San Francisco Zine Publishers Resource Guide This is a document produced under the auspices of the San Francisco Zine Publishers Collective. All the information was compiled from various individuals. It's a group effort and reflects a multitude of experiences. Its intended audience are the small press publishers in the San Francisco/Bay Area. Please take the information with a grain of salt. Many listing contain contradictory information because different people have had different experiences dealing with the various institutions. You are cordially invited to relate any additional information you think should be included on this list. Anonymously given information will not be used but anonymity is assured once the information is compiled. If you feel the information on this list is unfair and inaccurate, please contact me and I'll see if I can straighten things out. This information is correlated for the zine publisher, so it's written from that point of view. People outside the Bay Area may find the information just as valuable as those in the area. Feel free to send me any information that is important to the National zine community. Feel free to reproduce this document at will. No guarantees are given and sharerights are granted. Please don't try to make any money off my work. If you find that this valuable, great. If you can make a few bucks off it, please cut me in. This document costs me lots of time and money. Please be kind and generous. All additions, corrections, comments, complaints, death threats, donations, money, postage, zines, tapes, books, and food recipes should be directed to: R. Seth Friedman Food for Thought Industries 900 Oak Street Suite # 11 San Francisco, CA 94117 RETAIL OUTLETS A DIFFERENT LIGHT, 489 Castro Street, SF, CA Queer, Porn, Music, Tatoos, Rachel Pepper, (415) 431-0891 60/40 consignment. Mostly queer but open to other strong minded works. Heavy traffic and pays fast. Most don't have payment problems but many people with high volume sometimes do. Poetry and lit zines doesn't sell well especially if not high in queer content. Other stores in NY & LA have their own managers and buyers, who prefer to deal directly with publisher. AURICULAR RECORDS, 575 Haight St, SF, CA 94117 Music, Chaos, Weird, Art, Industrial, (415) 626-7635 BOUND TOGETHER, 1369 Haight St, SF, CA Anarchy, Fiction, Poetry, Politics, Queer, Marxism, Feminism, (415) 431-8355 60/40 Consignment. Not much traffic but a good outlet for more political things. Needs a sample copy for consideration at collective meeting. Will then take if no one objects. Payment after 15th of the month, only in person, no checks. Many people shop here for small-press stuff and nowhere else. CITY LIGHTS BOOKS, 261 Columbus Ave, SF, CA Poetry, Fiction, Literature, Chapbooks, Art, Politics, Music, Anything, Suzette Partido (415) 362-8193 Many zines but almost too many. Heavy traffic but mostly for the books. Lots of tourists and late night hours. Strong emphasis on poetry and literature. Mostly consignments with some up front. COMIC RELIEF, 1597 Haight St, SF & 2138 University Ave, Berkeley Comix, Music, Sex, Josh Petrin, zine buyer. Berkeley (510) 843-5002/SF (415) 552-9010 Mostly comics. Only seem to carry macho white-boy sex, not very pro- queer. Berkeley branch has more traffic and only place in Berkeley to sell zines. "One of the best comic stores in the country." DEVIANT BOOKS 473 Haight Street, SF, CA Comix, Fiction, Poetry, Queer, Tatoos, Porn, Anything, Bob Brown, owner, (415) 554-0360 60/40 consignment. Is very enthusiastic but is sometimes short on cash. Always best to talk with Bob. Will take just about anything on consignment. Best if you're have small press run. Some people have been "ripped off" by Bob, especially high volume publishers. Always asks you to come back and only pays in cash for those copies already sold. EPICENTER ZONE COLLECTIVE, 475 Valencia St, 2nd floor, SF, CA 