01100: Starting your own e-zine

Interested in starting an e-zine? Good luck. Putting out a zine is a pain in the ass, despite the fact that it is somewhat rewarding and mildly amusing at times. Digital Darkness Zine has been put out monthly over the last 7 months, with one month on a bi-monthly schedule, and I can't stress how much work it is. The zine itself is not that hard to do. The hardest part is getting something written, either by you or someone else. I spend more time tracking down people to write for the zine then I do editing or writing for it myself. People are naturally lazy, and without a little prodding, they will not write for you by themselves. Basically, putting out an e-zine involves constantly harassing people until they produce. Most e-zines that I have read, which isn't many I will admit, have all been basically the same, mine included. Introduction, a few essays, maybe a log from something, and a closing. The essays seem to all be the same, someone trying to sound smarter then they really are, using a large vocabulary that they have no grasp of the proper usage. The topic seems to be the same, hacking or anti-authority. This medium seems to attract a certain crowd of system-haters, and they put their pointless hatred down on paper, for other people like them to read and agree with. They write without saying anything. If you're sure you want to do a zine, or just an article for someone else's zine, say something. And try to say something different, or say it in a different way. There are already enough zines out there based totally on whining. There's a zine devoted to every somewhat decent, or at least popular, band out there. There's plenty of feminist zines, plenty of alternative lifestyle zines, and plenty of hacking zines. I tried to get away from all of that with just an open forum, where any topic goes, and with the small number of submissions we recieve, I printed everything I recieved. Looking back on the zine, I came to a few insights.

1. People will never tell you the truth about your work. Digital Darkness has printed some plain shit. There's no other way to describe it. While we have printed some very clever writings, some informative expositories, and a few convincing essays, for the most part what we've produced is shit. But no one would ever think of telling us that. No matter how bad an article was, they would not or could not tell us the truth. I find it easier (and more realistic), yet somewhat disheartening, to think that the only people that read my zine are other writers for it. That makes me constantly try to improve it.
   
2. Putting out a monthly with a small pool of writers is very difficult at best. All of the writers for Digital Darkness have something else to do at all times that is more important then writing for the zine. Constantly bugging them for a submission may force them to produce, but it tends to degrade the quality and keep topics limited. I would suggest to you, as a new zine writer/editor, put your zine out maybe quarterly or even twice a year, or maybe on an irregular schedule. That way, you don't have to worry about deadlines. When you get enough material, send it out.
   
3. People will not go out of their way to get your zine. While everyone seemed to want to read the zine, they were not willing to go find it. Distribution is the key. Upload it to bulletin board systems in your area. Have it archived on some of the zine archiving services on the net. Put it in some search engines. Have all your friends link to your page with a note about the zine. Put a link to their page in return. This whole zine thing is about networking. You scratch their back, they'll scratch yours. The more people you help out, the more you have helping you. And most of the people that link to your page will also read the zine, so you get even more exposure. I suggest setting up a mailing list. Digital Darkness e-zine has a web page that allows them to type in their email address and which of the lists they want on, and I add them to my address book. If you take this route you might want to keep more then one address book, one for friends and one for all those other people.
   
4. Write. Whether you are putting the zine out by yourself or with help, you must have a strong voice. Whatever you believe, believe it one hundred percent, and write to kill. I've never been a strong writer, and I think that's one of the main faults of the zine. If you have a message, shout it at the top of your lungs, in the strongest language you can muster. This doesn't mean use nothing but profanity. It has it's place. This means get your point accross. Don't mince words. At the same time as you're not mincing words, keep enough to get what you want out. To avoid sounding too much like an English lesson, I'll stop there. But suffice to say, say what you want. It's your zine, there's no need for self-censorship.
   

Hope these tips will help you out, and feel free to send a copy of your zine to me at spamman@erols.com.

-omnicolor
Not Copyright
Pit Labs, Digital Darkness '97