Alabama Underground



Greencup Books, a not-for-profit bookstore and publisher in Birmingham, AL is holding a book/zine/music/art fair on November 14th & 15th featuring "writers, literary magazines, small presses, comix artists, record labels, artists, bands, zine makers, and handmade book artists, along with live music and readings."
Registration for vendors is $15 for Friday and Saturday.
You have until October 31st to register for a table.

Friday will be a "welcome party/reception for participating vendors starting with setup at 5pm. there will be a meet and greet party for all the vendors, labels, artists, that will go until about 8:30 when we will open the doors and have a reading by THE2NDHAND, followed by live music."

The book fair opens on Saturday at 11:30 with readings and live music all day.

Check out the website for more info.

EDIT: I know it says Lit Zines, but I've got a table and I don't solely carry lit zines, so don't feel excluded because of that label if you run a distro and are interested in getting a table

Does anyone know if Office Depot/similar places have scanners that can be used by the public? The scanner I was going to use to make scans of the covers of the zines for my distro (Black Light Diner, opens October 1) does not work. I'm going to buy a new scanner eventually, but not right now. My local library doesn't have one, I thought they might, but no go. So frustrating!

Also, what ARE the cheapest scanners out there (that work with Windows Vista), for when I break down and buy one? I found one for $50 on Amazon (a Canon) but this is the kind of thing I'd like to see and buy in person. I'm assuming flatbed will be the cheapest. I don't need anything fancy, this is just for zine covers and b/w comics. Photographs look SO cheap.

So i am new to distro-running. I just opened my distro, http://www.clickclackdistro.com. It's not online yet, and i will be starting it off by tabling at the Richmond Zine Fest on Oct. 11th.


So here is my question... in 3 days of announcing, i have already gotten 4 submissions. (yay and boo!)

How do you handle reject submissions? Do you write them and let them know? Do you say anything at all?

If you do contact them, what are some soft blows that you use to let people know their work is not up to par? (Especially if it is something really bad.)

ATTENTION FEMALE ZINESTERS AND FEMALE DISTRO OWNERS !!!!!

There is now a zine community just for us grrls!!!!!
A place to share ideas/tips about zines, ask questions, collaborate on zines, etc.

JOIN TODAY! GET ZINED!

THERE'S ZINE POWER IN THE COLOR PINK!!!!!!!!


xposted

This probably isn't a question as such... I'd just quite like to hear how other people go about it and see if I've missed something....

I seem to be incapable of writing descriptions for the zines I stock. I'm not a writer (I don't even write my own zine!), I'm an organiser. The descriptions I do actually manage to write are just a straightforward list of whats in the zine with very little else. which I sometimes like myself in descriptions, not overly flowery... but mine are stupidly bland. I'm insanely jealous of people who write lovely descriptions.

I lied, some questions:
- zines in distros do need proper descriptions, don't they?
- how do you feel about zinesters writing their own zine descriptions?
- quotes from zines can't really replace descriptions, can they?
- do you write your own descriptions? does this take a serious chunk of your "distro running" time? do you find it easy/hate it/just get on with it?

I feel like a terrible distro owner for struggling so much with descriptions. I've already decided I like their zine and want to support it, but then when it comes to my descriptions I feel I'm almost letting the zinester down by my inadequate description... I get all worried about it similar to how I did when I had to write something for English lessons and then had to read it to the class...

I'm kinda starting to become concerned this will be the death of my distro... when like 50% of the zines say *description coming soon* it's just not really acceptable. I read EVERYTHING I could about starting/running a distro before I took the plunge... I really thought I'd thought through everything and concluded I was up for the challenge. Nowhere did I read about the torture that is description writing though! Maybe it's really just me......

rant over :)

The way my distro is set up right now, a person will click the "add to cart" button under each zine they want to buy. Then, I'll get the payment in my paypal account, calculate the shipping, then send a person a money request to cover the shipping. I do it that way, because shipping for each zine depends on how many zines a person orders at once, and where they live. It's explained on a page on my site. It's worked fine for the most part. Except for one order from 2 weeks ago, where I got somebody's order and payment, so I sent them a $4 money request to cover shipping, and I never got the payment. The person's not reponding to emails, so what should I do? Just wait and see if the person sends the money? Send the package anyway with a note asking for the $4?

Good Afternoon!

I wanted to let everyone know that tonight will be the second episode of The Zine Core Radio Show. Awesome guests include:

Alex Wrekk (Stolen Sharpie Revolution, Brainscan, Small World Buttons, etc.)


Melissa Ann! (She's So Very... zine and lead singer of Jerk Alert!)

Sassafras Lowery (long time zinester and part of PoMo Freakshow. Sassy has two books coming out very soon.
GSA to Marriage: Stories of a Life Lived Queerly and
KICKED OUT an anthology which is bringing together the voices of current and former LGBTQ youth from around the world who were forced to leave home as a result of their sexuality and/or gender identity.

******************SO*************************** --->

If you have anything you want announced on the show please let me know ASAP. This can include a submissions call for your comp zine, a zine event you want me to mention, ANY ZINE ANNOUNCEMENT. Please email:

zinecoreradio@gmail.com letting me know
all the info!


more info soon!

Hi, I'm another new distro.
I'm from Birmingham, AL, and we don't have any zine distros in this state, even though plenty of people have plenty of things to say. I'm privileged enough to have the resources to run a distro, and for the last 4 months since I started it's been a blast.
Here's the website (now with no advertisements!!!):
Hen House Distro

You can add the myspace for a heads up on where I'll be tabling next and new stock.


