Once you've created an e-zine, how do you get the word out? This guide offers some strategies to let the world of readers know about your work. Also, check out these eight great tips from Christopher Pirillo, editor of the e-zine Lockergnome and author of the book Poor Richard's E-mail Publishing.

Announce the contents of your new issue on alt.zines. If it's an ASCII text zine, you can also post it on alt.ezines or alt.etext. If it's a binary, or executable file, post on alt.binaries.zines. Finally, announce new Webzines on comp.infosystems.www.announce (first visit the group's charter at http://boutell.com/~grant/charter.html) and Net Announce at http://www.erspros.com/cgi-bin/neta/na-artweb.pl.

Make Sure You're Listed

John Labovitz's e-zine-list
Main: http://www.meer.net/~johnl/e-zine-list
Submit: http://www.meer.net/~johnl/e-zine-list/submit.html

Yahoo!: Magazines
Main: http://www.yahoo.com/News/Magazines
Submit: http://www.yahoo.com/docs/info/include.html

DIY Search
Main: http://www.diysearch.com
Submit: http://www.diysearch.com/addurl.cfm

EZ Connect
Main: http://www.ezconnect.com
Submit: http://www.ezconnect.com/submit.htm

Flying Inkpot's Zine Scene
Main: http://inkpot.com/zines
Submit: http://inkpot.com/submit

Nerdworld
Main: http://www.nerdworld.com/users/dstein/nw30.html
Submit: http://search.nerdworld.com/nwadd.html

New Journal Digest
Main: http://gort.ucsd.edu/newjour
Submit: http://gort.ucsd.edu/newjour/submit.html

Ultimate Zine List (print and online)
Main: http://www.sleazefest.com/sleaze/AddressBook/new/zines.html
Submit: http://www.sleazefest.com/sleaze/forms/newzine.html

Virtual Libraries: E-Journals
Main: http://www.edoc.com/ejournal
Submit: http://www.edoc.com/jrl-bin/wilma

Wraithspace Zines and Things!
Main: http://www.wraithspace.com/zines.html
Submit: http://www.wraithspace.com/feedback.html

'ZineW0rld
Main: http://www.oblivion.net/zineworld
Submit: http://www.oblivion.net/zineworld/faq.html

Directory of Electronic Journals and Newsletters
Main: http://arl.cni.org/scomm/edir
Submit: http://arl.cni.org/scomm/template.html

Best E-Zines @ InfoTrek
Main: http://infotrek.simplenet.com/zines.html
Submit: send e-mail to http://infotrek.simplenet.com/yellowpages.hts?getentry

Handilinks: Magazines
Main: http://www.ahandyguide.com
Submit: http://www.ahandyguide.com/addedit.htm

Linkfinder: E-Zines
Main: http://www.linkfinder.com/e-zines.html
Submit: http://www.linkfinder.com/submit.html

The Dive: Magazines
Main: http://www.streetside.com/pat/html/wrate/index.html
Submit: http://www.streetside.com/pat/html/DIVE/add.html

E-Mail Zines Only

Todd Kuipers' E-Mail Zine List
Main: http://propagandist.com/tkemzl
Submit: http://propagandist.com/tkemzl/howto.htm

E3: Email Ezine Emporium
Main: http://www.apex.net/users/jyoung/e3
Submit: http://www.apex.net/users/jyoung/e3/addzine.htm

Weekly Bookmark: E-Zines
Main: http://www.weeklyb.com
Submit: No longer accepting listings. (Archives available)

Specialty E-Zines Only

The Electric Pen (literary e-zines)
Main: http://www.execpc.com/~catrina/pen/ezine.html
Submit: http://catrina.cgi.execpc.com/links.html

Fanfic Resources (fan fiction) (currently offline)
Main: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bentley/fanfic/fanz/fanz.html
Submit: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bentley/fanfic/info/guidelines.html

Fandom Net (fan zines)
Main: http://www.fandom.net/Genres
Submit: send e-mail to webmaster@fandom.net

