We Make Zines

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Do you order from zine distros?  Yes?  No?  Why?  Why not?

 

Would you be sad to see distros go away? 

 

I ask simply because I am getting a bit down about continuing to run a distro and wonder if they are necessary to keep zines thriving? 

 

People seem to enjoy the distro, but lack of orders means a lack of funds to order new stock and so goes the cycle.   I never wanted to be one of the ones to run a distro for a short time period and give up, but I am starting to see why it happens. 

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If you put together a distro list, I would like to be included, please :)

 

Sweet Candy Distro ~ http://www.sweetcandydistro.weebly.com

 

I appreciate it!

xo Sage

I love ordering from distros - Ms. Valerie park and Stranger danger are my favourites. It's nice to see distros where it's not all the same zines from the last place. I'm also into ordering directly from folks, but there's nothing like a little stack of several different voices in one envelope.

I scour for distros, I check every link, every address. Distros are where I get most of my zines. I love them, and try to support as many as I can, as much as I can. Most of the links and web addresses that I have checked have been dead, and others are still up, but not selling anymore. I search and search for new distros but seem to land in the same few. Two of my favorites so far are Parcell Press and Sweet Candy Distro.

 

I think it would be a perfect idea to have an updated directory of distros here one WeMakeZines.

I am ALWAYS looking for new distros to order from!

ditto;

vampire Sushi = http://www.vampiresushi.co.uk/

though it is temporarily closed at the moment. should be back at the end of the month though!

 

xx tukru

 

Sage said:

If you put together a distro list, I would like to be included, please :)

 

Sweet Candy Distro ~ http://www.sweetcandydistro.weebly.com

 

I appreciate it!

xo Sage

Because it takes an extra step. This will make me sound horribly lazy, but I prefer to go to only one place on a site instead of spending time clicking around to various fora and blogs. I forget to follow threads going on in the subfora (the groups here) because, well, they're tucked away. It's a lot easier to check one giant super-busy board than several, all of which might only have one or two new posts a week if that. I'm just really used to message boards being "all stuff in the same place" and not used to the social networking way of doing things. But that's my problem, not WMZ's... although I might not be the only one.

Krissy PonyBoy Press said:

I'm not sure why you would read something posted in the forum and yet you don't read the blogs from the main page. Why would this be? You can still comment on them and respond to people. Just trying to understand.

FYI, most zine distros also accept snail mail orders! Just because there is a PayPal shopping cart doesn't mean there's no other way to order :) My distro accepts both methods of ordering.

 

http://www.thingsyousaydistro.com

 

When I order from a distro, I usually go to Sweet Candy or Parcell Press. I also like Click Clack and Stranger Danger.

Click Clack also accepts both methods!    That is the reason there is an "ordering" link on most distro sites, to give you the information to order via smail mail.

Erin H said:

FYI, most zine distros also accept snail mail orders! Just because there is a PayPal shopping cart doesn't mean there's no other way to order :) My distro accepts both methods of ordering.

 

http://www.thingsyousaydistro.com

 

When I order from a distro, I usually go to Sweet Candy or Parcell Press. I also like Click Clack and Stranger Danger.

Erin & Nicole,

It's great that yours & most distros have a postal mail ordering option, but I'd rather have a paper catalogue I can browse that only had an on-line ordering opton than an on-line-only catalogue with a postal ordering option.  On-line browsing is harder than on-line ordering.  I don't know much about website construction, so maybe having a "printable version" button on an on-line catalogue would be expensive/hard to do.

Another thing, I don't resonate that much any more with the stratum of the zine culture & politics that seems to sell on distros most.

Further, my POB is pretty much fell enough as it is, and I'm behind in zining & pen-palling as it is.  More zines might be a nice distraction, but I ought to finish my dinner before I start grabbing for dessert.

 

A print option for the distro web catalog is a good idea, actually. 

 

I did one paper catalog for my distro (back in 2002, I think), distributed the crap out of it, and only one person ordered from it. The whole time I've been running Things You Say, I've gotten two snail mail orders. It's simply not cost-effective, for me, to publish a paper catalog. But like I said, I do like the idea of a print option - I'll probably set that up this week, so thanks! 

Great!  I hope ALL on-line distros AND review blogs will follow your lead.  Just leave the printing to me!

Used to order from distros a lot when there were some around in New Zealand when I was a teenager starting to get into zines.

Since then I haven't really ordered from any though hoping to change that soon as I have been looking at some different distros and realising I need some more zines to read.

 

 

James, your relic of an age that's almost passed, as I am too. The kids these days don't want or need a print version. And I think for a distro to survive in the modern world, they really need to be geared toward younger generations and how they shop. Heck, if I were running Microcosm or another big zine distro, I'd be trying to make a zine app for iPhones and Androids for browsing and shopping.



James N. Dawson said:

Erin & Nicole,

It's great that yours & most distros have a postal mail ordering option, but I'd rather have a paper catalogue I can browse that only had an on-line ordering opton than an on-line-only catalogue with a postal ordering option.  On-line browsing is harder than on-line ordering.  I don't know much about website construction, so maybe having a "printable version" button on an on-line catalogue would be expensive/hard to do.

Another thing, I don't resonate that much any more with the stratum of the zine culture & politics that seems to sell on distros most.

Further, my POB is pretty much fell enough as it is, and I'm behind in zining & pen-palling as it is.  More zines might be a nice distraction, but I ought to finish my dinner before I start grabbing for dessert.

 

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