The Ins and Outs of Web 'Zine Publication

Web ‘zines (shortened form of magazine used to refer to an independently published, not-for-profit magazine-style publication, which is free to the public) are becoming a bigger and bigger trend with each passing day, due in part to the increasing ease of website publishing, made possible through services such as Lycos, Geocities, and AOL offering free webspace, and other services offering subscription space for as low as $4 per month.  But how do you get your web ‘zine off the ground and not lose yourself and your publication in the sea of other publications on the web?

Start by selecting your subject.  Certainly if you are to the point of wanting to produce your own web ‘zine, you have already got a subject in mind.  But if your subject is too broad, or too specific, it may not get as much attention as one right in the middle.  For example if you are wanting to create a literature ‘zine, you should select a genre that interests you.  When I started my ‘zine, it was focused on science fiction, fantasy and horror.  While this may seem like a good subject, I wasn’t getting a lot of traffic, until I broadened it to “speculative fiction.” The purpose of the publication is still the same but my traffic and submissions increased 200% with that one little change.  I figured out that “science fiction” was alienating (no pun intended) horror fans and “horror” was pushing away the fantasy fans.  But they could all be welcomed by “speculative fiction.”