Easiest Way To Make & Sell A Photo Zine!

[@TheMikeCrispy]

Great video!! I always really enjoy how you work through your thought processes and give us an inside look at how everything comes together. I think this is definitely going to inspire me to press forward on putting together a zine of my own!

[@TheLiamGordon]

Thank you, Mike! Hope you get one made soon ✌️

[@jefftidwellphotography]

Just ordered, looking forward to getting my copy. Thanks again for letting me preview it!

[@TheLiamGordon]

🙏🙏🙏 Jeff! I would have got you a copy mate! I was going to ask if I could swap you for a copy of your zine if you had any left.

[@jefftidwellphotography]

@@TheLiamGordon LOL, next round!

[@eamonnmckay1676]

Just ordered, Liam, and it'll go in a bookcase (or, possibly, on a coffee table!) with the previous two iterations. Great work as usual, and thanks for the walk through of the process. Every year you present this release, and every year I think, 'oh, that's a great idea! I should try to do something like this.' I thought the same this year - a year of quite some trauma and life disruption, for which I maintained a phototography-based blog - and I'm now thinking that perhaps the blog could be a zine. Maybe. You never know. Thanks, again, for the inspiration.

[@TheLiamGordon]

I appreciate that you’ve kept showing support all this time, Eamonn! I hope you get around to making that zine. Or at least some prints.

[@PeakyParker91]

I'm putting together my first zine, a small collection of photos I took at a Woodland Festival over the weekend. Great video mate

[@TheLiamGordon]

Thanks for watching mate! Hope your zine comes out well! ✌️

[@somephotovideos]

This was great! I had no idea the technical side of making a zine could be somewhat easy. Obviously sequencing the images, etc is difficult and time consuming but I would have thought layout and design would have been incredibly difficult. Love the clean timeless design of your zine!

[@TheLiamGordon]

Thanks for watching! Keeping it simple was the best way for me as I have no graphic design experience :)

[@somephotovideos]

@@TheLiamGordon Same here. Definitely going to store the knowledge gained from this video for the moment I decide to make my own zine. Appreciate you sharing your experience!

[@travelrecordmusic8265]

Inspiring! You just filled my head with ideas…

[@TheLiamGordon]

Thank you for watching!!!

[@ccrowe714]

Excellent Information! Thanks so much

[@TheLiamGordon]

Thank you for watching!

[@ThomasOtt70]

I love the fact you use a Ricoh GRD. Me too!

[@TheLiamGordon]

Nice! It’s the best camera I’ve owned!

[@pamelasmith8652]

Hey LG, just ordered, didn't miss out on this one! JT

[@TheLiamGordon]

I appreciate it, JT! Hope you like it 🙏

[@ricohdoge8171]

Is those some South Park murals on your wall? That's awesome! Great video, Wil Def be ordering a copy!

[@TheLiamGordon]

Haha. No but that would be kinda awesome. The walls were like that when we bought the house, we just haven’t painted that room yet. I appreciate your support 🙏

[@exwhyzedprint]

Great video Liam. The cover design looks smart in the 2021 edition. [Shhh don't tell everyone]...we can print you a landscape zine :)

[@24Exposures]

Hey Liam, very informative video!!!! After watching it, I'm willing to make my own zine. I have one question though, could you share which layout and size among all the options blurp/bookwright provides? Thanks so much in advanced. Cheers!

[@TheLiamGordon]

Thanks for watching! I used the premium magazine option. I think it only had one size available too.

[@24Exposures]

@@TheLiamGordon Thanks soo much!

[@Fuegoshotz]

Thank you!

[@TheLiamGordon]

Thank you for watching!

[@cody484848]

Very informative video with great detail. If I may ask, what was the website again that you used to build the zine? It sounded like book right but I wasn't sure. Thanks so much!

[@TheLiamGordon]

Thank you! The website is Blurb but you can download their software BookWright to build your zine.

[@Yosser70]

really interested in doing something like this, so really interesting video, thank you. I went to buy you zine but the postage was as much as the zine, because I’m in the uk. With Blurb having a uk base, you’d think they could print it over here and use local mail.

[@TheLiamGordon]

Sorry the postage was so high. Definitely not worth paying the extra. It’s a shame they wouldn’t just print it in the uk for you :( I hope you enjoy making your zine! ✌️

[@Yosser70]

@@TheLiamGordon Yeah, thats what I was expecting them to do. I’ve had a quick look at Amazons KDP and they print in the country of order so it’s only local postage.

