatting! I’m there as Nyx or @theauthor if you’d like to be friends.
That’s it for now. I’ll be back soon with the post for day one: Make a Top 10 list of reasons why you love zines!
Call for Submissions: In Praise Zine
Fandom zine now accepting submissions!
What is fandom?
There are many different ideas about what fandom ‘is’, but according to my own experience, fandom is a group or community of fans who engage in discourse about a subject of common interest. The fan experience is what comprises a fandom, and what drives fan work and celebration.
What are you looking for?
Articles on any subject related to fandom, including fandom meta discussions. (e.g. the ‘right’ way to tag on AO3, your opinion on how creators and fans interact, an analysis of racism in a certain fandom)
Narrative Stories! I want to know how fandom has impacted you, personally. Did you meet your SO through fandom? Your best friend? Did you meet a creator at a con that changed your life? Why do you write fanfiction?
Interviews, reviews, and critiques. Have you spoken with an author about fandom? Or a fanfiction author about fandom? Do you have something to say about the way that a piece of media has treated its fans? Maybe you’ve reviewed all the cons in your area and have an opinion on the best ones?
Art and Comics: While we are not accepting fanart, we are accepting and encouraging fandom artists to write comics about the fan experience, fanfiction, fanart, talking to your fandom friends vs. non-fandom friends, how reviews make you feel, how characters make you feel, etc.
I want to contribute! What do I do?
You can contact In Praise through ask, or through email, inpraise.zine@gmail.com. Submissions will only be accepted through email. If you have a question or a pitch, you can contact me to chat about it. We’re looking for about 20-30 submissions, but if we receive more we will consider two volumes or a very large book. I cannot offer any payment, but all participants will receive a free digital copy of the zine. If this changes either through the success of a kickstarter or the patronage of a larger organization, we will let you know!
Specifics:
All written pieces should be 200-2000 words long. If you are submitting a larger piece, with references or a deep critical analysis, I will consider pieces up to 4500 words. If this is the case, I would recommend you send a pitch or abstract before spending a significant amount of time on the piece.
The zine will be published in trade size, 6”x9”, so please make sure any art submissions include a .125” bleed around the edges. You can submit up to five pages of comics. This will be a color run, but please use minimal or spot color.
You will be able to determine how you will be credited, by username, full name, alias, etc.
Will this zine be available to purchase?
Yes! We plan on creating a kickstarter to back the publication and gauge interest in additional installments. There will be both digital and physical copies available to purchase.
When’s the deadline?
The deadline for submissions is July 31st!
Call for Submissions: True Trans Bike Rebel (Taking the Lane #15)
Taking the Lane #15 is called True Trans Bike Rebel, and we are looking for nonfiction writing about the experience of being transgender and bicycling. Submissions can be essays or reporting about bicycling, or other topics or stories in which bicycles play a part (or other human-powered transportation).
Submissions can be any length; word count between 500 and 2500 words is ideal for this format. Single-color illustrations and photos are also sought. Please submit your work as an attachment or link in an email to elly at taking the lane dot com. The deadline is July 1, 2017.
All contributors will be paid a share of the net profits from the Kickstarter project used to fund the zine.
Taking the Lane is a feminist bicycle zine published since 2010.