94103 Punk, Queer, Hard Core, Political, Anarchist, Matt Smith, (415) 431-2725 Very enthusiastic about zines but not that much shelf space. Punky xerox looking stuff is OK. Strong emphasis on music but also very interested in anarchy/leftist stuff. Sometimes pays upfront. Has zine library. Good idea to donate a copy of your zine to their library. People to hang out there and read the stuff. Weird hours, 3-8 weekdays, 12-7 weekends. GOOD VIBRATIONS, 1210 Valencia, SF, CA Sex, Lesbian, Queer, Comix, Porn, Fiction, Sexual Politics, Roma Esteveze (415) 550-0827 "Wonderful in every way." Will take lots of different things but must have sexual theme. Usually pays up front. Not much in terms of zines but very enthusiastic about expanding their stock. LEATHER TONGUE VIDEO, 714 Valencia St, SF CA 94110 Video, Media, Weird, Pop, Comix, Queer, Lisa Muncaster (415) 552-2900 New store, opened September 1st, I'm sure they're hungry for new stuff. Lisa is very nice. Similar to the Naked Eye but with more books. MODERN TIMES, 888 Valencia St, SF, CA Political, Marxists, Anarchist, Media, Literature, Poetry, (415) 282-9246 Collectively run bookstore. Big on political stuff. Lots of cool readings in the back space. They tend not to tell you when they're out of stock and need to re-order more zines. NAKED EYE, 533 Haight Street, SF, CA Comix, Queer, Music, Tatoos, Art, Movies, (415) 864-2985 60/40 sometimes up front. Very, very selective. Not that enthusiastic but lots of traffic. Hesitant about taking xeroxed stuff. Many times will pay up front. OLD WIVES TALES BOOKS, 1009 Valencia, SF, CA Political, Feminist, (415) 821-4675 Women's bookstore. They are hesitant about taking sexual stuff. "Too confused to pay." RAINBOW FOODS, 1899 Mission St, SF, CA 94103 Food, Health, Fitness, Spirituality, Sex, Cooking, Kari Bixon & Adam, book buyers (415) 863-0620. Heavy traffic and friendly but very selective. Isn't that enthusiastic about zines but primarily interested in food/health related materials. Sometimes pays cash upfront. SMALL PRESS TRAFFIC, 3599 24th St, SF, CA Poetry, Fiction, Chapbooks, Journals, Criticism, John McNally (415) 285-8394 Almost a graveyard with too many chapbooks. Poetry, poetry, and more poetry. Not many sales but a good place to find some out of print material. A good place to shop but not so good to sell. They say they pay their accounts a couple of times a year - but don't count on it. Being current helps. Takes about 5 copies at a time. Very few copies tend to get sold. Best to deal with them in person. Not very hip. TOWER BOOKS Music, Queer, Fiction, Literature, Anything, Sacramento, Doug Biggert, 2601 Del Monte St, W. Sacra, (916) 373-2561 San Mateo, 2727 El Camino Real, San Mateo CA (914) 941-7300 Very enthusiastic and heavy traffic but sometimes pays very late. Pays sometimes 1 month to 6 months after receipt. Sometimes pays fastest of any distributor, sometimes the slowest. Very pro queer and pro zine. Best to deal with Doug instead of individual stores. Opening up a big new store in Anaheim soon. Send him a sample, if he likes it he'll get back to you. FLATLAND, P.O. Box 2420, Fort Bragg, CA 95437-2420 Anarchy, Theory, Comix, Books, Weird, Literature, Jim Martin (707) 964-8326. Mail order house with great catalog and wide distribution. Very nice person to deal with. ANUBUS WARPUS, 803 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz, CA 95060 Comix, Music, Weird, Drugs, Tatoos, High-tech, Video, Sex, Offensive, (408) 423-3208 60/40 Sometimes pays cash up front. Recently moved from Eugene. Pays up front or very quickly. Very friendly and enthusiastic. Good traffic. Zines have wall space at front of the store. Will take very offensive material. AMOK BOOKS, CA Weird, Tatoos, Movies, Recently moved to a new location. Good display space. Sometimes pays cash up front, sometimes not. Common rumor is that the store is very good but horror stories abound in