Akademik

(ZEEN.stur)

n.

A person who writes, edits, and publishes a zine; a person who reads only zines. Also: 'zinester.

In addition to excerpts from dozens of zines, the authors offer how-tos for would-be zinesters on raising money, distribution, the pros and cons of collaboration and more.

— Booth Moore, "The Macro View of Micro-Publishing," The Los Angeles Times, November 3, 1998

Zine culture, more than most previous cognates, is an inherently shattered culture — it's only defining characteristic being that it has no defining characteristic. But just now, some of the shards are heading uptown — and it doesn't seem to mean that they're leaving anything, their principles or even their continued participation in zine and alt culture behind.

Former and continuing zinesters like Munroe and Lynn Crosbie are signing on with big publishers (HarperCollins and Doubleday, respectively) and early reports suggest they're not dumbing down or straightening out for the privilege.

— Bert Archer, "Heady zine scene permeates mainstream," The Toronto Star, October 10, 1998

For three years, 1989-91, Janice was art director for Factsheet Five, a sort of megazine that listed and reviewed hundreds of zines and acted as a clearinghouse for zine fans, called zinesters.

— Pat Guy, "Wacky magazines know no limits," USA Today, August 3, 1992

The word zine (1965) is short for either magazine or fanzine. Writer David Futrelle defined zines perfectly as "tiny, self-published mini-magazines chronicling personal obsessions and pop culture oddities."