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Hey, Kids – Wanna Drive Yourself Insane?

So this time around I decided to format the hardcopy version of my zine as a digest.

For those of you unfamiliar with zining, a digest-formatted zine is when you take 8 1/2 X 11 paper, turn it sideways, fold it down the middle, and staple it along the crease. It looks neat but there’s a downside. How to you get the pages in the proper sequence?

Four sheets folded convert into an 8 page edition. Not only do the pages have to be out of sequence to be in the proper sequence, you have to make sure each double-side sheet has the correct pages on each side. For eXample, this means sheet A has to have pages 8 and 1 on one side, then pages 2 and 7 on the flip side.

I wanted to do all the formatting on my computer instead of printing out the pages in sequence, then taping or gluing them down as I did in the past. I think I’ve figured it all out, no mess lying around my desk, paper trimmings, but what an eXcruciating HEADACHE I got! Now I have to make sure to print everything in the right sequence or I’ll have a fatal migraine.

The upside to the digest format: I can address each copy on my computer with a plain sheet of paper instead of messing around with envelopes. Word allows me to type in addresses sideways, perfect for the format.

Comments

Doug said…
Well over two decades ago I put together not one but two collections of mostly bad verse (which I was deluding myself into believing made it poetry), some short fiction, and rather pathetic photos. These were made with a typewriter, glue, and scissors, laying out the various pages in the format you mention, then photocopied, the pages assembled, folded, stapled. By hand.

I'm not sure what was worse: That I was pretentious enough to think the drivel was worth printing that way, or that I went to all that effort.

You are a brave and silly man for continuing to fight to good (paper) fight, sir.
12:35 AM
Doug said…
Oh wait. I know what's worse: That I just admitted that in the comment above for the whole internet to see.

When will I learn?
12:45 AM
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