Kathode Ray: Zines (indie music)
Main: http://www.kathoderay.org/music/zines.html
Submit: http://www.kathoderay.org/music/add.html

Monosyllabic Zines (one-word titles)
Main: http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~meburns/UNK/zine.html
Submit: send e-mail to burns.cii@mail.utexas.edu

Outer Sound Press Finder (music zine database)
Main: http://www.outersound.com/zine/search.htm
Submit: send e-mail to info@outersound.com

Rock Fetish (music-related)
Main: http://www.rockfetish.com/search
Submit: http://www.rockfetish.com/search/searchzine

Ska FAQ: Zines
Main: http://twillis.com/ska/faq/Zines.html
Submit: send e-mail to skafaq@twillis.com

Ultimate Band List: E-Zines (music) (currently offline)
Main: http://www.ubl.com
Submit: http://www.ubl.com/cgi/add.cgi?type=magazine&do=add

World Wide Punk: Zines
Main: http://www.worldchat.com/vic/wwp/zines.html
Submit: http://www.worldchat.com/vic/wwp/addlink.html

General Databases

Search Engines

You should submit the URL of your Webzine to as many search engines as you can. Before you do, add META tags to at least your main page, as some search engines use those to index your site (see Virtual Promote at http://www.virtualpromote.com for more information on META tags). For a primer on the various search engines and how they index sites, visit Search Engine Watch at http://searchenginewatch.com

To tackle many search engines at once, try a service such as Submit It! at http://www.submit-it.com. You fill out one form and then it provides links to each search engine. This can save a lot of time, although it's not bug-proof. Before you begin, prepare an enticing 25-word, 50-word and 100-word description of your site. For more tips, check out the tutorial at http://www.virtualpromote.com/promotea.html

Awards

Most awards on the Web are bogus, but they do provide another way to get links back to your site. For an overview of other Web site awards, visit VirtualPromote at http://www.virtualpromote.com/hotsites.html or Award-It! at http://www.award-it.com. If you'd rather not go to all the trouble, you can also pick up some nice awards at The Corporation at http://www.thecorporation.com/icon/icon.html.

Getting Return Visitors

Some zine editors include a sign-up form on their page where visitors can leave their e-mail addresses. This allows the editor to compile a mailing list of people who are interested in the content of the zine, and he or she can send notice when the Webzine has been updated. However, sending your ASCII text zine unsolicited via e-mail to a whole bunch of people is a bad idea. You can join a service that will automatically notify visitors who sign up when you update your page. There's more information at URL-Minder at http://www.netmind.com/html/url-minder.html.

Sharing the Wealth

Some e-zines carry advertisements, usually in the form of banner exchanges. You can arrange local banner exchanges with like-minded zine editors, or join a service such as LinkExchange. Usually for every banner ad you display for another site, you get 1/2 credit with the service. Each credit means your banner ad is displayed on another site. The services offering banner ad exchanges are getting more sophisticated with targeting where your ads are placed. For more information, see Web Site Banner Advertising at http://www.markwelch.com/bannerad/

You might also consider joining a Web Ring. For more information, visit the Webring home page at http://www.webring.org.

More Guidance

Other helpful sites

VirtualPromote (http://www.virtualpromote.com)
This is an excellent, free site and newsletter that includes tips on promoting your e-zine on the Web and also discusses new search engines and directories. The main site includes a guide to 500 index sites and also advice about how to get the word out, including submitting to search engines for maximum effect and which Web awards to shoot for.

Places to Send Your Print Zine

Factsheet Five (http://www.factsheet5.com/sendzine.html)

Small Press Review Zines
(http://www.cyberspc.mb.ca/~mosfog/breview.htm)

[ED. NOTE: We updated all links as of Apr 8, 1998. Check out these places too.]

Links to 'Zine Sites
Main: http://www.mgal.com/links/zines.html
Submit: kaye@mgal.com