And I thought to myself: Ew.

I have read some of my most hated books this year because of bookfluencing, which is just the newest iteration of book marketing: Girl on Girl (Culture Study podcast3), Yesteryear (the general zeitgeist and finally Love to See It pod mentioning it4), First Witches Club (giant pop up banner on Goodreads it’s impossible not to accidentally click), Ministry of Time (the internet discourse over the title), The Geomagician (Heather Fawcett’s glowing review which was clearly at the behest of their mutual publisher) … all of these books had been shoved down my throat in some way and they were all … bad5.

Full disclosure: I am highly susceptible to advertising. I cannot tell you how many tacos I bought after seeing Taco Bell ads in the 90s. Tens of tacos, at least. I have an active imagination, I can always see a world where a book might be great or a taco might really hit the spot right now, but the new state of book advertising? I’m being overwhelmed! Sprayed edges?! How am I going to say no to all this!

And I was thinking, what ever happened to asking your super weird English teacher for book recs? Those were the days.

Then I remembered, hey wait! That’s me!

I already write longform reviews of most of the books I read for my own edification and there are way too many for my personal zine, Commonplace, to accomodate. But if I was going to do a book review zine I wanted to invite my friend (a librarian) to add some reviews since I mostly read romance and she mostly reads horror (real My Melody/Kuromi vibes here). Then I thought I might as well invite my husband too since he pretty much only reads science fiction and is also an English teacher.

And so PAPER CUTS was born. I wrote a manifesto6 and everything.

You can buy a copy on Etsy if you want but I thought it would be cool to make it free, so you can download it on my Ko-Fi for $0 (do not feel pressured to pay for it). If you’re an indie bookshop feel free to print as many copies as you like, just be warned, some of the books we love and some we hate and I absolutely go in on books I do not like. I tried to include a mix of both in the issue (though I do love to read a hateful review, personally).

I don’t do ratings and if there’s a second issue I don’t think anyone else will either. I just think scoring a book makes no sense because the things I hate about it might be what you love, so you might get the best book recs from my most negative reviews. What’s the point of a rating? This is English class, get that Math outta here!

Anyway, I wrote a book review zine with my friends and you can read it for free. If you’re thinking, “what a fun idea, I want to do that” please DO. The more book review zines, the more honest book recommendations out there, the better. Here are some ideas:

• your five most loved books (and why)

• your five most hated books (and why)

• books you wish you had read before 30

• book reviews for collectors (aesthetic reviews)

• books that changed how you thought about something

• the book you’d want to have with you on a deserted island (ie: the infinite re-read)

• any kind of deep reading/analysis

• themes (can be a nonsense theme like I did in the Horse issue of Commonplace)

• a group zine where each person recommends one book

• a book club zine where a bunch of people review the same zine (include a reading guide?)

• a teacher-style zine where you write a mini curriculum in zine form7

Okay, bye!

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Bad Advice No. 1: Write Like No One’s Reading

One piece of advice for writers I keep seeing on here is “write like no one is reading” ie: write like you aren’t under the scrutiny of the internet where your writing will land somewhere on the continuum of being ignored to being pilloried. What this advice really means is “write like no one is going to comment or restack you with a bad-faith critique.”

‘Tis not possible. Whether you intend to hit publish or not, if you write thinking it will be posted online at some point, it’s going to impact your writing because you’re going to anticipate the feedback.

You know where you can actually write like no one is reading?

In a zine.

Zines are the perfect place to publish your writing without feedback because you will be writing for a very small audience and that audience - and here’s the important part - won’t have a comments section. No one is paying $5 to hate read a zine when that same person can hate read the entire internet for free. Further, I doubt that most writers are capable of the mental gymnastics required to convince themselves that views aren’t feedback, too. Getting 10 views on a post is feedback3. Getting 1,000 views on a post is feedback. Getting no comments is feedback. Getting a negative comment that someone else then likes is feedback. You get the point.

Publishing your writing in a zine lets it simmer and gives you the chance to work on things you actually want to write about. Without algorithmic feedback, would you really, really care about the new Taylor Swift album? The Met Gala? The [insert current pop culture discourse here]? Do you want to spend your life writing about things your don’t care about, (at least not really) anyway?

Writing a zine is you giving yourself permission to genuinely write what you would write if no one was watching and cultivate your skills without instant feedback.

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Bad Advice No. 2: Write About Whatever Interests You

I see this advice on Substack Notes all the time and usually to great applause. “Write whatever you want! It can change from day to day and that’s totally fine! Your audience will still find you! Poem and then thinkpiece?! No problem!”

This advice is so bad, I sometimes wonder if it’s attempt to destroy the competition.4

If you’re publishing online, on Substack perhaps, you absolutely need to have a clear focus for what you are writing and ideally a publication title that communicates what that is. Doing otherwise is going to nearly guarantee that you won’t be able to build an audience.

But you know where you can write about whatever you want?

In a zine.

You can write a poetry zine and then a fanzine and then a personal zine. My whole zine is made up of random articles about whatever I’m thinking about at the time and one of my favorite zines is the exact same type of format. That’s normal for zines and people love it because zines are the antithesis of being online. Zines are sort of like catching up with a friend over coffee where it’s normal to change topics dozens of times, whereas a Substack is more like a lecture series you're signing up for. You don’t need to limit yourself with zines the way you do when you’re writing online5.

Bad Advice No. 3: Don’t Use Social Media

I’ve seen the Notes, you’ve seen the Notes, we’ve all seen the Notes where people are telling authors to “quit social media” like Substack isn’t social media6 … which is a rant for another day. When I see people on here encouraging others to “quit social media and focus on their writing” I cringe a little because it’s such bad advice for people who aspire to be professional writers.

Publishers now want you to bring your own audience to the table and do their marketing for free once your book is out. I can think of three people off the top of my head who got book deals off their TikToks7, one of which was a four book deal8. I cannot tell you how many books I have read this year that, when I get to the acknowledgements, they mention that it all started with their podcast9. A writer not building an audience on social media is a great idea if you want to stay sane and fly under the radar, it’s abysmal advice if you’re trying to get a book deal.

But you know where you can write without worrying about social media?

Say it with me!

In a zine.

Zines are very anti-social media in a lot of ways. Go to a local zine fest and a good 75% of the people tabling there won’t have online shops. Maybe they’ll have an Instagram they rarely update, maybe. You can write and publish a zine, get the satisfaction of seeing your writing in print, share a tangible object with others, and never think about how to make it into a snappy post with an attention-grabbing hook10.

It’s freeing.

In Conclusion

Serialize your novel, start a literary magazine with your friends, drop a new poetry chapbook. Zines are a place where you get to have fun with your writing again. And that’s not everyone’s goal, but if you write for the love of the game, to find your voice, to share your story, consider doing it in zine form. We’d be happy to have you.

Okay, bye!

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This series is for hobbyists who have fallen in love with creating zines, are ready to put them out into the world, and don’t know what to do next. There will also be tips for those making their zines as professional presentations of their art or writing, but the main focus of on hobbyists.

Much like with zines, I’m going to try not to pressure myself to crank these posts out. Once the next part is out, I will link it, but I’m hoping to publish one a month.

Posts (tentatively) are:

• Part 1: Choosing a Shop Host

• Part 2: Printing, Managing Inventory, and Pricing Zines

• Part 3: Shipping and Taxes ← sounds soooo fun

• Part 4: Potpourri

Alert! This is a 14 minute read. You may want to bookmark this one to come back to.

Why Am I Writing This?

I recently saw someone post an online course about being online less and the irony seemed to be lost in the comments section. So, too, might a Substack post series about opening an online zine shop feel ironic. Aren’t zines supposed to be analog, in person, aka not online? Yes, BUT …

The internet is a useful tool and cutting it out on principle is about as wise as my dad not signing his rock band in the 60s1. Second, many people are learning about zines online and outside of our previous in-person mentorship structures. This is causing the corners of our community to be chipped away and replaced by TikTok shop and YouTube Shorts-filled digital capitalism-style zine “content.” Must … interject!

In other words, I feel like selling zines online is perfectly fine when it’s a tool to get your zines out there. I feel like it becomes less cool when selling something is the goal and zines happen to be the product. Can zines go viral? Yes. Is this the place to learn all the Viral Zine Tips And Also Sign Up For My Workshop? No. I find creative guru workshops kind of yucky, honestly.

As someone who lucked into a following here, loves zines, and has a long history with them, I feel like the least I can do is provide you all with good information about selling, trading, and distributing zines in the modern zine landscape. (In the cool way, not the uncool way.)

In Part 1, I’m going to compare and contrast different places and ways to sell your zines online here.

Step 1: Making the Leap

The first step in opening a zine shop is acknowledging that you don’t have to.

It is completely valid for zines to be a hobby, for you to swap them with people and not sell them, for you to give them away, or for you to sell them through distros or in person zine fests exclusively. Commodifying every hobby we have is simply not necessary. You can live a very happy zine life swapping with friends or people at zine fests, and otherwise giving zines away.

If you want to open an online zine shop you will need to deal with logistics that you wouldn’t have to otherwise, including:

• pricing

• inventory management

• shipping

• taxes (income tax, state tax, state sales tax, and customs fees)

• and the dreaded “customer service”

Start by asking yourself why you want to sell zines online. If it’s because “that’s just what you do when you make things,” think about how having a shop will impact your hobby. Would you still want to knit if no one wanted to buy your scarves? If so, that’s the hobby for you. If not, there are way more lucrative “side hustles.”

That being said, you should value your work. A good zine takes a lot of time to write, and you should price it accordingly. However, some folks make their zines free on principal or present hybrid shops (me) with a mix of paid and free items, or with all zines priced on a sliding scale. Some things to keep in mind as we will get to pricing in a later installment.

You might also think, “Oh I’ll just post about my zines and if people want them they can DM me,” and that’s fine, but you will either sell way less zines that way, or suddenly you’ll be getting a lot of DMs and you need to open an online shop after all2 and then you’re stuck …

Step 2: Choosing Your Shop Host

When choosing your shop host there are a few (a lot of) things to ask yourself, including:

1. What types of zines are you selling? Physical, digital, or both?

2. How are you pricing your zines? Sliding scale? Fixed price? Free? Subscription?

3. How do you want to handle shipping? On the site? With stamps? With a postage printing subscription? Are you comfortable with customs forms?

4. How do you want to accept payments? Are you willing to set up a Stripe account? Do you already have a Paypal?

5. How comfortable are you remitting taxes? Do you already pay state sales tax? What about VAT?

6. How much of your own traffic are you going to drive ie: are you willing to market yourself or do you just want to toss the zines online and come what may?

7. Are you willing to upload your ID to use a service?

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Pros and Cons of Ko-Fi

If you know, for sure, that you want to give away your zines for FREE our conversation is over: you’re opening a Ko-Fi. They have the absolutely easiest interface to set up for free zine downloads and they allow for easy downloads around the world.

If you choose to accept tips or donations they will charge a 5% fee in addition to the payment processing fee or upgrade to a Gold plan for $12 a month for 0% in fees (source). This makes sense if your sales regularly exceed $250 per month. To accept payments, you must connect either a Paypal or a Stripe account. All together it shakes out to roughly 10% of sales going to fees.

Ko-Fi also works like a social media pages or an old MySpace. You can offer subscriptions, post updates to your home feed, upload images to a gallery, and set goals for donations. While there isn’t discoverability like there is with Etsy, there are some people who are loyal Ko-Fi users, and if they follow you there they will be emailed updates when you post.

You will have to handle shipping fulfillment yourself, however, as there is no built in way to process orders. Ko-Fi does NOT remit sales tax; you will have to set it up in your dashboard and pay state sales tax on your own (source). I’ll be going over sales tax in a future post in this series, so hang tight for now, and just keep that in mind.

Ko-Fi Pros: Lots of social features, can double as a website, easily accept donations, easily offer sliding scale pricing for zines, can enable subscriptions, free to set up.

Ko-Fi Cons: For all the features they have, a lot of them are stripped back. Can collect sales tax but does not remit it. No integrated shipping labels. No discoverability. Won’t look as professional as other sites.

