Invicta Distro

Updates

2010-07-14T02:22:00.000+01:00

Last update: 2010/07/14

Check the latest update at the Facebook page!

Updates

2010-06-08T16:44:00.002+01:00

Last update: 2010/06/08

A small and quick update on Catalog news, just to let you know what's been happening...

Zines
The catalog is quite well packed by now, even though there are a couple more zine titles that hopefully will arrive within this month or so. This week sees the arrival of the four issues of the Stick mini-zines from Quebec in Canada!

Catalog Updates

Zines in stock: check previous posts for the titles.

Zines coming soon: "I Knew a Motherfucker Like You and She Said..." #1 & #2; some issues of Little Grrrl Lost and Found zine; Subtext #7; Peter Singer's The Animal Liberation Movement: Its Philosophy, its Achievements, and its Future; Emma Goldman's Anarchism: What it Really Stands For and A New Declaration of. Independence.

Zines for consideration: Even though there are quite a few zines in the catalog by now, I'll be accepting zines for distro consideration, until further notice!

If you don't have your zine in any distros yet, or even if you are in some distros, why not try your chance at Invicta Distro? So don't be shy and send me your zine for consideration! Check out the Submission Guidelines, and also the Zine Topics page if you have some time. Thank you :)

Updates

2010-05-06T22:45:00.005+01:00

Last update: 2010/05/06

Zines
Good mail day today! The latest issues of Brainscan zine (#19, #20, #21, #22, #23, #24 + 25), plus the Stolen Sharpie Revolution 2 book, and some cool pin-buttons from Alex Wrekk, going straight to the catalog.

Catalog Updates

Zines in stock: check a previous post for the titles.

Zines coming soon: Stick #1, Stick #2, Stick #3, Stick #4; "I Knew a Motherfucker Like You and She Said..." #1 & #2, some issues of Little Grrrl Lost and Found zine. Check a previous post for other zines.

Zines for consideration: Driving Blind #4 - while I ordered Erin H's zine out of personal curiosity, I was also thinking that it might be an interesting zine to have in the catalog. Also, out of curiosity & distro "research", I got a couple of UK zines, Rough Draft #1 and Yes Darling, But Is It Art? #2.

Even though there are quite a few zines in the catalog by now, I'll be accepting zines for distro consideration, until further notice!
If you don't have your zine in any distros yet, or even if you are in some distros, why not try your chance at Invicta Distro? So don't be shy and send me your zine for consideration! Check out the Submission Guidelines, and also the Zine Topics page if you have some time. Thank you :)

Updates

2010-05-03T22:41:00.001+01:00

Last update: 2010/05/03

A small and quick update on Catalog news, just to let you know what's been happening...

Catalog Updates

Zines in stock & Zines coming soon: check the last post for the titles.

Zines received for consideration: Stick #1, Stick #2 and Stick #4 mini zines.
While I didn't order the following zines & pamphlets/booklets with the main purpose of adding them to the distro's catalog, I received them today and while I browsed through I got really curious to read them as soon as possible, and then maybe try to get some of them in the distro's catalog, since they're about topics that interest me. Here's the titles: The F-Word: A Feminist Handbook for the Revolution #3; My Tender Gender all Mixed Up in a Blender; Hey Monkey Riot #3; Morgenmuffel, A Compilation from issues 2 - 10; Anarchism: The Feminist Connection; Witches, Midwives and Nurses.

Even though there are quite a few zines in the catalog by now, I'll be accepting zines for distro consideration, until further notice!
If you don't have your zine in any distros yet, or even if you are in some distros, why not try your chance at Invicta Distro? So don't be shy and send me your zine for consideration! Check out the Submission Guidelines, and also the Zine Topics page if you have some time. Thank you :)

Everything else: the very first stationery items arrived today! Sets of note-cards (similar to postcards) with matching envelopes, these notecards feature a typewriter design, printed on recycled 80# cardstock, some have a small message and others are "custom-made" blank (so you can add your own message!)

Updates

2010-04-27T03:09:00.001+01:00

Last Update: 2010/04/26

Site Updates
Not much to tell about the new website on Weebly, except that I've been working on it, almost everyday. These last days though, I've been more into scanning zine covers and inside samples, so that I can add the images to each zine's catalog pages at the new website. I'm quite satisfied with how Weebly works, so hopefully in 2-3 weeks, I'll have the distro's shop officially open, starting with a few zines & buttons, so that people can start making orders and stuff.
I'll work on a "How to Order" page before I open the online-shop, of course! I also want to have a mail-order form - if people don't have a credit card to use with the PayPal cart system of the shop -, that you can download-print-fill & send it through snail mail... Works well if you're in Portugal, or within Europe, I guess. But I'm not so keen on using snail mail - receiving orders, sending (emailing) my address, then waiting to receive people's money (postal order or real cash), then sending their order, because it takes a long long time. But I'll look up the Internet for some info on how that usually works (or doesn't work!) and then it will all be explained in the future "How to Order" page. No point in fretting over that for now...

