Star Wars Print Fandom: An Expose
Melanie Guttierrez & Lorrie Cherry
This is the internet. If you are reading this, chances are you are a fan of Star Wars fanfiction and know little- if anything about Star Wars fanfiction beyond what you read online. You might not know that SW fanfiction has existed since 1977. Back then there were hundreds of fans writing fiction that followed the SW films and imagined beyond them. Before the internet there was only ONE way to read SW fanfiction. You had to find fanzines.
Fanzines. To most SW fans they have always been- and still are- rather mythical. Heard about perhaps, but impossible to find. You had to have the right connections to find SW fanzines, even back in the 70's-80's when there were nearly a hundred fanzines in print. They weren't advertised ( fear of Lucasfilm lawyers was the excuse), rarely showed up at Sci-Fi conventions,and were generally a product of-and for- a small group of cliquish Editors, writers and readers.
Now, to be fair, technology back in pre computer/photocopier/internet days made it very difficult to do a print fanzine. The earliest zines were done on typewriters, then mimeographed in small batches and stapled together.They looked as good as the technology of the time allowed and only cost a few dollars. Simply put- they were a labor of love. The fiction and art in them ranged in quality from cringingly bad to surprisingly good, and everyone involved- Editors and contributors- wanted their fannish work to be enjoyed by as many fans as possible. Over the years the one, consistent cry in SW print fandom was 'how do we reach more fans/readers'?
Well, dear readers, we're here to tell you what TODAY'S SW print fandom is about;what it has been about in the 15 years we have been involved with it. Two words: Ego and Money.
Ego varies from Editor to Editor, but the financial expose of print fanzines is LONG overdue. We'll address the current philosophical landscape in SW print fandom today-vs- the image projected publicly; then we will give you a step-by-step breakdown of what it costs to produce a typical SW printzine today, based on our own experience in producing print zines for over ten years.
Right now- when there are only about a dozen SW fanzines printing regularly- the 'wider audience' SW printfandom always wanted is in cyberspace. So now fans are seeing websites advertising the zines for sale and soliciting contributors. What the average SW fanfic fan DOES NOT know is that almost all of these zine Editors have nothing but disdain for the 'commonness' of the Internet and consider the majority of SW fans online little more than parasites and thieves. They use the net as a 'tool' yet fear and decry it's unregulated egalatarian nature.
We've heard it all! The fans who want to read fanzines, but who can't understand why a zine costs $30; and the Editors who accuse those fans of having a 'something for nothing' attitude, expecting print zines to be as free as online fiction. It's not the fault of the online fans, the blame lies squarely on the print Editors who insist on defending an outdated way of doing things rather than changing their mode of operations. They are defending their own egotistical traditions at the expense of their product. The truth is- and the dwindling number of print zines proves it- many Editors would rather let a zine die than change how they publish it. Many have. Some say they will.
No - zines can't be free. They cost money to produce. Printing costs, mailing costs. The contents are freely given to the Editor in exchange for a free copy of the zine, but no copystore or mail service will render their services without charge so zines can't be free unless the Editor is wealthy enough to absorb all the costs.The Editors service is 'supposed' to be freely given as well-more on that later-BUT--Zines dont have to cost $30 - and fans know that.
What fans DON'T know is that fanzines are printed in BULK, to cut the per-issue cost. This is where the large 'investment' Editors incur comes in- and it's an investment they CHOOSE to make. Simply put, it isn't 'worth it' to most print Editors to do a fanzine in small numbers. They have actually SAID this. Just something to keep in mind whenever you hear a print Editor talk about the 'labor of love' zines are.
WHENEVER SOMEONE SAYS IT"S NOT ABOUT THE MONEY----IT'S ABOUT THE MONEY!
Here is what it costs to produce a print fanzine today. Based on our costs in New Orleans-not the most competitive prices in the country. A typical 250 page, black & white zine with a cardstock cover and spiral binding, printing less than 100 copies, costs $17.30 ,per issue, to produce. Based on the 5cent per side, self serve price maximum, here is the breakdown: 250pgs @ .o5 per side= $12.50 per issue. Cardstock(2) .10 each +.05ea to print front and back covers. Comb binding=$1.00. Postage=$3.50 priority, US. Total cost per copy= $17.30 Sells for- $25-$30
Now, almost every editor prints at least 50-100 copies of their zine, and in bulk the per-side costs drop. Typically, printing 100+ copies costs 3.5cents per side. Some Editors may pay 4cents per side, or as little as 2.5 cents per side if they get lower prices for bigger print runs. And- keep in mind- it's the size of the print run that matters. It's selling out the print run that is the excuse Editors give to claim 'exclusive' rights to contributors works for 6 months, a year, or sometimes longer.
A 250 pg zine @ 3.5 cents per side,binding,covers and postage remaining constant, costs $8.75 to produce. It still sells for $25-$30.
It gets even more interesting if the volume of issues printed causes the price per side to drop to 2.5 cents per side. Then, a 250 page zine costs $6.25 to produce and it still sells for $25-$30.