Conclusion: Would recommend for zine hobbyists who are driving their own traffic and don’t want to bother with a full website or a Patreon. The top pick for anyone who wants to offer digital zines for free or who wants a chill experience.

Zineters who use Ko-Fi: Sarah Wood, me, Passenger Pigeon Comics, Honks and Squeaks (aka my husband)

Pros and Cons of a Self-Hosted Website

This series is for people creating zines as a hobby, but if you are already professional artist or writer and want to make zines of your work, consider adding them to your self-hosted website. This is especially the case if you’re already selling other products in addition to zines. If you are only making zines and are considering self-hosting, I would say probably don’t bother unless you really, really want to.

With self-hosting you will need to handle everything yourself: driving traffic, payment processing, shipping, tax collection and remittance, inventory management, etc. There are often plugins for many of these things or in-host services, just be cautious, especially with in-house payment processing. There is the cost of having a website, plus the domain, plus the cost of making it an e-commerce site.

I use Squarespace but I don’t quite recommend it. It’s $16 a month for Commerce Basic (source). In my case, I pay $336 per year (yes, that’s $28 a month; I have a weird grandfathered plan I can’t seem to find the details of anywhere) and I use my own payment processor. Squarespace exclusively has chat support and if you email them for help it has to be under 128 characters in their little chat bot; you will hear back in day to a week depending on how busy they are. Boo.

Shopify is a popular host; they are $28 a month and include payment processing but they are a shop only, not a full website (source). I don’t have any personal experience with them. They also, seemingly, have removed phone support.

Like I said, this guide is for hobbyists, but if you’re adding zines to an already existing creative business, self-hosting is probably the way to go. If you don’t already have a self-hosted shop, just know if you choose this path, it’s a pain.

Self-Hosting Pros: Looks professional, makes sense if you already have a shop and logistics set up.

Self-Hosting Cons: Very expensive, you have to do everything yourself.

Zinesters who self-host: Billy McCall, Natalie Harney

Pros and Cons of Etsy

Etsy is going to be the solution for the vast majority of zinesters looking to have a place to casually sell zines. That being said, some people absolutely hate Etsy and the fees are (!) a lot. I have used Etsy off an on almost since its inception and I remember the huge fallout when they started requiring IDs. Yes, to use Etsy you have to provide a valid, government ID. That could be a TKO for some folks who are unable or unwilling to provide identification.

Etsy fees include a shop set up fee that “varies by location” - I could not get a straight answer on this - I believe mine was about $30. In addition, they charge $0.20 per listing, 6.5% on all transactions (fee includes shipping), and a 15% offsite ad fee (gasps for air), payment processing fee of 3% (plus $0.25 per transaction), and currency conversion fee, if applicable3.

Lost? Me too, so here is my dashboard from Etsy for November 2025:

As you can see, my “profit” (not counting the cost of making the zines or supplies like envelopes or stickers) was $339.47 on $566.82 of gross sales. Taking the $159.58 charged for shipping labels out of the equation that’s $407.24 adjusted gross, which means the total fees of $66.77 which works out to around 16%.

I did reclaim $5.56 through their “Share and Save” program, which gives you custom links to your shop and listings (Hint: I use those here, please use them so I can give Etsy less money). When that link is used by someone who makes a purchase, Etsy reduces your fee since you “proved” that you drove your own sale. If you go with Etsy, absolutely sign up for this program. I was worried it was a scam, but it seems to be fine and has saved me tens of dollars. That’s right, tens of dollars!

A helpful video explaining the fees can be found here (they are Canadian which might be more helpful to those of you outside the US).

Well now, you might be wondering, for all those fees what the heck do I even get? I’m starting to wonder that myself!

You may have seen the “sales tax paid by buyer” line item, and one thing I do like is that Etsy collects and remits sales tax on your behalf. I love this. Shipping labels are also extremely easy to use on Etsy. Was it easy to set up? A bit less so, but that may have been a me problem. I still really like their label system, far more than the $20 a month shipping service I pay for. I’ll go into shipping logistics later on as well, but that’s a huge pro for me.

Most importantly, Etsy has a large zine community. I get sales on Etsy without posting on social media about my zines because folks are already there looking to buy zines.

Etsy is not all roses and fees though. Etsy is annoyingly strict about a lot of things that can end up down ranking your search results when you didn’t do anything wrong. But the general public also trust Etsy more than they do sites like Ko-Fi.

Etsy Pros: Large zine community, Etsy will bring in sales, built in sales tax remittance, built in shipping labels that work, trusted site for buyers.

Etsy Cons: Very high fees, lots of on-site rules, have to provide an ID.

Zinesters who use Etsy: Too many to count but a few are Jempol, Vanessa Berry, 2Bmcr, Liz Mason

Pros and Cons of Patreon

If you want to distribute your zine via a subscription, your options are Patreon, Ko-Fi, or offering physical rewards through Substack (discussed in the next section). Patron was made as a place to provide physical rewards to subscribers, so everything you need is already there. It’s easy to set up tiers and see what rewards are due, but you will need to manage fulfillment yourself as there are no in-house shipping labels.

Patreon allows you to have a digital goods store as well, meaning you can sell PDFs of zines easily through your Patreon, but not physical goods. If you want to sell online, the Patreon will have to be in addition to a shop, whereas on Ko-Fi you can sell subscriptions, digital downloads, and have a traditional shop.

Like Etsy, Patreon collects and remits sales tax, which I love. However, any subscribers who join through the app on an Apple device will be charged an utterly massive 30% surcharge (Substack does this as well).

Current fees for Patreon are 10% on pledges and purchases from your digital shop (source). Additionally, there is a 2.9% + $0.30 payment processing fee and a currency conversion fee (source). Digital shop items also have a minimum price of $3 (source).

Patreon has no discoverability but it is rolling out Quips (the name makes me so mad I don’t even know why), which are similar to how Notes work here (source). I have early access to Quips and I don’t use it because I think it’s dumb; I’m usually wrong about these types of things though, so I can’t give an informed opinion. However, this seems to be Patreon’s attempt to include a discoverability feature.

Patreon Pros: People trust Patreon as a legit service, it’s set up for fulfilling monthly rewards, a digital store is included.

Patreon Cons: You have to drive all the traffic, no internal shipping system, non-monthly rewards can be tricky to set up, sending rewards to multiple countries can be tricky to set up.

Zinesters who use Patron: Elisa Milan, Harmonic Content, Carrie McNinch

Pros and Cons of Substack

Since you’re already here I’m including Substack subscriptions as well. If you want to provide a zine subscription option via Substack you will need to set it up in your tiers. This is tricky because Substack really isn’t set up for it, so you can have your annual pledge tier be the physical subscription option, or you can make your default monthly price cover physical subscription.

Conversely, you can make a downloadable version of your zine available to Substack subscribers, making fulfillment easier.

For me, my monthly pledge option is the price of one of my zines with free shipping and I can only offer physical rewards inside the US. I went back and forth a lot about doing this at all (mostly because I didn’t want to make a FOURTH Stripe account), but someone pre-pledged and I was like you got me.

For physical rewards you will need to start by setting up a survey that goes to paid subscribers asking for a mailing address by going to Dashboard > Stats > Surveys. Then you’ll need to keep track of who cancels each month before you ship out zines and hope people contact you when they move.

For digital rewards, you can paywall part of a post (which I find lame but does work as “advertising” by creating FOMO, but is not very zinely of you) and put the digital download below the paywall. The other option, which I think is better, is that you can email paid subscribers by going to your subscriber list and selecting Filter > Can see paid content > is True. Just drag and drop a PDF into the editor and it becomes a download link, easy peasy.

Substack charges a 10% fee plus 2.9% + $0.30 payment processing fee and also has the additional 30% in app Apple fee (source). You will need to set up a Stripe account to accept payments on Substack. They do not collect or remit sales tax.

Substack charges the same as Patreon with no fulfillment features and most of its features set up to support the sale of digital items via a paywall structure, which can be adapted to zines, but isn’t a natural fit for them. If you decided to go this route, I would do it in addition to an online store.

Substack Pros: You’re already here and you may already have paid subscriptions on, does work for easily selling a digital zine subscription, discoverability through Notes.

Substack Cons: Not set up for fulfillment of physical items at all, does not remit taxes, you will need to handle all shipping and logistics.

Zinesters who use Substack: For physical zine rewards? I’m the only one I know of.

In Conclusion

I hope you all found this helpful and please let me know what you would like to see in future installments. Oh and share it! This post took me a long time to write :) did it work? Did you share it?

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Okay, bye!

It’s been two months since the last issue of Commonplace! It’s both because my day job (artist) is taking up a lot more of my time and I put a lot of work into this issue. But, despite the delay, I’m so proud of how it turned out.

And yes! I will have other articles posted here soon. I’m being a perfectionist about my How to Sell Zines Online article, but my goal is to have it out before the end of the month.

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Commonplace Issue 13

Commonplace 13 is now available in my Etsy shop or you can start your subscription with Issue 13. I have also restocked Issue 3 which was sold out for a while.

There is also a digital edition available on my Ko-Fi, so if you are outside the US you can now read Commonplace without paying wild shipping costs.

This issue was written during the months of February and March 2026 and contains ...

• my journey out of literary snobbery aka undoing what grad school did

• love letters from Animal Crossing villagers

• a romance novel genre word search

• an essay on the Bronte sisters (including an analysis of Anne Bronte’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall)

• book reviews (all romance novels)

• and more!

The cover is a super vibrant hot pink for maximum girliness and features a corset; a nod to “bodice rippers.” The subscriber variant has glossy black foil and, as always, a few extras of these have been popped into the shop. Once they are gone, only the standard cover will be available.

Commonplace has the heart of a perzine, so I wanted to devote some space this issue to exploring my own relationship, not only with romance novels, but with reading in general. This essay is about my journey with reading, how it ties in with my relationship with my parents, how graduate school changed how I read, and how a bout of insomnia changed it all again.

This article, entitled Spilling the BronTEA, is about Anne Bronte’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, a near-forgotten feminist classic that should be far more popular than Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights (imo1). It’s also the story of Charlotte Bronte burying the legacies of her literary rivals - her sisters. It’s researched from original sources and took a lot of time but I am so, so proud of this one.

Of course there has to be something dumb in my zine, so in addition to a Romance Novel Genre Word Search there’s this collection of love letters you’d get from the villagers in the original Animal Crossing game.

Finally, book reviews! Since this issue is romance novel themed they are all romance novels, including two I picked up from a neighborhood library. I also rank all the novels in Evie Dumore’s League of Extraordinary Women series, which I finally finished reading.

I hope you enjoy the new issue and thank you again for hanging in there while I devote time to my “real” job (which isn’t zines, boo).

Okay, bye!

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Prints of Poyais by

6 pgs. with fold out poster | £4 | UK

A beautifully created, written, and printed zine about a con artist of yore? Sign me up! “Gregor MacGregor committed the most audacious con in history, creating a country that didn’t exist out of paper and hype.” This zine dives into the event and has a fold out poster in the center featuring some of his extensive foraged documents. With all profits going to the National Literacy Trust, how can you resist? Accessibility note: Very small font.

Online at natalieharney.com

BAT Zine #1 by Bat Makes

30 pgs. | $7 | UK
etsy.com/shop/BatMakes

A full-color collage style perzine inspired by Y2K aesthetics, this first issue discusses their zine journey, overconsumption and hoarding vs collecting physical media, has movie reviews and a critique of feminism in Mona Lisa Smile, a mixtape, and so much more. A very enjoyable and eclectic read.

Silly Goose Gazette #1 by

20 pgs. | $5 | USA
charliefairfieldzines.bigcartel.com

An eclectic, collaged and hand-drawn perzine that has drawings, thoughts on Looney Toons cartoons, and the creative energy they want to bring into 2026. A fun zine.

How to Be a Large Child by Paul Shortt

40 pgs. | $25 | USA
shortteditions.com

Found at St. Pete Zine Fest ‘26, an ergodic zine made from laser cut pages of multicolored school sentence strips with tips on how to stay childlike like “act goofy” and “roll your eyes.” A really fun and different zine that I would consider more of an art book, it is in a limited edition of 300. Shortt also has a similar “How to Be a Toddler” offering.

