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Where I Get My Zines
Apr. 1st, 2023 08:31 am When I posted my zine blurb the other day I got a lot of questions about where I find the zines that I read. So, without further ado:
1. The Sandy Hereld Collection at Texas A&M University FREE RESOURCE
The late fan and fanzine collector Sandy Hereld left her collection to Texas A&M University, who worked to contact authors and gather the rights to digitize and preserve decades' worth of early fanworks. The Sandy Hereld Collection is an incredible resource.
But, if you go to the site I link you'll see that most of the works themselves are locked. So, what's a girl to do?
I work at a university, so I started requesting them using my institution's interlibrary loan system. This worked for a while, but not perfectly, and I was following up on some issues with incomplete files when I contacted the TAMU digital collections (digital@library.tamu.edu) to ask about what I could and couldn't request through ILL.
Beyond my wildest expectations, they forwarded my request to the curator of the collection, and he gave me a login to use with my personal email, that now allows me to access most of the materials directly from the website.
I don't know if they do that for everyone who bugs them, but this leads me to believe it's definitely possible to get access without any kind of university affiliation, and it can't hurt to reach out. I would suggest trying with something like "I'm an independent researcher with an interest in XYZ...." Good luck!
2. Ebay
Can be pricey (my personal limit is $30 with shipping) and hard to evaluate value. I'm also a terrible haggler, so if you're able to drive a hard bargain, the site's bidding culture may serve you better than it does me.
3. Northcoast Press
Originally a traditional zine publisher, no e-zines only. I know some people don't believe in paying for e-zines, and to be honest I'm a bit iffy on the practice myself, but I'm also somewhat insatiable and I only have so much self control. At $5/per zine, this is cheaper than Ebay.
That's pretty much it! I look for them in the wild as well of course, but so far I've only turned up Ace paperbacks at used bookstores and rummage sales, but I'm still on the lookout.
1. The Sandy Hereld Collection at Texas A&M University FREE RESOURCE
The late fan and fanzine collector Sandy Hereld left her collection to Texas A&M University, who worked to contact authors and gather the rights to digitize and preserve decades' worth of early fanworks. The Sandy Hereld Collection is an incredible resource.
But, if you go to the site I link you'll see that most of the works themselves are locked. So, what's a girl to do?
I work at a university, so I started requesting them using my institution's interlibrary loan system. This worked for a while, but not perfectly, and I was following up on some issues with incomplete files when I contacted the TAMU digital collections (digital@library.tamu.edu) to ask about what I could and couldn't request through ILL.
I don't know if they do that for everyone who bugs them, but this leads me to believe it's definitely possible to get access without any kind of university affiliation, and it can't hurt to reach out. I would suggest trying with something like "I'm an independent researcher with an interest in XYZ...." Good luck!
2. Ebay
Can be pricey (my personal limit is $30 with shipping) and hard to evaluate value. I'm also a terrible haggler, so if you're able to drive a hard bargain, the site's bidding culture may serve you better than it does me.
3. Northcoast Press
Originally a traditional zine publisher, no e-zines only. I know some people don't believe in paying for e-zines, and to be honest I'm a bit iffy on the practice myself, but I'm also somewhat insatiable and I only have so much self control. At $5/per zine, this is cheaper than Ebay.
That's pretty much it! I look for them in the wild as well of course, but so far I've only turned up Ace paperbacks at used bookstores and rummage sales, but I'm still on the lookout.
