How to Make Your First Zine
A manageable first project: six short observations, two covers, and one finished copy.
For your first zine, choose a project small enough to finish with the materials already around you. The aim is to learn what happens when you turn separate pieces of writing or art into pages.
Here is one complete project you can adapt: an eight-page zine called “Six Things I Noticed Today.”
Make an empty booklet
Use a sheet of ordinary paper, a pen and scissors. Follow How to Fold an 8-Page Zine, then number the pages from one to eight.
Page one is the front cover and page eight is the back. That leaves six inside pages. The one-sheet format is also shown in the illustrated tutorial linked by Barnard Zine Library.
Work in the folded booklet for now so you can see how much room you have.
Choose six things you can describe
They do not need to be important events. You might choose a shop sign, a sound from the street, something growing through a crack, a conversation, an object on your desk and the evening sky.
Write two or three sentences about each. Include a detail that another person could picture. “The bus was late” tells us what happened. “Three buses went past in the other direction while we waited” gives us something to imagine.
These are suggested prompts, not things you need to have experienced. Replace them with your own observations.
Give each observation a page
Use one inside page for each thing. Write directly on the paper, paste in a small print of your own photograph, or add a drawing.
If the writing feels cramped, shorten it before making it smaller. Your first zine will teach you more if you can comfortably read the finished copy.
Put a title on the front. On the back, add your name or pen name and a date. You can include a short explanation of the project if the title needs one.
Read it as a stranger would
Put the booklet down for a little while, then read it in order. Does anything depend on information you forgot to include? Can you tell where each sentence ends? Are any pictures upside down?
Ask someone else to read it if you want another view. A useful question is “Was there anywhere you got lost?” It gives you more to work with than asking whether they liked it.
Decide whether to make copies
You can keep this first copy as it is. If you want several copies, unfold it and scan or photocopy the decorated side, then fold each new sheet the same way.
Make one test copy first. Once it works, print only as many as you currently want to give away or trade. Keep your original: it is both a finished zine and a record of what you learned.