Zine Exchange Idea

Harlequin565

Harlequin565

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Ian
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I know David said he'd run another zine exchange, but I had an idea for something else and wanted to know people's thoughts.

An ongoing zine exchange.

Premise:
- You make a zine under your own timescales.
- I'll set up an "Ongoing Zine Exchange" thread. Better name ideas much appreciated :). Also will set up a discussion thread to allow discussion about the various zines exchanged.
- You post a "single post" summary of your finished zine in the thread.
- You then go through the thread and make PM offers to people who have posted their zines to "swap" your zine with theirs. e.g. "Hi, I saw your zine here (link) and wondered if you'd want to swap with my zine here (link)". Similarly, anyone can PM you to ask for a copy in return for their zine.
- If you don't want to exchange, then you can either reply negatively (keeping it kind), or just ignore the PM (if you can't keep it kind). Some people may drift away from TP and not get the PM, so it's best to take no reply as a "no thanks". It's assumed that anyone "listing" their zine is happy to trade though. If you decide to no longer offer that zine for whatever reason (run out of copies, don't want to take part any more) just delete/edit your post.

Rules:
In line with TP trading rules, no money can be exchanged hands for any zine. The idea is to straight swap and for each person to pay the postage to ship out their copy. I assume (will RTM for double checking) that if you want to add a link to a post in the classifieds where you are selling it, that would be fine, but in keeping with the spirit of the thread, it's not intended to be used as an advertisement for your zine.
International (not UK) shipping: If someone from another country wants to get involved, it's down to the sender's discretion as to whether they are willing to pay for additional postage abroad. I think it keeps things simple rather than saying the non-UK person must pay the additional costs and avoids any money changing hands.

Why?:
To get zines, you have to make zines.
No deadline, you can do your zine on your own time and it's done when it's done.
No overheads/pressure on the "organiser" as it becomes self moderating once it's set up.
Previous zine exchange participants have a backlog of their zines to get things rolling immediately, and it allows newer participants to have a small group to begin exchanging with.

Downsides:
Without a deadline, people will just forget about it or leave it on their round tuit list.
When getting copies printed, you won't know how many you'll need.
It's a bad idea for some reason I haven't thought of.

Thoughts?
 
Harlequin565 said:
I know David said he'd run another zine exchange, but I had an idea for something else and wanted to know people's thoughts.

An ongoing zine exchange.

Premise:
- You make a zine under your own timescales.
- I'll set up an "Ongoing Zine Exchange" thread. Better name ideas much appreciated :). Also will set up a discussion thread to allow discussion about the various zines exchanged.
- You post a "single post" summary of your finished zine in the thread.
- You then go through the thread and make PM offers to people who have posted their zines to "swap" your zine with theirs. e.g. "Hi, I saw your zine here (link) and wondered if you'd want to swap with my zine here (link)". Similarly, anyone can PM you to ask for a copy in return for their zine.
- If you don't want to exchange, then you can either reply negatively (keeping it kind), or just ignore the PM (if you can't keep it kind). Some people may drift away from TP and not get the PM, so it's best to take no reply as a "no thanks". It's assumed that anyone "listing" their zine is happy to trade though. If you decide to no longer offer that zine for whatever reason (run out of copies, don't want to take part any more) just delete/edit your post.

Rules:
In line with TP trading rules, no money can be exchanged hands for any zine. The idea is to straight swap and for each person to pay the postage to ship out their copy. I assume (will RTM for double checking) that if you want to add a link to a post in the classifieds where you are selling it, that would be fine, but in keeping with the spirit of the thread, it's not intended to be used as an advertisement for your zine.
International (not UK) shipping: If someone from another country wants to get involved, it's down to the sender's discretion as to whether they are willing to pay for additional postage abroad. I think it keeps things simple rather than saying the non-UK person must pay the additional costs and avoids any money changing hands.

Why?:
To get zines, you have to make zines.
No deadline, you can do your zine on your own time and it's done when it's done.
No overheads/pressure on the "organiser" as it becomes self moderating once it's set up.
Previous zine exchange participants have a backlog of their zines to get things rolling immediately, and it allows newer participants to have a small group to begin exchanging with.

