JULY I've been meaning to write this zine for ages

*(pic above shows Make Your Own Zine Kit available from FriendPrices Etsy Store)*

I've been meaning to write this zine for ages...

...so I thought a deadline might help with motivation! Have you been mulling over an idea for a zine for months, or even years? [July is officially International Zine Month,]((http://www.mhprofessional.com/templates/chases/special-months.php#july) so let's use that as an excuse. Whether you have never made anything larger than a mini-zine or if you are already a prolific zinester, all are welcome – spill those ideas!

Use any medium you like – type, word-process, hand-write, collage, cut'n'paste etc. It can be all text, all images, or any combination. Add things in, cut bits out, get creative! Staple your pages together, or get creative with the binding, too!

Your zine can have absolutely any theme (but please avoid being deliberately offensive). If you're a writer, present one of your stories, or a collection of stories; if you make ATCs, create a gallery of your work; if you like to experiment with different crafts, share some projects you have made and/or techniques you have learned; if you're a blogger, preserve some of your favourite blog posts; if you're a reader or music-lover, share your reviews. Art zines, craft zines, perzines, lit zines, anything-else-random-in-between-zines are all welcome in this swap - literally anything goes; so please branch off from the above suggestions and create a zine about whatever interests you!

How to make a zine:

• A handy video tutorial including page layout for a 12-page, half-size, staple-bound zine in traditional cut'n'paste, photocopied style
• The Zine Wiki gives a good overview of how to get started with advice on page numbering, binding and folding suggestions etc
• A basic Q & A about making zines is available from Action Girl Online. Alternatively, ZineBook also offers a very lengthy & informative (if slightly dated – circa. 1995) guide to making zines – perhaps more useful for text-based than art zines.

Swap requirements

• 3 partners = 3 zines sent & 3 zines received.
• This is not a mini-zine swap! Please make your zine with a minimum of 16 pages at A6 (/quarter-size), but feel free to exceed the minimum! You are welcome to work with smaller pages so long as the equivalent length meets the minimum; you are welcome to work with larger pages, so long as the equivalent length meets the minimum. All print formats & bindings are acceptable.
• Send on time!

The obvious bit
Late swaps & low ratings will all be checked before assigning partners. Contact me if you think there might be a problem.