Learnings from my first magazine

As my sabbatical was approaching, I was searching for ideas on what I could learn. I was toying with the idea of a writing class, when I came across a "book binding" class by Rebekah Smith. It looked interesting, and I was curious, so I signed up.

That class made me realise how easy it is to publish your own physical zine. I went home that day and shot an email to my friends saying I was launching a zine, and that I'd like them to write for it. It could be on any topic, and it was a great way to keep up with everything my friends are up to.

I set a deadline for April 15th (one month deadline) and gradually invited a few more people. About 40 in total, and prayed. Prayed that I'd get at least 5 submissions.

And I got 15 in total! I spent the last 4 days typesetting (in Affinity Publisher 2), printing, and binding the zines. It was a little exhausting to be honest, but I am EXTREMELY glad that I did it. This post is me recapping some of the lessons I learnt along the way.

Early submissions could be edited

Early submissions via Google Docs meant I could go through them and suggest changes, and it gave the ability to iterate through things. I could also propose improvements that could be incorporated.

But I got most of my submissions super last minute, which meant I had to print them as-is. It wasn't too bad, but I'd have liked to have edited a few more submissions.

Color is a no-no

When people asked me about photos or color, I usually said no. But a couple of submissions were submitted in color towards the end, which meant I had to print a few pages at the copy shop.

I honestly like the fact that my zine has color elements in it, but I will restrict color in future issues because of the cost and the fact that I have to run to a copy shop to print them.

It's best to be fully prepared

I also put off cover design until the last possible moment, which meant that I didn't have enough of the neon yellow paper when I finally decided.

I also had only one needle for the binding, which isn't great when you have multiple people over to help bind the copies. Both of these meant a hurried run to Modulor to get the materials, which was tiring. Next time I'll be a lot more prepared.

Duplex printing is like having a dishwasher

I printed on my cheap HP Laser printer that I bought over 4 years ago. I didn't even realise until now that it cannot do duplex printing (printing both sides). This meant I had to print one side, and then insert the printed papers back to print the other sides.

This wasn't too bad, but sometimes it sucked in two papers messing things up, or I selected the wrong options to print. It meant that I had to do it in batches of 3-5 which was annoying.

I really want a duplex printer, but I just replaced the toner and imaging drum in this one, so I am going to wait until they are done (another year or two lolz) before I replace it. It's like having a dishwasher, it is a MASSIVE improvement, but you can live without it.

Binding is best done with friends

I had two friends help with the binding, and they each spent 2 hours, while I spent 4 hours. So it took about 8 man-hours between us all to do 30 copies. I think this is a healthy number, and I'd probably have gone mad doing it if it weren't for them.

I also think 30 is a great number and that will be the number of copies for each issue going forward.

Thanks A LOT, Adi and Shivani!!

Postage cost needs to be figured out

If I exclude color printing, paper, and printing is cheap at home, and the binding labor ~free except for time.

The biggest cost for the zine right now is the postage cost. For international shipping, untracked it costs €3.30 while a tracked post costs €7. I am doing the majority of the deliveries for this issue by hand as I am travelling to India and the US next week, so this time it is a little tenable. But I need to figure out a way to make this sustainable over the long term.

I am thinking of charging the shipping to people and collecting the cost when I see them in person or via PayPal.

6-8 weeks is a good cadence

I originally planned a monthly issue, but I am now increasing it to 6 weeks. The main reason being shipping. It typically takes a letter slightly under 3 weeks to reach the US, and it takes me a few days to typeset, print, bind, and post the issues.

This means people will likely get the issues as the next deadline is quite near. So the magazine will have a 6 or 8 week cadence depending on how busy I get.

Table of Contents was too last min

I am not pleased with my table of contents. I looked at it towards the very end and realised I can't have both the author names and the titles in there.

There were also pieces that don't have a title that didn't end up in the TOC. I will tweak this for the second issue.

I really enjoy this process

I had a lot of fun brainstorming ideas, titles, reading, editing and putting this whole thing together. It was a little long at times, but I was always excited. When I bound the first copy, I couldn't wait and had to video call a few people to show it. And I had enough energy that I couldn't sleep until well into the night.

I can't wait for this to become a regular thing in my life :)