Welcome to the Mythical Type newsletter, where I share projects I’m working on, things I’ve been reading, and sources of inspiration.
A new zine! A new shop! And some links to share.
My new zine: How to Deal with Small Talk
I’m super excited to announce that I have a new zine out! “How to Deal with Small Talk” is a collection of tips for how to handle small talk conversations.
Maybe you’re like me and small talk drags you down. And maybe, like me, you have to put up with it anyway. Hopefully this zine can help.
This is printed in full color. I made the background pages using blue, purple, and red inks. Some pages have digital illustrations. All the text is typed.
It might be difficult to tell from the photos, but I tried a new page size for this zine, and I like it! A 12-page zine, printed double-sided on one 8.5x11-inch sheet of paper. The finished zine is about 3.5 inches high x 4 inches wide and bound with staples. And these dreamy cotton candy colors are on every page.
Glorious.
New shop on Big Cartel
I launched a shop on Big Cartel to list some of my zines. My Etsy shop is staying as is, but I wanted to have an alternative (especially if Etsy gets worse…). You might notice a couple differences between my Etsy and Big Cartel shops if you browse both of them.
Big Cartel is shipping to the U.S. and Canada only, at least for now. That’s for simplicity’s sake. If you want to ship somewhere outside the U.S. or Canada, please use Etsy or message me. I’m also happy to trade zines internationally.
Free shipping in the U.S. on Etsy. Paid shipping in the U.S. on Big Cartel. Well, at least it looks like that on the storefronts. I factor in shipping costs on Etsy and then mark the product as free shipping, because that’s what Etsy encourages sellers to do. On Big Cartel, I have shipping as a separate cost.
But from a customer standpoint, you’ll pay the same price for the same product on Etsy and Big Cartel. For example, a zine that is $4.60 and free shipping on Etsy vs. a zine that is $4.00 + 60 cents shipping on Big Cartel.On Big Cartel, I set up shipping so that you can choose between untracked shipping (regular letter mail) and tracked shipping for U.S. and Canada.
On Etsy, for U.S. purchases, I do untracked for orders under $10 and tracked for orders $10 and over. Outside the U.S., most of my listings will calculate tracked shipping.
For “How to Deal with Small Talk” on Etsy, I made a new shipping profile to experiment. You should have options for:free shipping in the U.S.
untracked shipping everywhere else (you pay postage)
adding tracking to your order (for U.S. and everywhere else)
If you’re shipping outside the U.S. and run into anything wonky on Etsy or Big Cartel, please message me.
Zine Lunch on November 4
My zine workshop is this Friday! It’s free, virtual (over Zoom), and open to everyone. There’s still time to sign up.
We’ll generate ideas from a couple prompts and then spend time making a zine. I hope you can join me!
If you enjoy this newsletter and know someone else who might enjoy it, too, please share it!
Collage contribution
I made this collage for the Philly Zine Fest Anthology zine. I’m really happy with how it came out! You can read more about how I made it on my blog.
Links to check out
Organizing your time - Read this if you like seeing how people organize their work.
Morning pages - A writing practice to write 3 pages a day, every day, about anything. My brain isn’t very useful in the morning, so I like writing mine at night. And I’m out of practice, so I’m working on that.
SNL cue cards (via Robin Sloan) - A video about how SNL makes cue cards. It’s all by hand, still!
The Importance of Launching - Some people never execute their ideas. If you work on a side project (regardless of how “good” it is or if it makes money), that’s great!
Blackout poetry maker (via Ian Broome) - A digital way to make blackout poetry. Cool cool cool.
Draft Mode Bookmarks (via Ian Broome) - A directory of free resources for writers.
Pixabay Music - I know Pixabay for royalty-free photos. There’s also music! I found out by accident a couple weeks ago when I needed some instrumental music to add to a video for work.
Thank you for reading!
If you have any feedback on this issue, please let me know in the comments. And if you aren’t subscribed, you can sign up below:
If you want to see more from me, you can follow me on Instagram, check out my blog, or browse my zines on Etsy or Big Cartel.
Until next time!