(no subject)

[graculus]

And meanwhile, I'm throwing myself to the lions... ;)

There's a discussion on one of the mailing lists I belong to about why zine sales seem to be dropping at conventions. There's speculation that perhaps 'young people today' just don't have the same bookworm tendencies and therefore don't buy books and so the not-buying-zines behaviour is just part of the same pattern. I'm not convinced.

I probably shouldn't have, but here's my post - I'd be interested in comments from the people reading this about the subject as a whole:

I think that the situation with zine sales is the result of a number of factors coming together.

First off, I wonder just how many of the people who attend conventions are the same people as previous years? How many new people do even the big cons like MW get, in terms of people who are 'con virgins'? Zines are luxury items, convention attendance even more so, particularly if you're talking about the US where paid leave seems to be at a premium. If conventions themselves aren't being 'sold' to fans then how are they going to survive as the people running them get older and/or less interested in giving up their time to organise them?

Part of the problem with zines is that (like it or not) some of the people producing zines have, to some extent, been their own worst enemy. I can't begin to detail the number of times I've seen the whole zine v. internet debate chewed over in a variety of locations and it never ends well. Like it or not, zines still for many fans have an elitist label stuck to them, based on a supposedly superior quality of fic which hasn't always been the case. Anyone who's been around in fandom for a while will be able to attest to the fact that we have some champion grudge carriers around here. ;)

I think the face of fandom as a whole is changing too. Very few fans seem to be single fandom any more - I remember when I first started attending cons, Sentinel was the fandom that seemed to be sweeping all before it, with more zines than every other fandom together (or so it seemed) and room for not just genre zines but also *sub*-genre zines (virgin!Blair zines being the first example that comes to mind). Where are all the Sentinel fans now? Single fandom fans seem to be much commoner in the older fandoms - I've come across quite a few in UNCLE and I believe it's also the case for fandoms like Pros and Starsky & Hutch.

I guess for me, the question is: what is it about zines that people can't get anywhere else? If it's about having fic in a handleable format, most people now have printers and access to alternative means of binding. For any but the old school fandoms, the chances of you getting fic there which doesn't eventually end up online is never going to be that good, so that's not as much of a pull. Particularly when we're talking about fandom as a whole being so much bigger *because* of the internet, mailing lists, livejournal communities. And certainly there hasn't always been a substantive difference in quality of what's being offered - the major difference at times has been more about presentation than content. And as the economic pressures bite, a fancy cover is going to be the least of people's worries.

Not sure what my conclusion is from all this - personally speaking, I like submitting stuff to zines but if I hadn't done that, I doubt I'd have bought all that many zines. Likewise, if I hadn't got into crossing the Atlantic for cons, I definitely wouldn't have bought many (any?) non-trib zines at $9 a pop shipping, besides which I like to see what I'm getting for my money. While I bless the invention of Paypal for getting money to people overseas, there's lots of competition for my attention and my wallet, so what makes zines so special?

*waits for the rocks* ;)

Comments

[katyabaturinsky.livejournal.com]

And one of those made me rant like nobody's business a few entries back, so the quality of that was sporadic, to say the least.

Oh, I think you're being kind. I disliked a great many of the stories posted. With one or two exceptions, I found myself pretty much exclusively reccing the same authors I recced during the golden age of TS fandom. Most (though not all) of the stuff by the newer authors was just dreadful, IMO. But the dozen or so stories that I did like reminded me of how good that fandom could be, back in the day.

But you're still at the hoovering-it-all-down stage in that fandom, though.

I've actually gone a bit beyond that, which is part of the problem. As the fandom has become more popular, the amount of crap fic being posted has risen exponentially; I have a whole cadre of authors (which I've dubbed The Idiot Brigade, in my usual kind and generous fashion) that I won't touch with a ten-foot pole, and more are added to that list each day, sadly. So while there's tons being produced, I'll only read about 1/2 of it, as I run screaming from the other half. Thus my willingness to take a chance on these three zines, simply because they were the only ones I'd seen in the New Shiny. Unfortunately, two of them fell firmly into the Idiot Brigade camp, and the other one -- the collection of fic already posted online -- made no improvement on what I'd already read on the net. So I'm 0 for 3 on the zine front, which will just make me more leery of zines in that fandom in the future, of course. Meanwhile, some of the fic posted online has been better than much of the pro novels I've read; and I've enjoyed that fic for free, with feedback being my only thanks to the author.

I think I've been hanging out on Zinelist too long.

Well, I've been enjoying the feeding frenzy, personally. ;)

[graculus.livejournal.com]

Most (though not all) of the stuff by the newer authors was just dreadful, IMO.

It was the one that unfeasibly ripped off the storyline *and* dialogue verbatim of one of my favourite movies and then tried to cram Jim and Blair into it and failed miserably. A prime example of what alternate universe fics are not.

As the fandom has become more popular, the amount of crap fic being posted has risen exponentially; I have a whole cadre of authors (which I've dubbed The Idiot Brigade, in my usual kind and generous fashion) that I won't touch with a ten-foot pole, and more are added to that list each day, sadly.

It's only a matter of time before you come back to sensible fandoms... ;)

[katyabaturinsky.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you just keep hoping, there, ducks. ;P (The volume of excellent fic being produced in SGA is the highest by far of any of my fandoms these days, so I don't anticipate leaving any time soon. Despite the craptastic scripts thus far in S2.)

[graculus.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you just keep hoping, there, ducks. ;P

I have to have something to cling to! :P

(The volume of excellent fic being produced in SGA is the highest by far of any of my fandoms these days, so I don't anticipate leaving any time soon. Despite the craptastic scripts thus far in S2.)

Ah well, I'm sure when the next New Shiny comes along and leads people off... you have to come back at that point, right? Not continue with the sheeplike business? ;)

[katyabaturinsky.livejournal.com]

I would imagine that I will indeed return if all the good authors leave. It's rare that a fandom grabs me so quickly and so violently; if it wasn't for the character of Dr. Annoying, it certainly wouldn't have happened here, as I can't say that I care much for the show, aside from him. And if the good authors flee, there won't be enough good fic to keep me interested, even with him there, so I'm sure I'll head back to the land of the Mountie and the Chicago flatfoot, most likely.