INTERNATIONAL ZINE MONTH: Zine Library & Education week (week 4)

Welcome to week 4 of International Zine Month 2013, a week dedicated to zine libraries and educating others about zines!  This was a difficult week for me, as I'm struggling to find the time to do the more in-depth tasks in the evenings after my full-time job, but anything I miss I'm going to return to eventually. :)

21 – International Zine Library Day! Visit your local zine library!

Unfortunately I don't have a local zine library, but I have added a list of all current zine libraries to the blog sidebar for readers to peruse.  Info about how to visit and how to submit your zines to their collections can be found here.

22 – Send your zine to a zine library.

I sent mine to Salford Zine Library! 

23 – Make a 1 page zine. 

Didn't have time to do this yet, but I have planned it out and made a start on it.  I'll finish it next week, promise!

24 – Organize your zine collection.

Didn't have time to do this yet either. Bah, I am such a big cheat.  

25 – Teach a friend or family member about zines.

All of my friends and family members already know about zines, as I excitedly blather to them about zine culture on a regular basis! Instead, I've put up an educational page on my blog all about zines, what they are and where to find them.  Please share with anyone you think would be interested!

26- Submit something to a compilation zine.
Although I didn't have time to complete my submission this week, I'm going to submit something soon to Shape and Situate, one of my favourite feminist compzines.

27 – Organize a zine event! A zine reading or a zine fair or fest or even just for friends to get together and work on their zines.

I had planned a beach day with my friends where we were going to read and trades zines - unfortunately a load of my friends couldn't make it at the last minute so this didn't happen, but it was due to factors out of my control.  I ended up going surfing instead, and read some zines when I got in!

EXTRA CREDIT: read a zine every day.

Next week is the final week of International Zine Month 2013 - JUST FOR FUN week (my favourite!).  What will you be getting up to?  Don't forget to share your blog posts, tweets, and photos with us! :)

International Zine Month: ZINE DISTRIBUTION WEEK (week 3)

We're on week 3 of International Zine Month already!  I'm getting a wee bit tired of the daily tweeting and such, but the tasks and the daily reads are lots of fun!  If you don't already know, I'm taking part in all 31 tasks for IZM as set by Alex Wrekk; make sure you follow my progress on Facebook and Twitter! Here's what I did this week:

15 – Leave a zine in public for someone else to find.
I went out for lunch with my boyfriend and left some copes of my free feminist minizine 'How to prevent sexual assault' in the ladies toilets.  

Plus, when I did my big shop at Tesco this week, I put a load of feminist minizines titled 'Reasons to be a feminist' inside the women's magazines.  I do this every now and again when I have the time and inclination - I'd like to think that if even one person enjoys reading my zine or learns something from it, then I've done a good deed. :)

16 – Send your zine to a distro for distro consideration.
I sent my latest perzine to Sweet Candy Distro, a US zine distro that sells lovely feministy zines.

17 – Review a zine online or write a review of a zine to add to your zine.
I've decided that at the end of the month, I'm going to review all 31 zines read this month for IZM! Keep your eyes open for that bumper zine review post.

18 – Order from a zine distro that you have never ordered from before.
I ordered from Doris Press (run by Cindy Crabb, author of 'Doris' zine), which sells lots of amazing social justice and political zines.  I highly recommend Doris Press' catologue, there were so many zines that I wanted to buy, but had to limit myself to $20 total!

19 – Zine Shop appreciation day! Stop by a shop that sells zines and buy some zines or consign your zines.
Unfortunately the nearest zine shops to me are in London (a 3.5hr train journey away!) so I was unable to visit any.  However, I did send some zines to a bunch of zine libraries.  Check out the full list of UK zine libraries in the blog sidebar ---> ---> --->

20 – Free Zine Day! Give your zine away to someone!
I gave away a free copy of my latest zine to all my friends!

BONUS: Read a zine every day

Here are mine from the week:

Next week is ZINE LIBRARY AND ZINE EDUCATION WEEK - what will you be getting up to?  Don't forget to share your blog posts, tweets, and photos with us! :)

INTERNATIONAL ZINE MONTH: Postal Appreciation week (week 2)

Hello zinesters!  How are you finding International Zine Month so far?  Here at Spill the Zines I'm taking part in all 31 tasks for IZM as set by Alex Wrekk; make sure you follow my progress on Facebook and Twitter! Here's what I did this week:

7 – Make or decorate some envelopes or postcards to get ready for the week.  
This was fiddly, but lots of fun! See pic below.

