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Photocopying / distribution help

15:19 / 29.08.03

I'm not expecting much on my first question here, but hey, it's worth a try;

I'm just about ready to print (eg. photocopy) the new issue of my fanzine (I'll start a plugging thread with details etc. later), and it's a bit of a monster - 36 A4 pages = 450 doublesided sheets of A3 for 50 copies. I'll probably go and get the copying done at Staples and end up having to sell the issues for a bit more than I consider reasonable to make a tiny bit of the money back.. so I was wondering - any sympathetic folks out there with free & easy access to a 'copier? I can pay for the paper and postage if anyone's able to do the actual copying.. (although it would have to be in the UK I guess)

Now the second thing;

I think it would be pretty cool if this zine actually found it's way into some shops and stuff, eg., was read by some people who I don't already know. Sooo... can anyone suggest/recommend/put me in touch with any shops or distributers or anything like that that might be amenable to the idea of taking a few issues of rilly cool looking self published zine covering pop music with some additional comics and politics and other things?

Any help in these matters would be much appreciated.

15:25 / 29.08.03

i have a friend that works at kinko's, but i don't think that will help you--too far!
in chicago, a great place is quimby's; check out http://www.quimbys.com
and see if they'll distro yr zine.
good luck and congrats on finishing!

15:27 / 29.08.03

I can take some to Quimby's, they sell zines on consignment ...you won't make any money, but you get the thrill of knowing that your work is sitting in a shop in Chicago & I think they just put their Magalog online (where, by the way, you can also purchase Slabs #1 and #2).

I can also set you up on Queer Granny, if you want.

Isn't that funny? Quimby's and Queer Granny both start with the letter Q.

08:03 / 30.08.03

Magma may take it, but they don't reply to emails, so I don't know how you get stuff into their store. They do, however, have things such as you make on the back shelves of their stores, so it's a bit likely, I just don't know how likely. You may have to be their friends.

Also, have you tried even local chain bookstores? My Ottakers happily gave away The Sky, complete with a slightly doctored sticker like they stick on porn, saying WARNING: This book contains sexually explicit material.

Good luck! And send me copies! Is this the one with my writting in it, by the way?

17:34 / 30.08.03

Yeah it is. Four whole pages of it in fact.
Needless to say, you can be guarenteed a copy. Maybe a whole bunch of copies if I have trouble shifting them.

Thanks for the suggestions people - I'll be sure to bother all these fine institutions.

All I've got to do now is finish the comics/zines review section and the back cover and it's ready to rock.. (I think I'll have to try and stick in some "sexually explicit material" - I want those stickers!)

I can also set you up on Queer Granny, if you want.

Thanks for the offer, but I'm still an old skool luddite when it comes to these things I'm afraid. It's all about paper. And I don't really want to waste your valuble webspace with endless pages of ranting record reviews..

21:52 / 31.08.03

Oh I meant that if you sent me a few copies of your zine in the mail, I'd put 'em up for sale on QG like Slab is. But *cheerfully* to tell you the whole truth, I hardly ever sell anything ...so it's not like the world's greatest business proposition, after all!

13:26 / 01.09.03

ooh.. I thought you meant put it online, like Pin's zine..

Well in that case I'll totally send you some copies..

15:20 / 01.09.03

Rizla - if you put together a master A3 copy (so I don't have to faff about for hours going "um... 36 pages so page 9 is on the back of page 24 and that should be upside-down relative to page 12..."), I can do you not free but v cheap photocopying (the Dept. charges me cost price for my own stuff - around 1p per copy, I think). The main thing with photocopying is the time, though - obviously if people in the Department want to use it for, like, work things I have to let them have first dibs & 450 double-sided copies takes a long time, so I might have to do it over a few days.

Anyway. Let me know (by PM) if you don't get any better offers.