dealing with mail order side. May be untrustworthy. EVERYDAY BOOKS & CAFE, Main St, Willimantic, CT Anarchist, Marxist, Feminist, Queer, Recovery, Spirituality, (203) 423-3474 FANDOM HOUSE, Denver CO Mostly comics QUIMBYS QUEER STORE, 1320 North Damen, Chicago, IL 60622 Steve Simbursky, (312) 342-0910. Has a very good reputation. Easy to deal with. PRIMAL PLUNGE, Boston MA Anarchist, Art, Weird, Comix, Ann Very confused. Sometimes won't keep her word. DREAMHAVEN, Minneapolis, MN Comix, SciFi, Horror, Film, May be wary of self-published material. Will sometimes take self- published material but in very small quantities. AMAZON BOOKS, Minneapolis, MN Lesbian, Feminist, (612) 338-6560 A BROTHER'S TOUCH, Minneapolis, MN Queer, Sex, (612) 872-1412 New location at college part of town. Sometimes pays up front. MAYDAY BOOKSTORE, 301 Cedar Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55454 Anarchist, Feminist, Labor, Ecology, Queer, Marxist, Socialist, (612) 333-4719 Recently shifted focus from Marxism/socialism to more general political literature. EMMA, 341 Blumington Ave, Minneapolis, MN Anti-Authoritarian, Anarchist, Queer, Politics, Books, Merchandise Committee. Dan (612) 729-5498 Anarchy/punk center. New store, just starting up. Good location. Very diverse group of people. Send your stuff to merchandise committee for review and possible sales. SEE HEAR, 59 East 7th St, NYC, NY 10003 Music, Pop Culture, Movies, TV, Comix, Tatoos, Ted, Very selective with strong emphasis on inde music. If it ain't music you are gonna have a difficult time getting in. Retail wholesale and mail order catalog. SAINT MARK'S BOOKS, Saint Marks Place, NYC, NY 10003 Literature, Fiction, Poetry, Anarchy, Music, 60/40 Consignment. Mostly want literature. Difficult to deal with. Things tend to get buried. Must be at least quarterly. They seem to have a problem with issuing checks or dealing via mail. If you don't have a contact in NYC then it's difficult. GREEN NOISE RECORDS, 388 W. 6th Ave, Eugene, OR 97401 Punk, Music, Comix, Video, Hard Core, (503) 683-1584 FALLOUT, 1506 E. Olive Way, Seattle, WA 98122 Punk, Music, Comix, Books, GATOR FARM, 800 Crooks Ave, Kaukauna, WI 54130 Music, Usually buys upfront. DISTRIBUTORS LAST GASP, 2180 Bryant, SF, CA 94110 Collet, John, Eric (415) 824-6636 Distributes Processed World, Murder can be Fun, good stuff, clean format, high standards, not xerox. Terms: 60/40 one by one, consignment, 90 days, variable terms. Won't tell where your stuff is being sold at locally because they fear that you'll sell directly yourself. Tends not to restock. Very Confused. BLACKLIST, 475 Valencia St, SF, CA 94130 Music, Hard core, Punk, Anarchy (415) 255-0388 80/20 Difficult to deal with, gave cometbus a hard time. Retail mailorder only, catalog. Generally prefers consignment. Can be unprofessional, sends coins in the mail. MORDAM DISTRIBUTION, 181 Shipley St, SF, CA 94142 Hard core, Punk, Alternative music, Political, (415) 243-8230 Umbrella organization that farms out distribution to stores and mail order. Distributes MRR, Alternative Tentacles, Flipside, WW III, Lookout, etc... Very selective, mostly interested in Hard core, Punk, Alternative music related materials. SUBTERRANEAN, P.O. Box 2530, Berkeley, CA 94702 Music, Records, Anti-commercial, Steve (415) 821-5880 Flexible rates 50/50 Likes a clean format, good content, not sloppy works. Mostly record stores retail sales and records. Small mailorder catalog, not majority of business. MULCH RECORDS, P.O. Box 711962, San Diego, CA 92171 Vinyl, Music, (619) 237-9864 Mostly Music but also zines. Mailorder & Wholesale. BY-PRODUCT P.O. Box 680, Goleta, CA 93116 Vinyl, Music (805) 968-0274 Mostly Music but also zines. Mailorder & Wholesale. ARMADILLO, Culver City, CA Distributes PW. Paid reasonably quickly. Low return ratio. Only use him for distribution in the LA area. INLAND BOOK COMPANY, CT Distributes PW. Highly