“For the Yoko book tour, what I’m doing is going to people’s living rooms all over California in top-secret locations and re-enacting some of Yoko’s films and pieces. I’m going to re-enact one of her films, “Up Your Legs Forever.” In it, people are walking on a treadmill, and they’re naked, and one person had a peg leg, and they were maybe not all attractive people. There was just this assembly line of naked bodies walking on a treadmill, and on the soundtrack you could hear the producer and Yoko Ono making phone calls trying to get more naked people to come down and get on the treadmill. It really messed with your perceptions after a while. Playboy has no hold over you after you’ve sat through an hour of that movie...I’m going to have everybody come and get naked, and I’m really hoping that there will be somebody with a peg leg or something like that. So far I haven’t been able to find a treadmill, but somebody said they have a rowing machine so I think we’re going to have to do it on a rowing machine. But you can only get one person on a rowing machine. [Laughing] Well, they’re going to have to take turns. ”
—Lisa Carver of 90’s fanzine Rollerderby fame/infamy interviewed in the New York Times about her new book that is a meditation on her feelings about Yoko Ono.
Fanzines and You: AKA YOU DON'T NEED AMAZON!!
In light of Amazon’s new “Sell your Fanfiction for Profit on Kindle” things (Read the fine print! It’s not good guys!) I wanted to write a quick little note about how fanficcers have been selling fanfiction for decades without giving up all rights to the fic to Amazon.
It’s called a fanzine.
It’s a small, self-published magazine of fics. It’s how fanfiction used to be done, and yes these used to be sold! For profit! At cons! It’s is a 100% myth that these were never sold for profit. Seriously. They were. They still could be. No you probably won’t do as well as fanartists but you still can!
Also, fanfic writers, you can take fic commissions the way artists take art commissions. I’ve seen it done. There’s no reason it’s not done more except IDK you guys just don’t (and yes I would PAY some of you to write me fics. I have rare pairs that I would be to have written as much as I pay to have them drawn).
But look, you can Make small printings of your own fics! If I can make make twenty copies of a 12 page coloring books at home with nothing but card stock paper, colored card stock paper, a printer, and staples, you can do this with fanfiction! (total cost $20.00 and I can sell them for 5.00 ea) .
If you don’t want to risk it alone, band together with a fellow writer, and maybe an artist. Work out payment shares, make the zine, buy table space at a smaller convention, go nuts.
But please fandom! Before we allow Amazon to profit, let’s consider resurrecting the fanfic fanzine!!
