September 2020

We want to create a zine that spreads awareness of invisible illness, chronic pain, and disability within the queer community. It has been reported that around one-third of people who identify as LGBTQ+ also state that they are disabled. What does that look like for you?

Share your confusion, your anxiety, your anger, and your activism. Share your passions, your goals, your achievements.

Here are some prompts if you need them: Lock-down, Accessibility at Pride, Diagnosis and management, Mental health, Family, friends, work, Embracing your mobility aids, Medication, etc.

Be sure to send us the following details along with your submission:

*The name/credit you would like printed in the zine.
*Your pronouns.
*The city and/or country that you live in.
*Any contact details that you would like printed in the zine.
*A short one-sentence bio.
*A profile photo or image for your bio.
*Title of your work.
*If you wish to remain anonymous, that is absolutely fine – just be sure to let us know when you submit your piece.

The deadline is midnight BST on Wednesday 23rd September 2020.

Please send submissions to coinoperatedpress@gmail.com

Please visit our FAQs for more information https://coinoperatedpress.com/call-for-submissions/

September 11, 2020

Mini Zine Review: Things That Are Not Face Masks

Things That Are Not Face Masks
Zappix Art
https://www.instagram.com/zappixart/
https://linktr.ee/zappixart

Things That Are Not Face Masks is an A7 black-on-green-paper mini art zine about, well, things that are not face masks.

Oh, dear zine friends. I wanted a short and sweet zine that would make me smile after a very long week, and this mini really hit the spot.

Each page features two different drawings of people wearing things that are definitely not face masks along with a description of what said ‘not a mask’ is. These made me smile so much not only because I’ve seen the memes of people wearing things like thongs as masks but so much more so because of Zappix’s sense of humour. Things I would never think of – including “This zine” – gave me a chuckle when one is very much needed and appreciated.

There’s even a rather, ahem, adult item that made me laugh out loud because it’s definitely not a face mask! I’ll leave that one for you to discover, though, and just grin cheekily when I think about it.

Things That Are Not Face Masks is a mini to pick up. Things are incredibly rough, and we need all the smiles and laughs we can get. This is definitely a zine for that.

September 10, 2020

Zine Review: State of Mind

State of Mind: An Exploration of Emotions
Mary
https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/ReflectiveZines
https://www.instagram.com/reflectivezines/

State of Mind is a full colour, US-sized half-fold zine with art and collage exploring five different emotions.

In State of Mind, Mary takes us on a journey of hand drawn art and cut out words and phrases exploring five different states of mind: mania, anxiety, dissociation, psychosis, and hyperfocus. Each state is given its own full page filled with (but not cluttered) colour and different expressions for that state.

Collage can be a little bit like poetry for me – I know what I like, but I don’t always know how to explain why I like it. However, in State of Mind, I found it quite easy. Each page features a hand drawn person who is Mary’s physical representation central to all the words around it. I quite liked that element not just visually but almost as a visual metaphor as well in that we can often be surrounded by labels, questions, and so forth when it comes to being in certain states.

I was also struck by what a great way this is for helping people who might otherwise feel overwhelmed at the prospect of trying to express how they feel about being in certain states. I love the idea of sitting at a table with markers, pens, and a bunch of magazines to cut up for the pure enjoyment of not only making art but exploring things in an artistic way.

One little nitpick is that this came with no socials whatsoever. There is always the part of this nitpick of mine in that some people prefer it that way – to be anonymous in their zine creations. But, as it’s on Etsy, and there are no notes about keeping it out of reviews/sharing, I think it’s okay to mention.

I quite enjoyed this zine and am glad to have it as part of my collection. I think it’s a good one to check out to not only help you in exploring your own emotions/states of mind but perhaps in also inspiring you to find creative ways to help others explore theirs. I very much hope to see Mary make more of these zines exploring other states as well.

September 7, 2020

A Case of the Mondays

Hello, zine friends!

Wow has it been a case of the Mondays today. Precisely nothing went to plan. And even the spontaneous corrections to the original things that didn’t go right ended up going wrong as well!

About five minutes ago, the internet came back online, so there’s a silver lining amongst the clouds.

No mail arrived over the past week, so Happy Mail Monday hasn’t technically been effected. Crossing fingers, knocking on wood, and all of that good stuff that things go smoothly tomorrow.

Until next time, spread a little sunshine.