Free & Digital Zines

Night Crafts by Sarah Wood

28 pgs. | $5 or FREE PDF | USA
ko-fi.com/heysarahwood

The GOAT of free zines is back with a 28 page zine all about crafts to do to unwind before bed instead of doom scrolling. A fun, hand-drawn zine, the crafts inside range from friendship bracelets to stickers to collages.

Thank you for reading and if there are any zines you think I should check out (especially perzines and art zines) leave your recs in the comments and remember to hit the like button an odd number of times.

If you want to receive a zine every month from me and support my work in the process you can subscribe below.

Okay bye!

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Here is a rundown of said lessons and please feel free to leave any advice you like in the comments.

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Takeaway 1: Zine (Over)Stock

I printed 10-15 copies of each of my zines and brought along every issue of Commonplace plus GET REC’D and Grimoire Girls and my husband brought all three issues of his music zine. This was way too many zines. I think people were overwhelmed by the number of zines and needed help choosing (I would have), so the zines with the best elevator pitches plus the first and most recent issues sold the best.

Next Time: I will bring the first issue of Commonplace, the issues that I have published since this zine fest, and a few popular titles. With less zines to pick from I think it will help folks decide what to get. To help with the pitch (aka people quickly understanding what’s inside) I may start adding a list of topics to the otherwise decorative backs of my zines.

Takeaway 2: Table Layout &c.

The table layout can and should be really simple. I had stands for zines plus zines on the table, but the table zines were the ones that got the most love. Really, no stands were needed. Similarly, I had the price list on standees, and a lot of people missed them. They should have been the same place as the zines2. Also, one price list have been behind the stand because my husband could not remember a single price and had to keep picking up the sign to check (sorry, babe, it’s true!).

Next Time: Simple layout and lots of clear price sheets is the way to go.

Takeaway 3: Swags and Bags

We’ll get to my shopping in a moment, but one thing I noticed is that almost no one gave shoppers bags of any kind. I got pastel handle bags off Amazon (100 bags for $23) and the relief that flooded people’s faces when they got a bag was notable. It was one of the smartest things I did to prepare. Even smarter would have been putting a Commonplace sticker on the bag, but there’s always next time.

My swag-related error of the fest was that 1) I didn’t have enough freebies and 2) they were not clearly labeled as being free. Instead of business cards I have bookmarks because my zines are so dense, but lots of people didn’t realize they were free. Similarly, I had free minizines but no sign (oops).

Next Time: Keep the bags going, add stickers to them. Clearly label freebies and bring free stickers. My goal is to make a take-a-zine, leave-a-zine wee zine library with me and collect all my unwanted zines for the year so people can swap with the zine box in case of shyness (me).

Takeaway 4: MANning the Table

I think my husband was scary lol he said this by the way, so I’m not roasting him. Between my workshop and shopping, I was at my table for a little over 1/4th of the fest. My husband has been talking about vending at far away fests without me3, so I treated this as a bit of a dry run for him tabling alone. I think an older dude freaks some people out (except all the cool middle aged and older folks who stopped by, you rock), though once I slapped a Hello Kitty fanny pack on him, folks seemed less afraid to approach. More people came over when I was there, though, and we both noticed. A few people stopped by and said they knew me or my zine from Substack (hello!) while I was away, and I wanted to cry a little. My zine collection is full but what about my heart?

Next Time: I will probably shop way less or only do so for the last hour of the fest. Last time I stayed at the table and barely shopped, this time I wanted to meet other zinesters and support them. Next time I will try to balance both.

Takeaway 5: Cash(App) (Ven)Money

I don’t have Venmo. Everyone else had Venmo. I will have to sign up for Venmo even though I really don’t want Venmo and/or I will need to carry way more cash on me. One good thing? On the advice of my friend I signed up for Square so I could accept tap and it worked really beautifully, plus it was easier to set up than my recently acquired printer. I also got a stand for it which gave it some weight. Most commonly accepted payment forms from other zineters in order were: cash (of course), Venmo, Cash App, and card/tap, with Paypal/Zelle at the bottom.

Next Time: Bring more cash or sign up for Venmo (sigh). Keep using Square reader.

Takeaway 6: Workshopping It

I was really proud of my foiled zine covers workshop/demo, which went off without a hitch (to the best of my knowledge). I taught one group at the appointed time, plus one person who was early, and a few more who were late. I had a flyer with the directions written out and it linked to my Substack article with a video tutorial and links to all the products I used. Note: People want to know exactly what you are using, just be specific and make them happy.

Since I used to teach, this was more in my comfort zone. Tip: Don’t give out your handout until after you’re done with your presentation, otherwise people will read the handout instead of listening to you. Learned that teaching 11th grade English. I also really enjoyed answering all the specific questions, that kind of stuff is fun for me.

Next Time: I keep forgetting I get nervous doing public speaking since I don’t do it every day anymore and then I’m like haha heehee jokes which I then cringe at later, so um, I guess next time try to seem more normal?

Anyway!

That’s what I learned from my most recent zine fest. I will have another post about all the amazing zines I got coming up in the future. Please leave your zine fest tips - from a vendor or from a shopper’s perspective! - in the comments, I’d love to hear them.

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Bonus: My Packing Checklist

• zines (bagged to prevent damage plus a loose reading copy)

  • in storage boxes, labeled

  • zine stands

• stickers/postcards

  • sticker stand ← this stand was a good idea

• payment processor (square, fully set up and tested before we left)

  • and cash

    • and extra cash for me

  • fanny pack or cash box

• electronic stuff

  • extension cord (x2)4, charging cables and block

• handle bags

  • flyers for bags

• freebies

  • mini zines

  • bookmarks

• price list

  • stands ← probably not needed next year

• water

  • should have been throat coat tea

• plastic bins to hold everything

  • dolly for plastic bins

    • bungee cord to hold bins to dolly ← this was genius

• workshop stuff, packed separately

• pen, scissors, tape (aka those things you might not need unless you need and then you really need)

• next year: whimsical outfit to make husband look less scary

Okay, bye!

All zines were bought with my own money unless otherwise noted. Please share with someone who loves zines. Past and future Zine Rec posts can be found here.

The Power of Three by Billy McCall

half size | 20 pgs. | $3 | USA

I got this very fun fanzine in a swap and it comes from an unlikely source: Billy McCall was minding his business at the gym until a barrage of ten-minute snippets of Charmed reruns compelled him to watch the entirety of Season 1. As it turns out, the witch sister’s powers do, indeed, transcend time and space as McCall was practically bespelled into writing this fanzine. Includes character profiles, a write up of the first season, and episode synopsis. Truly enjoyable.

Online at etsy.com/shop/iknowbilly

You Really Need to Make a Zine! by Leanne Delux

16 pgs. | $5 | USA
etsy.com/shop/LeanneDelux

A zine about why you should make a zine including reasons to make zines, some zine ideas, and an 8 page mini zine template.

Girl and Meow by Kiera Won

12 pgs. | £15.00 | UK

A beautiful riso zine of Won’s illustrations, this offering is very much on the expensive side, but a must-have for collectors of this artist. This little zine has comics as well as beautiful, highly saturated images of girls and cats. A super cute art zine.

Online at necococat.bigcartel.com

Free & Digital Zines

Honks and Squeaks Issue 3 by Russell

Nepotism alert! This is my husband’s zine (aww!) now in its third issue and this time it’s all about Don “Sugarcane” Harris. If you’re interested in learning more about blues and rock violinist, this zine may be for you. QR codes to playlists are included so you can listen along.

Online at ko-fi.com/honksandsqueaks

LoFi-Ghosts Vol. 2 by

This digital zine, subtitled “Curious Apparitions of 1999,” is a modern celebration of Y2K aesthetics and includes articles on journaling, shopping addition, vintage tech, cozy watch list, and because it’s a double issue has a whole Halloween-themed section. A really fun read.

Online at lofi-ghosts.com

How to Sew Reusable Cloth Pads by Word Soup

An infozine on how to sew, use, and clean reusable cloth menstrual pads as well as reasons to use them and a supply list. Can be downloaded and printed (they have okayed distributing copies) or read online via the link below. A very helpful minizine and great to leave in the ladies room.

Online on reddit.com/r/zines

Thank you for reading and if there are any zines you think I should check out (especially Perzines and art zines) leave your recs in the comments and remember to hit the like button an odd number of times.

If you want to receive a zine every month from me and support my work in the process you can subscribe below.

Okay bye!

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It’s been a minute since I posted a new issue of Commonplace zine. I took off for the holidays, but also this issue took a while to put together because it’s themed! It makes sense that a zine based on a commonplace book would be themed, and this issue is subtitled Year of the Horse Girl. Lots of horse-related stuff inside; I had no idea I had so many horse stories. I would like to keep the themed issues going but no pressure on myself because that’s not the Way of the Zine (TM).

St. Pete Zine Fest

Before I forget, I will be tabling at St. Pete Zine Fest ‘26 in St. Petersburg, FL in just a few weeks. You can check out their website for all the relevant info. It’s 11 am to 3 pm on Saturday, February 21st (a daytime zine fest? Thank you!) and at 12:30 pm I will be doing a free workshop on how to foil zine covers. Stop by and say hello! I’ll have all the issues of Commonplace, free zines, plus my husband is tabling with me.

I also really recommend this zine fest; it’s inside, it’s at a library, it’s during the day, and there are always a TON of people tabling. It’s my third year in a row going and I absolutely love it.

Commonplace Issue 12

Huge thank you to everyone who has subscribed to Commonplace. There has been a big uptick in subscribers since the beginning of the year and I so appreciate it! Subscribers are guaranteed to get the variant foiled covers of each new issue and the standard cover is available now as well. I’m planning on keeping this going moving forward.

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Commonplace 12 is now available in my Etsy shop or you can start your subscription with Issue 12. I have also restocked a ton of sold out issues ahead of zine fest, so issues 2, 7, and 10 are back after being gone for a while.

Update! There is now a digital edition available on my Ko-Fi, so if you are outside the US you can now read Commonplace without paying wild shipping costs.

This issue was written during the months of December 2025 and January 2026 and contains ...

• Animal Crossing horse villager ranking

• traumatic horse stories

  • including horseback riding

• non-traumatic horse stories

  • including the best horse painting, ever

• a deep dive into My Little Pony toys

  • and my collection

• horse-themed romance book reviews

• a horse playlist

• thoughts on Canada's Drag Race S6 even though it's off topic

• monthly zine recs

• other stuff

The subscriber variant cover is a mystical, unicorn-tastic purple with glittering silver foil. I wanted it to feel magical and sparkly. A few of these are set aside for folks who may subscribe this month, but the extras are available now. Once they’re gone, only the standard cover will be available (which is the lovely lavender above).

The Table of Contents gives you a good idea of what’s going on inside (um, probably goes without saying). Commonplace was always meant to be a perzine even if it is commonplace book themed, and there are a lot more personal stories in this one. It’s something I’ve been working up the courage to do over the last year plus of zine writing, figuring out in real time what I wanted to share and how I wanted to share it. Now you can read a bunch of childhood horse stories!

As a child of the 80s I was obsessed with My Little Pony toys, so I did a breakdown of each pony toy generation for this issue and have some MLP-related stories as well. I was deep in the pony collecting community back in the Y2K days; I was even served a cease and desist by Hasbro, find out why inside1!

I also told two personal stories about horseback riding and how horses have intersected with hurricanes and my first experience with death as a child!? Horses everywhere!

To quote my husband, “Your family does not come off looking good in this issue,” oopsie! It didn’t even occur to me that any of it was negative, it was just how my life was. But apparently riding away on a horse while the horse your child is on basically tries to end their wee life (emotionally) counts as “bad parenting,” who knew2.

Finally, this is your fault! I asked on Notes if I should read the spicy romantasy book about the prince who gets turned into a horse on his wedding night and you all said yes and so I read it. This is the first time I’ve ever read a book just to review it in for zine, which was really fun.