recommended. "Perfect in every way." Only negative is a 45% ratio. MOSH PIT RECORDS, P.O. Box 9545, Colorado Springs, CO 80932-0545 Records, Music, Punk, Hardcore, Movies, (719) 633-5752 908-F North Circle Drive Wholesale and retail in own store. Many mailorder catalogs sent out. TPOS, 12 Mill Plain Rd, Danbury, CT 06811 (203) 792-1630 Mostly mailorder with some wholesale FUCK SHIT UP DISTRIBUTION, P.O Box 3808, Chicago, IL 60654-0808 Anarchist, Radical, Music, Literature, Mailorder SOAPBOX JUNCTION, LTD, P.O. Box 597996, Chicago, IL 60659 Environment, Postcards, Anarchy, Poetry, Film, Peace, Queer, Politics, Mail order catalog listing environmental products, zines, articles, and mail art shows. DAYBREAK, Boston, MA Distributes PW. Pays on time. JACK KNIFE DISTRIBUTION, P.O. Box 871, Wayne, MI 48184 Cassettes, Music, Punk, Hardcore, Contact Chuck Damage GAINSAY MAILORDER DISTRIBUTION, P.O. Box 655, Kalamazoo, MI 49005 Joel (616) 344-5707 DON OLSON, Minneapolis, MN Anarchist Theory, Political, Distributes PW. Soil of Liberty Distribution. Owns a small bookstore. Few returns. Pays reliably. Some people have had awful experiences with him. Has ripped off lots of people. You have been warned. RIFT, P.O. Box 33302, Minneapolis, MN 55433 Fanzines, Music, Comix, No porn, No over 21 stuff, All categories Rich Horton (612) 871-4295 Mailorder and distributes to stores in Minneapolis and other areas. May buy outright. Flexible rates, 50/50. Tries to pay within 30 days. Send him 10 copies on consignment. Fast turnaround. Art gallery space located in suburbs. Nice guy. On top of Minneapolis scene. Trades available. ANARCHIST YOUTH FEDERATION, P.O. Box 8585, Minneapolis, MN 55408 Music, Very Punk, Very Anarchistic, Political, Felix (612) 871-1305 80/20 Mailorder and tables at shows. Way punker then Blacklist. Zines move very slowly. Get's too many zines. Generally take records. Likes to trades zines, 5-10 copies, will send back same amount in credit. The more punker and anarchistic stuff sells better. Original, interesting, beyond typical punk zines. Doesn't take too much. Felix is very helpful. PROFANE EXISTENCE, Box 8722, Minneapolis, MN 55408 Anarchist, Anti-Authoritarian, Music DESERT MOON PERIODICALS, 1031 Agua Fria, Santa Fe, NM 87501 Jeffrey W. Williams or Antonio (505) 984-8446 fax (505) 982-6790 Relatively new Western U.S magazine distributor. 55% - 60% discount off cover price. Returns affidavits for credit. No cover returns as of yet. Willing to reprice magazine to cover their costs. Flexible terms and return policy. Reputed to be very trustworthy and reliable. Send a sample and then call them to see if they like it. Things tend to get lost but are very willing to spend time with you on the phone. INGRAM, NYC Distributes PW. Very corporate but accordingly very efficient. Goes into smaller places with possible library distribution. Like most distributors in NYC, not highly recommended. TRIBAL WAR DISTR, P.O. Box 20012, Tompkins Sq Sta, NY, NY 10009 Records, Music, Punk, Neil (718) 383-6522 Wholesale, shows, and mailorder. Worldwide distribution. PERENNIAL BOOKS, 94A-1 Lake Rd, Valley Cottage, NY 10989 Anarchy, Politics, History, Conspiracy, John Petrovato (914) 268-8212 Small mailorder catalog with strong emphasis on anarchist literature UBIQUITY, NY Distributes PW. Rumored to be very bad to deal with. Tends to be assholes but can get distribution into small places. Stay away. POINT PLANK NOISE DISTRIBUTION, P.O. Box 114, Mt. Orab, OH 45154 Anarchist, Grind, Hard Core, Political, Punk, Mailorder list, wholesale and shows. FINE PRINT, Austin, TX Distributes PW. Used to be a collective. Very cool to deal with. May even pay in advance. May distribute to large chains like Barnes & Noble. Easy to deal with. SMALL CHANGES, Seattle, WA Distributes PW. Very picky about what they take but they're a very good payer. LEFT BANK DISTRIBUTORS, 92 Pike Street, Seattle, WA Hard to work with