Tales and tips from the zine fest table

Zine fests are hands-down one of my absolute favorite things to do. The delight I feel getting to passionately talk about stories, art, and community all day is like no other. The energy it brings me is quite a high. When making art, zines, and designs my goals are always 1) self expression, and 2) a hope that someone will use these things I've made from my heart to express themselves and launch into introspection.

Over the past weekend I attended my very first Midwest Queer and Trans Zine Fest here in Minneapolis, MN!

This is only my fifth(?) zine fest so I am by no means an expert, but I've changed my table setup every single time based on ideas from other zinesters in addition to seeing what does and doesn't work for me personally! Today I'd like to share four of my favorite and most transformative tips for zine fest tabling!

Sliding scale pricing and welcoming trades

I hadn't ever thought of sliding scale for my pricing until I tabled next to Yo Low in St. Cloud this year! (Check them out–they're an incredible artist and storyteller and they've influenced my tabling setup significantly.) For those who don't know, sliding scale pricing is where you offer a range for a good or service. You allow your customer to select from that range what they can comfortably afford to pay. For example, my art prints have a range of $15-$25. Some people pay $15, others $20, and a some even $25. You see this in services too, like a therapist who might have a pay scale from $100-$200 per session.

I often get people to my table who remark that maybe my prices are a bit low, but I am also strongly pro-accessibility when it comes to pricing. Especially on art and design work! For me the most important part is getting these things I've made out into the world. Allowing people to self-select from the scale seems to have really helped this time around.

Another thing Low did in St. Cloud was have a sign welcoming trades. Genius, tbh. Trading is a huge part of zine culture and I am always down for a trade! I found that I traded a lot more during this fest and I hope the welcome entry helped those who might have been nervous to bring it up.

Description cards for each zine

When I only had a few different zines for sale, I had clear bins for each zine. On the front of the bins I would tape up a brief description of that zine, along with the price.

As I made more zines, the 1 clear bin per zine idea became too cluttered. So for one fest I didn't have descriptions at all. That definitely wasn't the right choice for me. My zines tend to be longer and standing there trying to get a feel for what a zine is about takes time. For this zine fest I printed and laminated description cards for each zine. Each card had a topic in big type followed by a brief description and finally the price range for sliding scale. The topic made it very easy to scan and see which zines looked interesting, then the description gave more info. I found that people spent more time at my table and looked at more zines and I think a big reason was that it was easy to scan and helped them see what might be most interesting!

Good display shelf and limited quantity on the table

I usually take between 10-20 copies of each zine to a fest based on how they've sold at previous fests. Lately I just put out 3-5 copies of each zine on the table and when someone wants to purchase one, I whip out a "fresh" copy from under the table. I have found that this helps with ensuring my table (especially if I'm half-tabling) isn't too full or cluttered and with the description cards I mentioned above, I don't have to keep taking them off and putting them back on as I replenish what's on the table.

But the real game changer for displaying my wares has been buying a great display shelf. Made in Hinsdale, New Hampshire, Clear Solutions (recommended to me by Low!) has some amazing options for what I think are super reasonable prices. (Not sponsored!)

I purchased this bad boy and it's been so amazing:

At under $40 it keeps my table looking professional and more organized and being able to make use of vertical space is ✨ choice ✨! Not to mention it all comes apart making it easier to carry in/out.

Good business cards

The last thing is one I'm still working on. Business cards. I feel like I have so much I want to say on a business card! I'm a lot of things, ya know? I want people to know!

But I think I've been overdoing it on the business cards. Next fest I plan to have a more simplistic card: Instagram handle, website, mention relevant topics (art, design, zines as opposed to throwing technologist in there too), maybe even a QR code. The call-to-action should be clearer, not overwhelming.

I print my business cards with Moo because I think they are soooooo nice to the touch. And with Moo (and many other business card printers!) you can have separate back images–so I like to have some "art" on the back of each card and in the past have had a few different designs that I shuffle together! (Definitely going to revisit this next time around.)

What works best for you when it comes to business cards?

That's all I've got for now! If you're on the fence about tabling, do it. If you think you don't have enough, def do it. If you think you have too much, absolutely do it. Tabling at zine fests is something I love so much and I think that most anyone who is into art, zines, and/or design will be all about it and have an enjoyable time.

At some point I'll make a post about something I can't wait to bring to my next zine fest: My 1989 Macintosh SE/30, an early black and white all-in-one computer from Apple, that runs a small "program" (a HyperCard stack for my nerds) with a database of all my zines. I can't wait to bring my love for retro tech to a zine fest and have people be able to interact with this computer!

Until next time, I love you! Mean it!