I hope you enjoy the new issue and thank you again to all the new subscribers, you all are so cool. Also, some of you have sent me letters and zines after getting your issue in the mail and I wanted to say that’s so awesome and kind and I owe a bunch of you letters back but I haven’t forgotten you!

Okay, bye!

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You can also go ahead and make these mistakes if they seem too fun to resist.

Where do these mistakes come from? I think a lot mistakes come from the fact that a lot of new people are being introduced to the zine community online and without having a mentor within the community to take them under their wing. So here I am with my wing, taking you under it (maybe kicking and screaming).

None of these “mistakes” are meant as judgements. As always with zines, do what you want, do what feels right to you, and know none of these are “rules.”

5. Starting too small

When I say people start too small I mean that literally, when folks think they have to start out with small-sized minizines.

I absolutely think minizines have a place in the zine scene; when I make free zines I often choose the minizine format because they’re easy for people to print at home. If you learned about zines from a teacher or a workshop, it was probably minizines. That’s because it’s easier to teach a group when only one piece of paper is involved and not because they’re the best format for all zines. (I say this both as someone who has taught zines in the classroom and who has done library programming.)

Because of this, one frequent trap I see people fall into is thinking they have to start with minizines and then only making minizines, no matter how big their ideas get. If you have bigger ideas, you can and should explore bigger zine formats.

Imagine if you wanted to be a poet but you thought you had to start with haiku? And to the masters of the minizine format: I salute you.

4. Creating zines for the panopticon

There’s something I call “creating for the panopticon” which I think we all have to fight, to some extent. It’s creating things knowing, maybe way back in the back of our heads, that we will post them on social media eventually.

The panoptic presence of social media can impact zines in all manner of ways, from participating in zine “challenges” (which I will always find triggering), to avoiding certain topics entirely or censoring your own writing to be algorithm-friendly, to saving that paper pile because the scraps in the background of a photo would make it look more “authentic.”

“Well I wasn’t going to post it, but …” we lie to ourselves. We all do it (including me).

I would challenge most folks starting out to not post their first zine online. Or really, not to post the draft of their first zine, before even a single photocopy has been made. Get no feedback from anyone but yourself and see if you really and truly enjoy the process. A zine is an analog form of self-expression and we know the panoptic gaze too well to be able to create knowing it will fall upon our work but not be influenced by it. You deserve better than that, you deserve to have an authentic creative experience with yourself.

3. Not joining the zine community

Before I talk about money (Mistake #2) I want to say this: you can make zines and never charge a single cent for them. Many people do and I love that, but I also acknowledge that for many people to participate in a hobby they must monetize that hobby1. There is a middle ground and a mistake I see all the time is jumping right into selling zines without participating in the community at all, which is a shame, because the zine community can be great.

Going to zine fests and swapping with people online are all parts of our community. When you swap with other zinesters rather than buying each other’s work you are bartering your time and effort for another person’s time and effort. Those trades form connections and build friendships more than shop sales ever can or will.

Zines are a community that values connection over capitalism. Sometimes people wander in looking for attention or money; sure, it happens. But not realizing that there is a community waiting to embrace you? That’s what I really fear. So know that the zine community waits for new members with open arms and that’s beautiful. Without that aspect of zines, I wouldn’t be on here writing any of this.

2. Pricing your zine way too low/high

This one is for folk who are at the point where they are selling zines. And some folks in the zine community will disagree with the following take and believe all zines should be free or under a few dollars. I respect that, but I also feel that one’s labor has value and that there’s nothing wrong with being compensated for your zines (within reason, we’ll get to it).

When it comes to pricing your first zine, look up comparable zine prices and check the size, page count, and how the writer sells. Mini zines are generally $2-4, quarter size zines $4-6, and half size zines are $4-12. Professionally printed zines (including riso) are more, but zines over $20? That’s not going to be well-received by many and some zinesters will outright never buy a zine at that price2. Some will even say it’s not a zine. I’m not going to do that because I’m not in the business of hurting feelings, but I’m going to side eye it.

The other side of the coin are people who way undervalue their zines. Some folks give their zines away for philosophical reasons and that’s awesome. But other people give away their zines because they think their zine isn’t very good. I’m going to put my teacher hat on now and tell you, with love, that if you don’t think your zine is good enough to charge $2 for you either need to work on your zine or work on your self-esteem. Because if it’s truly not worth $2 maybe keep working on it, and if it’s really the best you can do and you’re proud of it, my friend, I need you to believe in yourself.

With leads up into …

1. Not publishing your zine until it’s “perfect”

Everyone’s first zine is “bad,” there, I said it3.

You have to develop your style/voice over time and you can only do that by doing that. Zines are like pancakes, the first one never turns out quite right, so make your bad pancake and just get it over with.

I know we’re all very capitalism-pilled in general, but you don’t need to sell your first zine4. Like I said, you don’t even need to post your first zine online. You can trade it, give it away, bring it to zine fests and ask people to swap for it. I’ve made zines that have never gotten past the draft stage. The point of zines isn’t making something to sell, it’s making something for fun, to be part of the community, and to express yourself.

Bonus Mistakes

And just for fun here are some bonus mistakes I see:

• not including a place to find you/your zines (this one drives me bonkers, I want to keep supporting you!)

• not including a publication date or even worse putting an inaccurate date on the zine (the archivist side of me hates this)

• not stapling your zine (babe, it’s going to fall apart)

• using a really tiny font (visually impaired friends deserve zines, too)

• thinking that making one zine means you’re committing to making zines forever (you can just make one and see how it goes!)

In Conclusion

With so many people making zines online and without the mentorship of the community like we had in the 90s mistakes are inevitable, but those mistakes are also no big deal. And “mistakes” is probably too strong of a word for the things on this list anyway, “pitfalls” is probably more accurate. Regardless, you’re just making a zine, you’re allowed to do it your own way.

Maybe zines are like a Bob Ross painting, perhaps there are no true mistakes, just happy accidents.

And if you disagree with me and you do all the things on the list? Well, that’s none of my business; I’m just happy you’re creating.

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Okay, bye!

I ended up posting a Note about it and I was surprised by the number of fellow artists who said they didn’t feel like they belonged in zines or that they didn’t know they could make a zine of their own art.

Some people in the zine scene will tell you that full color or professionally printed art zines aren’t Real Zines. Respectfully, I think they’re wrong. In fact, one of the oldest zines was (as previously discussed) Piet Mondrian’s zine about the philosophy behind his art, de Stijl. An artist’s manifesto is one of the oldest zines.

I believe that artists and zines belong together and you can still follow the zine ethos while creating zines of your art.

The basic principles of zines are:

1. they exist in multiple copies

2. they are made with a DIY ethos

3. they are anti-capitalist aka affordable aka not prohibitively expensive

Obviously, your art zine will exist in multiple copies. Also, all art has a DIY ethos in that you are creating your art (and by proxy, said zine) with your hands, photographing it with your hands, writing about your art (possibly) within said zine; all of that counts. Finally, you can make a full color zine not super expensive if you’re not greedy about it. Thus, art zines can be zines.

Now let’s get into it …

Why Make an Art Zine?

Why should you, an artist, make a zine of your work?

They’re great for you, for one, plus they’re great for your fans and collectors, and selfishly I love art zines and want more of them to exist, darn it. I really do mean it when I say from fan art to fine art there is a reason that every artist should make a zine of their work. A lot of us artists are waiting until we have a perfect, massive portfolio of work to make into a book, but as the years go by our art gets better and the number of pieces “good enough” for a book stays the same. How irksome.

Publishing an annual zine of our work (or more frequently if you like) is a great way to put our pieces into a time capsule. These are my best/favorite pieces right now.

Additionally, collectors of your work get an affordable way to hold your art in their hands, extending your time with them beyond what they see on a screen or even in a gallery. People want to hold your art in their hands, they want to collect your zines.

While you can sell zines, you can also …

• include zines with large purchases or give zines as gifts to regular collectors

• bring zines as gifts to gallery owners or to a pitch meeting

• send zines to galleries as a thank you gift after an exhibit

• carry a copy of your zine around like a portable portfolio

• ask local indie bookstores if they’re interested in carrying your zine

Digital illustrator or fan artist tabling at a comic con? Imagine putting your favorite pieces into a zine. Someone is at your table, unsure which print to buy, they love so many! Well, luckily, you have a zine of all your favorite pieces. They buy their favorite print and the zine and then they get to enjoy all your beautiful work instead of choosing just one or two. They look at it again and again over the years and smile, remembering that convention. The algorithm can forget you, but a bookshelf? Not so much.

Photographers, are you thinking, “What about me? Are photo zines a thing?” Photo zines are foundational to the art zine genre. From documenting music scenes from the inside to landscape and portrait photography, you absolutely belong here too1.

How to Organize an Art Zine

Think of an art zine a bit like a catalog for an exhibition at a gallery, it’s a snapshot of what you are making right now and perhaps your philosophy behind it. The layout of an art zine should flow like a composition itself, it can be organized by color, theme, or show pieces in the order they were created. It depends on if you are a photographer presenting a specific project, or a sculptor looking to present a series of works.

I publish my art zines annually, so pieces are presented in the order they were created. That way, when you read multiple issues in a row, you can see the art change over the years. Other artists organize their art by theme or curate selections of their sketchbooks. I’ll get into the variety of art zines more in the examples section below.

At minimum, I would suggest a mixture of (mostly) full piece images, (fewer) detail shots, a page or two long studio section with a few progress photos, sketches, or other ephemera, and your philosophy or ideas behind what’s in the zine (or a manifesto, Mondrian-style, if you please).

One thing I lament as an art fan and collector is how few artists are talking about their own work online. To get the ideas behind the work I so often have to read interviews with the artists and interviewers don’t always get to the meat of the artist’s ideas. And we know the artist’s statement we all have to write is agony, sitting uselessly on our websites and then copy/pasted into applications.

Once I had someone come up to me at a zine fest and say that they found my art zine at a local gallery and that they loved it, not for the images, but for the two page essay I included in the center. The part of the zine I thought no one would want to read was the part they appreciated the most. Something to consider.

Printing and Pricing Art Zines

On a practical level, as an artist you certainly already have some skills with printing, photo editing, layout, etc. especially if you already make prints of your work. I would say to use whatever program you are most comfortable with; personally, I use Canva.

For printing your zines, there are several options to choose from including local print shops which - just to be frank - will almost certainly be more expensive than online printing options. You might have a shop you already have a relationship with, so inquire within because supporting small businesses is cool.

With full color printing widely available, a very nice looking zine can cost $3-6 to print depending on the quantity you order. In turn, you can sell said zine for $10-12, a not unreasonable price for a zine. Even wholesale, you can sell art zines though galleries or local bookstores for $16 (netting you $8) and still make a bit of profit. Over $20 and I hesitate to say it’s fulfilling Zine Principle #3 above, but you do you.

Below are a few online print companies I recommend; not sponsored but wouldn’t they be smart to?2 For each example I priced out 50 copies of an A5, 32 page full color zine, satin internal pages, stapled (saddle) binding, with gloss covers (36 pages total). ←This is nerd stuff but I swear artists will care.

Mixam: $147.50 ($2.95 per zine) before shipping. I use them and the quality is fine though a touch inconsistent. They will raise their prices, they raise them constantly, and they never have sales aside from an insulting 5-10% off sale maybe once a year. They are who I use, but it’s because they’re cheap and I want to keep my zine prices low, but you get what you pay for. They do have a lot of finish options available and also do perfect binding. For fancy finishes and bindings, their prices are quite good. Find their magazine printing here.

Best Printing USA: $295.30 ($5.90 per zine) before shipping. I have not used them by my zine friend uses them for his zines, so I know the quality is good and he highly recommends them. If you add custom cover finishes like soft touch the price will get wild, whereas it’s more affordable for those same features with Mixam. I don’t know about the consistency of their quality, but from what I’ve seen3 and heard, they do a good job. Find their booklet printing here.

