This question is asked many times “What makes a zine a zine?” Our friend Tum @wuthipol.designs mentioned in a few of his posts about how diverse a topic this ends up becoming. With any other polarizing debate, the purist views take some strict consideration, while other more liberal approaches are a lot more expressive.
For us at Through The Roof, our main definition is an independently published book or publication form, and it contains multiple artworks, whether literary or visual art. There would be a prettier way to express this, but this seems to be a bit more definitive.
Independently published means we’re doing it ourselves. It might be hand made, it might be photocopied, it might be RISO printed, or maybe even silkscreened. Basically the printed artwork is printed with our own money, and through our own creative decisions. As long as the people involved in the zine are happy with the product and artwork, it’s a done deal. When a zine is sold, the proceeds go directly to the artist or zinester, and they usually just aim to cover cost.
Not independently published would mean looking for a book publisher, and having an editor, an agent, and other components of the book publishing industry to bring the book to life. There would be investors, and other people involved, as with any other major industry. When a book sells really well, then it could go for different awards, or book lists, and the reach spreads even more. In most cases, royalties are used, which means an author would get a percentage of every book sold, wherever the books are sold. Everyone else is paid along the line too.
While others might discuss about the format of the zine, or the content of the zine as key, personally, I (Joel) find that this line of “who gets what money” defines the zine idea the most. It changes the definitions of publishing, because the creative becomes the publisher themselves. The creative person would need to make something because they want to, because money making would be much better done in other forms of traditional publishing.
The zine makers usually have to fork out their own money to make their zines, and it might earn them some money, but not a lot. Not to the point of a best selling author. It sounds silly that someone would put their own money down, and still not make a lot of money back. So why would someone make a zine?
Zines are usually made because the creative wants to make an expression of some sort. An idea becomes real. It’s tangible and we can physically touch it. You could pass a zine to another person, and they could read it too. The zine maker can’t change it anymore, because it’s printed and set already. There could be a re-issue, but it wouldn’t be the same as the first one literally. Zines are really one of a kind. This physical expression is something the zine makers treasure a lot.
These definitions are purely my own (Joel) at this time (24 Feb 2025). My ideas might change, and I might be further influenced to see zines in other ways based on other people’s definitions too.
I’m ok for things to change, and perhaps that’s one reason why I enjoy doing some of these posts here as much as I enjoy doing zines. Capturing a moment, a story, a thought, just for now. And life might look completely different tomorrow.
Currently we’ve got quite a few collab groups going, but if you would want to just have a chat to talk about possibilities of what a zine might look like, do drop us a note! We might take a bit of time to reply, because life. But we will reply 🙂
Also, we do focus on students as part of this effort, because it would benefit them the most to have a creative expression. But it doesn’t mean regular adults can’t join in! Just get in touch with us, and we’ll take things in their time.
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