[@josebrivera1716]

I would fill each page with an image. Why waste paper? Any, why didn't you include captions (text) to explain the photo?

[@TheLiamGordon]

It’s just what worked for me. If I had less images I would maybe print them across both pages and I like images without text most of the time.

[@peterbear2929]

Here's an idea... How would you go designing a landscape oriented zine (would only work if you wanted that format) and duplicating the content within a portrait layout - say of the size you had printed. IOW, you would have the same content on the top half of the page as the botom. You could then take it to a print shop and have them guillotine them in half? You'd end up with twice the amount of books (zines, whatever). Yeah, maybe...

[@TheLiamGordon]

Interesting idea. I wouldn’t want the upfront cost of ordering all the zines and having them stacked in my house waiting to sell though.

[@peterbear2929]

@@TheLiamGordon Haha yes. It's all 'Vanity Press' after all : )

[@SvenDesigns]

Nice channel, keep it up :)

[@TheLiamGordon]

Many thanks!!

[@SvenDesigns]

:)

[@davidjaslow6458]

So, Liam I published catalogs, posters, postcards and brochures for 30 years. Why didn’t you publish a landscape zine to better showcase your work. I always found horizontal catalogs perfect for customer’s food shots and events. Looking at your zine , all the shots at landscapes. Dave

[@TheLiamGordon]

Blurb doesn’t (or didn’t at the time) have a landscape zine option and I know so little about making a zine that I still used them because their software made it easy.

[@davidjaslow6458]

Do you know how to lay it out in Adobe InDesign or Photoshop?

[@TheLiamGordon]

@@davidjaslow6458 not a clue 😅 I’m sure I could learn for a more serious book project.

[@davidjaslow6458]

Learn Photoshop and InDesign.

[@TheLiamGordon]

@@davidjaslow6458 I will when I have a good reason to.

[@Zetaphotography]

So I just have to say I shoot my images with a Leica M6 and instant sales

[@TheLiamGordon]

Not sure if that’s a flex or if instant sales is an app 😂

[@tedbrown7908]

So you didn't make your zine, Blurb did.

[@TheLiamGordon]

Purchasing a photographic printer, layout software, paper, binding materials, packaging, and a website with e-commerce would be nice but not in line with the title.

[@ziggy149]

Show me a photo book that was made by the photographer themself. You’re comment is ridiculous and it doesn’t matter that it’s been a year since you made it. I just saw it. It’s ridiculous.

[@SethWoodsYT]

Right. Took me two seconds to understand this guy is a photographer and not a publisher. @@ziggy149

[@Nitidus]

​@@ziggy149You should maybe dial that back a bit, friend. Apparently you haven't heard about what a zine is meant to be in the first place. Zines originated from the punk rock/skate scene who wanted their voices in a society that had zero respect for them and which saw them as outcasts. They didn't get any exposure in classical media so they made their own. Thus was created the "zine." The fact that it's supposed to be DIY is a consequence of this history. Back in the day they consisted of very harsh black and white prints only because those were cheap. It has only been the last few years when the hipster/artsy and photography scene hijacked this very political medium to create glossy, expensive photo books and call them "zines." So if you decide to use that term you also have to be able to take the respective criticism. Now I'm not saying the only legitimate way to do a zine is the original one, nor am I saying that you can't use the name if it's done differently. I didn't print my first zine myself either. But I know the history of the medium, I treat it with respect. And I reflected on the above which led me to the conclusion that the amount of DIY work that I've put into it by shooting, editing, layouting, and distributing is sufficient for me, personally, to justify the name. Not doing any of this is ignorant. The intense derogatory nature of your comment is incredibly toxic and prevents any constructive debate while, at the same time, _you_ are the one who's lacking the historical education required to properly interpret the original comment. That's even more arrogant than the guy you're attacking. And it certainly _isn't_ adult behavior. Edit: Btw, a zine is explicitly _not_ a "photo book." Those terms are not interchangeable. Aside from that, many of the great photographers did and do make the complete first iteration of their photo books at home by themselves. It can be seen in several of Magnum's video series, for example. Of course that's not what we're talking about, just wanted to mention it as a side fact.