Factsheet 5 Returns

Factsheet 5, the legendary magazine that tracked and catalogued the world of zines in the 80’s & 90’s, is returning after an 8 year hiatus. According to their new website they will start publishing the magazine again this summer. In addition to covering independent print, audio and video, the new version of Factsheet 5 will now include online media such as websites and blogs.

Factsheet 5 has been keeping the world up to date on the zine and independent publishing community since the 1980s. Started back in a small town in New York State during the 1980s, it moved to San Francisco in the 1990s and established itself as the definitive guide to the zine revolution. Factsheet 5 halted publication in 1998 and a great resource for independent publishing was gone. However, Factsheet 5 plans to begin publishing again in 2006.

Factsheet 5 editor R. Seth Friedman was one of the people I helped get to come speak at Webzine ’99. In 2005 he came out with Factsheet Five Zine Reader, which was the last we heard from Factsheet 5, until now.

For more on the history of Factsheet 5, see their Wikipedia entry.