how to ""mass""* produce zines at home
* i usually do 10 at a time, but do more if you want
you will need:
- a printer
- a long arm stapler (for anything bigger than minizines) (& staples)
- a bone folder
- 22-28lb printer paper
- your zine, formatted for printing
optional
- a guilotine style paper cutter
formatting your zine
you can really do this however you want, i use indesign, but if you don't feel like getting something like that, you can design your zine pages in photopea or what have you, then (if they're 5.5x8.5) make a file that's 11x8.5, and put them next to each other. the trick to making your pages fit for printing is to start at the right, and then zig zag from side to side.
printing your zine
if you have a printer that can print double sided, congratulations! i don't. if you do, and it gives you the options of flipping on a certain side, pick the short side so both pages are the same direction. if you're like me and your printer doesn't print doublesided, here's what i do:
- print out the quantity you want (i do 10) of 1 page of your zine, preferably one of the odd numbers
- note the way they come out of the printer- remember that, clip them together or put a post it note or something that says what page number it is.
- print the rest of the odd number pages in the quantity of your chosing, and wait for them to dry.
- once you get them all, take the stack of your first pages and insert them the exact way they printed, face up. then print the second page on them in the same quantity as before. do that to all your pages until you're done.
i also recommend printing your pages with a borderless option if you don't have a multi-sheet/guilotine paper cutter and if your printer has it.
putting the zines together
this one's pretty easy-
- stack the odd numbered pages, with the smallest page numbers on the bottom to the biggest ones on the top, and straighten them up.
- use your stapler to put em together, and your bone folder to fold it down really flat.
- if you have a guilotine type paper cutter, then you can trim the edges if there are any.