# Zine Making/Making copies

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## Hand-making

Hand-making is a good option if you\'re making very few indeed, or if
it\'s based on crafty stuff, or a series of one-off things. Otherwise,
remember that you\'ve got every right to combine hand-making techniques
with other techniques, such as photocopying the whole zine then sewing a
front cover (or whatever).

## Photocopiers

![](Canon_ir2270.jpg "Canon_ir2270.jpg") Photocopiers are a big thing in
zine-making, whether it\'s subtle use of the photocopier at work (or so
I\'ve heard) or the photocopier in the library. Some photocopiers will
even do your stapling for you, which is very kind.

Many photocopiers do not copy all the way to the edge of the page, and
some have quirks about the way they photocopy different shades/colours,
so it\'s a good idea to try a print-run out once or twice and see if you
can get it looking good, before you dial in \"500\" and press Go. It\'s
a good idea to get used to a specific photocopier\'s quirks and then
stick with that one, to avoid giving yourself a new set of headaches.

## Computer printers

If you have a computer and a printer at home then it can be easy to
print things out yourself, especially if you\'re not doing many. But
after a while it gets:

1.  **Expensive.** Printer ink is really quite expensive, and
    (especially if you have any pages with large amounts of black on
    them) you\'ll be using up printer ink faster than you can possibly
    imagine\...
2.  **Frustrating.** This is particularly true if you\'re doing
    double-sided things but your printer doesn\'t do double-sided,
    because you need to do a lot of sitting there feeding printed sheets
    back into the printer in the correct order/orientation/etc, and it
    can go wrong quite a lot too. It can also go a bit wrong because the
    printed sheets might be a bit damp or crinkly, so the printer goes a
    bit wrong in feeding the paper back in. Then there\'s also the stuff
    about getting it all to print out so all the folds line up nicely.

Anyway. If you are using your own printer then here are some tips:

-   Remember to make sure it\'ll fit on the page. Most printers don\'t
    print right to the edge of the paper, which means that either the
    edges of what you\'ve designed will be chopped off, or it\'ll be
    printed out slightly smaller than maybe you expected. You might find
    you need to leave an empty border around your work so that nothing
    gets chopped off.
-   Do a bit of experimenting then **make a template**. Draw some lines
    (or try and set appropriate borders) in your software, print them
    out, fiddle about and repeat until you\'ve got it about right, and
    save that file. You can use this as a basis for your pages then
    delete/hide any guiding lines before you print the pages out. This
    webpage has a couple of examples of templates:
    <http://www.footprinters.co.uk/layout.htm>
-   A quick rule of thumb: if your zine doesn\'t fit in the page, resize
    it (in the print preferences or whatever) to about 97%.

## Getting them printed

!You can get your zine printed for you at businesses all over the
world

If you\'re strongly into DIY or anarchist things you might not want to
use a company to print the things for you, and that\'s fine. But if not:

If you\'re getting to the point where you\'re making a lot of copies
(more than a few dozen) then it\'s probably cheaper and easier to get
the zines printed on your behalf, and will get you more uniform results.
Of course there are various limitations with this: the printing
companies are not likely to be willing to print every fourth page using
tracing paper, for example. But you could easily get a printing company
to make the zines and then do some \"post-processing\" on the zines to
add your preferred cross-stitch/hole-punch/felt-tip customizations,
which is quite a nice way of combining interestingness with painless
production.

Printing companies typically vary **a lot** when it comes to pricing, so
make sure you ask around for different prices. They can also vary in
**helpfulness**, and this can be quite important. Does the company look
small and friendly? A small friendly company may be more inclined to
spend time talking to you and making sure they get it right. Double
points if the website gives the name, photo and direct phone number of
the person who gives quotes.

Check: are they happy to do small print runs? Check that \"small print
run\" means 50 rather than 50,000.

You don\'t particularly need to pick a nearby printers, because delivery
is often included or inexpensive.

### What info to tell the print shop

-   What the finished zine will look like (e.g. 12-page A6 booklet)
-   How many copies you want printed
-   What weight of paper you want (e.g. 80gsm is normal printer paper,
    120gsm is thick paper\... ask them for advice if you\'re not sure)
-   The color and shininess of the paper (e.g. white, glossy)
-   What colors of ink you need (e.g. black, black and red, or full
    colour)
-   If you want it delivered and how soon you need it done
-   How you\'ll provide the original copy - either electronically (PDF,
    Word, jpg, by CD, email, etc) or \'camera ready\' (on paper)

