JULY: A Zine for Zine Month!

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

Swap description: A Zine for Zine Month

According to Chase's Calendar of Days, July is International Zine Month! July is also the month of the annual 24 Hour Zine Thing.

To celebrate the Month of the Zine, let's create a new zine, & swap it! If you participate in the 24 Hour Zine Thing, you can share your 24 hour zine, but for the purposes of this swap, the only criteria are:

• That your zine was created in July 2011 (so brand shiny new zines only, please!)
• That your zine utilises at least 3 sheets of A4/letter-size paper in construction (e.g. a 24-page quarter-size zine, or a 12-page half-size zine)
• Alternatively, you may send 3 or more mini-zines (e.g. each zine folded from a single piece of paper)
• Your zine/s may be longer-but-not-shorter than the above

Your zine/s can have absolutely any theme; that is entirely your choice (however please avoid being deliberately offensive). What do you want to share or write about? Art zines, craft zines, perzines, lit zines, anything-else-random-in-between-zines are all welcome in this swap – share your stories, artwork, reviews, thoughts, anything else you can think of that could make up a zine.

Your zine can be stitch or staple-bound, securely folded (e.g. mini-zine), or have any other creative type of binding you like. Just make sure it will not fall apart!

I think that's about it.

See below for some zine-making links if you are not sure where to begin. (If you know of any good tutorials, please add your own link in the swap comments – much appreciated!)

• 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
• If you can't get your head around the page numbering layout, the Booklet Creator is a very handy device that will do all the hard work for you!
• 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.
• There are lots of YouTube video tutorials for single sheet mini-zines, or you can use my folding guide & template here.

Swap requirements

• 3 partners = 3 zines sent & 3 zines received. If you choose to make mini-zines, that means 3 mini-zines sent to each partner.
• Each zine should use 3 full sheets of A4/letter-size paper. Alternatively, you can choose to make 3 mini-zines instead of one larger zine.
• Zines should have been created in July 2011.
• Zines may be any subject, format, binding or style so long as they meet the minimum page requirements above.
• 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.