🚀 Why Your Zine Feels Boring

Last week, I asked everyone on Instagram what they wanted to know for my newsletter, and I got tons of questions about making zines. These questions are super helpful because they spark ideas I wouldn’t have thought of on my own. So, big thanks to everyone who sent them in!

Starting from this issue, I’m launching a series called "ZINE MAKING 101," where I’ll regularly dive into different aspects of zine-making. And for the first installment, I’m talking about picking the right theme for your zine.

By the way, in this newsletter "Love the Indies," I'll be sharing not just zine-making tips, but also thoughts on photography, creative ideas, and even some insights on creativity and money—stuff I think everyone’s curious about. It’s not just for photographers; I’m sure it’ll be helpful for all kinds of creators.

Table of Contents

• 📝 404 Zine Update: Proof Copy Has Arrived

• 🚀 Why Your Zine Feels Boring – How to Find the Ri …

• 🍿 Don’t Think of Your Zine as Just Another Book o …

• 💐 1 Zine = 1 Theme. Don’t Cram Everything Into On …

• 🍄 You Can Feel the Craftsmanship in Interesting Z …

• 🥑 The Key Points to Focus On Come from a Clear Co …

• 📀 Zines Are Like Demo Tapes. They Don’t Have to B …

• 🕺 See You Again Next Tuesday

📝 404 Zine Update: Proof Copy Has Arrived

To everyone who pre-ordered, thank you so much! The proof copy of my latest zine, “404 not found Issue 02,” just arrived. This issue is all about night scenes shot in Tokyo and Taipei.

The cover, which I designed with a halftone process, turned out super cool. There are a few tweaks I need to make to some of the pages, but I’m working on the final version now. If all goes well, I’ll be debuting it at an art event in Shimokitazawa, Tokyo, on the 31st.

Pre-orders are still open, so if you’re interested, go ahead and order yours. Your support really helps me keep going with my photography.

🚀 Why Your Zine Feels Boring – How to Find the Right Theme

I love making zines and collecting them, too. I’ve showcased my zines at several events, and whenever I travel—whether it's to New York or Taipei—or even just explore Tokyo, I make it a point to visit bookstores that carry zines and pick up a few.
Man, I really want to go back to Dashwood Books in New York.

After flipping through countless zines, I’ve started to notice what makes a zine stand out as unique and collectible, and what makes it, well, not so much.

🍿 Don’t Think of Your Zine as Just Another Book on the Shelf

First off, let’s get this straight—zines aren’t “books.” Everyone has their own definition, but I see zines as “indie publications that don’t follow the usual book distribution channels.”

Books, on the other hand, are created with traditional distribution in mind. That’s why the cover and spine usually include the title and other info to help sell the book in a store. Plus, the theme is often chosen to appeal to a broad audience and drive sales.

But with zines, you can totally ignore those “book” rules. You don’t even need a title on the cover, and the theme doesn’t have to be something that appeals to a lot of people.

What really matters is whether you’re passionate about the theme. No matter how niche it is, a zine on a topic you’re passionate about is going to be interesting. Even if it’s a theme where people might think, “Who on earth would buy this?”—that’s the kind of weird, out-there topic that can make a zine popular.

I’ve got a photographer friend named Nitta Masanori, who I met through zine events. He turned his travel blog into a zine and sold it. He talked about why people buy the zine when they could just read the blog for free, and here’s what he said:

“Even though they could find the same content online for free, people still choose to buy the zine. This suggests that the value lies not in whether the content is paid or free.
It’s likely the feeling of 'If I don’t get it now, I might never have the chance again' that adds to the zine’s value.”

Because zines aren’t in regular book distribution, even the most niche themes can make people feel like, “If I don’t grab this now, I might never come across it again,” and that’s what makes them want to buy.

So, don’t create something that feels familiar.

Instead of thinking, “No one’s going to read this,” think, “No one’s ever seen anything like this!” Go for something super niche, wild, and maybe even a little weird. That’s what a zine is.

💐 1 Zine = 1 Theme. Don’t Cram Everything Into One Issue

When you’re making a photo zine, you probably want to include all the shots you’re proud of, the ones you really want to show off. But as I mentioned above, if you just compile all your favorite photos, it’s hard to stick to a focused theme. 

For example, if you live outside Japan and want to make a zine of photos you took in Tokyo, simply gathering all your favorite Tokyo shots might turn it into just a travel album.

The zine I made with my friend Alex, “On the Same Boat,” has “smokers” as its theme. If you’ve bought it, you know that every single page is filled with photos of people smoking.
Similarly, the zine I bought, Lawrence Schwartzwald’s “The Art of Reading,” is made up entirely of photos of people reading. (By the way, I just checked, and this zine has been published as a hardcover book now—zine dream come true, how awesome is that?)

