2025 Queen City Zine Fest

Event Name: Queen City Zine Fest

When/where: October 18th 2025, McColl Center in Charlotte, NC.

What: “Queen City Zine Fest celebrates self-published zines, comics, illustrations, chapbooks, small press editions, and other self-published printed matter.”

Rating: 4.25/5

Website: https://www.queencityzinefest.com/

Income: $320

Expenses: Full table cost:$65. (Half = 35) Drove for 30 minutes to get there. Went home right afterwards, so no hotel or food fees.

Provided: 5ft table, two chairs.

• My first time attending, and the staff was very attentive and kind! Kenneth was the self-described “unofficial artist liason”, and he led us to our table, and checked in on everyone. There were other staff members asking if everything was alright, and someone giving out candy. And Kenneth even checked in to ask how the selling situation was in the basement floor (see “Cons” section). Even after the event was over and we were waiting for our ride home, the staff was still asking if we were okay or needed a ride LOL. They're cool.
• The crowd was cool, varied in demographic, and overall appreciative of all sorts of art from autobio to abstract. It was the day of a No Kings protest, so it was funny to hear people ask vendors “Are you interested in learning about Marxism?”. I feel like half of the protest crowd was over 45 (and didn't know what the heck yaoi was haha), and it's nice to see them defy the stereotype of “you get more conservative as you get older”.
• We got a good reception with our KOTH Zine and Parasite Zine we made just in time for the event! Sold out of Parasite, nearly sold out of Koth and my Whorror zine. Got to talk about shipping Kahn with Bill and Hank with some folks. Lots of people laughed just seeing our art, took photos, and got extra copies for their friends, which is a good reaction to me. Keep the family-friendly thing in mind. There were no specific guidelines for displaying adult/horror art from the show runners. There were other folks selling adult art, I saw someone had their adult zine bagged in paper with a cutout hole. You should mark things as “adult”, and keep in mind that kids can look at things and grab 'em, or just be scared of you lol.
• Did a lot of zine/sticker trades with the other vendors, both from them coming up to me and me going out to ask people. Happy to meet up with Cyber Nostalgia Zines and grab their new stuff I've been eyeing! Got to hear from other vendors that they're going to Zine Machine.
• The venue is a re-purposed church and has “aura”, as the kids say.
• We tried a very stripped down set-up, packing only two briefcases in the trunk of our car with mainly paper goods. I opted for a binder full of prints for people to flip through, rather than trying to displaying every single print at once. It seemed to work out well, a good amount of people flipped through the whole book and got our medium (8.5×11) prints. I usually don't even display those size prints cuz I don't know where to put em. And it was easy to set up and break down, took maybe 20 minutes.
• New sticker display seemed to work out well! We thrifted a teacher's clear pocket display, and it was easier to look at all the designs together especially when people wanted to trade. I need to find a better place for it though, cuz I know nobody looks at the bottom of the table LOL. Or I have to put a big sign saying STICKERS DOWN HERE!!!

• Got a “bad” spot? I was on the waitlist at first, but they gave me room and let me know I'd be on the basement floor rather than the main floor. For the first hour of vending, there were maybe 5 people who wandered in. It got much busier later though. I heard from other vendors and customers that it was poppin' and cramped up there compared to the basement. There were several customers who didn't even know there were basement vendors, despite signage and staff telling people to go to the basement vendors. And by the time people got to the basement, they were all out of money from spending it all upstairs :P
• Basement spots could be a bit cheaper, maybe $30-45, considering the disadvantage we're put in? I don't believe we could choose a spot other than “indoors” or “outdoors”, so people who got the main floor got more customers. There were vendors in the hallway of the basement, connecting to the room with live screenprinting demos, I don't know how well they did, but they seemed even more out-of-the way with the main access point to them being the elevator.
• Minor mix-up on tables in the beginning. I had paid for a full table, but got assigned a half table. Someone else next to me paid for a half table, but got a full table. Staff took care of that when I asked, we switched tables. The table I got was kinda short and had wheels. Couldn't lock the wheels either, so it kept scooting around if i put my elbows down.
• Only got two people asking for doodles SNIFF 😢 That's ok, not every event is for live drawings! I'm sure I could push that more by having a dedicated sign-up sheet (tiny note-pad!) and a little standing placard for my Princess drawing/sign.

Absolutely! I think they change venues every so often, so I'd be interested to see how my work does when I'm not in the basement of shame. I also appreciate that it's one of the few alt/zine events in Charlotte, because most “cool events” are 3 hours away from me in Raleigh.

Oh i forgot to bring our little button pins.. remember to bring those to Zine Machine.

• Left stickers by ollie_oop_arts. Sonic stickers by shockstrneo. Print by jayg.e. The Wurst Report zine by tadasheep
• Melting Dad by slackmatic. Retro Final Girls and The Problem with the Current State of Concerts by cyber nostalgia studios.
• The Lovers by sapphic crafts by meg. Risograph notepad and print by Justice. What A Monstrous Thing To Say by frivalice. Got a flyer by Working People Charlotte.
• I Cry A Lot sticker by Emily Wigglesworth. Melon sticker by hngyrn. Zine by Heaven Seven Mag. Hotdog sticker by tadasheep.