Catalog Updates:

Zines & other things
The week started off in a positive way, even though I'm counting on some (more) delays due to a strike in the national Postal Services that will affect some (random) locations. But anyway, I received the copies of Zine Capsule, a how-to guide on collecting & archiving zines for all you zine-collectors out there! Also, along with the zines from GZAGG (Grrrl Zines A-Go-Go), i ordered some GZAGG stickers & buttons.

Zines in stock: Leningrad; Larry #1 and Larry #2; Marbles; Mélange #2; Absent Cause #3; On Loving 'Dracula'; Zine Capsule; The Juniper #12; Meat zine: You're right in Liking It!; Revolutionary Women Stencil Zine; Doris #15: The Anti-Depression Guide; Ker-bloom! #82; You Don't Get There From Here #1; Bad Lyrics Project; I Hate My Mom's Cat, And Other Tails; The La-La Theory! #1.
Zines coming soon: Avow #22; some issues of Brainscan; Firewood #1; Greenblooded: An Introduction to Eco-Friendly Feminine Hygiene; Homobody #5; Show and Tell #5; Tenacious #18; Xerography Debt #26; Xtra Tuf #1; Zine World #28.

Even though there are quite a few zines in the catalog by now, I'll be accepting zines for distro consideration, until further notice!
If you don't have your zine in any distros yet, or even if you are in some distros, why not try your luck at Invicta Distro? So don't be shy and send me your zine for consideration! Check out the Submission Guidelines and/or the Zine Topics pages if you have some time. Thank you :)

Books
To see what books will be available to order & reserve, check a previous Updates posts here.

Updates

2010-04-21T23:28:00.001+01:00

Last Update: 2010/04/21

Site Updates

I've finally put up the Submission Guidelines page, check under 'Submissions' menu on the left! I might change some parts every now and then, depending on if my step-by-step guidelines work well or not, if they are easy to follow & understand. I also might change some of the "conditions", to meet up with zine-makers conditions in a better & easier way.

Currently I'm working on a new website for the distro, hosted at Weebly. So don't be surprised to see very little news around here, since I've been spending quite some time working my way and learning how Weebly works.

I started building the distro's website there, first to experiment with Weebly's features after seeing other online shops hosted there, so their e-commerce features caught my curiosity. So far I've been enjoying the experience and will very probably move all the content of this website (here on Blogger) to the new one. Weebly has some great features when it comes to setting up an online shop, and it has proven to solve some of the "usability" problems that I was beginning to have with putting items available for sale here on Blogger.

I lose a few features from making my own PayPal buttons and adding them to each item on sale (like PayPal automatically adding a "Out of Stock" warning on a product that goes out of stock, without me having to do that "manually"), but let's face it: making dozens of different buttons on one website (PayPal) and then copy-paste the code of each button into Blogger posts (one post for each item) is a a heck of a lot of work. I tried doing it for a few items and I was getting all tangled up with problems of HTML code vs. Blogger posts code; I had to edit each post over and over again, even after I posted it, to get it the way I wanted it to look.
Weebly has proven to be quite efficient, with its drag & drop editor, and I can even have the zines available for sale in a perfect alphabetical order due to the drag & drop elements. No more need to worry about how to make that work through Blogger posts!

Don't be surprised if you don't see that many updates on the 'zines coming soon' section, since most of the titles are already chosen and in stock, for when the distro's shop "officially" opens for business. This doesn't mean I'm closed to submissions though (did you read the beginning of this post?).
Most of my time now is split between working on the new website, scanning zine covers, scanning other items, writing descriptions, writing a postage info page (and maybe add a chart or something), and testing the new website & e-commerce features to see if it can pull together a nice & user-friendly online shop.

Catalog Updates

Nothing new since the last update, but you can check the previous Updates post to see what zines are in the catalog, what zines are (expected) coming soon and what I've received for distro consideration.
To see what books will be available to "pre-order, check another previous Updates posts here.

Updates

2010-04-16T02:40:00.001+01:00

Site Updates:

Last Update: 2010/04/15

Zines

Finally new zines arrived today for the catalog - Marbles and Mélange #2 -, these two have traveled a long way from the other side of the world, cheers to Australian zine-makers ;-)

And more zines would have arrived, from a bulk order I made about a week ago, but I was home-alone and deeply asleep when the postman rang in the morning, so I'm going to the post office tomorrow to pick up my package (I know it's a box, probably a big one YEY!). This means a whole lot of work for the weekend, but that's cool! Lot's of zine covers and inside samples & some more pins and stickers to scan, updating my “database”, and start writing descriptions. These are the times when I wouldn't mind having a “business” partner, but oh well, one pair of hands and eyes will have to do!