Jukebox Print: $169 ($3.38 per zine) before shipping. They don’t offer many zines, so rather than A5 I got a quote for half letter size. They are a Canadian printing company and I have not used them for zines but got the most gorgeous, full color notepads from them, so I know their quality is great. Jukebox does regularly have sales of 15-20% off; were I to start over I would absolutely give Jukebox a try despite their limited options. Find their saddle stitched booklets here.

Art Zine Examples

It’s hard to know where to begin with art zines so it’s nice to have examples to get your inspired. Remember that you are a creative and zines are a wonderful space to explore that creativity. Some artists with access to screenprinting or riso printing equipment are getting creative with the art zine medium itself. In some cases, the zine is the art.

Beverly Salas is a great example of mixed media zines. She does collage pages, draws over magazine clippings, and includes photos of her junk journal in these zines alongside scans of her hand drawn art. A great example of how you can turn purely analog art into a zine.

Deth P Sun primarily creates line drawings and prints them in black ink on colored paper. No fancy printing necessary. He almost exclusively publishes quarter size zines and is regularly creating new ones. A good example for illustrators and those looking for a chill art zine option.

Emon Hassan is a photojournalist who publishes a monthly photography zine, emonone, that contains photos interspersed with fiction. Each zine is themed around a central question and there are lots of photos of the internal pages on their site to inspire you. A beautiful example of both a photography zine and publishing a monthly art zine.

Kelly Belter of Polite Co. Press creates her own zines using her home riso printer. Her work is beautiful and she goes over her creative process on her YouTube. She is a great example of how to work with riso as a medium in and of itself rather than creating work and then printing it with a riso machine.

Kira Imai is an artist and illustrator who regularly works with the fashion brand Angelic Pretty. She will occasionally create perfect bound zines of her work that are beautifully printed and very reasonably priced. A great example of larger format art zines that are essentially a collection of prints.

Kiera Won is a tattoo artist and creator of Necoco cat who has been regularly creating riso and perfect bound zines over the past year. Her zines are a great example of how you can vary your art zines from tattoo flash and photos in one, to illustrations in another.

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In Conclusion

I hope this guide - which started out tiny and ballooned into what you see here - was helpful. As it transformed, I wanted it to become a standalone guide for artists who are interested in translating their work into zines. I hope I’ve accomplished that and thank you for reading all the way to the bottom of this huge post. Artists, we need your zines!

Okay, bye!

Space, Place, & Identity: A Geographical Analysis of The Hunger Games by Dove Makes

half size | 28 pgs. | $6+ | USA

Well it looks like I’m going to recommend every zine I’ve read by this zinester! In this one, Dove Makes puts her BA in Geography to work in a long form essay about how place and identity inform one another using The Hunger Games series as a framework. The essay is very interesting and well-written; I found myself staying up late to finish reading it. I have neither seen the movies nor read the books, but picked up enough about both that most of what I read made sense. The author also completely illustrated the zine, which I think is super cool. In the back, Dove writes that she is open to swaps, and she also prices all her zines on a sliding scale. Accessibility note: Font is quite small.

Online at etsy.com/shop/DoveMakes

You Don’t Get There From Here #69 and #70 by Carrie McNinch

quarter size | 32 pgs. | $5+ | USA

Carrie has been drawing three panel mini comics about their life since the 90s. I got these two issues after they sent them to my dad (thank you!) and decided to give them a read first1. Carrie describes themselves as “an aging queer punk” and these issues span August 2021 through November 2021, and November 2021 through February 2022 respectively. They are slices of life with the three panels often broken up into morning, afternoon, and night. It shows the repetitions of every day routines and how they make up one’s life.

Online at ko-fi.com/carriemcninch or patreon.com/carriemcninch

Farm Simulator Zine by offwhitesheep

half size | 32 pgs. | $5 | USA

Written by multiple contributors, this zine is a love letter to one of my all-time favorite video game types: the farm simulator. From Harvest Moon to Story of Seasons, Harvestella to Stardew Valley, this zine has history, trivia, and reviews plus a cow ranking. A really fun zine for all cozy game enthusiasts.

Online at etsy.com/shop/offwhitesheepstuff

Zine Subscriptions

In honor of the New Year, I thought it would be fun to share some of the zine Patreons I’ve found during the year for those looking for a zine subscription. All of these Patreons are ones I personally support, so I know the rewards actually arrive. If you have a recommendation or have a zine subscription of your own, please leave it in the comments!

Elisa Milan

is a zine friend of mine who publishes her personal/art newsletter zine, Hello News, as well as her flash fiction zines monthly on her Patreon. I also interviewed her here if you want to learn more about Elisa. She has a distinct and cute style, writing about the struggles of being both an artist and mother, themes that continue in her fiction.

Price: $9 per month for 2 zines, mailed monthly
Online at patreon.com/helloelisamilan

Harmonic Content

This is a newer zine I found this year and one I subscribed to as a gift for my musician husband. It’s a “zine about sound” edited by Dante Fumo and is a really impressive project. Not only does the author have all manner of contributors who write about “sound design, music, audio engineering, post-production, game audio, field recording” and more, but contributors are paid for their contributions. Plus, every cover is super striking and screen printed.

Price: $6 per month for 1 zine, mailed bi-monthly
Online at patreon.com/HarmonicContentZine

Mel Stringer

This artist has been making zines for ages and I love that they have incorporated zines into their art Patreon. When I mean ages, I mean one of her long-running zines is on Issue 60, and that’s just one of them. Stringer publishes a comic zine every other month, sometimes fiction, sometimes personal comics, but always delightful. Accessibility note on the zines: The font is handwritten and so, so small. Personally, I struggle to read it with my visual impairments BUT I love her and have followed her work for a decade plus so I just deal with it.

Price: $10 per month for 1 zine, mailed bi-monthly
Online at patreon.com/Melstringer

Thank you for reading and if there are any zines you think I should check out (especially Perzines and art zines) leave your recs in the comments and remember to hit the like button an odd number of times.

If you want to receive a zine every month from me and support my work in the process you can subscribe below.

Okay bye!

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Zines, a truly indie form of publishing, are as real as can be.

Zine (pronounced zeen as in “magazine” because it’s short for magazine) are independent publications created with a DIY ethos. Zines have no “rules” but in general, zines are created in multiple copies and exist not to make money but to share ideas and build community. They are around their 100 year anniversary in their current form.

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A Brief History of Zines

Two proto-zines are Fire!! (1926), a single issue literary magazine edited by Langston Hughes, and de Stijl (1917) by Piet Mondrian’s1 collective. Fire!! was a who’s who of the Harlem Renaissance and Mondrian’s worked to further the idea of “the new plastic” in art. Fire!! is being re-canonized as a part of American zine history, but de Stijl is still relatively undiscussed, possibly because of the language barrier.

However, the publication itself has many proto-zine elements which I feel earn it a place in zine history alongside Fire!!. This issue of de Stijl from 1918 includes a manifesto (the only section in English) and suggestions on how to participate including submitting articles or translating the issues into other languages. There’s nothing more zine-coded than a manifesto.

Scans of de Stijl can be found here courtesy of the Iowa University Library and Fire!! can be read online here thanks to Project Gutenberg.

1930 saw the publication of The Comet, often2 considered the first fanzine, giving birth to the name ‘zines (the apostrophe dropped out of use over time). Unlike Hughes’ and Mondrian’s efforts, The Comet was a zine without lofty goals, a record of a community edited by and created for the Chicago chapter of the Science Correspondence Club.

By the 60s these fanzines had matriculated to other fandoms, by the 70s the punk scene lead to an explosion in music related zines, making them a full, underground publishing movement. Punk zines are what locked in the nonchalant aesthetic that some modern zinesters (ironically at times) try to replicate. Their distinct, sloppy look was due both to printing technology at the time and the fact that punks were assembling the zines. Beautifully collated they were not, but authentic they were.

The increasing availability of photocopy machines in the 80s played no small role in expanding the reach of zines. By the 90s, zines were a full movement with a magazine of our own.

I cannot understate the significance of Factsheet Five (also written as Factsheet5 or F5) which started in the 80s, giving zinesters a hub to distribute their zines to others. It contained interviews, ads, and articles, but most importantly F5 reviewed a selection of zines that were sent in to them, grouping them by genre. It was the main way that zinesters found zines and found each other.

You said it was going to be a brief history!

It was! I left a lot out. But all that is to say, zines existed, grew, and thrived in a pre- and proto-internet time. The world wasn’t “better” then, but there are some things from the past that we are now looking to reach back and reclaim. From dumb phones to the indie web, from physical journaling3 to deleting your social media, from dusting off the CD collection to cassette tape swaps, there is a physical media type out there for everyone.

If you are experimenting with a return to physical media, I highly suggest adding zines to the list.

How to Get Started with Zines in 5 (Brief??) Steps

Step 1: Read Zines

If you want to get started with zines my first suggestion is to read zines. In fact, I would pretty much insist on reading zines before even thinking about making one.

Zines can be overwhelming because they’re like that essay prompt you got in school to “write about whatever you want,” but in the case of zines it can also be presented in any format you choose. Reading zines will give you an idea of what you like, what you gravitate toward, and what you might like to make.

Plus reading zines is awesome.

Some genres of zines you can look for include:

• art zines - photo zines are a big sub-genre, but there are many types

• comics/comix - single page or multi-panel comics

• fanzines - if you’re in a fandom, there’s likely a fanzine for it

• fiction - poetry, short stories, flash and serialized fiction

• infozines/non-fiction - DIY, guides, or essays on any number of topics

• music zines - punk zines are a sub-genre but there are tons of others

• perzines - aka personal zines, my favorite

• political zines - some of which are quite radical

• queer zines - a major genre of OG zines

Note: Not all zines are family friendly! There are a lot of “fringe” zines and anonymously published zines, trauma zines and underground zines, sexual health zines and anarchist zines. I keep it cute around here, but it would be a disservice to our history to pretend otherwise.

But remember this: Sci-fi nerds made zines widely available, punks made zines cool. Zines are for everyone.

If you’re stuck on where to start, I review zines each month and in those posts I include free zines to get you started at no cost. Zines are anti-capitalist and many zineters give away at least some of their work for free.

Step 2: Seek Community

By and large, zines are in person and analog. Searching up local Zine Fests - a cornerstone of the zine community - will help you see zines that aren’t online, as well as meet people who have experience in the scene. Local zine libraries is another great way to get started. Zine Map is a community edited info site that’s a good place to start (yes, I contribute to it!).

The zine community is big on mentorship so if you are new to the community, someone will take you under their wing.

You can also find zines online. While many online distros are defunct (or weirdly call themselves zines distros and then only sell like $20+ professionally printed stuff), you can find a lot of zinesters on Etsy of all places, including some OG ones who have been writing zines since the 90s and never stopped.

You can find zinesters on YouTube (I’d stay away from TikTok) though admittedly I’m wary of folks who might use zines for clicks/attention more than education/community. Zines are so analog that it feels unusual to find a zinester who is comfortable being very online, so be a careful consumer. My zine friend Dayna Moth is on YouTube and I know she’s legit, so check out her videos for resources if that’s your preferred way to learn.

Step 3: Create Zines (or Don’t)

Once you know what you like and have found some support resources, you can start making some zines … or don’t! Just because you listen to music doesn’t mean you want to start a band. Reading books and collecting books are completely different hobbies. You can absolutely read and support zines without writing one.

If you do feel called to write zines, awesome!

There are lots of resources out there, but first you might want to think about what size zine will fit your project and go from there.

Keep in mind that zines usually exist in multiple copies, are DIY in spirit, and are created authentically. Is a PDF a zine? Not really unless it also exists in the physical world. Is a zine that only has 1 copy a zine? Not really, it’s a draft of a zine that hasn’t been distributed yet. Zines existing physically and in multiples is kind of the point. “Okay, but I made a zine that-” Chill, friend, there are no real rules to zines4. I’m excited to see anyone expressing themselves creativity, the label is irrelevant to my joy.

Have fun, be creative, and do what makes you happy. Your zines can be anything, including something you have never seen before.

Step 4: Share Your Zine

I already wrote a whole post on how to make zine friends so a lot of what I could say here would be redundant, but I do have a few things to add.

