Make a Zine!: Start Your Own Underground Publishing Revolution

Share your passions and find your community!

Do you have a passion that you want to obsess about in a love letter to the world? In this new edition of Microcosm’s popular DIY guide to zine-making, Joe Biel updates the information provided in the first edition (edited by Biel and the late and great Bill Brent) to address zine making in today’s digital and social-media-obsessed world, featuring a new foreword by St. Louis zinester and literacy worker Ymani Wince.

Covering all the bases for beginners, Make a Zine! hits on more advanced topics like Creative Commons licenses, legality, and sustainability. Says Feminist Review, “Make a Zine! is an inspiring, easy, and digestible read for anyone, whether you’re already immersed in a cut-and-paste world, a graphic designer with a penchant for radical thought, or a newbie trying to find the best way to make yourself and your ideas known.” Illustrated by an army of notable and soon-to-be-notable artists and cartoonists, Make a Zine! also takes a look at the burgeoning indie comix scene, with a solid and comprehensive chapter by punk illustrator Fly (Slug and Lettuce, Peops). Part history lesson, part how-to guide, Make a Zine! is a call to arms, an ecstatic, positive rally cry in the face of TV book clubs and bestsellers by celebrity chefs. As says Biel in the book’s intro, “Let’s go!”

Read on for a sneak peek at Make a Zine!: Start Your Own Underground Publishing Revolution by Joe Biel, shipping now from our site or available to order from your local bookseller!

In 2022, I found my voice. I was in the midst of launching a Black owned bookstore project entitled The Noir Bookshop in my hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. I made a promise to myself that I’d dedicate one year of my life to exploring if a conceptual bookstore could exist. I announced my plans on Christmas of 2021, and by May of the following year, had established a brick and mortar location in the heart of St. Louis’ creative community.

I was overjoyed and challenged with the prospect of being a bookstore owner, literacy advocate and overall “Book Lady.” I established the identity of Noir Bookshop as a soft place to land, with warmth, conversation, Black literature and education. That dream was realized, and I began thinking of ways to put something physical into the community that told the mission and story of my bookshop.

I first came across Make a Zine! in the fall of 2022. I met a representative from Microcosm Publishing at an annual bookseller conference, and was dazzled and excited by all the zines, chapbooks and ephemera Microcosm had to offer. I ordered a copy of Make a Zine! to guide my process in publishing Notes From The Book Lady’s Desk, the first zine from The Noir Bookshop.

What spoke to me most about Make a Zine was the authority and encouragement it gives to its readers to dream big and create whatever is meaningful to them. As a solo entrepreneur, I clung to the identity of being my own boss, not asking for permission to try any creative idea. I was attracted to the premise that while I could create something visually beautiful and imaginative, the impact and business opportunities for my publishing were within reach.

Years later, as I return to the book for reference during projects, I am reminded of where I started in my journey with Notes From the Book Lady’s Desk. I began as a bookseller operating a retail space–then creating a community-minded mission rooted in history and DIY self-publishing. This book continues to answer my questions on business, formatting, distribution and reflection of my work.

I used local resources in St. Louis to print my zines, and designed and wrote the content myself. I printed 30 copies of a 20-page booklet, and it sold out. The zines landed in California, New York, and among local leaders, writers and creators in my city. My goal was to tell the story of my grandparents, the inspiration for my project, and express how important literacy is to me.

As I became more involved in the community building libraries, hosting literacy workshops and book clubs, my knowledge and awareness of the literacy inequities in St. Louis grew. I understood the platform and voice my bookstore had. I began creating minizines to draw attention to the book deserts that overwhelm my region, and what people can do to fight them. I dropped them off in little libraries, added them to my retail customers’ shopping bags, and brought them to meetings with collaborating organizations.

Writing is my first love, and storytelling is at the core of what I do. Even when I was a child, making little books and drawing with crayons and markers was my thing. My grandparents were business owners, so I spent many sick days, holiday breaks, and overall time in their auto body shop. I’d sit in the office with my grandmother, marvel over all her office supplies, create books made of copy paper and legal pad sheets, and write notes about each customer’s car report. Even when I didn’t know I was making zines–I was making zines.

I enjoy tapping into the arts and crafts side of my talents when creating zines. It’s an artistic practice of mine that calms my nervous system, and feeds my mind creatively. Since publishing the first set of zines from The Noir Bookshop, my research has focused on telling the stories of everyday people in my community, promoting archival research, and documenting current events and ideas through zines.

I firmly believe in Free Speech, Freedom of the Press, and DIY Publishing. There’s satisfaction in creating something physical for the world, with your own words, images and art. I found that freedom and voice through zine making.

Want to keep reading? Check out this new and updated edition of Make a Zine!: Start Your Own Underground Publishing Revolution, available now!