Catalog Updates:

Coming Soon:
Zines coming soon: Leningrad; Larry #1 and #2; Marbles; Mélange #2; Absent Cause #3; On Loving 'Dracula'; Zine Capsule; some issues of Brainscan; The Juniper #12; Meat zine: You're right in Liking It!; Revolutionary Women Stencil Zine; Doris #15: The Anti-Depression Guide; Ker-bloom! #82; You Don't Get There From Here #1; Bad Lyrics Project; I Hate My Mom's Cat: And Other Tails; The La-La Theory! #1.

Zines received for consideration: For Lack of Better Words..., Sleeps With Ghosts #0 and #1, Beautiful Mess #1 and #2, all in one package. Lots to read during the following week ;-)

The catalog could use some other zines anyway, like your zine! If you don't have your zine in any distros yet, or even if you are in some distros, why not try your luck at Invicta Distro? So don't be shy and send me your zine for consideration! Check out the Submission Guidelines and/or the Zine Topics pages if you have some time. Thank you :)

Everything else: I already managed to scan all the pin-buttons I got this week (at least, until today, tomorrow there will be more to scan), specially the "custom-made" buttons with exclusive Invicta Distro designs, and also scanned some big vinyl stickers. Now it's time for image editing, adding them to the catalog's database and write some brief descriptions for the online-shop.

Some "paper goodies" (aka stationery) are expected in the mail within a couple of weeks. And I'll be making some exclusive Invicta Distro items too, maybe some photo prints and/or postcards & notecards, perhaps even some stickers, I guess it kinda depends on the response I'll get about these type of items...

In the meantime, I'm still looking for buttons/stickers/magnets/etc about zines/reading/books and also "about" the zine topics I'm interested in having in the catalog.

If you make stickers/magnets/bookmarks/etc yourself, have wholesale prices for distros and are up to work on a consignment basis, feel free to get in touch! Currently I'm more interested in being contacted from (handmade) crafters in Europe, and specially in Portugal. Support your local handmade scene ;-) !

Updates

2010-04-14T01:40:00.006+01:00

Site Updates:

Last Update: 2010/04/13

Zines
Larry zine arrived yesterday, issues #1 and #2; I have a very limited stock since both issues are "limited editions", so when they're up on the catalog, be sure to buy our copy fast! Looks like the Zines H-M section is in good shape, with Larry zines & Leningrad zine.

And the good news keep coming: more zines titles coming soon! Only a few copies at first, to see how they go. Most of these zines are personal choices, some issues/authors are even personal favorites of mine. I tried choosing a bit of varied topics I'm interested in, and hope you are too ;-)

Books

I can't get away from my love of books, no matter how i try to replace them with zines, so I've found some other interesting books, that hopefully other people might find interesting too.

As I've been saying from the beginning, if you're interested about any of the books mentioned below, be sure to get in touch with me as soon as possible, so I can work on a pre-order/reservation to stock them for you! With very few exceptions, I won't be able to have all the book titles in stock, so as soon as you contact me about ordering a title and I get the payment for the book, the sooner I can get a copy in stock and reserve it for you ;-) ! You ask for it, I'll get back to you with all the info on the book and the shipping costs, because I can ship books separately from zines to use the advantages of the "Publishing Mail" options of the postal services, that can be used when shipping out books. Unless a costumer decides otherwise, then I'll have to find the best shipping option to mail out "mixed items" packages (with zines & books), probably as Economy Mail, but it takes a bit longer than all other shipping options, of course.

Catalog Updates:

Coming Soon:
Zines coming soon: Leningrad; Larry #1 and #2; Marbles; Mélange #2; Absent Cause #3; On Loving 'Dracula'; Zine Capsule; some issues of Brainscan; The Juniper #12; Meat zine: You're right in Liking It!; Revolutionary Women Stencil Zine; Doris #15: The Anti-Depression Guide; Ker-bloom! #82; You Don't Get There From Here #1; Bad Lyrics Project; I Hate My Mom's Cat: And Other Tails; The La-La Theory! #1.

