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A zine collective's blog about photocopiers, glue sticks, and the scrappy little publications people staple together at midnight. How-tos, rants, and interviews from the back of the print shop.

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Letters

Letter: Is It Okay to Charge for Zines?

Letters · · by · 1 min read · binding, distro, mail art, staplers

Letter: Is It Okay to Charge for Zines?

This question arrives almost every month, so here is the answer we give on paper.

This letter arrived in a hand-decorated envelope with three different stamps and a drawing of a cat on the flap. We answered it on paper first, and we are sharing it here with permission.

The letter

  • Write the letter you wish you had received
  • Keep a copy of everything you send
  • Put a return address inside, not just outside
  • Decorate the envelope

The short answer is yes. The longer answer is that nobody starts out good at this, and the only way to get better is to print the thing and hand it to someone.

Nobody starts out good. Print it anyway.

Our answer

Keep writing to us. The mailbox is the best part of the week.

We keep a guest book by the door. Some people write their name, some write a poem, and one person drew the entire floor plan of the shop from memory. It is the best zine we have never printed.

Author

Priya Nandakumar

Writes the how-tos and tests every fold at least ten times. Owner of the good scissors.

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TALK Comments 6 scrawls
  1. Rosa Lindqvist

    Thank you for writing this down. It’s the kind of thing people only ever explain in person.

    Reply
  2. Aurelie Fontaine

    Do you trade? I have a perzine about bus drivers I think you would like.

    Reply
    1. Priya NandakumarAuthor

      Ha, that is exactly where it was taken.

      Reply
  3. Jonah Mbeki

    Thank you for writing this down. It’s the kind of thing people only ever explain in person.

    Reply
    1. Priya NandakumarAuthor

      Seconded. A workshop would be brilliant.

      Reply
  4. Ines Duarte

    Is there a way to do this with legal-size paper? That’s all our copier takes.

    Reply

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