Self-Publication with Punk Rock Ideals: Zines ≠ Vanity Press Publications SHARP Conference, July 2007 Minneapolis, Minnesota Jenna Freedman, Barnard College

outline Different types of publications: vanity press, self-publications, zines Punk rock ideals in zine publishing, contrasted with motivations for other self- publishing endeavors Libraries' role in collecting and preserving these and other alternative press materials

publishing industry statistics In 2004, 950,000 books out of the 1.2 million tracked by Nielsen BookScan sold fewer than ninety-nine copies. Another 200,000 sold fewer than 1,000 copies. Only 25,000 sold more than 5,000 copies. The average book in America sells about 500 copies. In other words, about 98% of books are noncommercial, whether they were intended that way or not. Chris Anderson, The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less instead of More (New York: Hyperion, 2006), 76.

mental traps Everyone wants to be a star Everyone's in it for the money If it isn't a hit, it's a miss The only success is mass success "Direct to video" = bad "Self-published" = bad "Independent" = "They couldn't get a deal" Amateur = amateurish Low-selling = low quality If it were good, it would be popular Ibid., 167.

comparison Vanity pressSelf-publicationsZines ScornedToleratedInvisible Owned by publisherOwned by authorOwned by author, if ownership is claimed at all Publisher does most of the work Publisher does much of the work Author does nearly all of the work Author has minimal control over design or anything other than content Author has more control Author has total control Publishing costs shouldered or shared by author Author solely responsible for publishing costs

Bikini Kill, "Riot Grrrl Is…" Girl Power, no. 2. No date: unpaginated.

Cindy Ovenrack, "Secrets," Doris no. 17, "Reprints." Winter 2000: unpaginated.

April Hornbuckle, "[Intro]," Cartography for Beginners, no. 5. Summer, 2005: unpaginated.

scope of barnard zine collection

library bill of rights

library zine collections

links and contact This slideshow and paper Barnard Zine Collection barnard dot edu Zine libraries list braries braries IM (AOL, Google, Jabber.org, Yahoo): BarnardLibJenna