Zines received for consideration: It's amazing how one can get anxious over mail! While I'm still waiting for the postman (or postlady!) to deliver some zines that are already in the catalog, I'm also waiting for other zines that were sent for consideration...
The catalog could use some other zines anyway, like your zine! If you don't have your zine in any distros yet, or even if you are in some distros, why not try your luck at Invicta Distro? So don't be shy and send me your zine for consideration! Thank you :)

Books
Books about Zines - how-to make a zine, zine history & evolution: Stolen Sharpie Revolution #2 by Alex Wrekk, Whatcha Mean, What's a Zine? by Esther Pearl Watson & Mark Todd, Zines by Liz Farrelly, Michael Dorrian and David Recchia, Notes from Underground by Stephen Duncombe, Indie Publishing and DIY: Design it Yourself, by Ellen Lupton; and other books about Zines & the zine world.
Art history, women's gender studies, and women artists (in painting & cinema): Women Artists, by Uta Grosenick; Women, Art, and Society, by Whitney Chadwick; De Lempicka, by Gilles Néret (on female artist Tamara de Lempicka (1898-1980)); Kahlo, by Andrea Kettenmann (on Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)); O'Keeffe, by Britta Benke (on Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986)); Marlene Dietrich, by Paul Duncan & James Ursini; Greta Garbo, by Paul Duncan & David Robinson.
Other topics focusing on developing your creativity, exploring new writing/artistic techniques and seeing life & art under new challenging perspectives: Kaleidoscope by Suzanne Simanaitis, Keri Smith's Wreck This Journal; The Guerilla Art Kit; How to be an Explorer of the World, A Portable Life Museum; This is Not a Book; The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron.
Comics books & Graphic novels: The Last Lonely Saturday by Jordan Crane, Papercut Heart: a book of zines by Ian Sullivan Cant. Tattoo art & lifestyle: 1000 Tattoos, by Henk Schiffmacher & Burkhard Riemschneider.
Remember, if you're interested about any of the books mentioned above, be sure to get in touch with me as soon as possible, so I can work on a pre-order/reservation to stock them for you!

Everything else: I have some nice pin-buttons that I already managed to scan, and I'm expecting more to arrive in the next weeks, along with "custom-made" buttons with exclusive Invicta Distro designs, plus some stickers on various themes. Also, "paper goodies" (aka stationery) are expected in the mail within a couple of weeks. And I'll be making some exclusive Invicta Distro items too, maybe some photo prints and/or postcards & notecards, perhaps even some stickers...

In the meantime, I'm still looking for other zine/reading related buttons and also "about" the zine topics I'm interested in having in the catalog.

If you make stickers/magnets/bookmarks/etc yourself and have wholesale prices for distros, feel free to get in touch! Currently I'm more interested in being contacted from (handmade) crafters in Europe, and specially in Portugal.

Updates

2010-04-12T04:34:00.000+01:00

Site Updates:

Last Update: 2010/04/12

Two new pages are up and running in the website!! You can now check out the Submission Guidelines if you're interested in sending your zine for distro consideration!
The FAQs page has its first questions & answers, and I'm waiting for more questions from anyone visiting the distro's website, so feel free to ask, distro or zine related questions of course!

And that's all for updates right now... Later this afternoon I'll share the good news with Catalog Updates, with other zines & some paper goodies that will be arriving for the catalog in a couple of weeks!

p.s.: if you find a broken link or something, be sure to tell me about it, so please leave me a comment on this post. Thank you!

Updates

2010-04-09T04:37:00.001+01:00

Site Updates:

Last Update: 2010/04/08

Although I haven't updated much since the beginning of the month, that doesn't mean I haven't been busy working at distro stuff ;-)
Lots of good news down below, in the catalog section, so if you don't care for rambling site updating details, just scroll down to the Catalog Updates!

