This was going to be the front cover for Issue #4 which would have been released if Compassion hadn’t ended. I just found it in my room. It’s one of my favourite covers that I did, it’s a shame it never saw the light of day.
Despite Compassion being six feet under, and despite the online store taking on the same role as a neglected market trader in a town centre who still thinks mobile phone covers are a lucrative business venture, I thought I’d make some sort of “Making Of” photomentuary (new word?).
The following steps are how I’ve made each issue of Compassion, and I hope I can leave this here to provide some advice on how to make a zine if you’re struggling with production ideas. I always made A4 zines because it was much simpler. A5 is more practical for distros, but I always got bogged down with the construction of an A5 zine. It’s probably not as hard as I imagine, but for hand-made zines, A4 is far easier. So, here goes.
This is the method I’ve been using for a long time to make zines. It’s a bit time-consuming, but ultimately rewarding. Obviously, there’s no set way to make a zine, so this is just one of many methods. Issue #3 was a thick bastard too, so it took longer than normal.
Sam x
compassionzine.bigcartel.com
facebook.com/compassionzine
For a number of reason, Compassion is calling it a day. All these reasons are explained with care in this Facebook post:
Compassion has been incredibly quiet for a while. Silent, perhaps. Basically, the direction of my life is ever-changing, and right now it’s finally coming round to something I want to focus 100% on. I’m getting back into releasing records, I’m slowly pushing my way into the world of freelance writing, I’m making more music, and eventually I want to set up a professional publication (loss of punk points, right there). I’m also doing the big move to London around July/August time, and all of this means Compassion will unfortunately have to call it a day. As such, issues #2 and #3 are on offer for negligible prices. It would be hugely appreciated if you could pick one or both of these up. Properly hugely; and once they’re gone, that’s it, completely. Anyone who’s supported Compassion since its inception is extended the most sincere of thanks; Party Wound Productions, strictly no capital letters, FALLACIES, Cold Heart Collective, Moshtache Records, and any other distro that I wish I hadn’t forgot to mention, along with anyone who bought a copy and tolerated my despondent writing. Thank you so much, I actually received kind words about this zine and it always made me really happy each time someone complimented it. I’m pleased with that I did here. But the future is no longer something I’m scared to face.
Sam Hunt/.
All available copies are being sold at negative-profit prices at the store. It would be so hugely appreciated if you could pick up a copy. Thank you.
Sam/.
I’ve had some money in my PayPal account saved up from sales of Compassion for a while, so I had a major Crass-like moment and donated all of it (plus an extra fiver) to this project I saw being posted on my personal dash.
Parallel Planes is a documentary film interviewing thirteen musicians and, from what I can gather, provides a refreshing perspective on underground musicians. They’ve released a trailer featuring an interview with Justin Pearson, and they’ve interviewed Ian MacKaye and stuff; it seems really awesome.
Click on that link above to go to their site and find out more, donate if you have something to spare. Keep our world spinning. I feel like Penny Rimbaud right now. I’m really looking forward to this film.
x
Compassion #2 and #3 are available in the store for a buy-one-get-one-half-price kinda thing. Issue #2 is running low, so head over there. £3.25 for both of them; dead sound!
compassionzine.bigcartel.com
x
The Construciton Gallery will be hosting the first Tooting Zine Fair from 12pm-6pm on 25th February 2012!
Construction Gallery and Cafe
74 – 80 Upper Tooting Road
London SW17 7PB
Nearest Station: Tooting Bec Underground
Contact: tootingzines@gmail.com
Slowly but surely, Compassion #3 has arrived.
This is one thick motherfucker of a zine, and is an account of the European tour I went on with Fallacies in December 2011.
It feels like it’s taken an eternity to write, but finally, all the hijinks from that tour are published and on paper. Pissing the bed, hitting on Czech girls with boyfriends, vomiting in a toilet in Coburg, sleepwalking, all that fun shit that tour throws at you.
Due to its size and the amount of labour involved, the price has increased, but I’m still no rip-off merchant. Head to the BigCartel to pick one up, and any distros/stockists, send us an email!
Peace x
So I was talking to a friend of mine the other day, and she said that self-publishing is an easy cop-out, which leads me to explain why I think self-publishing is so important.
I think she’s coming from a mentality where getting an article printed in an established magazine/newspaper/whatever brings high social connotations along with it. If I was to get published in, say, The Guardian, that would be quite an accolade because The Guardian is dead big and posh and stuff. Whereas if you set up your own publication (and I think she’s thinking more along the lines of a blog or website), it cuts out the work involved in achieving publication in a more established magazine/newspaper/whatever.
But self-publication empowers the writer directly, and if you only view being published in something established as worthwhile, I feel it accepts some sort of hierarchy too blindly. You accept that your own personal efforts are vastly smaller than the efforts of an established publication, and therefore your own endeavours are grossly inferior, and ultimately pointless.
Firstly, it’s obvious to say that nobody becomes established without working from the bottom up (unless they have an unethical father who runs a magazine/newspaper/whatever, or they suck some dick or something). Deeming self-publication as a cop-out, and therefore inferior, ignores the work involved in making yourself established as a self-published writer.
Secondly, and most importantly for me, going into self-publication means that you don’t have to rely on multi-million-earning companies to put your work out into the world. It grants you the power to print it, distribute it and establish it, and along with the many other factors of running a zine (no matter how big or small that zine may be), this is what gives me an enormous amount of satisfaction. Sure, it’s hard work trying to plug what you’re doing, especially in such a corporate and perhaps cynical society, but with work comes happiness. This is the key.
I felt compelled to write this because it’s such an important and intrinsic standpoint to what I do. Yeah.
Peace
x
nottingham, as part of THEMELESS #1
Wherever Jake Kent roams, something awesome appears.
Copies of Compassion on sale in Coburg, Germany, at JUZ Domino on 17th December 2011 while on tour with Fallacies.
The upcoming third issue documents the many ups and downs of that tour. The writing is very much near completion, and design work will start shortly. This is my biggest zine project yet, and it’s gonna be a fat issue. Maybe I’ll have to bind it with something better than staples. Going up the ladder one step at a time.
Sam x
