In 2025, there were around 340 zine fairs in the U.S., according to the Zine World database. That is an 83% rise from the 187 fairs that occurred in 2019. In 2025, the LA Zine Fest welcomed upwards of 10,000 visitors and 300 vendors. Vendor tables for the 2026 Brooklyn Zine Fest sold out within two days.
Etsy provides a different perspective on a similar story. Searches for “zine” on the platform rose 340% since 2020. Marginal profits for people who produce and distribute alone tend to be 70%-80% at the $8–$15 price point of most zines.
Zines are outpacing poetry chapbooks by volume without needing a single institutional apparatus to do so.
This format is decades older than the internet, but is enjoying a renaissance because social media burnt everyone out. Sick of algorithm updates and engagement statistics, creators have found that printing 100 copies of whatever they produce and selling them directly in fairs often earns them more than any content strategy ever could.
Why are creators choosing paper over pixels right now?
Gen Z is spending approximately 9 hours a day in front of a screen. However, more than half of that same group said they prefer physical media when it comes to consuming creativity. This contradiction, more than anything else, exposes the tension that spurred the zine boom.
Zines represent anti-algorithm content. No feed curates what you see. No notifications interrupt your reading. Afterwards, no tracking pixels follow you. It represented a printed manifesto of the digital detox movement.
Instagram killed personal blogs. TikTok killed long-form essays. Zines have endured, in part, because they have always been offline. A zine is in many ways a portfolio you would be able to pass on to someone and so for some artists, illustrators and writers, it serves a purpose. It is a proof of work that you developed and needs no Wi-Fi at the site!
What changed between photocopiers and professional printing?
The original zine aesthetic still matters. Cultural weight of photocopied pages, stapled spines, and intentional imperfection. However, if creators are selling at fairs, bookshops and online, you need a steady quality across each run of 50 to 500 copies.
Typical zine structures are recognizable: A5, saddle-stitched, 16–32 pages. Paper choices depend on content. Uncoated stock suits illustration zines. If your project will have a lot of photographs, glossy paper is the way to go.
Quality printing companies like HelloPrint offer good zine printing service, as it offers saddle-stitch binding, different paper stocks, fast turnaround to the US, and small runs. Creators can upload a print-ready PDF and receive high-quality zines, that are professional quality, but without the inconsistency of photocopying or the cost of traditional offset printing.
You could go with copy shops still, however online printing pros provide you with bound, finished products at a price not much higher than copy stores, and very much cheaper for runs over one hundred copies.
Can you actually make money selling zines?
Selling at fairs or online, your average 24-page A5 zine when printed in a run of 100 copies will yield margins of 70% to 80%. Broken Pencil Magazine states that the best-known zine-makers make between five and fifteen thousand dollars a year, only at fair prices.
The format rewards direct relationships. Most likely, a customer who picks up your zine at a fair is familiar with your work. They might purchase the following issue. They might commission custom work. The deal Izzet builds is something photocopiers and Instagram posts cannot.
The most democratic format in publishing never needed a publisher. It needed a printer. The photocopier started the movement. Professional online printing is blowing it up without quashing the independence that makes zines meaningful.
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