starting a zine

doctor dan · 07.08.2006, 12:03 PM

hey guys, i was wandering if you could give me some advice. im trying to start a music/noise/art zine with some of my friends at uni. its bursting with ideas for content, so we just now need to get it written and printed. I know some of you will probably have similar experience with this, and i was hoping you could have some advice as to what the best way of getting it printed would be. ideally id want it to be in colour, as it would need to show off art pieces, but i dont know how to do that cheaply. is xerox/photocoppying the best option? is there a way of cheaply printing it at a higher quality (eg glossy etc) once i have more money?

Inhuman · 07.08.2006, 12:20 PM

At my college we have a plotter to print our magazines / posters, but they're terribly expensive. For a magazine you'd best go with glossy, although I don't have too good of an idea how you're going to get that cheap. If you're just planning to do a magazine for personal / social benifits, paying someone for the use of a plotter/ photocopier would probably be your best bet, but if you're looking for a career creating magazines then you should eventually get a plotter for yourself. The toners usually last up to 7 years, but really depends on the frequency that you use them at.Do you have a designer? It would definately be an interesting project to do.

I'm really into graphics design and it's what I'm taking in college. I'd love to be a layout designer for something like WIRE or Arthur magazine. Good luck with it!

jon boy · 07.08.2006, 12:24 PM

all i can say is that you will have to put a lot more work into it than you think. it becomes a real pain after a while so you really hvae to be driven to do somethig that probably not a lot of people will be interested in. its a shame that folks are not more interested but thats the way it goes most of the time.

acousticrock87 · 07.08.2006, 12:31 PM

Hand write all of them. I guarantee you it is the cheapest way.

But I don't think quality should be too important at this point. Maybe progress into it when you're sure it's something that will go somewhere.

Savage Clone · 07.08.2006, 12:40 PM

Make sure the price is 2 dollars plus 3 postage stamps.

Seriously though, look into getting a small printing press and learning how to use it. You can pick them up cheap if you look in the right places, and this will save you a lot of money. Just make sure you are dedicated enough to keep your zine going, keep the writing quality high, and have a well-ventilated area for your press.

My friend got his press for 200 bucks. Not bad, and though extremely heavy, it's not actually all that large.

07.08.2006, 12:03 PM	#1
doctor dan bad moon rising Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: bath spa, uk/ nottingham, uk Posts: 157	hey guys, i was wandering if you could give me some advice. im trying to start a music/noise/art zine with some of my friends at uni. its bursting with ideas for content, so we just now need to get it written and printed. I know some of you will probably have similar experience with this, and i was hoping you could have some advice as to what the best way of getting it printed would be. ideally id want it to be in colour, as it would need to show off art pieces, but i dont know how to do that cheaply. is xerox/photocoppying the best option? is there a way of cheaply printing it at a higher quality (eg glossy etc) once i have more money? __________________ IT FIT WHEN I WAS A KID
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07.08.2006, 12:20 PM	#2
Inhuman invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Montreal Posts: 5,807	At my college we have a plotter to print our magazines / posters, but they're terribly expensive. For a magazine you'd best go with glossy, although I don't have too good of an idea how you're going to get that cheap. If you're just planning to do a magazine for personal / social benifits, paying someone for the use of a plotter/ photocopier would probably be your best bet, but if you're looking for a career creating magazines then you should eventually get a plotter for yourself. The toners usually last up to 7 years, but really depends on the frequency that you use them at.Do you have a designer? It would definately be an interesting project to do. I'm really into graphics design and it's what I'm taking in college. I'd love to be a layout designer for something like WIRE or Arthur magazine. Good luck with it! __________________ Inhuman no longer dwells on here. http://about.me/robinbastien
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07.08.2006, 12:24 PM	#3
jon boy invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: psycho battery Posts: 12,161	all i can say is that you will have to put a lot more work into it than you think. it becomes a real pain after a while so you really hvae to be driven to do somethig that probably not a lot of people will be interested in. its a shame that folks are not more interested but thats the way it goes most of the time.
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07.08.2006, 12:31 PM	#4
acousticrock87 invito al cielo Join Date: May 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 5,515	Hand write all of them. I guarantee you it is the cheapest way. But I don't think quality should be too important at this point. Maybe progress into it when you're sure it's something that will go somewhere.
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07.08.2006, 12:40 PM	#5
Savage Clone invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 11,290	Make sure the price is 2 dollars plus 3 postage stamps. Seriously though, look into getting a small printing press and learning how to use it. You can pick them up cheap if you look in the right places, and this will save you a lot of money. Just make sure you are dedicated enough to keep your zine going, keep the writing quality high, and have a well-ventilated area for your press. My friend got his press for 200 bucks. Not bad, and though extremely heavy, it's not actually all that large.
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