8- Make a little flyer for your zine to send out with orders and see if other people will trade for stacks of them so you can all promote each other (beginning of Ramadan, Muslim zine friends can pick back up on August 8th).
Done!  I've also been organising flyer trades via this We Make Zines group.  Here's the STZ flyer:

And here's my perzine flyer:

9 – Write a letter to a zine maker that you don’t know.
I wrote to Donna, the lady behind UK perzine Tragic Boffin, letting her know how much I've enjoyed reading her zines recently.

10 – Send a care package to a zine creator that you do know.
I sent mine to my zine friend Rachel, who has been going through a bit of a difficult time at the moment.  I included some flyers, minizines, pin badges, stickers, and some herbal tea.

11 – Make some mail art!
Not being very technically skilled, my idea of mail art mostly consisted of gluing stickers, card-making decorations and bits of coloured paper onto my envelopes, but it was still lots of fun, and quite rewarding.

12 – Send your zine out to be reviewed.
I sent mine to Pushpin Zines, a zine blog created by the lady behind Asking for Trouble zine and craft distro.

13 – Zine Trade Day! Ask someone if they would like to trade zines with you.
I'm currently working on the 12th issue of my perzine, and have been arranging lots of advanced trades with my UK zine comrades via Twitter :)

14 – ValenZINE’s Day! Write to your zine crush, or write to ZineCrush.com
My zine crush is Miss Tukru, the talented lady behind Your Pretty Face... and Vampire Sushi distro.  I wrote her a little love postcard :)

Read a zine every day
Here are mine from the week:

This week is ZINE DISTRIBUTION WEEK - what will you be getting up to?  Start with today's task - leave a zine in public for someone else to find :)  

INTERNATIONAL ZINE MONTH 2013: I Love Zines week (week 1)

Hello comrades!

As you know, July is International Zine Month, and every year IZM creator Alex Wrekk creates a list of 31 activities to do throughout the month, a task every day (above).  I've decided this year to pledge to do every single one, and for extra credit I'm reading a new zine every day.  I've been writing about my daily progress on the STZ Facebook and Twitter pages; here is a round-up of the past week!

IZM WEEK 1: 'I LOVE ZINES' WEEK

1 – Sign up or sign in to WeMakeZines.ning.com and write about IZM and what you plans are to celebrate zines this month! 
I wrote about IZM on this We Make Zines thread.  Get over there and say hi!  A load of other people have also written about their plans for July, so do check it out for some interesting blogs to add to your blogroll this month.

2 – Make a Top 10 list of reasons why your love zines.
1. Content is honest and from the heart
2. Not motivated by profit
3. Can be left lying around for people to find/take
4. Cheap to buy
5. Cheap and easy to make
6. Ephemeral/time-capsule quality
7. Portable
8. Create a sense of community
9. Connects people
10. Anyone can make their own!

3 – Zine Distro Appreciation Day! Order from a zine distro.
I ordered loads of zines from Vampire Sushi, a lovely little UK feminist/perzine distro.

4 – Reread your favorite zines and remind yourself why you love them so much.
Here are some of my favourite zines that I enjoyed flicking through again this week:

5 – Teach yourself a new zine skill: learn how to book bind, make a 1 page zine, photocopier art, etc.
Ok, confession time - it was my intention to teach myself how to do photocopier art, but I was in work all day and had a busy stressful day, so didn't get around to doing this today :(  I will make time for it next week instead, during my week off!  Forgive me?

6 – Check out ZineWiki.org and add your zine or update existing entries.
The entries on Spill the Zines, Catherine Elms, and Here In My Head have all been updated - take a look!  If you make a zine, why not pop over and add your page to the wiki?

Read a zine every day
Here are mine from the week:

---

Next week is POSTAL APPRECIATION WEEK - what will you be getting up to?  Start with today's task - make or decorate some envelopes or postcards to get ready for the week. :)