Do-It-Yourself Zine Fair

Think of it as being a patron of the arts. Not a patron of opera or abstract painting or similarly desiccated cultural husks, but the arts that matter -- like punk rock, comix, and zines.

IS YOUR CITY RIPE FOR A FAIR?

If it is, you'll smell it. When I was living in Vancouver, I was surprised that there was no regular zine fair despite the more-than-ample number of zines in the area. Back in Toronto, there were three different fairs for small press and underground publications.

I'd had some of my best times at these fairs -- sitting at my table, throwing paper balls at rival zinesters, calling out to passerbys that my zine was smarter than I looked, blathering to my tablemates about folding callouses and long-arm staplers... I'd met some of my dearest friends at these odd little events, in between hawking my wares and indulging in trading orgies. Folk wih similar obsessions, gentle big mouths who were receving secret radio transmissions at the exact same frequency as I. Knowing the delights of the zine fair, I couldn't let Vancouver go without one for any longer.

Your city might be similar to Vancouver, or you might find that the fairs that do go on are... lacking something. Maybe they don't focus on what you like. Maybe the organizers are ripping people off, with admission prices and high table costs. Maybe you just figure you can do it better.

LET'S GET IT ON, BANGAGONG

Put out the word that you're planning a zine fair. Gather phone numbers of everyone you know with a zine and peruse the stores for any you don't.

As far as enlisting other people's help, be careful. It's usually more trouble than it's worth. This section isn't called DIBC (Do-It-By-Committee) for a good reason -- in this case, for a grassroots, small scale one-day fair you're better off to handle it by yourself. Less uncertainty and wasted energy. (1)

If you are thinking big, consider that with a couple of the small-and-regular variety under your belt, you'll be better informed/networked/known and ready to tackle that four-day, guest-star-havin' zine-ephiphany. It's kind of a macro version of the zine itself -- better a small, humble zine than grandiose plans for one that never reaches print. (2)

VISUALIZE ZINE UTOPIA

Now you get to engage your creative faculties by picking a name and theme for the thing. (3) I chose Zine Crusade for mine, considering the tremendous pleasure the zine community takes in blasphemy, and announced that there would be a 4pm unveiling of the Sacred Zine of Christ. Other "draws" include spoken word, music or theater -- whatever makes it sound like an interesting and happenin' event. But be sensible -- make it something that's self-maintaining. Also keep in mind that many draws will break up the flow of a fair (i.e.. people feeling they have to stop and listen to spoken word artists), be too noisy for conversation (the staple food at zine fairs) and will run the risk of boring people who came to see zines, damn it. A zine or book launch -- even a couple -- will probably be happening naturally, because of the event. If they're well known or interesting sounding enough, this is a good quick-and-dirty draw. But in a nutshell, the theme and the draw are intended to spark interest and make promotion easier. They shouldn't take up more effort than the main attraction -- zines.

STALKING THE FREE VENUE

Try your darndest to get a place for free. Pitch the idea to an art gallery in need of street cred or a centrally-located church or community center. There'll probably be a few places that would love to be the site for an explosion of young creativity/ political radicalism/ democratic free speech. Talk in their language. Start out by asking for free, stressing your zero budget, non-profit status. Sometimes places will need a few months leadtime.

Another option is to go to a bar or club and tell them you'll bring in customers on a time that it's usually dead -- Saturday or Sunday during the day. Mention the publicity that they'll be getting on the posters and the goodwill they'll be generating. They should do it for free.

Naturally, you'll need tables, perhaps a coffee percolator, a sound system -- if not for a live band, then for playing soothing music with subliminal buybuybuy messages. Any venue worth its salt should have these for no extra cost.

Set the date: any Sat or Sun will do, between the hours of 11-6. Figure out how much a couple hundred flyers are gonna cost you, plus any other advertising costs, plus how much the venue's gonna cost (hopefully 0). Then estimate (be moderate) how many people are going to want tables, and divide your costs by this number. This is how much your base table cost is. Keeping in mind how profiteering is viewed in the zine scene, and how rarely people doing zines themselves break even, you can then add in a little cream for yourself. However, your rep's worth more than a couple of bucks so be reasonable (avoiding the extremes of greedhead and martyr), and be honest and direct about it if asked. Admission charges suck for everyone involved. A free event means that attendees will have a couple of more bucks to spend, and will attract the type of borderline person who has heard of zines but isn't sure it's their thing. Just 'cause they charge money for their culture doesn't mean we should.(4)

REV UP THAT HYPE MACHINE

So now that you've got it all planned out (well, sketched out) in your own mind, give the zinesters a call. Sound confident and interesting to inspire confidence and interest -- think of it from their perspective: would you set aside a Saturday, rush to get your zine done and tell your friends about a fair that "might be in the 24th... or the 31st. I dunno, whatever."

Here's how a typical call went:

Me: Hi. Ryan Bigge gave me your number. He said you do a comic zine.

Her: Yeah.

Me: Well, I'm having a Zine Crusade on Saturday February 2nd. Free admission and tables are $5 a pop. It's just a way to get all the zine people in one room and for the public to check out all the local indie publications.

