Why I Made My Own Zine

Why did I do it? Definitely not for money. Most zines lose money, even if they charge for subscriptions. It's not because I wanted to see my name in print either. In fact, I intentionally left my name off of the first issue, referring to myself only as "Editor." It's also a lot of work - a lot more than I initially thought it would be. I spent a lot of late nights putting jelly jar together. But I did enjoy the creative control of being responsible for the product as a whole, complete, work of art. There is also the reverse-voyeuristic aspect of zine publishing - seeing and hearing from other people who read the finished product, who identified with me or one of the contributors, who got a laugh or two out of it.

My San Francisco writer friend and "distributor," Wendy Smyer-Yu, sent me the following email after distributing copies randomly on B.A.R.T. (SF's public transportation):

Yesterday, a woman in her late 30s picked up jellyjar, scanned through it, not looking particularly interested until she hit the Dear Marie letter and then when she read Marie's answer she laughed out loud and looked around self-consciously. Then she turned back to the credits page and laughed again. Then she read the whole thing. It was fun to watch.

Wendy

This is the real payoff for me for publishing jelly jar. Through my zine, I am able to communicate with people all over the country (and the world, for that matter). I have a chance to have creative control, to feed the narcissistic demon that lives inside of me, to obsess over things in print and have others join me. I have also heard from people who I have inspired to create their own zine! If this is you, I say go for it. Dig deep into that head of yours and dredge up your darkest secrets, your confessions, and your buried hostility. Let it all out, then send it out to everyone you know!

If you would like to subscribe to jelly jar, send $5 US (cash only, or checks made out to Kelly Love Johnson) to:

jelly jar
PO Box 30202
Charleston, SC 29417-0202

Sample copies are $2 US.

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