Why isn’t Zine World available in stores?
Zine World is available in stores — but not many of them. We’ve said “no thanks” to the big distributors, because almost all stores and distributors ‘buy’ zines and underground papers on consignment.Generally, that means an impoverished publisher (in this case, me) pays to print the zine, and pays to ship a bundle of zines at a deeply discounted price, but the store or distro doesn’t owe a dime until months later, after yet another issue has been printed and yet another bundle of zines shipped. Even on this glacially slow payment system, many stores and distros need repeated nagging before they’ll pay.I love doing Zine World, but I am not sitting on a fat bankroll. I cannot afford to print and mail bundles of zines to strangers’ businesses, crossing my fingers and hoping they’ll send payment as promised, some day in the distant future. That’s why we require payment up front from stores, and that’s why Zine World is currently sold at select stores and distros.