E-commerce websites
Lately I've been trying to find a better alternative to this blog to set up the shop for real, like those e-commerce websites and other similar online shops. I was recommended to check Storenvy, which I already had and even signed-up for a “test-drive” about a week ago. The problem is they only work with USA currency, aka American dollars, which isn't that much useful to me since I live in Europe and work in Euros. Even when I shop online with PayPal and buy stuff marked on other currencies, it's all converted into Euros and that's what goes out from my bank account anyway. The only advantage I can see in their store is that they don't have a limit for adding products to your shop (yet). And the way it works – adding products, managing product categories and stuff, it's quite user-friendly.
Before Storenvy, I had checked Big Cartel too, from seeing other distros having their e-shops on it. The problem with Big Cartel it their services plans... You can get a free plan there, but it only allows for 5 products, which in the case of my distro wouldn't do! Then the next plan ($9.99 paid monthly) allows up to 25 products, but if I put together all the zines-buttons-stickers, I'll easily get pretty close to 25, not to mention the books section! Their other plan, the most expensive one ($19.99 monthly), allows a maximum of 100 products. maybe that's enough for all the stuff I'm planning to stock, but the price is a bit scary, because I'm still gathering the zines & all the other items I'll be having in the catalog, so I don't see myself paying for the shop even before it's opened. I'm still working on writing descriptions, scanning covers and samples, managing catalog “database”, so I don't think it would make that much sense to start paying for a shop and having nothing there!
Then today I found Shopify, after seeing a distro that has gone too big for Big Cartel (over 100 products) and they decided to move to Shopify. The first problem I saw is that they charge “transaction fees”, which I suppose are charged over every order/sales a shop gets... Etsy, anyone? They charge those fees monthly, and the value depends on the price plan you choose, of course. Obviously, the most expensive plan charges no fees, zero, 0, niente! It costs $699 a month. Has the whole world gone mad? The “cheaper” plan before this one, charges a 0,5% fee, and it costs $249 a month. Again, are you kidding me??
With the cheaper plan, they will charge you a 2% fee over every sale. Now, with charging these fees, won't that make the distro have to price up their items to cover for the fees? I mean, really... If I wanted to pay fees, I would open a shitty store on Etsy or something. Not to bash on Etsy or Etsy sellers, because I'm a frequent buyer in there and I like it.
So all this leaves me full of doubts. I know I still have a lot of “pre-work” to be done before “opening” the distro.

PayPal buttons
The last few days I have been experimenting with PayPal 'Buy Now' buttons, and testing them on the blog and they just wouldn't work. But I'm a stubborn b*tch so I tried and tried and tried, and now I seem to have got it right! You'll see a “View Cart” button, though there's nothing available to put on the cart yet, but at least I know that button will work!
Also, don't be shocked by the 'Donate' button I added to the website... Well, if you're shocked, just drop me a line, or comment on this post and tell me your opinion about it. The reason why I decided to add the Donate buttons, besides being an experiment, is because I see those buttons around everywhere nowadays. and I've actually seen distros with a similar button, or projects that need an extra support to grow and/or keep existing. So the way things are right now for the distro, I thought maybe if I used some positive thinking this donations thing might work. If you got any spare change, like a dollar or something, then I will forever be thankful for you kindness!
And yes, I set the button for dollars, but if you would rather donate in other currencies, contact me or comment here.

Shipping options
On the good news, I've already been through my national postal services website and made some spreadsheets will all the major price tables for the most common shipping options, both for shipping local and internationally. I have a whole lot of different shipping costs, depending on the type of shipping service. As I had planned from the beginning, I'll leave the decision to chose which shipping service to the person making the order. I'll post here a a much more simplified table, with the different shipping services and their and estimated delivery times, for starters. Later on I can try to make a more detailed table, with the ranges of shipping weights for each service and their prices. This might look a bit complicated to understand, but in the end I'll be the one calculating the total costs, depending on the service that's chosen for each order, which is a decision I'll leave to costumers. I'll try that for some months, and if it goes well, maybe I'll stick with that system.

Zines!
Also good news is more zines titles coming soon! Only a few copies at first, to see how they go. Most of these zines are personal choices, some issues/authors are even personal favorites of mine. I tried choosing a bit of varied topics I'm interested in, and hope you are too ;-)

Catalog Updates:

Coming Soon:
Zines coming soon: Leningrad; Marbles; Mélange #2; Larry #1 and #2; The Juniper #12; Meat zine: You're right in Liking It!; Revolutionary Women Stencil Zine; Doris #15: The Anti-Depression Guide; Ker-bloom! #82; You Don't Get There From Here #1; Bad Lyrics Project; I Hate My Mom's Cat: And Other Tails; The La-La Theory! #1; and some issues of Brainscan.

Zines received for consideration: It's amazing how one can get anxious over mail! While I'm still waiting for the postman (or postlady!) to deliver some zines that are already in the catalog, I'm also waiting for other zines that were sent for consideration...
The catalog could use some other zines anyway, like your zine! If you don't have your zine in any distros yet, or even if you are in some distros, why not try your luck at Invicta Distro? So don't be shy and send me your zine for consideration! Thank you :)

Books
Books about Zines - how-to make a zine, zine history & evolution: «Stolen Sharpie Revolution #2» by Alex Wrekk, «Whatcha Mean, What's a Zine?» by Esther Pearl Watson and Mark Todd, «Zines» by Liz Farrelly, Michael Dorrian and David Recchia, «Notes from Underground» by Stephen Duncombe, «Indie Publishing» and «DIY: Design it Yourself», by Ellen Lupton; and other books about Zines & the zine world.
Art history & women's gender studies: «Women Artists», by Uta Grosenick; «Women, Art, and Society», by Whitney Chadwick.
Other topics focusing on developing your creativity & exploring new writing/artistic techiques: «Kaleidoscope» by Suzanne Simanaitis, Keri Smith's books; «The Artist's Way» by Julia Cameron.
Comics books & Graphic novels: «The Last Lonely Saturday» by Jordan Crane, «Papercut Heart: a book of zines» by Ian Sullivan Cant.
Remember, if you're interested about any of the books mentioned above, be sure to get in touch with me as soon as possible, so I can work on a pre-order/reservation to stock them for you!

