Spartanburg 'Zine Project: Day Two

I must say, I’m greatly encouraged by the response to the idea of putting together a Spartanburg ‘zine. Obviously, there would be at least some demand for the finished project.

Here’s what we have thus far …

• A tentative meeting at Converse Deli & Coffee Bar on Sunday at 1 p.m. Bring some ‘zines you like and some ideas for content, as well as a few possible names. If you can’t make the meeting, post the ideas here.
• Volunteers: I’ll be contributing some comics and maybe a story; Erin wants to chip in with a DIY knitting pattern; Burnnie Holliday will be contributing an essay or a short story; Christopher George will be writing and volunteering all-around; Cate is going to help us sort out the printing and distribution; Rachel will help us plan it; Sylvie seems willing to do whatever she can; Sara is up for helping with the paste-up and distribution at the Hub-Bub; Daniel and Katie seem to have some interest in making the art happen. Very cool, guys, thanks!
• Obvious community interest. Ten people volunteering in a day to help out on a project that doesn’t even have a name yet is decidedly awesome.

Before the meeting on Sunday, we can hash out some of the basic details of the ‘zine here on the Spark. The following is a list of suggestions — all open to revision — for this first issue.

Format: I suggest we start simple, with a 5 1/4″ by 8 1/2″ booklet (a standard piece of printer paper, folded over), printed in black and white, on regular copy paper. This is the standard ‘zine format, and it’s both easy to work with and cheap to produce. I suggest we cap the page length at 40 pages (or 10 pieces of paper, printed on both sides) to keep the cost low and to make the content manageable.

Content: Assuming we go with the above format, we should have plenty of room for content. In the event we have WAY more content than we know what to do with, that’ll be motivation to work on the next issue of the ‘zine.

I’d further suggest that as much of the content be original to the ‘zine as possible, by which I mean a new story you wrote specifically for the project is preferable to a story you wrote for a class years ago. Why? Because I think one of the great things about ‘zines is capturing a specific time and place, and if the content isn’t fresh, it fails to do that.

There’s also the sometimes thorny issue of what’s “appropriate” in the ‘zine in terms of content and language. My personal take is to decide on a case-by-case basis, with a bias towards self-expression rather than censorship.

Ads: Broadly speaking, ‘zines don’t run ads. I’d also suggest we don’t even consider running ads, at least in this first one, since this is a community project and not a commercial one. We can save a space to thank any businesses or groups that helped, though.

Deadlines: I’d suggest we have all the content in by May 23, which gives everyone a little more than three weeks to create their content (art, essays, stories, poems, ect.), and leaves another week to do the layout and printing. Distribution can begin — hopefully — on or around May 30.

Style: We should all be willing to make certain concessions for the format. Text may need to be reformatted, for instance, to fit the available space. Art may need to be cropped or resized for the same reasons. This is a collaborative process, so expect a little give and take.

Any thoughts or revisions of those ideas? Let’s hear ‘em.

Also, if you want to send something in for the ‘zine, by all means e-mail it to me at publisher@spartanburgspark.com.