Her: Oh yeah...

Me: I'm also telling people there's going to be an unveiling of the Sacred Zine of Christ. The idea of it is: what would Jesus do with access to desktop publishing -- do tour diaries? Political diatribes against the Romans? Write bad poetry?

Her: [Chuckle]

Me: So what I'm asking people who do zines is to do a page of the zine and just bring it in. The more blasphemous the better! I'll put 'em all together and photocopy them that day, then people can buy 'em for a buck or whatever. Like a souvenir thing.

Her: Sounds good.

Me: Will that be VISA or Mastercard?

OK, I got a little carried away at the end there -- my telemarketing reflexes. But you get the idea. Finish up by asking them to spread the word, and if they know any other zinesters phone numbers. Get them to reserve tables (it formalizes things -- so you'll have an idea of how many people are really planning to show) either by telling you right then, or by calling you back. If you leave it up to them, and you have the fair fleshed out from the very beginning, you won't have to call more than once. Making it easy on yourself by being organized with the basics means that you'll have time for the fun details. But first...

A "FEW" PROMOTIONAL DETAILS

First thing you need is a poster. Take some time with it -- it'll be one of the bigger ways people will hear about (and remember) your fair. Find a balance between communication and funkiness, and graphics and color never hurt. Having the word "Zine" dominate the poster will make sure it'll catch the eye of people who like/have heard of zines (and there are hordes by now). If you also mention that it's a fair for independent publications, you'll also be including the uninformed. Include your number for media and late zinesters. Include the admission price (guilty small) or announce proudly that it's a free event. Make three or four hundred copies. (5)

Three weeks prior to the fair, fax out the poster to community and university newspapers, radio stations, and any local magazines -- look in the white pages for their fax, or call for it. (You might contact a few especially friendly places to see if you can wangle free/dead cheap ad space. Any extra costs will mean higher table costs, so consider this very carefully, and don't be blinded by the glitz of Real Publicity.) You might even want to fax the TV stations, but keep in mind that (best case scenario) they'll show up there with their cameras and attitude and might even expect people to fucking pose for them. When I did the faxing, I was ambivalent about media outlets, and much more interested in pre-publicity than post-event coverage. But then post-event coverage came out raving about individual zines and often including ordering info -- and this was a real boost for many zinesters, and inspired new people to get their first issue together. Plus, even if the media outlet doesn't cover it some people who work there will probably go to the event. So fax boldly and fax widely, young promoter... (6)

Two weeks prior to the fair, think about all the places -- and I mean all the places -- that have employees or customers who should know about your fab event. Bookstores, rep cinemas, record stores, community bike shops, cafes -- all the hangouts where you've ever seen anyone vaguely interesting hang, not just scenesters. Pop by and chat 'em up, mentioning that it's a non-profit community soiree. Remember, you're bestowing them with a badge of underground cool, not pushing some skuzzy little product.

One week prior to the fair -- because outdoor flyers have such a short life span -- it's time for a flyposter frenzy. Get yourself a staplegun or a tapegun or pull out the big guns: a brush and a small pailful of wallpaper paste/condensed milk. With the latter combo you'll be able to chemically bond your poster to newspaper boxes, poles, garbage cans, parked cars and bank windows. Obviously you can't do the entire city, so plan a postering route where print addicts are liable to walk by. Save a dozen or so for the day itself, so that you can bomb your block to attract curious passerbys.

Despite being a technology advocate in many cases, I feel that Internet promotion isn't particularly effective. Most people who read Usenet or websurf will also read indie newspapers, but if it's easy for you to do then do it. Don't stress about it, though.

SOCIAL ENGINEERING: FUNNELLING THE MASSES

Be on time. Wear a tux, or something more formal. Say hello. Collect the cash at the beginning, because at the beginning they're dislocated and eager to please and and the end they're counting their pennies. You can set things up so that strangers sit together, and meet new people; or sit with friends and have a grand old time. Whatever you want -- it's your event. Nametags, with zine titles, are a nice touch, as Seattle's alt.com.expo proved. I had money left over at the Zine Crusade to provide free coffee and cookies for all. If you can, be relaxed and mellow, and mix it up with all the interesting kids. If not, just be wired and tense as hell.

BASK IN THE GLORY OF YOUR PATRONAGE

...But don't be so damn patronizing that no one will help you clean up.