but have a very good store. MARGINAL DISTRIBUTION, Toronto, Ont Distributes PW. Difficult to collect from but can get distribution into Canada. GROUCHETTA ZINE DISTR, 212-440 Raythburn Rd, Etobicoke, Ont M9C 3S7 Consignment at gigs and stores A DISTRIBUTION, London, England Distributes PW. Affiliated with A distribution in New York. AK DISTRIBUTION, 3 Balmoral Place, Sterling, Scotland FK8 2RD, GB Distributes PW Mostly books, zines don't sell well. Some zines do well. PRINTERS, XEROX & DTP SHOPS ABC PRINTING/COPY-COPIA Eight locations. Very cheap xeroxing. Possibly 3+ a page, single sided. ARABIC BOOK CENTER Valencia St, SF CA Computer/Mac time is only charged per minute. 3 per copy, 100 min. COPY CENTRAL SF CA 1685 Haight St 863-4304. 2336 Market St 431-2499 Relatively disorganized space. Haight street location is very dirty to work in. Does not inspire confidence. Epicenter Mac Services interested in zines and self-publisher. Will consider trading computer time for volunteering Mac services. Copies 8 per up to 100, 6 each over 100. Reduce/enlarge 75 per setting. Macs only, Mac SE $9.00/$10.00 hr, Mac II w/ scanner $20.00 hr. laserprints 30 each. COPYMAT 2370 Market (415) 864-2679 Excellent self-serve reduction/enlargement machines but expensive. 35% reduce - 200% enlarge. 35 reduction/enlargement fee. Binder services, color copies. GRANT PRINTING/PUBLISHING, 809 Sacramento, SF, CA Jerry (415) 826-1100 They have a web offset. Won't do press run smaller then 1,000. Also publishing headquarters for the Independent. HOWARD QUINN 298 Alabama, SF, CA Frighten the Horses, Logo.motive, Don Sanchez/Craig Wald (415) 621-3750 Very helpful and non-intimidating. Minimum 1,000. Very cool on content. Have a nice cold web offset system. Uncoated stock. Books and Tabloids. 5,000 copies of 64 newsprint pages with cover is $1,750.00. KINKOS in San Francisco 555 Buckingham Way (415) 566-0572 1967 Market Street (415) 252-0864 Poppin' Zits! Silicon Womb Good reduction / enlargement, only 6 each. Buckingham Way self-serve machines jam all the time. Lousy self-service machines; their good machines are not self service. Market Street location is great for reduce/enlarge because they don't charge extra. No matter where Seth goes, whether it be New York or San Francisco, there's a Kinkos copy shop and they always fuck up Seth's printing job. Bindery services available. Color available. Both open 24 hours - we recommend having your job run by the graveyard shift people. 6 per copy page single sheet, 1/2 off after 1st 100. Macs $12.00 per hour, no minimum, per minute charge. 50 per laser print. OFFICE DEPOT, 855 Harrison, SF, CA (415) 243-9959 Great prices on xeroxing, probably cheapest in town. Self-service 4 a page. Full serve; 2+ single, 4+ for a double sided page. Very good service but not the best machines in town. Good for short runs. No folder machine available. Paul is very helpful, get there before 10:00 for best service. Check out their prices on envelopes, staplers, rubber stamps, business cards. PC TIME 1875 Mission St, SF CA 94103 (415) 621-3737 Computer rental place with some of the lowest prices in the city. Drawbacks are that the software and equipment are not state of the art. Net necessarily a problem if all you need is a 286 with a laser printer but they're lacking the latest version of some software and a LaserJet III. Prices: 286 w/ laser printer or Mac plus is $8.00 hr, Mac II w/ scanner is $14.00 hr, laserprints 25 per page. PDQ PRINTERS, 3925 Noriega Street, SF, CA 94122 P.O. Box 22486 (415) 731-7771 SPEEDWAY COPY Food for Thought Poppin' Zits! Robert at Front Street is recommended. Service is very good, takes a while for big jobs, very professional, good machines. No self-service except for lousy machines. Offset & lino. 16 locations around town, mostly in financial district. TOP COPY, 1401 Market St & 1429 Market St, SF CA 94103 Mac rentals, 553-8611. Printing 553-3929 