What is a Zine?: History, Types, and Creating one (with examples)

Updated: Jul 23, 2024

What is a Zine?

While Google defines a zine as "a magazine, especially a fanzine," this description falls short in capturing the true essence and defining features of a zine, including its unique characteristics and the process of creating one. So this is why I have come here today to explain it to you!

A zine, is short for magazine. It is a self made booklet that allows people to express themselves. Some people make and sell their zines for profit, others do it for pleasure. Zines can be about anything; books, movies, fish birds, etc.

A Short History of Zines

Zines have a long history that is founded in working-class movements and countercultural contexts. They have their roots in the science fiction fanzines of the 1930s, which allowed fans to communicate and share their enthusiasm for the genre. The popularity of zines as a form of self-publishing and communication grew along with the punk subculture in the 1970s and 1980s. Zines developed into a crucial platform for alternative voices during this time, allowing marginalized people to express themselves and spread information outside of the mainstream.

Types of Zines

There are several different types of zines but I will explain 6 different types.

Personal Zines/Perzines: These types of zines revolve around the creator's personal experiences, emotions, feelings, and reflections.
Art Zines: Art zines showcase illustrations, paintings, collages, or other visual artworks. This can be the creator's own artwork or someone else's artwork.
Literary Zines: These zines usually have poetry, short stories, essays, or other forms of writing. For book lovers, literary zines offer a fantastic way to share book reviews, favorite quotes, and literary analyses.

Interested in Literature and books? Check out all my book-related posts here!

Music Zines: Music zines are what the name suggests: they cover music reviews, interviews with bands, and discussions on music culture.
Political Zines: Political zines tackle social and political issues, advocating for change and raising awareness.
Fanzine: Fanzines are created by fans for fans, typically focusing on a specific interest, fandom, or community.

Creating your Zine

Here are a few tips, recommendations, and guides to creating your first zine!

Planning

Before making your zine, I would recommend planning what you are going to say on each page. This allows you to know what you will say, the supplies you need, and the number of pages you will be working with.

Below, I have included a very simple storyboard. As you can see, it doesn't have to be super complex. If you are going to put information on your zine, I recommend putting bullet points, but if you want to plan and write what you want to say on your zine, that is perfectly fine!

Different ways of Creating a Zine

Hand-drawn/collage: You can hand-write the information, and add cutouts of images
- Below is an example of a Zine that I made. As you can see, I cut out the images and then glued them on. I wrote the title and the information on it.

Typewritten or Printed: You can print out the text for your zine and then print it out. This is a good method if you are going to have lots of information in your zine.

Digital Zines: With the rise in the use of technology, creating digital zines has become more and more popular. This type of method allows creators to design and distribute zines online in a digital format. This allows people from all over the world to create zines, even if they don't have a printer or supplies.

Folding your Zine

There are several different ways to fold your physical zine. However, I would like to share my favorite way.

First, fold it vertically, then horizontally. If you want more pages, do this with another piece of paper. What I love about this method is that you can add as many pages as you like. On the resources page, I have included a website showing different ways of folding it, along with how to bind it with a needle and thread.