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(1) BACK

Your comments about doing it yourself, as opposed to doing it by committee, ring very true. In L.A. I organized a committee of zine editors which met weekly for months. Vile disagreements, petty arguments, opposing points of view -- I remember so much wasted time and energy -- and when the time came for the convention itself, I ended up doing most of the grunt work myself anyway. In Seattle, Susie and I did all of the pre-coordination and publicity. We involved De Kwok, editor/publisher of Milky, in the pre-planning. He was an invaluable resource because he's really familiar with the local zine scene. We bounced ideas off of him, used him to get the word out to key zine people, and had him make up the final schedule for the weekend. We had one meeting where we brought in local zine people and tried to get them involved. It didn't accomplish much of anything, but it got the word out that we were seriously going to do the convention and that it wasn't just going to be a rinky-dink thing. (brad)

You're right in presenting a strong caveat to the planning-by-committee approach, but putting together a successful zine event is probably more than a one-person job. If you work full-time and/or have a life, you'll definitely need to enlist the aid of a few trustworthy individuals. (seth)

(2) BACK

Both conventions were probably a little too ambitious (but part of the fun was trying to create a huge spectacle that couldn't be ignored). SPEW 2 lasted three days and nights, with performances, parties, readings, film screenings, bands & music, in addition to the actual convention. The alt.com.expo added a whole other element: panel discussions, speakers, and workshops. SPEW had a motto: "no boring panel discussions". At CoCA (Center on Contemporary Arts, where it was held), we thought the larger discussion of censorship, what "alternative" means in the age of post-Nirvana, and where the future of zines is headed, was important and might attract a larger audience -- not just the regular in-crowd zinester audience. It helped that Seth Friedman of Factsheet Five, Dame Darcy of Meatcake, Vaginal Creme Davis of Fertile La Toyah Jackson Magazine, Thomas Frank of The Baffler, et al, agreed to participate. CoCA has a mailing list of nearly 6,000 people, and we knew if we presented the convention in the right way that we could attract a large number of people who didn't even know what a "zine" was, but who were intrigued by the speakers, the performers, the beer, or the words "underground publications."

Were I to do another zine convention, I would pare it down. I would do an opening night benefit party/mixer with bands and beer. It gives zinesters a chance to meet each other and gives them an opportunity to have the correct indie "haze" the next day during the convention. The convention open to the public would take place all day Saturday, with accompanying speakers, panel discussions and workshops. On Saturday night, I would probably do an alternative film/video screening or alternative performances and music, and stop right there.

Three days/nights is too much for the organizers, it is too expensive, and it's too much for the participants. At the alt.com.expo, our Saturday attendance was great, the room looked packed and there was a great "buzz" in the air. People were mixing, zines were selling, the panel discussions were lively and well attended. On Sunday, sales were down, attendance was down, people were tired and cranky, arguments broke out, and people started tearing their tables down early and leaving. It wasn't worth it, and personally, as an organizer, I honestly thought I wouldn't make it through the day. (brad)

(3) BACK

Another thing I should mention is that no matter how hard you might try to please all the participants, most likely it's not going to happen. Maybe the best way to mitigate conflicts is to hold smaller, more focused zine fests that focus on anarchist writings, riot grrls, or whatever your particular interest is. If you're having a "general purpose" zine get-together, be prepared for some ne'er-do-wells to nit-pick. (seth)

(4) BACK

We charge $5, and I think that is fair. There is the huge amount of effort involved by the organizer, plus it is something of a fundraiser for BP (nb. Broken Pencil, which reviews Canadian zines), which supports the zine community and does not make dough. So, it is not just the costs of renting tables, there is the time and effort involved in organizing over 100 exhibitors, speakers etc., and I think it's fair for the organizer to try to take a little something financially back. (Hal)

We had complaints about charging the public admission to attend. Without it, table costs would have had to be significantly higher. Keep participation fees and table costs low; zinesters are your meat and potatoes. If zinesters think you're ripping them off, or capitalizing on them, they're not going to come. Both conventions I worked on barely broke even, not including the (personal and organizational) time spent coordinating them. (brad)

(5) BACK

Actually we prefer the handbill -- you can leave it lying around and people can take it with them and you can mail it to zinesters and ask them to hand them out. Easier to reach other communities besides the downtown core. Another good advertising thing is to make ads and send them to all the zines -- way in advance. They will run the ad for the fest, and other people will clip the ad and run it, you really reach a lot of people that way. You need to try to get people from other cities, small towns, suburbs to make the trip. If you can, you will have a much more vibrant event. (hal)

(6) BACK

Other than meeting other zinesters, the other goal zinesters have is to sell all of their zines. This means attracting an audience to the convention that hasn't already bought your zine, i.e. people other than local zinesters and hipsters without money. Whatever the implications, the convention has to try to bring in a whole new audience for zines. If an editor pays $25 for a table, sells five zines and trades 10 zines, I don't care how great a time she had at the party the night before, she ain't gonna think it was worth it. (brad)

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The Highly Paid Consultants

Brad Thompson co-organized SPEW 2, a queer-zine convention that took place at LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions). He also co-organized Seattle's alt.com.expo, at the Center on Contemporary Art.

Seth Robson helped organize the Kill Zinesters Tour, a mobile zine fair and an ongoing concern. He also does Bunnyhop.

Hal Niedzviecki co-organized Canzine in Toronto and publishes Broken Pencil.

Stuart Ross, longtime small press activist, organized the first Toronto Small Press Book Fair and publishes Mondo Hunkamooga and Pumpkinhead.

Stacey Case has organized six CutnPaste zine fests to date and does Rivet.

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This originally appeared in Punk Planet Sept-Oct 1997.