Self-Publication with Punk Rock Ideals: Zines ? Vanity Press Publications

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Self-Publication with Punk Rock Ideals Zines ?
Vanity Press Publications

• SHARP Conference, July 2007 Minneapolis,
  Minnesota
• Jenna Freedman, Barnard College

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outline

• Different types of publications vanity press,
  self-publications, zines
• Punk rock ideals in zine publishing, contrasted
  with motivations for other self-publishing
  endeavors
• Libraries' role in collecting and preserving
  these and other alternative press materials

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publishing industry statistics

• In 2004, 950,000 books out of the 1.2 million
  tracked by Nielsen BookScan sold fewer than
  ninety-nine copies.
• Another 200,000 sold fewer than 1,000 copies.
• Only 25,000 sold more than 5,000 copies.
• The average book in America sells about 500
  copies. In other words, about 98 of books are
  noncommercial, whether they were intended that
  way or not.
• Chris Anderson, The Long Tail Why the Future of
  Business is Selling Less instead of More (New
  York Hyperion, 2006), 76.

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mental traps

• Everyone wants to be a star
• Everyone's in it for the money
• If it isn't a hit, it's a miss
• The only success is mass success
• "Direct to video" bad
• "Self-published" bad
• "Independent" "They couldn't get a deal"
• Amateur amateurish
• Low-selling low quality
• If it were good, it would be popular
• Ibid., 167.

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comparison
Vanity press Self-publications Zines
Scorned Tolerated Invisible
Owned by publisher Owned by author Owned by author, if ownership is claimed at all
Publisher does most of the work Publisher does much of the work Author does nearly all of the work
Author has minimal control over design or anything other than content Author has more control Author has total control
Publishing costs shouldered or shared by author Publishing costs shouldered or shared by author Author solely responsible for publishing costs
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Bikini Kill, "Riot Grrrl Is" Girl Power, no. 2.
No date unpaginated.
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Cindy Ovenrack, "Secrets," Doris no. 17,
"Reprints." Winter 2000 unpaginated.
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April Hornbuckle, "Intro," Cartography for
Beginners, no. 5. Summer, 2005 unpaginated.
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scope of barnard zine collection
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library bill of rights
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library zine collections
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links and contact

• This slideshow and paper http//jenna.openflows.co
  m/talks/sharp/2007
• Barnard Zine Collection http//barnard.edu/library
  /zines zines _at_ barnard dot edu
• Zine libraries list http//www.barnard.edu/library
  /zines/links.htmlibraries
• IM (AOL, Google, Jabber.org, Yahoo)
  BarnardLibJenna