More ways to share your zines include adding your zine to free libraries and coffee shops (ask first), selling your zines online, giving them away for free, or sending them to friends. Some people really push for leaving zines everywhere, but unless your zine rocks there’s a chance you’re littering. Like, just don’t leave them outside. But if you want to make a zine about why Neil Gaiman was cancelled and leave a few copies in his books in Barnes and Noble?5 You do you. (Don’t do this in indie bookstores6.)

Also, it’s important to say that you don’t need to share your zine online. It can have a completely analog existence. If you go to zine fests you might be shocked to see how many people are tabling there who don’t have online shops.

Anyway …

I think 2026 will be the year of the zine. At least, I believe we can make it happen if we want to.

I know I do.

Okay, bye!

Posting this early because sharing my new zine on Christmas would feel … weird. I also got a lot of requests to share my dad’s zine that inspired the holiday zine post, so below is this year’s final issue of Commonplace and some very strange drawings of Santa.

Also! If you are still looking for gifts remember that I posted a bunch of free zines here:

Andy Nukes Christmas

My dad’s name is Andy Nukes, by the way, I have thought about going as Brigitte Nukes on here but haven’t, I’m not sure why, it feels like a big commitment for some reason? If you’re curious, I don’t use my real last name here, not for subterfuge, but because, as I’ve discussed in Notes, I’m a full time artist and I use my full name for that. Still feels odd to be walking around here with no last name.

Anyway, here’s some Santas my dad drew 20+ years ago! I think Satan Claus is Krampus? I have no idea about the dog one. Dad’s unique.

Bonus: I took some quick photos of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” by Angela Mark (2000) that you can see in the Note below. This zine is from dad’s collection.

Commonplace Issue 11

After a pause to work on GET REC’D, Issue 11 of Commonplace is finally done and it’s a doozy! This issue is 40 pages (not including the cover) making it my biggest issue yet. Also, thank you to everyone who has subscribed to Commonplace over the past few months.

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Issue 11 of Commonplace zine is up in the Etsy shop here and on Ko-Fi here. Use Ko-Fi if you’re in the US and want free shipping and use Etsy if you want tracked shipping, you’re outside the US, or you’re more comfortable shopping there.

This one is was written during the months of October and November 2025 and contains ...

• a mushroom gravy recipe

• my unsolicited thoughts on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 7

• a Margaret Atwood interview excerpt of note

• guide to making a holiday zine with idea bank

• annual grudge list with activity

• spicy romance novel tournament-style ranking

• the latest installment in my series where I rewrite the American literary canon

• monthly book reviews (sapphic monster edition)

• monthly zine recs

• other stuff

This issue has black foil which is so pretty. I have been toying with the idea of doing all of this year’s issues in black foil so they have a uniform look. I also am probably only going to be foiling the first edition of zines going forward. Spot foiling a bunch of reprints has gotten to be a lot especially because I seem to always swap or sell the issue I don’t have any more copies of.

There are so many thing in this issue. I called it Merry Thank-Christ-Ween because I started it before Halloween when I was in a spooky mood, but didn’t finish it until early December when I was already thinking about Christmas.

I have had bits of Drag Race-related content in the past, but this is the first time I bothered writing about a whole season and I really enjoyed it. My first foray into pop culture writing was blogging about Project Runway way back in the day so this felt like a return to that.

There are also two activities this month: the return of the annual grudge match where I list this year’s top grudges and give you a worksheet to do the same, and this spicy romance novel one. I ranked the romance novels I read, tournament-style, and then provided a blank bracket sheet for you to do your own rankings. My worksheet creating skills are really coming in handy this issue!

I also read two sapphic romances this month: Carmilla and But Not Too Bold. One was great, the other wasn’t that great, but both ended up research rabbit holes. As always there is a bunch of other stuff and I hope you enjoy reading it if you pick up a copy.

Have a great holiday if you celebrate one; I’m taking my first break from work in give years and it feels disorienting.

Okay, bye!

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Where to Make Zine Friends

Online

One of the easiest places to make zine friends is online. Back in the day we used to print our mailing addresses in our zines (some zinesters still do this - be sure to use a mailing address!), but now you can easily meet zinsters online. One of the best places to do so is r/zines through which I have personally made some great zine friends. Check the posts and if you see a zine you like or that has a similar vibe to yours, ask if they are open to swapping (swap etiquette tips below). Some people will post there specifically asking for swaps. If you both like the zines you sent and want to keep swapping regularly, boom! You’ve made a zine friend!

You can also do this on sites where people sell zines like Etsy, or with zinesters on Substack, Instagram, &c. however, I would do so carefully. On Etsy people are there to sell zines, so I would support their zines monetarily first before asking about a swap. For Substackers or other social media platforms, I wouldn’t reach out unless someone specifically states that they are open to swaps.

In Person

I get nervous just thinking about it but yes! You can make zine friends in person at Zine Fests, workshops, or zine meetups. At Zine Fests some zinesters, like myself, will openly offer swaps or have a sign displayed that says they are open to swapping. Some very cool fests will even have a zine meetup or swap set up where you can go specifically to trade zines.

I would say try to find zines that fit the vibe of what you’re swapping for (ie: Perzine for Perzine, mini for mini, riso for riso, etc.), then go up to the person running the table and ask if they’re open for swapping. Worst case scenario? They will politely say no and there’s a 100% chance they will forget your face by the end of the day, so don’t be shy.

Zine Swap Etiquette

When swapping zines it’s good to follow Zine Swap Etiquette, something I just made up but feel I am completely correct about.

Communication

First and foremost, ask if the other person is okay with swaps. This seems obvious, but don’t assume that someone wants to swap zines. There are plenty of reasons that people don’t want to swap (especially now that we aren’t all stealing copies and postage like we were in the 90s). Asking, “Hey, are you open to swapping zines?” is a good way to open it up. Be okay with getting, “No, thank you,” for an answer1 and don’t be weird about it.

Next is establishing the swap style. Most zines are swapped 1-to-1 regardless of value, but some zinesters like to swap based on zine price. Let your swap partner take the lead. My thinking is that since I am reaching out for the swap, they can set the terms.

Online Tips

If you are swapping online, send your zine promptly and let the person know their zines are on the way. Some people send a photo of the addressed envelope with stamps on it; that’s up to you. Similarly, let them know that their zines have arrived and thank them.

Also, send extras if you have them. It’s fairly standard zine practice to add in extra stickers, mini zines, postcards, or other mail art items. Once you start swapping you will end up with a bunch of these to send out with trades. I make extras (bookmarks and stickers) and I also keep a stock of things I’ve received that aren’t precisely my vibe to pass on to the next person who might love it.

Why People Don’t or Won’t Swap

Like I said, if someone says no to a swap, don’t take it personally. There are plenty of reasons that they might not be able or willing to swap zines and you never know where someone is coming from.

The two main reasons are: 1) money, and 2) a fear of being ripped off.

Zines aren’t cheap to make or ship and some people may not have the means to swap zines without getting something in return to recoup the cost. Postage is absurdly expensive and zines can be quite pricey to print.

For other people there’s a fear of being taken advantage of. In zines there are people who are so community-minded their zines are all “pay what you can,” and there are also folks for whom their zine is a product. Just because you make zines doesn’t mean you’ve taken on “zinester” as part of your identity. Someone might just be selling their collection of poetry or whatnot and not looking to swap.

For online swaps, of course people are afraid of they might send out their zines and get nothing back in return. To avoid this, start with a small swap and swap for zines you aren’t afraid to “lose.” In my whole time as a zinester, I have only had one swap partner not send their half of the swap ever.

Final Thoughts

I always say that you only need about five zine friends because reaching that number helped motivate me to keep writing. I wanted an excuse to make zines and five whole zine friends gave me that excuse. Making copies, addressing envelopes, adding in extra items, decorating envelopes; all that takes time, not to mention the postage cost. But having zine friends is more than worth the time and postage if it means you will have a reader for your zine (the one thing every writer truly wants) and someone who will send you zines back.

So go forth and swap zines!

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Free Minizine

This free minizine can be downloaded through the PDF link below as well as on my Ko-Fi in the Free Zines section. Feel free to print it out and distribute it however you like including classrooms, free zine libraries, adding to swaps, zine fests, whatever you like.

Zine Swap Etiquette Print File

2.77MB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

Okay bye!

Six Signs That You Might Be a Frog by Sarah Hingley

n.d. | A7 size | 8 pgs. | $5.55 | UK

How would you know if you were a frog or not? There's no way to tell! Until now, that is. This is a really fun riso zine, illustrated in Hingley's signature style. Some examples include being an awkward teen or envying Kermit's fashion. Unfold the zine to unveil a full-sized "Take Me to the Bog" poster.

Online at etsy.com/shop/2Bmcr

catmothcrow three by Dayna Moth

October 2025 | quarter size | 36 pgs. | $5+ | USA

From a swap with a zine friend comes the newest issue of Dayna’s catmothcrow perzine. This is a split issue where you read to the center, flip the zine, and start again from the beginning. One side is about I Saw the TV Glow and how Dayna relates to it; the other side is about life in general, growing up online, feeling “too boring” to write a perzine (relatable), and little bits of everyday life all illustrated with scans of High School journals in an old school, collage-style zine. “While some of my favorite zines are about grand punk adventures, I’ve enjoyed just as many that simply catalog the quotidian and focus on the most commonplace occurrences of every day life.”

Online at catmothcrow.com

A Dead Letter Project Vol. 1 & 2 by Nini Chen

n.d. | 4.3” × 5.5” accordion fold | 16 pgs. | $12 | USA

A beautifully strange collection of plant illustrations in stamp-esque shapes printed in eye melting riso colors. A very trippy and beautiful art zine. I ended up getting both issues and was not disappointed. They also made a gorgeous 2026 calendar that you can find here.

Online at etsy.com/shop/NiniziGifts

Mentally I am Here: The Panopticism of Creation

2024 | quarter size | 16 pgs. | $4+ | USA

As someone who thinks about the panopticon way more than I should, I was immediately drawn to this zine. Inside is a very interesting essay discussing the concept in terms of the modern world from the proliferation of Ring cameras to social media and what it means to create any type of art within that system.

Online at etsy.com/shop/dovemakes

The Sto-RISO Far by J. Fajardo

2025 | half size | 20 pgs. | $6.75 | USA

Jempol zine Issue 9 is all about riso printing. The author has a riso machine at home which is how they are able to make and sell a substantial zine for a fraction of the price you normally see riso zines listed at, which I find quite admirable. This zine effectively de-influenced me from ever wanting to have a riso printer at home, which I very much appreciate. It goes over the struggles involved in acquiring the machine, the cost of drums, how fickle the ink is, how wasteful the printing process is, and how difficult re-prints are. Thank you Jempol zine!

Online at etsy.com/shop/jempolzine

Free Zines

How Indigenous Voices are Amplified Through Zines by

2025 | digital | 8 pgs. | FREE
On Substack

For Thanksgiving 2025, Davis made this free minizine that lists zines by indigenous authors. It’s a great jumping off point for exploring the world of indigenous zines.

Honks & Squeaks: A Jazz Christmas

2025 | digital | 12 pgs. | FREE
Online at ko-fi.com/commonplacezines

My husband has officially been bitten by the zine bug and when he heard about my free zine roundup1 for the holidays he wanted to participate by making a holiday edition of his music zine Honks & Squeaks. It has ten jazz holiday albums inside with QR codes so you can listen along. I’m sure he’s happy to swap for it as well with anyone who wants a paper copy, just send me a DM and I’ll put you in touch.

The River Severn by Scott Dowdall

2025 | digital | 18 pgs. | FREE
Online on their Adobe In Design site or get a hard copy on Etsy

Dowdall is a graphic designer and paddler who created this zine about the Severn including facts about its name, topography, and myths. Also discusses the human impact on the river, the Rights of Nature movement, and the author’s love of paddling.

Thank you for reading and if there are any zines you think I should check out (especially Perzines and art zines) leave your recs in the comments and remember to hit the like button an odd number of times.

Okay bye!