Also, If anyone lives near the Huntsville area (Northern Alabama, right next to the TN border), there's going to be a mini-zinefest at this music fest that sounds really amazing:


Here's the Myspace where you can get the email address to request a table.

The zine/art show will be on June 7th, Saturday and besides that there are some good bands playing. These are ones I'm excited about:

Vice City Rockers from Glen rock, New Jersey
Live Fast Die from Littleton, New Hampshire
Shining Path from Montgomery, Alabama

Has anyone here shipped anything to Canada from the U.S. recently? Since USPS eliminated surface shipping, it seems that everything costs a fortune to send to Canada (and everywhere else in the world, for that matter). So I am looking for suggestions for the cheapest way to ship:

1) small zine orders (5-20 copies, so 8oz to 2 pounds)
2) book orders (5 to 40 pounds)

Basically I am asking so that I can find the cheapest rates to tell the people I buy my zines from, who probably rarely ship to Canada, esp. for medium and large orders.

Someone mentioned FedEx ground, has anyone used that? Does that go to Canada from the U.S.? The Fedex site can't give me a proper quote right now. Do they charge exhorbitant customs brokerage fees like UPS does?

The USPS First-class M-bag, at $1.70 per pound, is not too expensive, but I don't know how that gets through customs either. Is that still valid anyway?

Hey, I'm thinking of starting my own zine distro based in Australia for the following reasons:
1) I really heart zines
2) I'm passionate abut free speech and enabling a variety of voices (particularly young peoples voices) heard/read by wider audiences. I think mainstream media is severely lacking in diversity.
3) I think there is a bit of a gap in Australia in terms of distros. There really aren't many and most are on hiatus

But, before I take the plunge and buy a PO Box and a domain, I have a few questions for the more experienced amongst you.

1) Is it a big deal if the distro is on hiatus every so often? I'm at uni and I'm thinking of going on exchange over the coming years. Should I get someone else involved or is the zine community fairy flexible/understanding about this sort of thing? I also think that my disro would be relatively short-term. As far as I can see I would be able to run it for the next 4 years, but after that it's all up in the air.
2) I'm not panning to make money in this and if I happen to walk away at the end of a year having made more than spent, I think I'd put that money into making collaborative projects happen or making my distro better. However, I'd like to have a rough idea of what I'm getting myself into financially. I'm already moderately poor, so my budget would be really very small (unless I could somehow get a grant or something)
3) Any other advice for people just starting out?

Thank-you!

I'm looking for distros that specialize in film/cinema zines.
Especially ones that don't have Horror as their primary focus (although that's cool too).

I'm having a hard time finding any film zines themselves - let alone distros for them - seem to be few and far between, as far as I can see.

I haven't been...anywhere in a while. I'm currently trying to start a small library (mostly for pagan literature) and a small distro which will probably not help support the library so much as be a very nice distraction. I expect it to be painful but that's life. It'll be worth it. :D Currently sludging through archives and such for any helpful info.

I made a community a while back for swapping flyers and other promotional materials, promoswap. I didn't see anything in the rules saying we couldn't promote a community and I figured it might be useful to some folks here. If it's not cool I'll edit the post.

i've spent all evening cutting up flyers for my zine distro and now have several towers of them piled next to me. i know quite a lot of folks on here do distros/labels and are in bands who might have flyers themselves and i was wondering if anyone wanted to trade these flyers? this goes for folks in the u.k., europe and further afield - the more the merrier!

ps. zine submissions more than welcome - please check the site for more details!

This doesn't exactly apply to this forum, it has its merits. Obviously if you have a zine, I'll table it but if you want to send flyers to hand out or what ever kinds of ads you have for your distros, please send them. Here's the original post:

Paper-Xerox-Staples wants to table your zine at the New Orleans Book Fair on November 10th. We're offering a 50/50 split and ask that you send five copies of your zine to:

Paper/Xerox/Staples PO Box 1174, Tallahassee, FL 32302-1174

We'll also hand out flyers or give stuff away. If you have any questions please ask here or email at info@paper-xerox-staples.com. All submissions have to be in our hands by November 1, 2007. We have a lot of time right now but that won't last.

-Mike

Gimme Brains!!! Distro is back up. Holla.

www.youreinsanehoney.com

alright folks, i've been incredibly slack regarding this business but a lonely saturday has saw the finishing touches put to a lovely brass buttons! update.

most tellingly of all, i've changed the website and have moved to www.buttonsmadefrombrass.blogspot.com as a) it's dead easy to update and b) myspace can do one. i'm basically starting from scratch, hence #1 in the title.

submissions and penpals are more than welcome, hit me up!

So lately when I invited people to submit a zine to my distro for consideration and asked for a review copy, I offer a zine in return. I realized the other day I wasn't stating this very well as the zinester asked for a copy of Brainscan. I had meant, and not really stated, one of the ones I wrote was being offered.

This got me thinking. A) How badly do the descriptions of my own suck B) I buy lots of zines to read and usually have tons that I enjoy but aren't interested in keeping, why not offer them for trade on my page? Not sale but trade.

I've read the pro and con discussions about re-selling zines but what about offering trades. I would publish a list and people could email requests etc. It doesn't seem different than trading with friends or offering grabbags.

I'd love some input here. Thanks.

-Mike paper-xerox-staples

Hi,
First an introduction. I'm Mike and I run paper-xerox-staples. We're a small distro, very small. Sorry about posting that ad for fake life, I was a little too sugar buzzed. I hope the zine stand post makes up for it.

Anyhoo, I'd really love to trade links with other distro's or even merchandise. We publish around four titles right now and in November will be out with four more. We're interested in a wide variety of zines. We'd really love to help. We'll table you if you table us. -Mike