Making a Mini Zine

I learnt many things on my Masters course at Manchester Metropolitan University. I took the course hoping that it would get me over a bridge in my writing. I knew I could write a novel, I had already written one which I later self-published, but I also knew that there were things I needed to know which I didn't know and that, annoyingly, I had no idea what those things were, and I wasn't sure how to find out. I'm happy to say that, for me, the course at MMU did reveal those things to me and I went on to write more novels which were then published by Atom.

The course I took was part time and it was done online so I didn't have to be in Manchester, and in fact for most of the time during class I was in my bedroom, sometimes in my pyjamas, sometimes with snow falling outside, feeling very cosy and pleased with myself for not having to drive anywhere in the ice. But I did travel to Manchester a couple of times to meet my classmates. We attended some workshops during the summers and we did a reading at the Manchester Children's Book Festival. And during one of the workshops we learnt a thing which I have been passing on ever since, and it's this: how to make a mini-zine.

I first made zines as a child. My mum worked for a newspaper and I fancied making my own papers. I made one called Girls Talk, which my mum photocopied for me. It had articles about popstars and you could buy it for 10p, and it came with a free sticker. These days my zines tend to be comic strips or promotional things, but I run workshops for anyone who wants to make a zine about anything. Not that you really need a workshop- if you type 'how to make a zine' into Youtube you'll find loads of brilliant ideas- but one of the really nice things about a zine workshop is making them alongside other people.

Zines are the ultimate in radical self-publishing. These days social media invites everyone to share their thoughts and opinions, but if you do it in a zine you have a limited edition book of your own to pass on and post and leave on people's car windshields. And they can be truly anonymous, if that's what you need to be.

I'm never going to be a Youtuber, but here's my mini-zine demo. Happy Zining!