Devoted to publishing, publishers and to those who craft the written word

I can't say if it's good or bad when a zine or zinester grows out of the genre. It's just different. You do have to start worrying about what your editor or publisher will think and what your readers want to hear. Despite being a judgmental perfectionist I happen to love the rawness of zines.

One of their strengths is their imperfection and their individuality. The more people you're trying to please (editors, publishers, advertisers, readers, or your mom), the less authentically yours your work may be.

Of course there is nothing wrong with writing the great American novel, but zines aren't trying to do that. They'd be annoying if they were. It's often obvious when a zines that are written with an ulterior motive (a grade, for example. I'm not crazy about school zines).

I've seen it in prolific zine writers—the more they write, the better they get. Zinesters are also a very communicative crowd. If you trade zines with other zine creators, you can expect to get feedback from them.

Because the current incarnation of zinedom has its roots in punk rock and anarchism, one common theme is examining privilege—class, gender, race, sexual preference, etc. Reading so many of these zines has influenced my thinking and how I view the wide world and I hope how I interact with people from backgrounds different from my own.

Another important lesson from personal zines is that everything and everyone matters. You get incredibly intimate looks into people's lives, lives that you'd normally never be aware of and you value them. They cause you to be introspective. They can also inspire you to draw, maybe do craft projects, cook, or go on a long bike trip.