Can you believe that this month is already almost over? I can’t! Here is how I celebrated International Zine Month during the middle of July:

Day 11 – International Zine Day! Buy, share, or read zines from a country different than your own. A great category! May I recommend picking up zines by Maranda from Canada, Tukuru from England (by way of Finland), Evelyn from Germany, and the Coin Operated Press from Scotland? Any and all of the titles by these zinesters are great reads!

Day 12 – ZineWiki Day! It’s a wiki just for zines! Add to or update listings to the new and improved zinewiki.com Well this prompt was a great excuse to finally do something I’d been meaning to take care of for forever! I finally added myself to the ZineWiki, so if you’re interested in learning more about my history as a zine-maker, you can check out my entry.

Day 13 – Make up a zine superstition and share it (skip the 13th issue? Spin 3 times to prevent copier jams or avoid paper cuts? Your best friend has to read your zine before anyone else?) This is a fun one! Ever since I created a sigil to ensure the safe delivery of mailed zines for The Witchy Zinesters Pocket Book of Spells, I’ve tried to include it on all the zine mail I send (usually doodled on the back of the envelope, amongst the stickers and washi tape). I can’t say that I always remember to do it, but every time I do, I feel a little less anxious about the zines getting lost in the mail. And I’ve never had zine-mail with the sigil on it disappear, which is proof enough for me that it works!

Day 14 – ValenZines Day! Give yourself some zine love in whatever way it means to you! Being the mod/curator of @zinereviews is, to me, the very definition of zine love: I get to constantly celebrate the varied and expressive world of zines, and enjoy so many fantastic publications. I’m so grateful that the little project I inherited has been so enthusiastically received by the instagram zine community, and every time I open my P.O. Box to see envelopes awaiting me it truly makes my day. Yea, @zinereviews is zine love… you might even say the project itself — from the reviews to the videos to this blog — is my love letter to all things zines. 💗

Day 15 – Free Zine Day! Offer your zine for free online or – if it’s safe to do so where you are – leave zines in public places for strangers to find and enjoy. I’ve gotcha covered for this prompt on two fronts! Click here and download Let’s Make a Mini Zine, then join me on Tuesday, July 20th over Zoom to learn how to properly fold a mini zine (or, if you can’t make it, just follow the directions in the zine… how meta!) And then you can use this new skill to fold your copy of the free KC Zine Con Zine Scouts passport-zine.

Day 16 – Make a list of reasons you love zines and share your list with others! I had great plans for this prompt that didn’t quite come to fruition in time for this post; a sort of list-poem-video hybrid. It was gonna be cool, and it was gonna feature a ton of great zines. And while I didn’t finish it in time for Day 16, I still like the idea, so consider it a “coming soon… to a screen near you”. If you subscribe to the catmothcrow Youtube channel, you’ll be among the first to know when it’s posted. 😉

Day 17 – Make a flyer for your zine to trade with others, post online, or send out with zine orders and trades. Done and done! I whipped up this collaged flyer and printed it out on some “my-favorite-shade-of-purple” paper.

Day 18 – Zine Trade Day! Ask someone to trade or swap zines with you. You heard the prompt: let’s trade! Send me an email at zines @ catmothcrow.com or a message on Instagram and tell me a bit about what you write… I’m interested in trading my work with folks who write about similar subject matters to me: perzines, witchcraft, mental health and self care, DIY instructionals, poetry… you can check out this selection of my own titles, if you’re curious about what I write, and if a trade might be a good fit.