#I'm incredibly proud of Iconic and I don't think the premise would've worked if we hadn't put in the level of professionalism that we did

[gen-is-gone]

#first of all ppl in the notes are yall okay did everyone just forget how to community effort vet fanzine producers lmao#also who the fuck is doing fanzines on kickstarter and for profit????? yall are crazy#i really think the only solution to this that would benefit everyone#would be to call the fan projects that go to a glossy printer and are sold at book prices 'fan books' or 'anthologies' or 'art books'#and for ppl to try to make and trade more actual diy zines in the same communities#bc like its not bad to get to work together to make these nice books esp the charity ones which is the only kind ive ever had experience w/#but i dont like how its at the expense of traditional no barrier to entry diy zines. we can have both#actually speaking of this dr who fandom pre-2010s-ish had this down#and the actual scholarship by fans and collecting sites etc all categorize the professionally bound books as Anthologies#and they were a markedly different thing from the Zines#which were more diy and passed around at cons and in pubs and in the mail#the anthologies were still indie and werent for profit either#but its sort of a different thing with a different barrier to entry bc of needing to apply and needing to pay a printer etc#incl professional on demand printers too i think#like literally in dr who fandom they used to call these charity anthologies and i just think thats more accurate and useful#i regularly participate in modern 'zines' in gomens fandom that are just this type of charity artbook#and i do it bc i like the activity and community and charity donation#but yeah like are these even actually zines??? i think calling them so is inaccurate#but i genuinely think this inaccuracy just happened by accident as the ways fans get books made and distributed changed#often its just 'we want to make a high quality book so we're printing it at cost'#but since zine is just short for magazine im also unsure why it shouldnt refer to more than one thing#esp two things with the same roots arguably#and fandoms arent going to stop using this terminology that DID originate with these diy zines#also i should make zines but i dont think anyone would buy them lol#fan culture

@ouidamforeman coming in with the excellent tag meta per usual.

the whole point of a zine is that it's cheap to produce, amateur and homemade. if you're being asked to apply to participate in a print project, it is not a zine. if the final product is being printed and bound professionally, it is not a zine. if you are being asked to enter into any kind of licensing agreement more complex than "my work can be reproduced as part of this publication" it is not a zine. nine times put of ten if the final product costs more than $5 you have left zine country. im so serious about this.