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An Na

Korea born author who came to the United States when she was four years old, won the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in young-adult fiction, and was a finalist for the 2001 National Book Award .

How to get your word out!

A zine is a self-published magazine or comic book, often mini-size, and can be about anything you want. The only requirement is that you have something to say and find a cool, creative way to say it.

  • Step 1: Create
    Figure out what the focus of your zine is (or if you’ll have a focus at all). Then go crazy expressing yourself though artwork, collage, stories, poetry, song lyrics, comics, etc.
  • Step 2: Gather
    Gather other stuff to include in your zine: just because you are the one publishing it doesn’t mean it has to be all your work. You can use doodles, homework assignments, scraps of paper, lists, and get your friends to contribute, too! Nearly all acts of communication can be zine-worthy.
  • Step 3: Layout
    Assemble all your pages (there may be complicated folding and ordering at this stage, depending on what size your zine is) and make a high-quality master copy.
  • Step 4: Print
    Make copies of your zine to distribute – black and white is cool, since zines have always been independent, low-budget productions. Color can get expensive, but go with whatever works for you!
  • Step 5: Bind
    Staple or fold your zine so the pages stay together and in order.
  • Step 6: Share
    Give your zine to anyone you think might enjoy your writing and artwork. You can even scan it and turn it into an e-zine to be published online!

Get more great tips about creating your own zine in:
Whatcha Mean, What’s a Zine? by Esther Pearl Watson and Mark Todd available at BPL, NYPL and QBPL.
ISBN: 0618563156

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