Hi! I know you're very much "in" the zine community (i loved your hqmm zine!) so I had a question that I was wondering if you could answer. on projects where it was a physical zine, how did you order them/manufacture them? because most places refuse to do fanworks. Thank you & have a good day!
Hi there & good day to you too 👋🏼
Firstly, thank you so much for the compliment, I'm really happy you liked the Murder Mystery Zine (it was a really cool project with a lot of amazing people) 💕
I am by no means a big production guru (there are mods out there with years of experience and dozens of projects more than me who really know almost every single manufacturer there is and have tried and compared them all) but I'm always happy to answer zine related questions and help to the best of my knowledge — I'll put the booklet related tips below the cut but if you have any other zine or production questions, please don't hesitate to ask again or DM me ☺️
To answer your question, for physical booklets, I, personally, tend to use Mixam UK, because in my opinion they have the best price/cost relationship (there are certainly manufacturers who deliver a better quality and more paper options, but if you are trying to keep costs low, then Mixam UK does a very good job! You need to pay attention though, because Mixam also has a US site, but I would advise against using them, because they are both more expensive and their quality is at best acceptable and at worst subpar — depending on what size and page count you have it can also be cheaper to order from the UK site with shipping to the US that ordering directly from the US site, so be sure that you are on the right Mixam site. There is also a Canadian & Australian site but I have not yet worked with them so I can't speak to how they compare—as far I remember the hearsay though, they seem to be doing okay) ☺️
I have also been part of 1 zine where the booklet was ordered with PixartPrinting (though not as a moderator), who seem to do great work with their finishing (though that was some years ago and last I checked they don't offer shipping to the US/international anymore, only EU, but you might be able to get more info if you contact customer service). I have also heard good things about Jukeboxprint and Skating Bear (especially if you want things like foil on the cover, etc), but never actually used them myself because from what I hear and the prices that I have been quoted for past projects, you need to reach a high quantity (250 & upwards) for the costs to balance out. Mixam has recently also added foil options but I have not yet tried them so I can't judge their foil work.
All of these have a website where you can order directly, except Skating Bear, who operate via Alibaba.
I have also never heard of any of these manufacturers (or any other) cancel or refuse an order because it was fan work, so not sure where you have that information from 🤔 I have only heard of a single instance where a sticker manufacturer wanted proof that you could use the designs (I guess they became suspicious because the designs had different art styles?) and it was all resolved by the respective merch artists sending them a message that the project had permission to use their designs—as far as I recall this was a very small, local manufacturer though and it was also some years ago. So, if you are trying to print locally and go somewhere in-person, small shops may very well have individual policies on not printing fan works or be more pro-active when checking the designs for originality 🤔
If you had a big/online manufacturer refuse your order because it was fan work though, I would be really curious to hear which company it was, if you don't mind sharing! That could be really helpful information for future and ongoing projects which company to avoid or have a backup plan for.
I think that was it, my 2 cents on making physical zine booklets, and I really hope that it all makes sense and was roughly the information you were hoping for 😅 If there is anything that you are unsure about or want more information on, please don't hesitate to ask or DM me directly 💕
I only got my first 2 zines to completion because I had amazing co-moderators around me giving advice and sharing experiences, so I am always open to passing on that knowledge to others and help them realize their zine ideas ☺️