The PFM Produce and Share a Zine - Round 4

After a recent response in the Round 3 thread, we are going to have a Round 4

The idea of this challenge is that you sign up here and commit to producing a zine and posting it to all the other people in this zine group, everyone has to cover their own printing and postage costs and in return gets a fantastic zine collection from the other members of the group. The target date for posting out your zines is Saturday 20th May 2023 with Friday 21st April 2023 as a last date for people to commit which gives 4 weeks for printing etc.

Don't be scared of this challenge a a zine by its very nature can vary from a collection of hand produced pages stapled or folded together (http://blog.umamidesign.com/ud-content/2013/09/ud_130918_zine-instructions.jpg) or a printed booklet (https://mixam.co.uk/booklets)

Thread from round 1 which has a lot of useful information in it
https://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/threads/the-pfm-produce-and-share-a-zine.239696/
(Please note Mixam are no longer doing the free trial sample booklets - 8 pages max)

FAQ

Q: So how much will it all cost?
A: My experience is that you can get a box of 10-20 zines from Mixam delivered for about £30, if you want just a black and white zine, then Doxdirect are probably cheaper. Then there's the postage to each person taking part. Previous zine exchanges have had less than ten entrants, so 10 lots of postage could be another tenner depending on the size of your zine and postage class (2nd is fine for this!) - Don't forget we each send a zine to @Tony L as a thank you for this great site.

Q: Most of the participants are crusty film shooters. Is this a film only thing?
A: Not at all. Shoot the whole zine with your phone if you like.

Q: How should I design it?
A: That's the challenge of making a zine. It's not just about plonking a bunch of photos in a book, it's about crafting something. Text or no text? Colour, monochrome or mix? Square, landscape or portrait (or mix)? One image to a page, or collages? A Google search for "Photography zine" will give you some good cover ideas too!

Q: How big should I make it?
A: As a minimum, I'd suggest A5 and containing 10-15 pages. Bear in mind you need to pay for it, and post it, so the bigger or heavier you go, the more cost to you.

Q: How many should I order?
A: It's up to you, but on April 21st, we will be asking people to commit yay or nay so that we can get final numbers of participants so that people can make appropriate print orders. Previous zine exchanges have had no more than ten entrants though and reading through this thread should give you an idea.

Q: Wait... Deadline?
A: Yes. Your zine needs to be finished in principle by 21st April 2023. You can then commit formally, and we will know how many people are taking part and how many prints we need to make. Zines should then be printed, and posted out before 20th May 2023.

Q: New images or old? Theme?
A: It's up to you, but most zines work well when based around a theme or project. I prefer to take new images for it, whilst others like to go through their back catalogue. Do what makes you happy.


Black Friday

It is likely that Affinity will be running 50% of Publisher as part of their Black Friday programme, this is an excellent piece of softwrae and makes putting a zine together very easy, and ebnables working in the correct colourspace CMYK for printers.

 

OK, my first time... I'm in.

 

Me too!

 

I’m in too.

 

It's currently 40% off:

https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/publisher/

 

I wish I had time, I want to make one with photos of my travels, inspired by @John Barry 's "Retrospective".

 

you have several months!!!

 

I'm in again

You can do it!

 

My computer is stored. I would need to set it on the dining table every time I could dedicate to the task. And I no longer have Photoshop and Illustrator. I do have an old copy of Lightroom but don't really have much control over it.
Maybe if the weather cooperates and I'm stuck indoors.

 

A brand new suite of apps (V2) for a one time fee of £90/$99 looks like a good deal. Includes the iPad versions as well. Seems to offer the same functionality as Adobe PS, illustrator and in design without the monthly fee.

 

Will be my first time as well, I'm in too...

 

Bumping this after impending sense of ‘must do something / shoot a set/ er, oh heck, when was the deadline again !?!’ Caused me to do a search just now.

 

Eeek!

 

Isn’t one running at the moment - I’ll launch a new one shortly!

 

Hate to sound mean (I am), but how often do Affinity do their promotions?

 

A couple of times a year

 

Sounds like about June. Can I wait that long?

I don't think so. I missed the December one, wasn't paying attention.

 

Yes usually a summer promotion and an extended Black Friday one, its not that hard to use, so you could probably wait until June, when I orgaise a zine it will probably be an Oct deadline

 

Oh, brilliant. I'll hang on.

 

Sorry, I've got a bit confused. Are we not heading for a 21st April / 20th May deadline as also alluded to by Martin above?