The sixth issue of theLogBook ‘Zine represented a gigantic miscalculation on my part, which was based on a miscalculation (or just plain misinformation) from the local Kinko’s. This was the first of two issues of the ‘zine to sport a full-color cover – the premiere of a new Star Trek spinoff seemed like a good enough reason.
There were numerous problems, however. Color printing was in its infancy in the desktop publishing arena; there was a spectacular misjudgement between “what looked bright enough on the screen” and “what looked good on paper.” The cover was hideously dark – it was a total waste of the outlay needed for color printing. Worse yet, the staff at the local Kinko’s was quite adamant that the master copy of the color cover couldn’t be copied: each copy would have to be individually printed. The difference in cost? Something like a dollar. When I was printing 50-75 copies of each issue and handing them out for free at local comic shops, this was a budget-buster. And I don’t believe for a second that it was an impossible-to-copy cover. The duplicates would’ve been just as ugly as the original, but they would’ve been much cheaper. A complaint call to the manager was unproductive; I wasn’t a business customer with a business account. I was an individual who came in only occasionally. I didn’t matter enough for the management or their staff to keep me happy.
This led directly to the bright red add-on page at the back of the issue, announcing that future issues would be available by subscription only and not handed out for free. The initial response to this was a small but loyal base of subscribers, though in retrospect I should’ve seen that it was the signpost of the sort of problems that would bring theLogBook ‘Zine to an end before January of 1996.