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About the Zine Rack
The ZineRack is on an extended hiatus. If you are interested in
writing zine reviews for us, write to
new.pages@live.com
For those unfamiliar with the term, a
zine is basically a not-for-profit self-published magazine.
They come in all shapes and sizes, usually only cost a dollar or
two, and are made by all kinds of people. Zines can be
informative, obsessive, hilarious, sad, rude, inspirational,
hand-scrawled, and neatly typed. They distill the essence of
independent writing and publishing, often providing refreshing
honesty and purity of content in comparison with the watered-down
mainstream media.
This column, in the spirit of the NewPages website, is meant to
spotlight yet another form of alternative media.
In addition to zines, the column will also include some
reviews of mini comix (many of which are very zine-like in their
content and presentation), certain magazines that have outgrown the
“zine” label, yet, in my opinion, still retain the spirit of
zines, and occasional collections of zine writing in book form.
The materials that will be reviewed are those that will
hopefully be easiest for both libraries and booksellers to acquire
and continue to acquire on a regular basis.
A primary goal of the column is to help get zines into
libraries, and I think that the best way to start accomplishing this
is by first promoting the more established zines that publish on a
semi-regular basis.
I say semi-regular because most zines publish erratically at
best.
So, the column will mostly focus on those zines that have
been around for a while and aren’t likely to disappear anytime
soon.
I will try to include as much contact information as possible for
each zine.
If you’re ordering from out of the U.S. you might need to
visit a website or contact the zine editor first before ordering.
In fact, it’s always best to contact a zine editor first
before sending payment (especially if you’re a librarian or
bookseller who wants to set up a subscription or get a sample copy).
That way you can find out what the latest issue is and if
prices (especially postage rates) or other publishing details have
changed.
One last point:
many zine editors do not accept checks or money orders.
If they do, it will be noted at the end of the review with
the contact information.
Please pay special attention to what name the checks should
be made payable to, as many zines do not have business accounts.
Sean Stewart
Read The
NewPages Zine Rack
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