Month: July 2021

Hello zine friends! I write to you on a rainy Saturday, hardly believing that the month is already wrapping up. So here I go with the final prompts…

International Zine Month – Day 28 – Favourite Zines

Today’s prompt is:

Post online about your favourite zines!

Noooooooo, I can’t do it! I can’t pick favourites. Haha. Truly. I know how it seems, but I really am going to bow out of this one. I’ve read and enjoyed so many zines over the years, I don’t want to pick favourites. Yes, there are different zines that have different impacts, but I want to shout out my love for all of them. You can always check out the Zine Review Index if you’d like to have a look at the zines I’ve reviewed over the years.

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International Zine Month – Day 29 – Zine Selfie

Today’s prompt is:

Take a photo of you with your zine or zine collection and post it online.

I may have tried to think of a way to not do this one because I take pictures with the mail on Happy Mail Mondays, but… sometimes you just have to stop, drop, and selfie. So here I am with some of my favourite zines I have made over the years.

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International Zine Month – Day 30 – My IZM 2021

Today’s prompt is:

Write a letter or online post about your IZM20221 experience.

I’m not ready for it to be the end of July already. I’d say that July isn’t what I had expected, but I haven’t been real big on setting expectations for how things will go for a long time now. Life has a way of always turning out different anyway, so I’d rather be a boat trying to go along with the waves than fighting against the waves for the sake of a set course. (That’s just where I am in life at the moment.)

As per usual, it’s been about practising what I preach. Let things go and don’t stress because IZM and things like it are about having fun and connecting. It’s not another job and not something you should feel bad about if you don’t get every day on the day. It turned out that *Hadass’ way of grouping days together is what’s worked best for me. And so it goes. Twenty Two Zines took that approach in their videos, too, and it totally worked!

It’s been a good IZM this year. An IZM that we perhaps needed a bit more than in previous years (we definitely needed it last year to) and will continue to need as we rock into the 2020s.

I’m rambling again as I always do, but that’s just the state of things on a rainy day. Yeah, I wish I could have been more involved with things this IZM. More connected with everything that’s going on. But I still had a good time. I still got to enjoy great posts and videos by fellow zinemakers. And I had some fun.

I hope you did too.

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International Zine Month – Day 31 – HallowZine

Today’s prompt is:

HallowZine! Remember zines and zinesters that are no longer with us.

One of the interesting things about the zine world is how not everything is ‘forever’. That’s part of what makes zines special, but it also makes the zineverse sad, too. We know things are finite, but zines can remind us of that a little more than we’d like them to.

With the state of the world, lives, mental health, and a myriad of other things, we’ve seen distros close, zinemakers stop, and zine series’ stop as well. Some closed with announcements while others faded. It’s always sad to say goodbye.

Here’s to the distros to have closed, the zinemakers who have stopped making, the series that have disappeared, and, of course especially, here’s to the zinemakers who have passed on to the parts unknown. Best wishes and thoughts to all in your next great adventures.

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DOWNLOAD THE PDF TO PRINT YOUR OWN POSTER HERE!

Like with all years, I like to keep a running list of links to people/places participating in International Zine Month. So if that sounds like you, then please let me know! Comment here on the blog or send me an email at seagreenzines at gmail

Participants:

*Echo Publishing
*Hadass

Hello, zine friends! It’s another multi-prompt IZM day here in the zine cave with plenty on as always. I hope the start to the week has found you well and rolling along with things gently. A lot of people are going through a lot of stuff right now, so remember to be gentle and kind not only to others but to yourself too.

So let’s see what we have!

International Zine Month – Day 25 – Off to Review

Today’s prompt is:

Send your zine for review to a website or magazine that does reviews.

There are quite a few reviewers out there these days and thus a lot of good ways to get your zine in front of new eyes. But when it comes to sending out a new zine (which I should have in August!), I always think of Ryan, Feral Publication, and Craig.

Do you have any zine reviewers you recommend? Have you sent your zine to a new-to-you reviewer? Let me know in the comments.

International Zine Month – Day 26 – My Zine Collection

Today’s prompt is:

Organise your zine collection. Post a shelfie online.

Oh gosh. I’m almost a little shy to send this, but here we go…

The zine cave is in a perpetual state of change at the moment, so my zine collection is being stored in… the closet. Yes, I know, but it is the zine cave closet, so that’s something. I also store empty flattened boxes for shipping things in there, too (that’s what you see on the right).

It’s not perfect, pretty, nor ideal, but it is the current state of my collection. I’m just glad it’s organised at all. Haha.

I’d love to see what you do with your collections…

International Zine Month – Day 27 – Collaboration Day

Today’s prompt is:

Ask a zine friend if they would like to do a split zine of collaboration.

Yet another thing on the to-do list! Zippity Zinedra and I talked about doing a split zine earlier this year, and it is still on the list! So we got the asking a friend part done early… the making the split zine will – with luck and determination – come later this year.

