"The evolution from fanzine to zine was not a simple one-step process however. For once outside the exclusive domain of fantasy/science-fiction fandom, fanzines became imbued with the spirit of other independent publishing ventures such as the underground press of the 1960s, mail art magazines, and Amateur Press Associations (APAs—which also played a large part in fantasy/science-fiction fandom). Consequently, the fanzines produced outside of fantasy/science-fiction fandom became much less fan publications, and much more of a mongrel breed of publication all their own."The term "zine" was finally adopted because, although these idiosyncratic publications resembled fanzines, the traditional definition of fanzine did not seem to apply. What is John Marr, publisher of Murder Can Be Fun, a fan of anyway? Murder? Crime? Death? One can certainly have an active interest in those subjects, but could one be truthfully described as a fan of those subjects? Probably not, and the evolution from fanzine to zine saw the elimination of the fan."The shift from fanzine to zine also dismissed the hierarchy of producer and consumer that lies implicit in the fanzine's very name. There was no longer a quiet differentiation between fanzines and prozines. It's difficult to imagine Jim and Debbie Goad of ANSWER Me! or Jeff Koyen of Crank doing their zines for apprentice work and merely aspiring to someday break into commercial publishing as was the case with so many of the writers of the early fantasy/science-fiction fanzines."Even the zines especially devoted to a certain interest are much less reverent to their subject. The zine Maximumrocknroll can serve as a mere catalog of this month's latest punk rock releases, but it primarily serves as a discussion forum for all aspects of "punk." Indeed, many issues devote considerable column inches to what being a "punk" means in society, coming closer to being a symposium rather than a shopping mall. The readers and writers of these zines view themselves more as an egalitarian community rather than a community which contains a hierarchy of producers and consumers, with many of the consumers aspiring to get to the top end of the hierarchy and become producers themselves."However, the term "fanzine" is still used in fantasy/science-fiction fandom, and some members of that community regard the current generation of zines as nothing more than upstarts which will fade away soon, returning the term "fanzine" to its original uncorrupted meaning of denoting fantasy/science-fiction fan publications. In his article, "Zines (or, Fear and Loathing in the World of Amateur Press)," Peter Maranci writes:- "I might also interject here that the entire zine 'revolution' of the last few years is somehow mildly amusing to those in the science-fiction and role-playing field. Zines on those subjects have been published for the last 50 years or more. It seems likely that the sex/music/goth/whatever zine fad is just that, a fad; in time, it will go ion between SF/RPG [Science-Fiction/Role-Playing Games] and the new breed of zines."
"Maranci views the zines of today as just extensions of the older fanzines to other areas of interest, and a flip through the pages of many self-produced underground publications would support his claim. This explains why the terms "fanzine" and "zine" are often used interchangeably, although I argue that there is a difference between the two types of publications. The difference is not as wide a gulf as between zines and magazines, but it is considerable."Fanzines, not just those devoted to fantasy/science-fiction literature, but in all areas of interest, are still, paradoxically, products created by consumers. They draw their most significant inspiration from the products of others. The line between fanzine and zine blurs at times because they are so closely related, and many self-published periodicals such as Maximumrocknroll are mixtures of both. The telling difference between the two types of publications is that ultimately fanzines rest upon a hierarchy of producer and consumer that zines transcend. The best zines, whatever their subject, do not inhabit a ready-made world; they create one unto themselves."Other Ancestors
"Ironically, although zines can be seen physically to descend from fanzines, in spirit they also hearken back to other, older self-publishing ventures of independent spirit and vitality such as American broadsides from Revolutionary days, Russian Samizdat material, Dada and other avant garde art and social movements' magazines and manifestoes, and beat poetry chapbooks."Although it's fairly certain that most zine publishers were readers of fanzines or other zines before they started their own zines, it's uncertain how familiar, except by hearsay, most zine publishers are with these older publications. Nevertheless, many zine publishers have claimed affinity with these older publications, and apparently, like a whisper down the corridors of history, these works, just by the fact that they once existed, serve as both inspiration and influence to many of today's zines."http://www.zinebook.com/resource/wright1.html
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