Do I have to Monetize Every of My Zine?
Zine-making started as a hobby but I can slowly see it's creeping into the idea of monetizing every zine I have made, including the one I made for myself - this happened as I was making Zine as I Go!! Vol. 2. The thought of: "Would people buy the Volume 2 of Zine as I Go!!", now it feels like as if I'm making my zine for other people once again.
This is where I thought I wanted to remind myself with the first intention I made with "Zine a I Go!!" - I wanted to fill this zine more spontaneously to get off social media scrolling. That's it, the intention is purely for me and not others.
The zines I usually ended up selling are the ones that I did carefully plan - For the first sketch/draft, I had so much fun with sketching more loosely, and if I ever going to sell it, then my mindset would be like "now the mindset is making as good as possible for other people to enjoy." The separation while making is important for me, usually it gets easier with time for sure. Let it simmer, and then stay quiet. Until you release it suddenly and that's it. The time gap, is important for me to be less attached personally to it.
Having not as much self-worth attachment to selling my work has helped me to run an small art business, that I'll be less taking things personally when things don't work out monetarily. It's also important to realize that, whether people wanted to buy your artwork is very complicated - you cannot just funnel down to one reason only, and not to mention that every person is different.
I think the question of "Do I have to Monetize every of my Zine?" The answer is, absolutely not. I think it's good if I just write down a clear boundary when I decide to sell the zine, as follows:
- During the draft/sketch, I will think more of how I can bring more of "me" and creative freedom in the zine
- After the draft/sketch is done, let it sit for a bit more. Wait for few days, weeks.
- Go back to it, and put a 'hat' of a stranger who love creative work, then ask:
"Will this zine, when it's more cleaned up and polished, bring more values to them personally?
Notice that I didn't say "Will people buy my zine?" or "Will I make more money if I do this", I focused on whether my work will bring value that they'll have to see the preview, and pay for the zine so that they can access the full zine. The monetary value is the 'agreement' of the buyer to access my labour and creation, not as a reflection of what my art is worth.
So far, this has avoided me burning out because I blurred the line of the artwork I made myself and the one I sell.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this bearblog post, I'll see you on the next one!