Downsides:
Without a deadline, people will just forget about it or leave it on their round tuit list.
When getting copies printed, you won't know how many you'll need.
It's a bad idea for some reason I haven't thought of.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Sounds like a good idea to me Ian. Re title, how about just "Zine Swap"? But your thread so do what you think is best.

I know that I am likely to fail miserably without a deadline so perhaps there could either still be the zine exchange with a deadline, or the Ongoing Zine thread could have some sort of "get it done day" for those of us who need a deadline and may be for "get it done day" we could put up a site wide notice to encourage others to join in.

Given that the Mixam minimum order is around 20 or 25 I always have spares so knowing how many to get printed is not really an issue, although for one-offs I might go for home printing anyway.
 
My immediate thought is that this is a good idea. Except I might struggle without a deadline, I even failed with one !

My negative thoughts

What if I would like a zine from someone but they have no interest in having one of mine.

I like looking at a wide range of photographic genres, but would I end up only going to the effort of swapping for zines that relate to my primary interest.

Could someone end up with no one wanting to swap for one of their zines.

Or am I just being overly negative.

I still think it’s a good idea, and as I think you suggested could possibly run as well as an annual exchange, where you would "know" you could participate and share a known number of zines.
 
I was thinking perhaps about a print exchange? We get to showcase our work with each other and also less pressure to fill a zine!
 
myotis said:
What if I would like a zine from someone but they have no interest in having one of mine.
Click to expand...
Valid point.
- They could say yes, just to be nice, then chuck it in the bin.
- They could say yes, in an attempt to become more open minded.

I guess this is one of those ideas that might work if everyone has the same mindset, but might be a disaster if they don't. And with this being the Internet... If it did become a viable idea, I think a brief FAQ including this very question might be in order.

acrobatic_Citron said:
I was thinking perhaps about a print exchange? We get to showcase our work with each other and also less pressure to fill a zine!
Click to expand...
@tijuana taxi did do a print exchange a while ago (sticky on this forum I think) which was very successful. I'd be happy to take part in it if someone were to organise it :cough: :)
Edit to add a link "someone" could use as a template. https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/print-exchange-2-recipient-details-sent.727366/
 
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myotis said:
Could someone end up with no one wanting to swap for one of their zines.
Click to expand...
I had that same concern but the only way others are getting their work out there is to accept my old rubbish in exchange ...

I would hope that people prepared to participate would have a broad interest and there would be a general assumption that people default to "of course I'll swap"
 
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Harlequin565 said:
Valid point.
- They could say yes, just to be nice, then chuck it in the bin.
- They could say yes, in an attempt to become more open minded.
Click to expand...
sirch said:
I would hope that people prepared to participate would have a broad interest and there would be a general assumption that people default to "of course I'll swap"
Click to expand...
Yes, I think the "principle" that you should agree to a swap by default could be established when setting up the scheme.

There are always things to learn and appreciate, beyond looking at the actual images. e.g the Zine design
 
Harlequin565 said:
Valid point.
- They could say yes, just to be nice, then chuck it in the bin.
- They could say yes, in an attempt to become more open minded.

I guess this is one of those ideas that might work if everyone has the same mindset, but might be a disaster if they don't. And with this being the Internet... If it did become a viable idea, I think a brief FAQ including this very question might be in order.


@tijuana taxi did do a print exchange a while ago (sticky on this forum I think) which was very successful. I'd be happy to take part in it if someone were to organise it :cough: :)
Edit to add a link "someone" could use as a template. https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/print-exchange-2-recipient-details-sent.727366/
Click to expand...
Thanks for the nudge, might well be time for the Print Exchange resurrection.
I'll see if it gets any interest, same format again because if it ain't broke don't fix it.
 
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After thinking about it, and seeing the responses, I think sticking with the old format looks like a more popular way forward. Happy to go with ZE:VI Return of the Inspiration. Also happy for you to organise :)
 
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