My Zine's First Birthday

Fete Craftzine is celebrating it's first birthday - hooray! And here is the birthday issue, priced just £1 and available online from Folksy now!

I started Fete last Spring as a quarterly, not for profit publication that showcases crafters/designers/makers from all over the UK, giving them a chance to publish/share their work. I felt inspired after attending a Zinefest held at The Women's Library and as soon as I got home I set to plans on my zine.

Zines are self-published mini magazines/booklets that can be about any subject, mine is mainly about crafts but also anything else creative so inside you'll find projects to make, stories, illustrations, hints and tips, recipes and general crafty knowledge. T

They are what got me into writing, I was first published in a zine when I was 12 and my obsession for zine writing continued until I went off to university and got involved in student media instead. Editing my own zine feels like returning to my roots and it's very satisfying.

When I set it up I didn't have any grand plans, but I was pleasantly surprised that the 50 copies I printed sold out within days and after that I increased the print run and sales have been steady every since. I sell 100 copies of each issue online, at zine fairs and at a few bookshops - a full colour pdf version is also available online. You can view the previous four issues here. (The new issue isn't up there yet but will be soon.) The best bit about doing the zine has been getting to know the contributors who change each issues. For issue 2 Magic Alice kindly donated a free gift, badges which was a really nice suprise and issue 4 came with a teabag.

(Sneak preview of contents)

I get it photocopied in the cheapest photocopy house in London - CLP and so far have been putting it all together myself but next issue I think I'm going to pay a bit extra and get it stapled because it's actually a very time consuming task, it can take up to three days to fold all the zines and I just don't have that kind of time anymore! Below are the pages laid out on my living room floor.

This year I'm introducing a few changes, the cover design is different (as designed by the lovely Woolies) and is in full colour. I'm also changing the frequnecy to three issues - Spring, Summer and a bumper Autumn/Winter issue. My goal is to continue publishing the zine and get more stockists. If you can suggest any please let me know. One day it would be great to have an ISBN number (it has an ISSN so it can be classified in libraries) but an ISBN will mean it can be sold and will be recognised anywhere in the world. For now though I hope you enjoy the current issue.