Everything else: the buttons I was expecting for this week arrived earlier, last week, so that was really cool! I've already scanned them and thankfully they turned out pretty good, so I just need to make some adjustments on the pics and they'll be up on the shop in a few days!
Expecting more “custom-made” buttons with exclusive Invicta Distro designs to arrive in the next weeks ;-)
In the meantime, I'm still looking for other zine/reading related buttons and also other buttons "about" the zine topics I'm interested in having in the catalog. Some stickers will be available, but if you make stickers yourself and have wholesale prices for distros, feel free to get in touch! Same goes if you make buttons, magnets, and bookmarks!

p.s.: see any typos on this post? could be possible, I've been using a different browser while working with Blogger to update, and this browser has no integrated spell-checker :( . Let me know if there's a typo or something, just leave your comment! Thanks :)

Updates

2010-04-05T18:43:00.001+01:00

Site Updates:

Last Update: 2010/04/05

In the last days I "updated" the Zine Topics page, adding a couple more topics: short fiction, creative non-fiction, for literary zines; and zines history, collecting & zine reviews, since there are some zines that I'm planning to get for the catalog and that are specifically about such topics. Also, I think it's useful to have some "info zines" about the history of zines themselves, for any newcomer into this world wanting to know more about where zines come from and tips on collecting & preserving zines.
Zines that focus on reviewing other zines aren't exactly a type of zines I'm aiming to get in the catalog frequently, but having one or two titles of such zines can also be useful as a starting guide for anyone new to zines.

Went a little further ahead on the queer/trans zines, adding intersex, since I've seen this issue come up more frequently lately, even on mainstream media, so it's important to give voice to this (not so) new issue.
I edited the vegan zines topic, to become more comprehensively and try to focus on vegan lifestyle, also tips for vegan cooking & recipes.

Catalog Updates:

Coming Soon:
Zines coming soon: Leningrad, Marbles, Mélange #2, Larry #1 and #2, and some issues of Brainscan.
Zines received for consideration: I'm waiting for the postman (or postlady!). But, as you can see, the catalog obviously needs more zines, like your zine! So don't be shy and send me your zine for consideration! Thank you :)

Books
Books about Zines - how-to make a zine, zine history & evolution: «Stolen Sharpie Revolution #2» by Alex Wrekk, «Whatcha Mean, What's a Zine?» by Esther Pearl Watson and Mark Todd, «Zines» by Liz Farrelly, Michael Dorrian and David Recchia, «Notes from Underground» by Stephen Duncombe, «Indie Publishing» and «DIY: Design it Yourself», by Ellen Lupton; and other books about Zines & the zine world.
Art history & women's gender studies: «Women Artists», by Uta Grosenick; «Women, Art, and Society», by Whitney Chadwick.
Other topics focusing on developing your creativity & exploring new writing/artistic techiques: «Kaleidoscope» by Suzanne Simanaitis, Keri Smith's books; «The Artist's Way» by Julia Cameron.
Comics books & Graphic novels: «The Last Lonely Saturday» by Jordan Crane, «Papercut Heart: a book of zines» by Ian Sullivan Cant.
Remember, if you're interested about any of the books mentioned above, be sure to get in touch with me as soon as possible, so I can work on a pre-order/reservation to stock them for you!

Everything else: the buttons I was expecting for this week arrived earlier, last week, so that was really cool! I'll try scanning them and hopefully that will give me some good images, since photographing buttons is one of the hardest things I've ever tried to do and didn't quite succeed. I've tried my luck at ordering/making a custom button, and it turned out quite good, so I'll be doing that again in the near future, and maybe even get some "exclusive designs" for the distro ;-)
In the meantime, I'm still looking for other zine/reading related buttons and also other buttons "about" the zine topics I'm interested in having in the catalog. Some stickers will be available, but if you make stickers yourself and have wholesale prices for distros, feel free to get in touch! Same goes if you make buttons, magnets, and bookmarks!

Updates

2010-03-31T22:13:00.003+01:00

Site Updates:

Last Update: 2010/03/31

Some more news on the Catalog! The Books are still coming out easier than zines and very very soon I'll put some on the catalog. Don't forget, most books will need a "pre-order", because I can only buy them from my book resellers after I get a real order from a costumer. If you're interested about any of the books mentioned below, be sure to get in touch with me as soon as possible, so I can work on a pre-order/reservation to stock them for you!

