The zines I'm referring to are online magazines. You can publish one. If the internet was around in the 1950's I'm sure Hugh Hefner would have started with a webzine. It would have been alot easier than all that tedious cutting and pasting he had to do on his kitchen table to make camera-ready layouts. Getting his magazines printed and distributed cost old Hugh alot of money; it was a big risk. The internet would have cut that expense. Of course Hugh sold his magazines. I suppose you can sell your zine - if the information you feature is as desirable as what Hugh put between his covers you too can charge a subscription fee. ( If you're interested in Hugh's story here's a book you might enjoy ).

The majority of webzines are free. Their creators do it for the joy of creating something others appreciate. They also do it because it gives a public forum for writing and ideas that otherwise don't get easily disseminated. The nature of the content is almost totally up to you. I say "almost" because there are of course laws that restrict a few areas of content. Hate content, child pornography, leaking official secrets etc. - they're off limits unless you enjoy the wrath of the law coming down on you. I won't get into all the possibilities - if your content ideas are illegal you probably already know it.

With your zine you can be writer, illustrator, graphic designer, web designer, and publisher. If writing isn't your thing - you can just be the Editor and Publisher. As Lord of thy zine you can take whatever roles you feel like and then enlist an army of troopers to help you. Draw upon the "talent" that is around you. Get your friends to write articles etc.

After you get your "premiere" issue online, you can ask your site's visitors for contributions. They could contribute ideas, writing, artwork, or photographs. Do your best to get them involved - it will encourage repeat visits to your site to see future issues of the zine. Build a "community" around your zine. You can include a guestbook, message board, or even a chat room. You can make new friends but just as important, you can facilitate your visitors making friends with one another.

Of course you'll want everyone interested in your content to visit your site. You'll have to promote your zine. Most zines cater to very specific interests - they are not mass market stuff. That's fine. You need to target your promotional efforts. Be sure to ask your existing visitors - people who appreciate your content already - to help promote your zine to others who'll appreciate it too. One way they can do this is with a referral form like this working example that allows you to recommend DesignStop.Com to your friends :

Go ahead and try it - it works. I won't sell, publish, or give away the email addresses you submit. You and your friend won't be subscribed to any newsletters or receive any junk mail as a result of your kind participation. If you want to see the type of message your friend will get before you try it click here.

Here at DesignStop.Com I have pages and pages of information devoted to marketing and promoting websites. It will help you build traffic to your webzine. You can get directly to that advice with this speedy link. Creating a webzine can be fun and promoting it can be fun too.

I hope this page has given you some ideas and some encouragement. If it has, please with your site's URL, I'd love to read your zine. If your content isn't offensive to me, I might even put a link to your zine on this page.

PS. I've never created a zine so certainly I'm no expert. If you want some expert advice you might want to check out this book : Make a Zine : A Guide to Self-Publishing Disguised As a Book on How to Produce a Zine by Bill Brent. The book is about creating and self-publishing a print zine. I'm sure it has many ideas transferable to creating a webzine. If not - amazon.com has a good return policy!

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