So, if you’re making a photo zine, focusing on just one scene or subject can be a great idea. My latest, “404 Zine Issue 02,” is all about nightlife—it’s packed with hardcore scenes from Tokyo and Taipei.

So, if you’re planning to turn your travel photos into a zine, it’s a good idea to decide on a theme before your trip. That way, your travel photos will have more depth.
And if you have photos that don’t quite fit the theme but you really want to use them, just make another zine with a different theme. Stick to 1 zine = 1 theme.

🍄 You Can Feel the Craftsmanship in Interesting Zines

There’s a zine made by one of Japan’s most famous photographers, Nobuyoshi Araki, back in 1970, before he even debuted as a photographer. (They didn’t call it a zine back then, but that’s exactly what it was.)

The title was “荒木経惟写真帖(Araki Nobuyoshi Photobook),” also known as the “Xeroxed Photo Albums.”
The concept was “Photography is duplication,” so he and his colleagues, including Yoko (who would later become his wife), used the Xerox machine at their office to print the photos, and since it was 1970, they made only 70 copies each.

They even did all the bookbinding themselves, making this series a true testament to craftsmanship. These handmade books are something you’d never find in a bookstore, and that’s what makes zines so fascinating. 

But I’m not saying you need to make everything by hand without using a printing company. What matters most is putting your passion and dedication into the theme, page layout, and cover design. That’s the key point.

For my “404 zine,” I printed all the images myself in my darkroom, then scanned the prints to compile them into the zine.
Anyone who’s familiar with the darkroom process knows it takes a lot of time to perfect a single print. It took me nearly a month just to finish printing, but that’s how much passion I’ve poured into this zine. I hope that when people see it, they can feel some of that passion.

🥑 The Key Points to Focus On Come from a Clear Concept

So, how do you decide on a theme for your zine? Let me start by explaining the concept behind my zine, “404 not found.”

“404 not found” refers to the internet error that shows up when a webpage’s URL doesn’t exist or has been deleted. In the real world, too, things that seemed ordinary—like a legendary club closing down or a cultural shift that changes a scene forever—eventually disappear.

And the moments that move us don’t exist online; they happen in the real world. That’s why I chose “404 not found” as the concept for this zine.

For Issue 02, I wanted to focus on nightlife scenes that you can’t see anymore, or that you’ll probably never come across again. By capturing these “404 not found” moments in archival darkroom prints, I aimed to solidify the concept through the contrasting act of preserving something that’s gone.

As you can see, themes are born from concepts, so if you’re struggling to choose a theme for your zine, you need to start by deciding on a concept.

But your concept doesn’t have to be super profound. The zine “On the Same Boat” that I made with Alex started with a simple conversation: “People who gather at smoking areas, even though they don’t know each other, seem like they’re on the same boat.”

If you’re a photographer, just think about what kind of photos you take, why you take them, and what you want people to feel when they see them. By putting these thoughts into words, you’ll start to see key ideas that can become your concept. Once you have a concept, theme ideas for your zine will naturally come to mind.

From those ideas, choose the one you’re most passionate about or the one that interests you the most, and that zine will become something only you can create.
The more niche it is, the better. Even if nobody else is into it, as long as you can say, “I love this!” that’s what matters. Follow your passion when making your zine.

It’s when people feel that passion that they want to keep your zine in their collection. And zines are all about finding those who share your love for what you do.

📀 Zines Are Like Demo Tapes. They Don’t Have to Be Polished.

I think of zines as being like demo tapes. Even Eminem handed out demo tapes at events, and one of them ended up in Dr. Dre’s hands, who thought, “This guy is amazing!”

If Eminem had tried to create a perfect recording from the start, he might have fallen into a bad cycle—saving up money to book a studio, stressing over finding a reliable sound engineer, and then ending up with something mediocre, only to start the process all over again.

But instead, he just recorded on a cassette tape with a boombox and got his name out there. In the same way, zines are a tool to get your creative work known by as many people as possible.

So, you don’t have to aim for perfection like you would with a book. As I mentioned earlier, zines aren’t meant to be traditional books anyway.

Even Araki’s zine was made with a copier, right? If you have a printer at home, you can print your pages and bind them yourself.

What matters most is getting started and making something. Especially if you’re not sure about your concept, why not create a zine just for yourself?Sometimes, instead of overthinking, just getting hands-on can spark new ideas.

🕺 See You Again Next Tuesday

That’s all for this week’s newsletter.

I have so many zines from my collection that I want to recommend to you, but I couldn’t fit them all in this time. ZINE MAKING 101 will continue, so I’ll keep sharing zines that can inspire your own zine-making.

I’m still deciding whether next week’s newsletter will focus on more zine topics or something I’m currently working on, so stay tuned.

By the way, this newsletter is shareable. If you’re on X (Twitter) or Facebook, please share it using the social buttons below the title and help spread the word to others who are interested in zine-making.
You’re awesome—thanks a lot!