I always start out with a dream that seems easy, but I’m a bit of a perfectionist.

I’ve been wanting to make a periodical zine for years. I bought a long arm stapler back in 2023.

Writing music reviews makes a lot of sense for me personally, but I’m trying very hard to get this right the first edition.

I enjoy making art, playing music and talking, or writing rather, so…this seems like a match made in heaven!

1. I had the desire to make a zine
2. I thought of the name sleazine earlier this spring a few days after having surgery. I think sylus the slug was immediately part of the name idea and logo.
3. I bought the domain and built the website the first month and grabbed all the social media handles I could. I don’t want to get too technical but this is cheaper and easier than a lot of people think.
4. I started making posts and following bands on Instagram.
5. I set up my mailing list and the forms on the website.
6. I made a special page for my zine directory I’ve been doing to for the last few years.
7. I’ve got enough albums to review for a few of the first issues!
8. I luckily have a laser printer and now a borderless ink well printer I added to print covers.
9. I fought with that printer for over a month. Why HP? Why don’t you print full saturation in borderless mode?!
10. I went back and forth for several months on making little zines or larger ones. I decided on half page zines because I’ve got ehlers danlos syndrome and my hands hurt – I like to save them for bass playing as much as possible. Also more bands together means more fans together. Spread the love.
11. I started writing in proton drive to avoid the ai trash that is Google drive these days.
12. I’ve got two and a half of the first five reviews written. I also wrote a letter to the editor section. I have plans for some guest articles as well as random art I’m hoping to use. Luckily I’ve got years of that in my back pocket.
13. I’m working on the layout in canva.. it may not be the best thing, or most professional. It’s easy to use. If you have suggestions for something better please let me know.
14. I purchased the greatest thing ever – I named it Kronk the Kuchonker. It’s a binding machine that staples and folds in one go. This will really help my hands.
15. I officially registered names – I’m very serious. Sleazilly serious.
16. I’ve got the store in process.
17. I’m working on artist trading cards to use for the artwork. I’ll scan them in. These cards are going in the store.
18. I have a sticker maker for 5 by 7 sheets – the perfect size to shove in the printed zine.
19. I also have some fun shiny round label stickers to include with different versions of sylus.
20. I’m planning to sell digital copies of the zine and physical copies as well.
21. I’m tired now but this is a good overview of what I’ve been doing. I’ll come back and update later after finishing the store setup and first edition.