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And that’s it for me for today zine friends. I hope you’re having fun this month and getting your zine on!

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DOWNLOAD THE PDF TO PRINT YOUR OWN POSTER HERE!

Like with all years, I like to keep a running list of links to people/places participating in International Zine Month. So if that sounds like you, then please let me know! Comment here on the blog or send me an email at seagreenzines at gmail

Participants:

*Echo Publishing
*Hadass

Hello and a happy Friday to you, zine friends! And if the music my neighbour is blasting is anything to go by, it is a happy Friday indeed. Haha.

Here we are on another glorious International Zine Month Day, and what are we up to…

Today’s prompt is:

Check out a zine distro you have never ordered from before.

At first this prompt made me pause because I was thinking about how many distros I’m already familiar with. However, the pedantic part of me noticed the ‘never ordered from before’, and that changed things a bit.

Unfortunately, a few of the distros on my distro list are no longer running. (And I need to update the resources page.) However, I did check out Sweet Candy Distro and the page is still up and running. I can’t find anything that says it has closed, either, and you can still enjoy browsing a selection of zines on their website.

Sweet Candy Distro is run by an awesome human named Sage who started the distro way back in 2004! I like the colours and general warmth of the site. Along with the selection of zines of course!

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DOWNLOAD THE PDF TO PRINT YOUR OWN POSTER HERE!

Like with all years, I like to keep a running list of links to people/places participating in International Zine Month. So if that sounds like you, then please let me know! Comment here on the blog or send me an email at seagreenzines at gmail

Participants:

*Echo Publishing
*Hadass

Hello and happy Thursday zine friends!

Oh what a week it has been already. We’re back in lockdown here in South Australia (along with much of Australia), we’re experiencing some incredibly cold (for Australia) weather in some parts, and life is simply a whole lot of hectic.

Sometimes all we can do is hold on! Let’s get going with the prompts!

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Today’s prompt is:

Make a flyer for your zine to trade, send out with orders and trades.

I had every intention of making a new SGZ flyer, but I had a look at my usual one… and I still like it. Haha. I’m sure it could use a bit of sprucing up that I might do at some point, but I really like it. So it’ll stay like this…

Side note: If you have flyers, stickers, business cards, etc that are about zine-related things, please feel free to send them to me. I’m happy to include them in my mail outs.

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Today’s prompt is:

Zine Trade Day! Ask someone to trade or swap zines with you.

Zine swaps! Zine swaps are a huge part of the zine community. From larger mail swaps like Crash to individual trades between zinemakers, it’s how we keep connections and physical mail alive.

This year for trade day, I have the pleasure of trading with Shei of God Save the Queer. Whether you’re into zines or jewellery, I highly recommend checking out their creations. It’s all so beautiful!

Who are you trading with?

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Today’s prompt is:

Zine Distro Appreciation Day! Tell people about/order from a zine distro.

So many distros, so little time! An easy peasy reference is checking out the distros listed on my Resources page.

If you have a distro, shop, or other zine-related site that isn’t on the list, please let me know!

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Today’s prompt is:

Talk about a thing you learned in a zine. “I once read in a zine that…”

When it comes to things I have learned in zines, what I learned in Pieces 13 will always be a huge part of my life…

I once read in a zine that… demisexual is a type of asexuality that falls under asexuality. Demisexuals only feel sexually attracted to someone after establishing an emotional bond.

Check out the review linked above if you want to read more about the impact this had on me.

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Today’s prompt is:

Zine Library Day! Search for a zine library in your area and make plans to go someday or contact them about how to include your zine in their collection.

I didn’t have a local zine library before everything happened (though I did have plans to start one). However, like with so many other things, the virus has inspired people to go online! There are now more options than ever to get your zine read on digitally.

Check out these online zine libraries:

*Quarantine Zine Club
*Sherwood Forest Zine Library
*Queer Zine Archive Project
*POC Zine Project

Are there others that I have missed? Please let me know!

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Today’s prompt is:

Check out zine YouTube channels.

Yay! I love seeing this day in the list of IZM prompts not only because I have a zine YouTube channel but because I feel like it’s such a fun way to connect with other zinemakers and see what they are putting out into the world. There are zine reviews but also videos about being a creator, finding balance in zines and business, ans so much more. Definitely check these out and let me know if there are any that I’m missing:

*Craig Atkinson
*Feral Publication
*Ryan Pocket Thoughts
*Sea Green Zines
*Twenty Two Zines
*Warglitter Zines

DOWNLOAD THE PDF TO PRINT YOUR OWN POSTER HERE!

Like with all years, I like to keep a running list of links to people/places participating in International Zine Month. So if that sounds like you, then please let me know! Comment here on the blog or send me an email at seagreenzines at gmail

Participants:

*Echo Publishing
*Hadass