In a message dated 3/26/01 5:30:46 PM Eastern Standard Time, tavia@btinternet.com writes:
<< All the zine editors I know of have some pretty carefully worded warning text at the front of their zines and on all their promotional material which uses the word 'homosexual' rather than 'slash'. I guess it is incumbent upon the editors of mixed zines to be particularly careful -- not that there are that many of us around. (Are there any others? asks she, glancing round...) >>
Mysti Frank has published what you'd probably consider "mixed" zines. I remember she had some problems with a Blakes 7 issue years back with someone who wanted her to photocopy out only the non-adult parts of the zine for them and Mysti took exception to the request. Of course, back then, it wasn't as easy to photocopy things *and* we had to run off zines in 200-300 copies at a time just to get a decent print price. So, anyone cutting in to your potential sales could be potential cause for alarm.
I considered publishing some "mixed" issues of my own zines, mostly from urgings of people like Jane Carnall who objected to non-explicit stories being relegated to adult zines simply because they featured homosexual relationships. I happen to agree with her that it wasn't fair. But I also had to look at how such a move would affect my sales. I was still operating, at that time, under the rule of having to print a minimum print run of 200 zines. If I mixed *gasp* slash stories in with the gen, even if they were non-explicit, I ran the risk of missed sales. Not that the slash zines didn't/don't sell well on their own. The reality is, though, that there are some fans who read gen, some who read slash and some who read both. Those who prefer only slash and those who prefer only gen don't tend to *want* the zines mixed.
Annie