Independent Publishing: Projects Worth Following
Three ways to explore independent publishing through making, archiving and public events.
Independent publishing includes more than the release of new titles. People also build the places, tools and collections that help publications reach readers.
The projects below offer three useful directions to explore. This is a snapshot checked on September 22, 2026, rather than a claim about the whole field or a list of open opportunities.
Connecting making with preservation
Wasted Ink's Archiving Trans Voices programme announced a cohort running from November 2025 to June 2026. Its plan brought together reading zines, creating new ones and learning about archives, with partners including the Arizona Queer Archives and Arizona State University's Community-Driven Archives Initiative.
The page also described a planned digital collection. A plan is not confirmation that a collection has launched; follow the organisers' updates for its availability.
The connection is worth thinking about even outside that particular programme. Making a publication and deciding how it will survive are related tasks. A creator can consider what name to print, which copies to keep and whether they want a future reader to find the work in an archive.
Preservation begins with choices, not only with a box of old publications arriving at a library.
Keeping physical meetings part of publishing
Phx Zine Fest describes its purpose as bringing DIY publishers and readers together, with particular attention to voices underrepresented in mainstream media. Its account of earlier events includes both virtual and in-person gatherings.
That history offers a useful example of formats changing while a project continues. The important question is not simply whether an event happens online or in a room. It is what participants can do there: discover work, speak with makers, exchange copies or learn a process.
When exploring an event, read its aims alongside its programme. That helps you understand who is organising it and how you might take part.
Reading exhibitions after they close
The Vancouver Art Gallery's page for Copy Machine Manifestos remains a way into its 2024 exhibition about artists making zines. The show has ended, but the documentation offers names and publications to investigate.
This is a useful research habit: do not discard a resource simply because its event date is past. Separate information you can still learn from—titles, essays and recorded discussions—from travel details or ticket links that are no longer useful.
Follow a project with a question
Choose one thread: how a collection asks for contributions, how an event supports first-time makers, or how an artist uses successive issues. Read the project's own account and keep track of what is completed, ongoing or only proposed.
For another practical way to get involved, see Calls for Submissions.