Now then- lets see what an Editor's 'investment' is at the above rates.
Printing 100 issues at $17.50 per issue costs $1,750.
If all issues are sold @ $25 each, the Editor makes $2,500.
If the price is $30, the Editor makes $3,000.
At the 3.5cent per side price, $8.75 per zine, the print run of 100 costs $875.
Sold at $25 per zine, the Editor makes $2,500. At $30 per issue, $3,000.
At the 2.5 cents per side rate the print run costs drop to $625, but the sell price remains the same. The Editor still makes $2,500- $3,000 when they sell all 100 copies.
Now here is how Editors defend the price of their zines most vigorously. They do NOT, they say, make a profit because they use the money to pay for the free contributors copies they give away, and to start up the next issue.
BUT - do the math. If there are 20 contributors( and there are usually half that or less), then each zine they sell, at the HIGHEST print cost rate, pays for one contributors copy. At the lower cost rates, one issue sold pays for 3-4 contributors copies. Also, once the cost of the free copies is covered by sales, the money made on the sale of the remaining copies is the Editors!
Start up costs for the next run? Yes, some are needed, BUT , deposits and PRE-ORDERS fund the next print run too. If an Editor charges 1/2 the zine price as a deposit, and gets 10 pre orders, that's $100-150 to finance the next issue-on top of the money made from sales of the previous issue after the contributors copies are covered.
Foreign postage costs? Yes, foreign postage can sometimes be three times the cost of the zine; but even if half the contributors copies are foreign at the lost print cost another sale covers the expense.
So much for Editors going into poverty in order to a zine- much less more than one!
Now we get to the ESOTERIC argument in defense of printzine costs! Quality!
This mantra served them well before the dawn of desktop publishing,home laser printers and high-tech copiers. Today it is used to justified the padded price of zines. Truth: color photocopiers and laser printers turn out wonderful reproductions of color art. Any Editor who CHOOSES to do 4 color seperation,offset printing incurs such costs willingly and increases the cost of the zine unnecessarily. The same holds for offset printing of the text instead of good quality photocopying.
When photocopiers offered better quality than mimeograph,and cost less than offset printing, Editors switched to photocopying. Now that technology has improved photocopying, and even made desktop publishing possible, Editors choose the more expensive offset printing? Why? Well- if it's not for profit, it's Ego. Competition. Keeping up with the Jones' mentality is alive and well in print fandom! Which is fine, if you want to keep fanzines an elusive,boutique item; but it doesn't fly if you want to sell to the general public. A public who-thanks to the internet- can get a huge range of fanfic without any cost whatever.
SW fans are right to question $30 fanzines. Pro novels don't cost that much, the quality is more consistent, and the production values can't be compared. Fans want to read fanzines, when they learn of their existence, but they are justifiably reluctant to pay the exorbitant prices for the likelihood of dissatisfaction with the fiction that they can risk online without cost.Simply put-printzines are not 'needed', they are a luxury and if they are not an AFFORDABLE luxury the supposed reason for their existence is negated.
Yes, the Internet costs most of us. But for $25 you can search thousands of stories a month; a 250 page zine full of disappointing fic is disappointing every time you look at it.
So why are we, as print zine Editors, saying all of this?
Because we have always done things differently. Because we know our way WORKS just as well as the 'traditional' way things have 'always been done' in SW print fandom. Fan writers and artists should be incensed at being required to relinquish their rights to their own work to an Editor whose bank account and ego are fed by slavish obedience to tradition.
Zines do not have to cost $30. Zines should be sold at cost.Period. The reason for the existence of a fan press should be to get fan fiction and art to other fans who want to enjoy it. That was the original intention of zines.Improved technology, and the internet, has made mass production of print zines easier and cheaper. Zine prices should reflect that. Fans should be willing to pay for print fic because costs are involved, but they should not be expected to pay the exorbitant prices of a vanity press when the spirit that birthed fanfiction has left it.
It is our understanding that, when SW print fandom began, Editors considered the time and effort they put into their zines their FREE contribution to it- just as their contributors works were. In our opinions (as Editors) one should not- but many today DO- figure the cost of their time,gas,printer paper,ink cartridges, gas mileage and every paperclip and staple into the cost of the zine. They should not- but they DO- consider zines a 'business'.It's a free country, and people can do business as they choose, but an informed customer makes better choices than an uninformed one.
The writers and artists contribute their work free of charge to a zine. The printers and postal services, charge for theirs. The middleman is the Editor. The middleman is where the costs always add up. Now you, as a fanfic reader, know how. It's up to you to decide if you want to support Star Wars print fandom as it exists and go on paying $25-30 for a fanzine, demand changes, or ignore print zines altogether. At least now you have the facts to make the decision.
The biggest fear in print fandom is that the internet will kill print zines.
If it does, it might be a timely death.
If it does, we will call it suicide - not murder - because print zine Editors and contributors will have chosen death instead of change. Fan fiction will go on regardless.
Fan fiction is free. Long live free fan fiction.