A zine is a small, self-published work of text and images, typically reproduced by photocopier or other low-cost means and distributed outside commercial publishing channels. The word is short for “magazine” or “fanzine,” and the form is defined less by any particular content than by its mode of production: cheap, fast, and controlled by its maker rather than by an editor, publisher, or distributor.
Zines emerged from the amateur press associations and science fiction fan communities of the early-to-mid twentieth century, where enthusiasts circulated mimeographed newsletters and commentary. The term “fanzine” was coined in the 1940s for these fan-produced publications. By the 1970s and 1980s, punk scenes had adopted and transformed the form: zines like Sniffin’ Glue and Maximum RocknRoll treated rough layout, visible cut-and-paste, and photocopier artifacts not as limitations but as markers of authenticity and refusal of professional gatekeeping.
The form spread through riot grrrl feminism, anarchist organizing, queer communities, and countless other subcultures through the 1990s and 2000s. In each context, the zine served a similar structural role: it made publication possible without capital, institutional backing, or editorial mediation. A zine could be made in an afternoon, copied at a library, and handed to someone at a show or left on a counter.
Zines occupy a distinctive position in media. Unlike books or magazines, they do not require a publishing apparatus. Unlike digital text, they are material objects with fixed print runs, physical weight, and distribution friction. This materiality is part of their meaning: a zine is something someone made and put into your hands, or left where you could find it. The encounter is local and embodied in a way that a hyperlink is not.
The relationship between zines and the communities that produce them has shifted as the form has been adopted by institutions. What began as a medium defined by its independence from commercial publishing has, in some contexts, become a commercially produced and sold commodity, circulated through zinefests, online marketplaces, and institutional programs. This trajectory raises questions about whether the form’s critical force resides in its material properties, its mode of production, or its relation to the communities it serves.
In tabletop role-playing games, fanzines played a formative role in the development of the hobby, serving as venues for rules variants, campaign reports, and the inter-community discourse that shaped early game design.