September 6, 2020

Call for Calls for Submissions

September 3, 2020

Zine Review: Hearts.

Hearts.
Shivani Anora N.
https://www.instagram.com/shivaniandwords/
https://www.facebook.com/shivaniandthings

Hearts. is a full-colour A5 zine of short poetry in combination with collage based around the suit of hearts in a deck of cards.

“Love. The season of spring… Home… The hearts suit of a deck of cards has been said to represent all those things & more…”

I’ve been reviewing zines for quite a while now, and while I love zines through and through, I still can’t help but have a little extra smile when I see someone do something that I haven’t seen before. In the case of Hearts. I quite like how Shivani has paired short poems to one suit of a deck of cards. It seems like a perfect match with both poetry and cards having a lot more meaning below the surface if you care to look.

Each two-page spread features a single playing card (in order from ace to king) on alternating backgrounds on the left and a poem on a minimalistic background on the right. The colour is vibrant but not overwhelming, never taking away from the card and the poem.

Shivani’s style of poetry is what I’m seeing more and more of – no rhyme or structure as such but plenty of meaning depending on how far you want to dig and how long you’d like to contemplate it. As I’ve mentioned here plenty of times, poetry is definitely not my strong suit. Some of the poems in here went a bit over my head. That said, what I enjoyed touched me with the intensity and heartbreak that surrounds love.

As a side note, I’m also not all that familiar with card meanings, but I wouldn’t be surprised (and am actually curious to find out) if there is an even deeper connection between the words and the card they have been paired with.

Hearts. is a poetry zine that left me feeling contemplative and curious about what the next three zines (with the next three card suits) will bring. If you like the more ‘modern’ style of poetry, then this is a zine to check out.

September 2, 2020

Done, Doing, Dreaming

Hello and happy spring from the land of Oz. Times are hard, but the sun is shining, and we need to have hope.

I hope this post finds you all well and keeping safe.

The Blog & Reviews

Slowly but surely is the mantra of things around here. I’m a bit impatient with myself, but it has been feeling very good to get things done. A lot of it is still in the background rather than here on the blog, but it’ll all flow in.

I’m still quite behind on reviews, and, even at two per week, that’s going to be the way of things for a little while yet. Everyone’s patience is super beautiful.

Distro

PSA: Always back up your stuff!

I know I wrote that in the last update post about things, but I think it bears repeating.

With the way this year has been going, I’m a little wary to committing to any sort of timeline for anything. That said, I’m hoping to get into data entry mode and get those shipping profiles set up. Because it’s the shipping profiles, not the listings, that are the real pain. Hahaha

YouTube

YouTube is on my mind a lot at the moment. I have a lot of ideas about where I’d like to take things from here, but I’m trying to do things the smart way rather than my usual way of starting all the things without thinking through the consistency side of thins.

Thank you so much to everyone who sent in questions for a Q&A video. There are quite a few questions, so I might end up breaking it into two! Speaking of the questions, a couple of questions came in that got me thinking about…

The Podcast

The podcast! A couple of Q&A questions gave me an idea for the next podcast, and it really takes things back to the beginning for me in a few senses, so I’m pretty excited about it.

I don’t want to make one episode only to have a multi-month gap between that and the next one, though, so it’ll be a wee bit before I dive in.

Zines

*Phenomena 2 & Workaholic 2 – These zines are still happening! The cover art is in the works, and I have some great pieces for both. If you’d like to sneak in with a piece to one or both, please feel free to do so. These definitely won’t be done before the end of the month, so there is still time.

*Dear Anonymous 9 & 10 – I would like to wrap up the DA series by putting out both issues 9 and 10 at the same time, so there is still plenty of room if you would like to submit your work. Love letters, odes to your cat, hatred for oatmeal raisin cookies… Express yourself in DA.

*Missives From Murray Bridge – Missives are back! At least, the first Missive in quite a long time. I sent out a lot of them in the big ol’ mail send out. If you’re not on the mailing list, please feel free to get in touch. Some help with postage is always helpful (https://www.paypal.me/seagreenzines), but I completely understand if that’s not doable. I shall always do my best to send out to as many people as possible.

*The 24 Hour Zine Thing 3 – I didn’t get to do this during International Zine Month like I would have liked to. However, I love this so much and have had so much encouragement from True Zine Marin that I definitely need to make another one happen this year. Check out my Instagram @seagreenzines because that’s where I put out my calls for page ideas.