The rocks were more expected from the mailing list people, but thanks anyway! :P
But it does have a long and structured history within fandom partly because it was the first and only way to get fanfic for years and years. there seems to be a deep seeded desire on the part of fans who remember this to keep the paper fanfic rolling off the presses.
I like zines. I wouldn't submit stuff to them if I didn't, though I have to say the 'free' copy is a big incentive (since I only tend to submit to zines I'd consider buying anyway). But I'm not sure zines have much of a life expectancy now they're not the only game in town and they are a luxury item. The economy of scale means that such a niche market is always going to be more expensive than the mainstream and to counteract that, there needs to be a comparative increase in quality or uniqueness. Most zines don't have either, from what I've seen.
My comment about zines being perceived as elitist is due to the unfortunate behaviour of some pro-zine people towards those people choosing to put their stuff online rather than in zines. Snobbish comments have been made about the quality of said online fic, which hasn't really endeared zines as a whole to some people - it's not as if online fic has a monopoly on suckage, after all!
Perhaps zines appeal to that Luddite tendency in all of us? ;)
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carisma_sensei
no subject
Date: 2005-08-12 05:17 pm (UTC)But it does have a long and structured history within fandom partly because it was the first and only way to get fanfic for years and years. there seems to be a deep seeded desire on the part of fans who remember this to keep the paper fanfic rolling off the presses.
I like zines. I wouldn't submit stuff to them if I didn't, though I have to say the 'free' copy is a big incentive (since I only tend to submit to zines I'd consider buying anyway). But I'm not sure zines have much of a life expectancy now they're not the only game in town and they are a luxury item. The economy of scale means that such a niche market is always going to be more expensive than the mainstream and to counteract that, there needs to be a comparative increase in quality or uniqueness. Most zines don't have either, from what I've seen.
My comment about zines being perceived as elitist is due to the unfortunate behaviour of some pro-zine people towards those people choosing to put their stuff online rather than in zines. Snobbish comments have been made about the quality of said online fic, which hasn't really endeared zines as a whole to some people - it's not as if online fic has a monopoly on suckage, after all!
Perhaps zines appeal to that Luddite tendency in all of us? ;)