Still working on writing the Submission Guidelines page, sorry! I think that page will be done as a work-in-progress...

Also, I'm still working through PayPal payment options, though I might be able to accept other types of payment, depending on where the orders come from (orders received from my own country and/or the European Union will get more payment options, like bank transfer payments because there are no fees or taxes attached, as far as I know anyway!). I might even consider cash payments, but I'm not sure that this is a viable option if money is being sent from overseas.

What's really getting on my nerves are the Postal Services in my country, as they offer a wide variety of options for sending mail/packages, specially internationally, but they work on a combination of 3-4 factors like weight + shipping speed + location (country/region of the world) + "pre-stamped" envelope type.
Sometimes other types of service may be cheaper than their "pre-stamped" envelopes and packages, even if I have to buy the envelope myself. I'd say they have too many options though, thus making it a bit more confusing to set up a postage chart for the distro's website. Also, they have special conditions for mailing out books (and other printed media, like magazines and newsletters), which isn't just exclusive to publishers but also available to individuals, though they don't have any information about prices or whatever in their website. So much for that, ha?
I still think that it will be easier and more reliable to deal with each order individually and calculate the postage costs after I get the order "pre-packed" inside an envelope, get it weighted on this simple scale I have and check the Postal Services website for the best option, considering shipping time & cost.

Catalog Updates:

Coming Soon:
Books: «Kaleidoscope» by Suzanne Simanaitis, Keri Smith's books; «The Artist's Way» by Julia Cameron; «The Last Lonely Saturday» by Jordan Crane; «Papercut Heart: a book of zines» Ian Sullivan Cant; «Indie Publishing» and «DIY: Design it Yourself», by Ellen Lupton; and other books about Zines, the zine world and other topics. Stay tuned!
Other books about zines: «Stolen Sharpie Revolution #2» by Alex Wrekk, «Whatcha Mean, What's a Zine?» by Esther Pearl Watson and Mark Todd; «Zines» by Liz Farrelly, Michael Dorrian and David Recchia; «Notes from Underground» by Stephen Duncombe.

Zines coming soon: Leningrad, Marbles, Mélange #2, and some issues of Brainscan.
Zines received for consideration: Larry #1 and #2.
So, as you can see, the catalog obviously needs more zines, like your zine! So don't be shy and send me your zine for consideration! Thank you :)

Everything else: some nice buttons will be arriving within the next 2 weeks, yey! But I'm still looking for other zine/reading related buttons and also other buttons "about" the zine topics I'm interested in having in the catalog. Some stickers will be available, hopefully during next April, but if you make stickers yourself and have wholesale prices for distros, feel free to get in touch! Same goes if you make buttons or magnets!

Updates

2010-03-28T00:33:00.003Z

Site Updates:

Last Update: 2010/03/28

[The web-browser I was working on to update this was driving me crazy, being way too slow and making my computer act weird too. After a few small changes, it seems to be working better now, so let's see if I can move on to write the important stuff!]

Since I've been getting a few emails asking for info on sending zines for distro consideration, I want to hurry up and make the Submission Guidelines page available as fast as possible, and also provide it with the info the distro needs when you wish to submit a zine (or other item) for consideration. Hopefully I'll get that done tonight!

Almost everyday I'm learning new things about running a distro, and I'm always trying to find more ways to run this more efficiently, thus making it easier to keep the "paper work" more organized.

Some news on the Catalog this time, finally I say! Which makes us all much happier ;-)
The Books are coming out easier than zines, but that's just the way it goes... If you're interested about any of the books mentioned below, be sure to get in touch with us as soon as possible, so we can work on a pre-order/reservation to stock them for you!

Catalog Updates:

Coming Soon:
Books: «Kaleidoscope» by Suzanne Simanaitis, Keri Smith's books; «The Artist's Way» by Julia Cameron; «The Last Lonely Saturday» by Jordan Crane; «Papercut Heart: a book of zines» Ian Sullivan Cant; «Indie Publishing» and «DIY: Design it Yourself», by Ellen Lupton; and other books about Zines, the zine world and other topics. Stay tuned!
Other books about zines: «Whatcha Mean, What's a Zine?» by Esther Pearl Watson and Mark Todd; «Zines» by Liz Farrelly, Michael Dorrian and David Recchia; «Notes from Underground» by Stephen Duncombe.

