What will you use to create the layout? Back in the day, I would swap publications through the mail with kids around the country. Some of the coolest looking papers or publications were created by hand, through the traditional cut and paste method. Many contained hand drawn comic art. One 'zine from Canada especially struck me as creative in terms of layout. Here Title Place issues consisted of newsprint and random collages made from magazine/photo clippings, set as the background, with white columns for the articles printed on each page. The overall effect was an artsy little 'zine with a bold statement.

The early issues of my paper, Pandora's Box, were created in a graphics program. I don't remember the name, but it allowed us to tweak words and create columns. When I later founded a dorm newsletter, I used Microsoft Pagemaker, which wasn't half bad. I'm sure for those of you more computer savvy than I, you know of something better. Think about producing a logo or something that will identify your publication.

An excellent piece of software is Microsoft Publisher. It comes with templates for you to create brochures, pamphlets, and just about anything under the sun, with easy to manipulate textboxes, columns, and wordart. If you know how to use Microsoft Word, you'll catch on quick with Publisher. The best feature, in my opinion, for those of you who have no clue how to code a webpage, is the convert function whereby a publisher file can be converted into an HTML file. In a matter of seconds, you can upload the html file to your hosting server and you're set. If you create each issue in publisher, you don't even need to worry about transferring everything over or having to scan the issue per page. Viewers will see each issue in their browser as it exists in its physical copy.

Later issues of Pandora's Box were created purely with a big black magic marker and lots of cut and paste. We'd print out the typed articles, cut out the respective columns, and paste them accordingly. Then someone would doodle and draw crazy tribal borders and art all over the margins. This gave the issues a more artsy, off-beat look as opposed to the more clean-cut neatness of the earlier issues. Maybe your decision on how to produce your 'zine will hinge on whether you want your paper to look polished, classical, and professional, or more artsy, bohemian.

How big do you want the issues to be? What size paper? Pandora's Box consisted of pieces of 8''x 11'' white papers, folded and stapled in half. Each half created one page. By shrinking our font down, it not only saved the cost of printing per issue, but made our issues small and easy to carry, stash, and pass out. I've seen other publications much bigger than ours. It really depends on your budget and resources.

As I've also mentioned before, a website to showcase your back issues would also benefit your paper. It gives your audience a chance to catch up on things they've missed and learn a little more about you. Furthermore, it's a chance for them to tell you what sucks and doesn't suck.