One of the most expensive Mac rental places in town but they have some of the best services available. Tons of software, fonts, and leading edge equipment. Good place for output; Varityper 75, QMS color $10.00, 1270 dpi lino $8.50. Don't do xeroxing there, 15 a page, color $2.25. Computer prices: Mac plus/SE is $10.00 hr, Mac II w/ scanner is $20.00 hr, laserprints 45 per page. VALENCIA PRINTING, 1176 Valencia, SF CA 641-9788 VOGUE GRAPHICS, 522 Clement 386-6888. Offset, Xerox, Laser, Bindery A&E PRESS, Concord, CA Big on poetry. ALONZO 1094 San Mateo Ave, South San Francisco 94080 Big Whoop, Vox, Non-profits, Sierra club, Bob Alonzo 873-0522. Fax 952-1438. Customer service 800-870-0522 Cold (non-heatset) offset web offset. 1,000 min flat sheet printing. 3,000 min for web. Only print with recycled paper and soy based vegetable inks. Union shop. Two locations. Complete bindery, Mailing services, DTP available. Fax him the specs for an estimate. BEST PRINTING & COPYING, 1732 University Ave, Berkeley, CA Logo.Motive, Kishwar/Mansour (510) 548-BEST GRAFFAX NETWICKS Clark Netwicks 359-3600/441-0878 GRT BOOK PRINTING, 3960 E 14 St, Oakland CA (510) 534-5032 Book printing, complete bindery, 200-2000 press run. They have a free booklet about book printing. Highly recommended. It's almost a primer on zine publishing. An excellent resource for those just starting out in the confusing world of typesetting, binding, paste-up, and masters. INKWORKS PRINTSHOP, 2827-7th, Berkeley, CA Crossroads, Breakthrough, Annual reports, Lincon, Debora (510) 845-7111 Small press runs. Min of 1,000 pieces. Specialize in newsletters. 4 color work available. Poster printing available. 20 X 28 Max. Sheetfed press, no newsprint. DTP Lino output. LAKEPORT (LAKE COUNTY) PUBLISHING in Blue Lake Lookout, Roy (707) 263-5636 Standard newspaper web press. Min 5,000 press run. 4 color available. Newsprint and elecrobright papers and 50 lb bookstock for covers. Jobs can be hand delivered or UPSed. Will do deliveries but not pleased about it. Prefer for people to pick up job. Press jobs take only 1 or 2 days. Need lead time for scheduling. Beginning of month is better. 5,000 copies of 64 newsprint pages with cover is $1,200 LASERFORM in Redwood City Girljock, DPN, OLYMPIA GRAPHICS, 5601 San Leandro, CA (510) 534-5370 Book printing, complete bindery WHITEHALL in Florida Processed World Very inexpensive for large press runs WALTON in Georgia Factsheet Five #45 Relatively expensive SHAKOPEE VALLEY PRINTING, Minneapolis, MN Profane Existence Dave Reed (612) 445-8260 $1,000 for 6,000 copies newsprint magazine. WORLD PRESS in Albany, NY ELIZA BLACKWEB P.O. Box 3582 Tucson, AZ 85722 Hippycore, Bad Newz, No Longer Silent, Printing, bindery, typesetting that's very anarchist/punk friendly. Low prices, no censoring, send specs for free estimate. If you would like to receive an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) for each of your periodicals, contact: National Serials Data Program Library of Congress Washington, D.C. 20540 U.S.A. telephone (202) 707-6452 (Publishers outside the U.S. should contact their country's national library for more information about ISSN.) In Canada, write to: ISDS Canada National Library of Canada 395 Wellington Street Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N4 If you would like information on copyrighting your periodicals, write to: Copyright Office Library of Congress Washington, D.C. 20559 U.S.A. telephone (202) 479-0700 for information telephone (202) 707-9100 to order forms and booklets (Publishers outside the U.S. should also contact their country's copyright office for information on local copyright laws.) In Canada, contact your local office of the federal Department of Consumer and Corporate Affairs, or write to: Copyright Office Consumer and Corporate Affairs Canada Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0C9 * list compiled by Nigel Allen