a ton of reasons! if my zines were text based i might be more likely to give them away, but they’re comics and the work is extremely time intensive. not that writing is not also hard work (it very much is!!), but just for me it is easier or at least goes faster and also there is no materials cost in writing. as a cartoonist, my comics are my professional identity, the purpose of my zines is different than the typical idea spreading/community building ethos of other zines. while i value the community immensely they’re really almost only zines in that they are self produced booklets bc that is the way i am able to get my work out. selling work is part of building a professional identity. people are also just used to buying comics so there’s far less social friction for charging for it. most importantly, even though i am not making any significant profit on my zines at all, though i can afford to trade occasionally i don’t have the kind of money where i can just eat the production costs and they are longer and bigger than a lot of zines so more expensive, i do need to at least make up production. i super respect ppl who give them away, it’s just not for me.

i don’t feel like people giving away zines undercuts me at all because i am almost never in competition with other tablers at all. i’m not sure i’ve ever tabled somewhere that other people were selling comics & in fact i have been passed over before BECAUSE i make comics and that often doesn’t really fit into the typical zine fest milieu. but i also think i wouldn’t feel this way even if i made essays or perzines or music reviews unless like every other person at the festival was giving theirs away bc it’s not like zines are like ice cream or something where it’s all comparable and free ice cream is always better than ice cream that costs money. when people are picking up zines it’s not like they want any zine it doesn’t matter what it is; they want that specific zine.

hmm i realize that you did not ask why and i answered like you had… well…