Welcome back to our Tuesday segment, where we’ll be revisiting some of our most popular posts from the last few years.  What’s stayed the same?  And what’s changed?  We’ll be updating you on the facts, and taking a new (and hopefully refreshing) angle on a few timeless classics of Self Publishing Advisor.

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[ Originally posted: May 18th, 2010 ]

Ezines – they are a fast and free opportunity to self publish. Moreover, publishing in Ezines can help you get motivated to write your book, and even promote your book after publication.

We’ve discussed the idea of publishing excerpts of your book as individual articles or stories. You can simply locate a website and query that site’s webmaster about publishing your Article. Make sure you include your biographical byline, which mentions your book as well.

This is more of the same, but concentrating on ezine publication.

There really are countless ezines in existence now, each with a specific niche or category. And all of them are voraciously hungry for content.

Rather than seeking them out individually, you can place your articles into databases that ezine editors frequent for content. They use your article free of charge, and in exchange, include your biographical byline, which, again, includes information about you and your book.

Here are some to check out:

http://www.ezinearticles.com

http://www.ebooksnbytes.com

http://www.connectionteam.com

http://www.netterweb.com

http://www.ideamarketers.com

http://www.goarticles.com

http://www.knowledge-finder.com

http://www.articlecity.com

Don’t send an article you’ve already published last week. Instead, write another chapter of your book first (since finishing your book the main goal, after all.)

Have fun. Keep writing.

Well, it’s not 2010 anymore … and what is the state of the zine, much less the state of the e-zine? I haven’t heard as much about these lovely creatures of late as I used to, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a thriving communiting of ziners floating around the interwebs where I can’t see them.

A quick foray around the news feeds I follow turns up, well, actually, quite a lot! This week alone, zines have been featured in local newspapers from coast to coast, as well as a handful of higher-profile national news magazines and online compendiums. The Hudson Valley One hosted an article just last week titled “Revolution in your hands: New Paltz hosts weekend of zine making & reading,” in which I learned a fabulous nugget of information: there is an actual job description called “Zine Librarian” at the Sojourner Truth Library. How cool is that?? (Very cool.) And two weeks ago, eCollege Times hosted an article titled “Print Isn’t Dead: Take a page from local zine queen Charissa Lucille,” and includes an interview with an ASU alum and zine shop owner from Phoenix, Arizona, who dishes on everything from putting together a team of writers to what the future of zines will look like. And late last month, the OC Weekly hosted an article titled “LibroMobile’s Zine Mission,” about a mobile truck (think of a food truck, just stocked with zines and zine-making materials!) powered by the dreams of one enterprising young woman determined to put the materials for creative self-expression into the hands of area teens. And an article from LA Weekly titled “A New Exhibit Traces the Influence of Zines and Books on L.A.’s Art Scene” hints at the long and ongoing legacy of zines on the West Coast as part of the culture-shaping punk aesthetic.

So zines haven’t gone anywhere. What about e-zines?

Well, there are fewer articles than there used to be. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not, really. But if you spend much time on the E-Zine Directory (www.ezine-dir.com) you might just find yourself overwhelmed by how many e-zines there are these days. There are e-zines on wine-making and e-zines which are the official newsletters for towns and counties in Alabama. There are e-zines about alternative music and e-zines about spirituality and enlightenment. There are e-zines about feng shui and the paranormal, e-zines about parents of “difficult” children, e-zines about small businesses, and e-zines about voice talent and voice coaching.

In short, there seems to be an e-zine about everything. The content of most e-zines has shifted, however, away from what you might think of as typical “punk” content and the arts/music/literature scene which still dominates the physical zines. E-zines have broadened to become the territory of everyone with something to say ….

And that, as a self-publishing blog dedicated to the freedom of expression, we can get behind.

Thanks for reading.  If you have any other ideas, I’d love to hear them.  Drop me a line in the comments section below and I’ll respond as quickly as I can.  ♠

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog, kellyschuknecht.com.