Shoestring Press
| Zine Publisher | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Shoestring Press |
| Contact: | Katharine Scarritt & Mary Lowe |
| Type: | fanfic and non-fan commercial printing |
| Fandoms: | |
| Status: | defunct |
| Other: | |
| URL: | |
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Shoestring Press was a commercial printer in Alief, TX (a suburb of Houston) owned and operated by zine editors Katharine Scarritt and Mary Lowe. They purchased the press in 1981 and were in business into the early 1990's. At the time, offset printing was the only affordable way to produce a zine. Their business plan was to print fanzines along with traditional commercial printing jobs. For zine publishing this was an empowering development. A fan project could be in fan hands from start to finish.
Publishers who used Shoestring Press include Whine Press (From a Certain Point of View, the Star Wars zine) and Unrepressed Press (for all but the first issue of Out of Bounds).
Mary and Katharine also printed zines they published including Obsession and Only Trek.
Working with Shoestring Press
When we did the first issue of Out of Bounds we had to use a commercial printer which meant having to have very uncomfortable conversations with prospective printers. We had to let him know that penises would be involved and that those penises were connected to copyrighted characters. In 1981 the term for this was copyright infringing pornography. It was such a relief not to have to explain anything when Shoestring Press took over our printing.Lezlie Shell, co-editor of Out of Bounds
Zines Printed
- Black Star, 1983, Star Trek: TOS
- From a Certain Point of View, 1985-1990, Star Wars
- Out of Bounds series, 1981-1984, K/S
- Trace Elements, 1982, Starsky/Hutch
- To Invite the Night, 1984, Star Trek: TOS
- Obsession series, 1981-1984, Star Trek: TOS
- Only Trek series, 1982-1985, Star Trek: TOS