Zines: a few zines will be arriving the next 2 weeks; we're also waiting for the postman to bring us a couple of zines sent for distro consideration. Still, the catalog needs more zines, like your zine! So don't be shy and send me your zine for consideration! Thank you :)

Everything else: some nice buttons will be arriving within the next 2 weeks, yey! But I'm still looking for other zine/reading related buttons and also other buttons "about" the zine topics I'm interested in having in the catalog. Some stickers will be available, hopefully during next April, but if you make stickers yourself and have wholesale prices for distros, feel free to get in touch! Same goes if you make buttons or magnets!

Updates

2010-03-26T01:28:00.007Z

Site Updates:

Last Update: 2010/03/26

Just a random tech-related thing, i changed the Customer's Feedback section from a 'page' to a blog 'post' for logistics issues... I might need to use the Pages for other stuff and I've realized doing it as a post will work just as fine.

I'm currently working on the "Submission Guidelines" about zines sent for distro consideration. It's a bit complex, so I've been checking other distros to see how they usually work. It's not that I don't know how I want to run my own distro, I just find it hard to put it into a text that makes sense for everyone.

I'm also working on the "How to Order" section, but it's taking more time than I thought, because I don't wanna mess up. The Portuguese postal service has lots of options for mailing stuff, specially internationally, and I wanna keep all those options available, but it's a mix of weights and countries/regions and envelope sizes. Since the beginning of this project that I thought it would be better to deal with each order's shipping cost individually, because one order can have several zines with different sizes thus requiring a bigger envelope, and even with books it can be tricky. I haven't tried PayPal's systems for postage because of these reasons.

About the Books catalog:
Books will need to have a "Sales/Info Form" - this meaning that you'll have to message me (it will be as simple as filling a little online form page, you won't have to waste time writing me an email, well, unless you really want to email me!) for info on the availability of a book, and I'll confirm you the its price, and give you an estimate of the time it will take to arrive & estimate shipping costs.
This is due to the fact that I can't physically & financially have copies in stock of all the books in the catalog, so I may be able to buy a few from time to time from resellers, but most of the times I will only buy them after I get a real order. Just an example, imagine someone wants a book, I'll order it and then that person changes its mind and doesn't want the book anymore, leaving me with an expense and an "extra" book for nothing.
I wish I could have an easier way to do this, for both of us - me and the costumers - but it's a financial risk that I can't take, remember that the distro is just starting!

Catalog Updates:

New in Stock: nothing - I'm waiting for your zines!
Sold Out: nothing, since there's nothing in stock yet ;-(

Coming Soon:
Books: Keri Smith's books; «The Artist's Way» by Julia Cameron; «The Last Lonely Saturday» by Jordan Crane; «Papercut Heart: a book of zines» Ian Sullivan Cant; and a bunch of other books about Zines, the zine world and other topics. Stay tuned!
Zines: you tell me; send me your zines for consideration! Thank you :)
Everything else: on the lookout for nice items & the best prices!

Updates

2010-03-23T01:25:00.004Z

Site Updates:

Last Update: 2010/03/23

Now you can get to know a bit more about who is the person behind this project, my zine-lover resume, and tidbits about being a bookworm.
Also, what is the meaning behind Invicta Distro's name?

Catalog Updates:

New in Stock: nothing - I'm waiting for your zines!
Sold Out: nothing, since there's nothing in stock yet ;-(
Coming Soon: you tell me; send me your zines for consideration! Thank you :)

Updates

2010-03-22T01:23:00.007Z

Site Updates:

Last Update: 2010/03/22

Here it is, finally - the ZINE TOPICS page! Get more detailed info on what types of zines I'm looking for the distro's catalog!
Just finished "retouching" the ~~Shipping Log~~ * page.
(*note - this link was changed & updated on 2010/03/29)

The Contact page is done, feel free to send us your messages!

We're still working on the FAQ's page, but if you already have any questions for us, you can just make a comment in the page. With your help, we can build a better FAQ's section ;-)

We've also put up a ~~Customer's Feedback~~ * section, but since we don't have any items for sale in the shop, there's no point in leaving a comment there for now...
(*note - this link was changed & updated on 2010/03/26)

Catalog Updates:

New in Stock: nothing - I'm waiting for your zines!
Sold Out: nothing, since there's nothing in stock yet ;-(
Coming Soon: you tell me; send me your zines for consideration! Thank you :)

Customer Feedback

2010-03-20T00:03:00.001Z

If you have made an order from Invicta Distro, you can leave your feedback in this page.

Feedback serves as a public record of a customer's impression on the way we (the distro) processed their order(s) and their experience with our distro. This way, you can tell the world about the service received from our distro and the item purchased.
Consistency, fairness and honesty are critical to the integrity of the feedback. Feedback directly affects our distro's reputation, so we ask that all customers take it seriously. Thank you :)

Donate

2010-03-09T00:26:00.001Z

Thank you for helping out with keeping this project growing!!! :D