I did have the mental capacity to record a full video, so instead enjoy this video of me reading the one zine that I sold out of.

The reason I don’t have the mental capacity to record a full video is because after several years of helping organize the St. Louis Independent Comics Expo in a variety of hats, I discovered the aznzinefest on social media and thought to myself “my buddy Josh lives out in Portland. This seems like a reasonably excuse to visit. I’ll apply to table and if I get in, great, I vend. And if I don’t, great, I’ll be a customer.” I applied for a ½ table, and received a 1/3 table, which honestly worked for me conceptually (1/3 of a 6 foot table is not actually a lot of room, so I ended up using my chair as a print stand).

The big takeaways:

1) Zining is alive and well, and I’m glad to have been part of this first. Which honestly based on attendence alone, would not have guessed it was its inagurual year. There were 100 some vendors in Fubonn and the place was packed from 12-5 easily. Plus, I got to make lots of cool zine trades which I probably want to lean into more if I ever do an event like this again.

2) I really can not stress how little a 1/3 of a table is, however I probably didn’t have to bring all 30 zines I made in 30 days, but I did make a whole tier list already and I just learned how to riso print, so I had to take some of those with me.

3) By the actual definition of profit, it was impossible for me to turn a profit considering I bought a printer, a scanner (which I probably should have bought a combination printer and scanner, but I didn’t), and a plane ticket, but I did leave with cash in hand and in Venmo and I did meet several good people.

4) I’m good at this? Maybe not like great at this, but I think the most reassuring thing is that several people saw mey work and in turn, saw me. One particular conversation ended up walking back down the memory lane that was a softer world, and got asked about how I came up with specific things in a couple of my poems, and it was fun being a poet again, and not just an abstraction of a writer, and I think I’m not as done with the medium as I thought I was.

5) Tabling’s a lot, but I’m glad I did it and I’d probably do it again if the conditions made sense.

Bonus 6) People really vibed with the “being closer to committing ARSON than is probably healthy.” Sold out of that zine.

And if you’re reading this because you subscribed to my newsletter at aznzinefest, hi! Welcome. Every Tuesday, you’re gonna get a variety of words from me.