Single-Sheet Zine Layout – More Info

Single-sheet zines can be easy or complex.  In my earlier article, Single-sheet Zine Design – Basics, I showed one of the simpler ways to create a zine.

What most people do…

From what I’ve seen, the majority of people who swap or sell zines take a bunch of letter-sized printed pages (8 1/2″ x 11″) and fold them in half. Each sheet of paper is four pages of the zine.

Here’s how a single-sheet zine might look:

See? It’s just one sheet of paper. This can be really easy!

You can print a free zine – a variation of the single-page zine concept – at Free Zine #1.  (Warning: I wrote that around 2002, and included several New Age topics that were popular/trendy at the time.)

Of course, that’s just the beginning…

Zine sizes can vary.

An average zine is five to 15 sheets of paper, meaning 20 to 60 pages. Those are the ones you’ll see at art- and zine-related shops, where you can purchase zines.

However, most zines are at the small end of that figure.  Many of them are just a sheet or two of paper, printed (and sometimes cut) and folded/stapled to make a zine.

Once you’ve made a few classic, single-sheet zines, you may want to try something more complex.

The Classic, 16-Page Zine from a Single, Legal-Sized Sheet of Paper

If you’re a purist or on a strict budget, you may love this: It’s a 16-page zine created with one sheet of legal-sized paper, period.

I don’t count the cover as a “page” when I number my zine pages, so my own version of this is 12 pages plus an outside cover & inside covers. Here’s how it fits on the paper:

Cut on the solid lines and fold on the dotted lines.

Staple in the center. One staple is usually enough.

One stamp on the envelope is enough to mail one of these zines.  (You can tuck them in with bill payments, notes to friends, birthday and holiday greeting cards, and so on.)

You can also scan your zine, uncut, and put it online so others can print their own copy, cut & assemble it. Easy!

Zines Know No Limits!

There are many other ways to make zines. Look at books about making handmade books, for the best inspiration.

The concept is the same, but zines are usually smaller & more informal, that’s all.

If you want to create a zine that’s a work of art, that’s fine.

If you want to get wild & crazy with design, have fun with it!

Remember that a zine can be one piece of paper, b&w, printed on both sides, and folded in half. That’s a four-page zine.  I have several in my collection, and I think some of the simpler ones are better than a few larger ones I’ve seen.

So, put your art & soul into your zine, and don’t worry about the size or technical stuff.  I love almost every zine I see; size and expertise often have nothing to do with how enthusiastic I am about a zine.

What to Do with Zines

If you’ve wanted to create a zine for fun, just do it!

• Give them to friends.
• Sell them (at your website or Etsy, for example).
• You can approach local artsy stores, gaming stores, etc., to consign (or outright sell) your zines.
• Hand them out on the street, at school, at work, to friends, neighbors, and relatives.
• Join a zine swap or launch your own, on- or offline.  They can be tremendous, and you’ll receive fabulous zines that you might never see if you hadn’t swapped.

• A very basic, single-sheet zine layout (a very simple version of this page)
• A free, simple, single-sheet zine (PDF)
• Zine Layouts – lots of ideas, including the classic 16-page zine from a single sheet of paper
• A free printable zine from 2010: The 24-Hour Zine Thing Zine
• How a Zine Swap Works– One of the more popular ways to share your zines and get some in return!

If you have questions or answers, post a comment below.