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It’s been quite a month yet again. The holiday, of course, plus helping my husband through a second shoulder surgery1 in 4 months … there’s been very little time for anything else. But one thing about me: I will stay up extremely late to work on my personal projects.

Once again I have two zines to share, one I made last month but had not yet posted and the other hot off the presses2. Both are in my Etsy shop now. For Commonplace zine readers and subscribers, the new issue is very nearly done as well, so expect that around mid-month.

Now, on to the zines!

GET REC’D

Would you believe that I have been working on this zine for over a year. It started when I was missing Factsheet5 and was like, “Someone should really do a huge zine review zine, you know, like the old days. ... Well, I guess it’s going to be me.” You can find it on my Etsy here or if you’d prefer a digital edition it’s on my Ko-Fi.

It’s no secret around here that I read a lot of zines. Over the course of the past year I’ve posted about 50 zines in my monthly Zine Rec posts, but would you believe that’s less than half of the zines I’ve read this year?

GET REC’D has 80+ zines in it with reviews and information on where you can find them, plus an article on making zine friends that will appear here later in the month, a free minizine insert for you to take out and make, and the interview I did with zinester Elisa Milan. It’s a zine about zines!

I almost gave up on this project but I was reading an old issue of Behind the Zines and there were multiple writers talking about how many zine review zines were no longer producing new issues. It made me kick this project back into high gear and get it done. I’m really happy with the result. I would say it will be an annual zine, but I have a personal superstition that it’s a jinx to put “Issue 1” on the cover of a zine because every time I’ve done that there is no Issue 2. Let’s just say there’s already a 2026 Google doc in the works though.

What About Breakfast at Tiffany’s?!

I made this zine for Zine Club (November Substack subscribers3 received a copy) and it’s very different from what I normally make, but that can be fun sometimes. Even though I make half size zines almost exclusively, quarter size zines are some of my favorites to read. You can find it on my Etsy here.

When thinking of what could fit easily into a quarter size zine, I knew it had to be a focused topic, then I remembered one of my favorite posts from my old blog, which was a countdown of the Top 10 Reasons the Book Breakfast at Tiffany’s is better than the movie.

I love old movies, really love Audrey Hepburn, and I also love Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s, so it was a fun list to write. I really enjoyed revising and updating the essay as well. Sometimes zines don’t need to be 100% brand new ideas, putting a new shine on something you’ve already written that you love is also great.

Just something to think about if you’re considering turning your Substack into a zine as I discussed earlier this year. (You should!)

And if you’re wondering what right do I have to talk about beloved classic film Breakfast at Tiffany’s (because I know some people will get in a twist that I said a book is better than a movie4), I could have also published my annotated discursive bibliography from grad school that collected every mention of Capote’s book that predated the film’s release, but that sure would be boring. I read microfiche! Plus this zine has typos, so that’s fun5.

Okay, bye!

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For Black Friday, rather than encouraging folks to spend, spend, spend! I decided to post a roundup of all the free zines I’ve found this year that are worth a download and make a free issue of my zine Commonplace as well.

For many of the zines below, you can print as many copies as you like and give them as gifts! How cool is that? If you’re feeling pressed for cash - or you are simply friends with cool people - a stack of zines with a ribbon around them is an awesome present. Imagine giving the gift of zines and not breaking the bank, all for the cost of paper (cough, or at the office copier, cough, who said that?!).

Free Printable Zines

Most of these are single page mini zines but there are some longer ones as well. They range from serious to educational to fun; something for everyone.

Cake Zine by Linda

by Linda on Reddit on download image above

A cute zine full of cake illustrations and snippets of cake history for an art school assignment and its so darn pretty! A lovely mini printable art zine; color printing recommended if you have access to it.

Dear Anxiety

by Kim Creates on Kim’s Substack

Kim’s first zine (yay!) is this 8 page mini zine about anxiety. It includes a playlist and anxiety relief techniques.

Did I Even Ask?

by artspeaks on Reddit

A handwritten comic about unsolicited advice the writer received and how frustrating that can be. Relatable. TW: They refer to people 40 and over as “older generations” which caused the darkness to gather around me.

How to Hate Getting Your Blood Drawn a Smidge Less

by at ko-fi.com/helloelisamilan

A mini zine guide with five tips for facing your fear of needles illustrated with Milan’s super cute art.

I Really Love the Sims

by Sarah Wood at ko-fi.com/heysarahwood

A 59 page essay covering all the Sims releases, why they were important, how you can play them now, and arguing for the best/worst game in the series. It even includes a sizable list of further reading and clearly had a lot of time and love put into it. If you’re like me and want to sit down with a massive, well-written essay zine about a niche topic, this one’s for you. Multiple free, digital zines available from this zinester.

Kurt Cobain Was Lactose Intolerant Conspiracy Theory Zine (Free)

by Kelli Callis; PDF Online at allsortazines.neocities.org/pix/kc1.pdf

A fun piece of zine history that outlines the conspiracy theory that Cobain was, in fact, lactose intolerant and is made in the classic 90s cut and paste style. KCWLICTZ is a humor zine and was in print for quite a while before Callis pulled it from distribution (she did give the okay for the existing PDF to be linked). One intrepid archivist has scanned it so you can read it and with a little effort it can be printed out as well.

Leftover Pizza Zine Issue 2

by Leftover Pizza Podcast on Reddit

A minizine from a few years back that features a Halloween memory, comic, movie recs, Frute Brute cupcake recipe, and more. A fun zine for fans of spooky season. Accessibility note: Font is extremely small, visually impaired friends, please be aware.

Models of Disability

by on Katie’s Substack

In this 8 page mini zine (downloadable at the very bottom of the linked post), Hull discusses several ways of approaching disability. Hull is both a person with a disability and a disability advocate and I’m so glad she’s lending her voice to this important discussion!

Mythic Post No. 1

by Justin Kredible at justinkredible.itch.io

Mythic Post No. 1 is a collections stories and news from around the realm including a job board and heroes spotlight in an 8 page mini zine. Fun, cute, and engaging.

The Stupid Bitch’s Guide to Making Zines

by Sarah Wood at ko-fi.com/heysarahwood

A quick guide to mini zines written for Wood’s sister, this mini is a funny, hand-drawn addition to the zine pile.

My Free Printable Zines

Shameless plug! I have made several free zines this year and I didn’t want to be left out of my own list lol. I like to keep my free zines in one place so you don’t have to dig through posts to find them, so they are all on my Ko-Fi.

Also, I made something special just for this list, the …

Commonplace Winter Sampler

by me on my Ko-Fi

For this sampler I took my favorite holiday-themed articles from past issues of Commonplace and combined them into a new 16 page zine. It includes holiday movies, winter monster ladies, a Krampus card, and a Yule Lad horoscope (on of my favorite articles ever). The download is free and you get both a print layout PDF and a reading version PDF. Print as many as you like and give them away as gifts.

Halloween Haiku Zine

by me on my Ko-Fi

A lite version of my larger Halloween Haiku zine made for Halloween 2025 and featuring a bunch of haikus about candy in mini zine form.

Honks and Squeaks Issue 1

by Russell on my Ko-Fi

Nepotism alert! This is my husband’s zine and he agreed to let me offer the digital version for free through the end of the year. It’s a musical top five list ranking his favorite Robert Fripp solo albums with lots of information and trivia. Includes both a print and reading version.

Zine Community Guide

by me on my Ko-Fi

A mini zine guide to participating in the zine community.

Free Digital Zines

While these zines aren’t in a printable format, they’re still fun, free reads.

Wayward, Wonky & Wandering

by at Heyzine and on Substack

Abby from the Pace Zine Library was looking for zinesters to interview for her digital zine and of course I had to participate. Inside this digital zine (available to be read online) is a discussion of research and zines. People often don’t talk about how zines are actually researched, created, and cited, and it was really interesting to read everyone’s perspectives on the topic.

Glad to Be Unemployed

by on Substack

A digital zine made from scans of collaged pages. The author made this zine to help themselves get through months of unemployment after suddenly being laid off, in it they discuss their experience and how they felt during that liminal time. I have swapped with Yana as well and they are super nice so go show them some love!

All That Being Said

If you are spending this holiday season I highly recommend supporting zinesters. All year I’ve been posting monthly Zine Recs so there are now over 50 titles for you to look through to see what strikes your fancy. Consider it an honorary “gift guide” or whatnot.

Remember to shop small, support zines, and all that good stuff.

Okay bye!

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A little while back I was going through a stack of zines my dad no longer wanted and found holiday zines. Well, that’s a lie, I found anti-holiday zines. Turns out that, instead of holiday cards, my dad and his friends had, at one point, exchanged zines mocking and lambasting the holidays for various reasons, mostly their crass consumerism.

In that pile I found a few of his own zines, both called Christmas Greetings, from 2000 and 2002 respectively. I cannot describe them properly so let me show you one …

First off, you may be asking yourself, “Why is Ernest Hemingway on the cover?” Keen eye, you.

Well, dad has prosopagnosia better known as face blindness2 and he thought this was a photo of Santa in a funny hat. When he realized it was not Santa in a funny hat, but in fact world-famous author Ernest Hemingway, he thought it was so funny that he made it into the cover of his Christmas zine.

Okay, but what’s inside?

The zine is filled with super weird drawings of Santa.

And I thought to myself “Everyone should be doing this.”

Instead of a Holiday Card, Make a Zine

Some of you are already convinced and I love that for us. Skip right on down to the next section, friend.

For everyone else: instead of a holiday card, this year, you should make and send a zine.

Even if you don’t make zines regularly, making a zine for the holidays can be a really fun excuse to add a little physical media back into your life. We all crave real things more than ever before and a zine is going to hit a lot harder than a holly jolly email3. It’s a lovely excuse to interact with people, be it reaching out to folks for mailing addresses, giving the zines to your co-workers (if your co-workers are cool), or handing them out to friends.

If you already send holiday cards (me) it might be because you always have or it might be because you love sending mail. Consider this: a holiday zine is a lot more personal than a card, and a lot less likely to be tossed out when the holidays end.

I think of sending zines and physical media, in a way, as bids for connection. Let’s say you send someone a micro zine with 30 photos in it from your year, very cute and fun. Now compare how that feels to sending that same person your IG link with the same photos on it … not as good of a feeling.

There’s something about making it exist in real life that means something.

Plus a lot of us (including me) don’t have personal social media anymore; if we want to share our lives, our years, we have to actually share them. I call this the Refrigerator Door Theory: if we’re not close enough for you to see my fridge, we’re not close enough for you to see photos of my family4.

And I’m going to say this right now because it’s important: I think you should make a holiday zine even if you hate the holidays. I live with chronic illness and I take care of a severely disabled parent, most holidays are some degree of nightmarish. Of the last six Christmases, a full four were not great5, so when a Christmas isn’t a disaster around here, we really get excited. Rant about it, joke about it, celebrate it, memorialize it, but the holiday zine you make should be YOUR holiday zine.

So I’ve convinced you, I’m so glad!

Wait, what’s that? You need inspiration? Perhaps even a -

Holiday Zine Idea Bank

I woke up one morning and it was cold out so wrote a bunch of these down. Then I decided to add a bunch more, and then a few more (this list will also be in Commonplace 11 because it was too good not to share in print).

So here is a list of 50 Holiday Zine Ideas6 to help kick start your process …

1. holiday brag letter in zine form

2. yearly recap where each family member gets their own page

3. anti-holiday rant

4. photos of pets meeting Santa

5. collection of your kid’s winter-themed drawings

6. holiday-themed recipes (cookies!)

7. ranking holiday movies

   • Hallmark, Rankin/Bass, Xmas action movies, etc.

