A zine—a contraction of the word magazine—is most commonly a small circulation, non-commercial publication of original or appropriated texts and images. Zines are often distributed through secondary circuits, such as: trade, zine symposia, record stores, concerts, independent media outlets, mailings, or zine "distros." Many zines are distributed for free or cost less than $1.00 and rarely more than $3.00-5.00. The time and materials necessary to create a zine are seldom matched by the sale of zines. Zines are seldom copyrighted and there is a strong belief among many zine creators that the material within should be freely distributed.
Topics covered in zines are broad, and include political, personal, social, or sexual content far enough outside of the mainstream to be prohibitive of inclusion in more traditional media. However, zines did enjoy a brief period of attention from conventional media in the 1990s, when a number of zines were collected and published in book form. Some believe that the widespread adoption of web browsers starting in 1996 marked the end of the classic period for print zines.
The exact origins of the name "zine" and the moment when the word was first used are controversial. The history of zines is clearly connected with that of Fanzines, which began in the science fiction subculture in the 1930s, and particularly with the fanzines that emerged as part of the punk rock movement in the late 1970s.
Zines continue to be popular. Currently zines are important to the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) movement. Recently galvanizing social issues such as globalization, environmentalism, media conglomeration, American imperialism and consumerism have been addressed by "zinesters." Zine Guide was a contact list available at some news stands that listed titles and publishers of zines. They later declared bankruptcy in 2004 and cheated all the zines who had sent in money for ads. Factsheet Five was one such contact list but has been on hiatus since 1998.
Examples of zines
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