“Sell Out The Zine” – Volume 25 and Zine Collecting

I am continually amazed and supported by the collectors of The Climbing Zine. Over 15 years of publishing there have been plenty of ups and downs, but the support of the climbing community has always been constant. I am an artist first and a businessperson second, so I’ve learned, and continue to learn lessons, often the hard way. My two main guiding lights are The Grateful Dead and hip-hop.

A unique supply and demand exists around The Zine. And recently with the increased costs of printing, there is a natural dip in supply. And so, I thought why not “Sell Out The Zine” for Volume 25?

It would turn 25 into a collectors item sooner, and also raise the value for the reader! Note: we have 750 copies of Volume 25 left, and new subscriptions start with this issue

Here’s a detailed look at our print run numbers, and estimated value (based on our sales, price range varied for condition of the zine)

Note: We currently only have copies of Volumes 12 – 25 in stock, though if we come across a collectable issue, we’ll post it up for sale, announced first through our newsletter.

Volume 1: 200 copies, value $125 – $250

Volume 2: 200 copies, value: $100 – $200

Volume 3: 300 copies, value: $75 – $150

Volume 4: 1,000 copies, value: $75 – $150

 

Volume 5: 1,000 copies, value: $75 – $150

Volume 6: 1,000 copies, value $75 – $100

Volume 7: 1,000 copies, value $70 – $100

Volume 8: 1,000 copies, value $70 – $100

*the old school issue

Volume 9: 500 copies, value $100 – $150

*we got hustled into trying to sell The Zine at Barnes and Noble and other big box chains, where we quickly learned how much waste was created by doing so. We printed 1,000 of this issue, but my estimates are that 400 – 500 were trashed because they didn’t sell at the big box stores. Needless to say, we made the decision to only sell through our site and independent stores. All in all it made a good lesson, and made this issue more collectible.

Volume 10: 2,000 copies, value $40 – $60

*the raw issue

Volume 11: 2,000 copies, value $40 – $50

Volume 12: 5,000 copies, value $30

*our first 5,000 copy run, and first cover to only feature the number of the issue

Volume 13: 5,000 copies, value $30

Volume 14: 5,000 copies, value $20

Volume 15: 10,000 copies, value $20

Volume 16: 10,000 copies, value $20

Volume 17: 10,000 copies, value $20

Volume 18: 10,000 copies, value $20

Volume 19: 10,000 copies, value $20

Volume 20: 10,000 copies, value $20

Volume 21: 5,000 copies, value $20

*this is when we started to see print costs rising dramatically, and we had to move to 5,000 print runs again

Volume 22: 5,000 copies, value $20

Volume 23: 5,000 copies, value $20

Volume 24: 2,500 copies, value $20

Volume 25: 2,000 copies, value $20

*first issue with the continuous image printed on the spine