8. think piece about the movie Hot Frosty

9. list of your favorite holiday romance novels

10. ranking holiday cookies

11. ranking snowflake types (there are a lot)

12. ranking the worst gifts you’ve ever gotten

13. your letter to Santa

14. winter witch zine

15. winter holiday traditions around the world

16. pro-eggnog on one side, flip it over and it’s an anti-eggnog zine on the other size

17. your best xmas, flip it over and it’s about your worst xmas

18. pros/cons of each Grinch movie

19. winter monsters and folklore

20. winter fairy tales

21. comparing the original “Snow Queen” story to Frozen

22. think piece about the Frozen ride replacing Maelstrom at Epcot

23. a think piece about the bearista Starbucks cup

    • an annual winter-themed pop culture think piece zine would be hilarious, actually

24. Ice type Pokemon

25. Christmas memories/traditions

26. a zine with wrapping paper as the cover

27. wrapping paper collage zine

28. in-depth analysis of the Mariah Carey x Sephora 2025 holiday ad campaign

29. various holiday music playlists based on vibes (with QR codes?)

30. are non-peppermint candy canes not real candy canes? an essay

31. deep dive into the world of Christopher Radko ornaments

32. guide to dealing with everything closing on Xmas

33. chronic illness holiday survival guide

34. guide to having an enjoyable holiday if you are alone

35. guide to winter holidays other than Christmas

36. a 12 Days a Christmas-style countdown of pop culture moments from the previous year, one for each month

    • ie: On the 11th Month of 2025, Pop Culture Gave to Me, a Sydney Sweeney Interview About Jeans

37. winter video game guide

38. think piece about the Ralph Lauren Christmas trend

39. ranking Santa’s reindeer

40. ranking adaptations of A Christmas Carol

41. why fruitcake

42. a zine that’s an advent calendar

43. a zine where the cover is made from a holiday card

44. a deep dive into the Santa Clause movie franchise

45. holiday hauntings

46. how to drive on ice, a guide

47. holiday activity zine

48. who would win in a fight, holiday edition

49. Michael Buble or Mariah Carey, who is the true queen of Christmas?

50. holiday pet costume guide

Please share and suggestions or ideas in the comments! I’m sure people would love to hear what you decide to make for your holiday zine.

Finally, Here’s Some Resources

If you need a template for a quarter sized zine, which I think is the closest to traditional greeting card size, I have just updated my post below to include 8 and 24 page counts.

Also! I think this Turkish Map Fold template I made for spooky season would actually make for a very cute gingerbread house-themed zine:

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Little Stars #5

by Ren | March 2024 | full color cover, black and white inside | quarter size | 16 pgs. | $4.50 | USA

Ren’s zines are some of my favorites from the entire year, the kind of zines that make me want to read every issue. It’s not surprising since Little Stars and its predecessor Colossal Youth are similar to Commonplace: vignettes and small pieces of life. Of course I love them! Little Stars was a monthly zine published in 2023 and this issue has memories of the author’s late mother, what’s in her bag, tattoos, and a playlist. Beautifully designed and a lovely read.

Online at etsy.com/shop/renmakeszines

My Frasier Zine

by | March 2024 | full color | half size | 28 pgs. | $10 | USA

Frasier is one of my all-time comfort shows and I have seen every single episode multiple times, so this zine was a must-have for me. It’s filled with Frasier collages, trivia, favorite episodes, unpopular opinions and is a really enjoyable read if you, like me, have watched way too much Frasier. I spent my reading time nodding along with everything they wrote. It’s also interesting to hear the perspective of someone who discovered the show after it was off the air and still become enamoured with it. Recommend for all Fraj fans.

Online at etsy.com/shop/artsnfartsnkris

That Girl 16

by Kelli Callis | n.d. | black and white | half size | 36 pgs. | $5 | USA

This zine got me, the kind of zine where I had to take a few days off reading after and sit with it. It’s part of Callis’ memoir zine series and takes place in LA during the early 90s. This issue covers being in high school and falling madly in love with a punk boy in his early 20s. It captured that feeling of falling in love the way you only can when you’re extremely young and the painful split in their life trajectories. One an honors student, the other unhoused and only a few years away from an untimely death. I had a not entirely dissimilar experience growing up and Callis’ writing felt like an arrow right into my heart. The unspoken gulf between you, the unfairness of it, and the inability to find closure all rang true. It’s also provides glimpses into the punk scene in the very early 90s. Highly recommend. TW: Brief description of assault.

Online at antiquatedfuture.com

Papayaisms: Words of Wisdom from Love Island USA’s Amaya Papaya

by Dove Makes | 2025 | black on pink | mini | 20 pgs. | $4+ | USA

An incredibly delightful mini zine dedicated to immortalizing the quotable wisdom of a modern day Yogi Berra, none other than the incomparable sensitive gangster herself: Amaya Papaya. This collection is charmingly illustrated and features all the greatest hits, from Pretty Pigeon to You Are An Extremely Odd Individual, it’s a wonderful way to commemorate a moment in pop culture and reality TV history. This zine is also on a sliding scale so you can pay more or less as needed.

Online at etsy.com/shop/dovemakes

My Neighbor Has Five Secret Dogs by Theo Quest

n.d. | green ink on white | mini | 8 pgs. | $4 | USA

A very fun comic mini zine about the author discovering that their neighbor has five identical dogs, three of which they keep secret, and all the questions that arise from this surprising revelation. A funny and charmingly illustrated mini.

Online at etsy.com/shop/TheoQuest

Free Zines

Wayward, Wonky & Wandering

by | 2025 | digital | 14 pgs. | FREE

Abby from the Pace Zine Library was looking for zinesters to interview for her digital zine and of course I had to participate. Inside this digital zine (available to be read online) is a discussion of research and zines. People often don’t talk about how zines are actually researched, created, and cited, and it was really interesting to read everyone’s perspectives on the topic.

Online at Heyzine and Abby’s Substack

Dear Anxiety

by | 2025 | digital | 8 pgs. | FREE

Kim’s first zine (yay!) is this mini zine about anxiety. It includes a playlist and anxiety relief techniques.

Online on Kim’s Substack

Grimoire Girls Call for Submissions

The reception to Grimoire Girls - the girlypop witchcraft zine you all lovingly forced me to make this year - has blown me away. I had always intended to have it be a one off zine since I only have so many ideas, but not only have people really enjoyed it, but folks having been wanting to contribute to future issues. It got me thinking … should Grimoire Girls be written … by a coven?

So for the first time ever I am opening up a Call for Submissions for a future issue of Grimoire Girls. You can submit your girlypop witchy goodness using this Google form. Some specific articles I’d love to see that I am not able to write are:

• emoji spells

• pop culture witchstory (Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Craft, Charmed, Buffy, etc.)

• makeup magic

• crystal work

But submit whatever you like!

PS: Your submissions are awesome!! Keep them coming :)

Thank you for reading and if there are any zines you think I should check out (especially Perzines and art zines) leave your recs in the comments and remember to hit the like button an odd number of times.

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Q: Introduce yourself and describe your zines!

A: Hello! My name is Elisa ✨ and I am Black, chronically ill, vegetarian and full-time momma 🐻 based in Arizona, USA 🌵 I am a digital painter and also write short stories within my fantasy Tokyo: Kumasakurashi (Koo-mah-sah-koo-RA-shi/Bearblossom City). These stories (along with comics and paintings) end up in zines that I illustrate myself!

Q: How long have you been making zines and how did you get into the Zine Scene?

A: Oh my goodness, I am so new haha. It was this year! I have always wanted an outlet for my writing but never new where to start. I’m not good enough at it to write a novel or anything. I only have snippets of stories in my brain and they never go any further. I figured out there was a thing called “flash fiction” which is reallyyyy short stories (under 500 words) and that was very validating for me! I was researching ways of sharing my work and finding an audience for this flash fiction but nothing stuck with me until I found zines. I found them through Bre (brattyxbre on YouTube) through recommended videos. After I watched a few of her videos I joined the r/zines Reddit and just fell into a rabbit hole. I love them, they’re so dope.

Q: You write both a newsletter zine and a flash fiction zine in addition to illustrating both. Is it hard to switch gears or does each project work as a different creative outlet? And what do you do on when you are feeling stuck for ideas?

That’s an interesting question! I am new to writing so it certainly doesn’t come as easy as painting or drawing. With that being said, I am in a bit of a rut this month, actually! I always have several stories going at once but they take me so long to write that I never know when they’ll be finished. The one I was planning to do next is so sad & so personal, I’m having a hard time even looking at it to edit it. I could work on another story but the other two I have in progress are romances and I have a lot of planning to do for them still. Those probably won’t come out for months. So, yah, rut haha.

Thankfully, I’ve been meaning to publish a sketchbook zine for some time & whipped one up last week to see how it would look. I like how it turned out so I’m going to send that out in place of a flash fiction to give me more time to work on my sad story and then my laundry day comic.

Anywho, for me, it’s not hard to switch gears between the two zine types. The newsletter zine is quite easy to work on because I’m just rambling on about my life. I don’t even know if people will like it long term because I feel like a broken record. What I try to do is write down things that happen to me or thoughts I have during the month and throw in the art I finished along way. Hopefully that’s fun enough! I do have to say that I am getting tired of the graphic design part of things. That’s the hardest for me - is making the newsletter zine look fun. I was considering doing a more minimal approach this month to give myself a break.

So, the newsletter zine is tough design-wise but easy to fill with words, the flash fiction zines are easy to draw/paint for but hard to fill with words. I suppose they balance themselves out!

Q: What draws you to zines and what keeps you coming back?

A: The first thing that drew me to them was actually the way people pour their hearts out in them, or give opinions that differ from my own. It’s fascinating. Perzines are probably my favorite type of zine even though I sell stories and comics. I do write my own newsletter though, to do my own personal thing, but I don’t know if I could ever do a full personal zine cause I’m scared of people judging me. Maybe I should make an anonymous account one day or something haha.

Anyways, the size is also very appealing. Sometimes normal books being so long/large deters me from reading/carrying them around. I also enjoy the physical aspect of them. It’s really nice to hold them in my hand and give my eyes a break from screens.

I keep coming back for the community and because I’m a nosy son-of-gun and want to hear more about what others are doing and thinking. Plus, there are just so many creative zines that blow me away. It’s all just so fun.

Q: What is your zine making process like? Do you use digital, analog, a bit of both?

A: I’m a digital girly through and through, which may seem weird since the tactile, physical nature of zines is one thing that draws me to them. I started as a kid playing around on MS Paint and never really went back. Traditional mediums are just too messy. I am curious to try a collage zine at one point though, cutting things is fun! ✂️

Q: What are your favorite types of zines to read?

A: Already touched on this haha. Definitely opinionated perzines that teach me things. For example, I enjoy Commonplace because it looks at a variety of topics that I would never learn/think about otherwise! Such as early American literature! I also received a zine lately from Joe Hohman called “You Should be Watching Joe Pera Talks With You.” It’s about an old TV show about a middle school teacher that’s very slice of life and since Joe is such a good writer you can just feel his love for this show ooze out of the pages. It’s just amazing.

Q: What’s a piece of advice for a zinester who is just starting out?

A: Trading is the best! I only started getting into zines this last April and because of trades I have like 60 zines and it’s so flippin cool. So, trade freely as much as you can! Not only do you learn what’s out there, you also make friends, which is really what we’re all here for.

Q: What are some of your favorite zines/zinesters?

A: I already accidentally named two but I have also been heavily enjoying zines from Bikkie Bytes. They make beautifully designed zines on being aware of and compassionate towards people with chronic illness, autism and other things that are hard for the general public to understand. My favorite is: “You Don’t Look Sick.” They also have Arizona-based nature zines that are very beautifully illustrated along with silly themed meme zines.

Q: Where can people find your zines?

A: You can take a gander at what I have on offer on Etsy at helloelisamilan. I also have a Patreon where I send out a monthly newsletter zine and my story/comic zines exploring Kumasakurashi!

I’m also trying out an idea I have to share my growing zine collection locally with the public. I’m calling it Hello Zine Library. If you’re in Northern Arizona, feel free to check me out at the Prescott Valley Public Library every other Saturday. I have around 100 zines now and will continue to purchase more! Many of them are very special & unique and I’d love for others to be able to read & love them as much as I do. Even if you aren’t local you can keep up with what’s happening (if you’re nosy like me) and sign up for the library’s newsletter at .

Thank you so much to Elisa for doing this interview and I hope you all enjoyed reading about her zine journey.

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