WGS Prof. George The World of Zines, Zine Making and Self-Publishing

A born-digital zine is designed to be read online. A digitized zine first existed on paper but was scanned for online reading. Born-digital zines can be made however you'd like, but keep in mind that the final product must be something that can be read easily online. See the "Zine Template in Word" box below to find a simple template. 

Most zines are half the size of a piece of 8.5 x 11 paper, so consider making your digital zine resemble a booklet, not a magazine. (A magazine format is a  8.5 x 11 page with just one column--the size of a piece of paper.) The booklet format is two columns per page in Landscape Orientation. People read from left to right and top to bottom, as in all the zines scanned here on the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space website. Scroll down and then use arrows to browse zine covers. You must click on the cover of any zine to view the scanned pages.

example of 2 columns in landscape orientation:

If your digital zine is in the form of a single column (8.5 x 11), then it will look more like a magazine than a booklet. Magazines usually have advertising, full glossy color pages, and a publisher. But there are self-published magazines.  We recommend not following magazine format but sticking with the more traditional zine format of two columns per page. If you choose the magazine format, your zine will be read from top to bottom as one column.

NOTE: If you are interested in making a zine entirely in Word, Google Docs, Canva or another software product but designing it to be downloaded, printed, and folded or stapled into a print booklet, reach out! We'd love to help you--send an email to zinelibrary@pace.edu.