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Are Blogs making Zines obsolete?

The more I surf the net and view incredible blogs, the more I wonder if I should keep cranking out my zine.

I love my zine and getting other people involved in it and I love getting mail from people who read it an love it and I like being able to physically give it to folks and be in bookstores, etc. but I don't know--are zines becoming like LPs?

By staleyg at 02/13/2006 - 8:46pm | More Stuff to Discuss! | previous forum topic | next forum topic

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there's a small article

there's a small article about this very issue in the current issue of Bitch magazine. the author disagrees, and so do i. check it out, it's a good argument about the differences between zines and blogs and why zines are here to stay.

By cgurl at Fri, 02/17/2006 - 12:56am |

cool,

cool, thanks.

www.fertilegroundzine.com

By staleyg at Fri, 02/17/2006 - 3:09pm |

I don't think so.

Maybe I am too simplistic but I think the concrete aspect of a zine makes it different and special. It is more tangible to me. This may be an awful comparison but I think of zines as the book and blogs as the movie. I am too intimidated to start a blog so perhaps that is it. There are some great ones out there. I just think they are uniquely different and therefore, one cannot replace another.
Regina
"Karma is a boomerang"

By Recoveringme at Tue, 02/14/2006 - 3:19pm |

I think they may make some

I think they may make some zines obsolete but not all. I was a late-comer to the blog -thing but am now totally into it. It is a FREE way to get those ideas out there for the whole world...it blows my mind. I can't take the blog with me in my car or a restaurant, though, and they do not replace compilation zines with many author submissions at all. Our Esperanza has replaced her zine with her blog and I read it daily, but I think there is room for both.

By Lone Star Ma at Tue, 02/14/2006 - 6:50pm |

i agree with StaciC

2 totally different things.

I LOVE zines. I LOVE meeting zinesters. I love being able to trade zines when I see them or to hand out my newest zine to people (when I remember to bring it with me). I love having that thing in my hand.

I don't have a blog. I read one friend's blog, but that is the extent of my interaction with it. (Actually, I came across a blog still open on a computer at the computer center I sometimes go to. The blogger talked about going to a punk show, running out of drugs and being homeless in NYC, dumb stuff like that... and then how much she loved the zine library and being able to sit and read all these really cool queergrrrl zines for hours on end. I wondered for a while who the homeless druggy zine reader was and finally figured it out. Never did get to meet her though, but that little portion of blog stuck with me)

ANYHOW--my point is, it's 2 different things. And I think zines last longer and, in some ways, reach out more. Of course, this is just from the community that I hail from (virtually no one I know has a blog and definitely not the older artist types whom I tend to admire. They all still hand out paper zines and pamphlets and comics) and maybe the people you want to reach might be better reached with a blog than a stack of paper.

Whether to keep cranking out your zine or not is your call. Think about why you do your zine and whether these same reasons still apply. If you think that having a blog reaches all the same people (or most of the same people), you might want to consider reducing your print run.

But also keep in mind that blogs don't get reviewed in other cool zines. (Maybe they get reviewed in other blogs? I dunno--you'd have to ask someone else) They don't get passed around from person to person. You don't find libraries devoted to them where you can hang out while recuperating from a big night out drinking and drugging or when your kid has finally dropped off for a nap and you can sit and read and get inspired. And, as far as I know, no one has ever asked anyone to do a reading from their blog--whereas zine readings are pretty fun events (usually).

Of course, this is just my bias. Maybe mamas who do blogs but not zines have totally opposite opinions.

(Oh yeah, and I should add that I still have a record player. I still buy vinyl (when I can afford to). So maybe I am not the best person to ask about such things)

Sometimes paper is the only thing that will listen to you.

By PhoenixRising at Tue, 02/14/2006 - 4:00am |

I think so.

I have no desire to do a blog and I still want to do the zine, but I have to say that yes, I do think blogs are making zines obsolete. I think that many people who, 5 years ago, may have started a zine, now start a blog.

Blogs serve the exact same function as zines do, in my perception. They have the same strengths and weaknesses: some are simply stream-of-consciousness ramblings (we've all read those zines!) while others seem to be well thought out and/or are by people who can come up with lucid, witty, spur-of-the-moment prose. They allow the publisher a forum to go on about his or her main passion, quirky take on life or what have you. And there's a total blog community. People quote each other's blogs, link to them, it's a little universe, the way zines are (were?!)

Plus without the hassle of copying, folding, stapling, addressing envelops and paying postage.

Miranda: a zine about motherhood and other adventures

By Miranda at Tue, 02/14/2006 - 5:40am |

I don't think so.

I think that blogs compare to zines like video games compare to Scrabble (or other board games). One is interactive and addictive, the other is relaxing. That said, I've read several blogs today, but have a stack of zines, magazines and books in my never-ending "to read" pile.

By StaciCarsten at Mon, 02/13/2006 - 8:59pm |