ZINEHQ is a modular digital publishing house and independent archive. It publishes in numbered issues rather than dates: each title is a complete booklet with a cover, a catalogue number, a set of metadata, and a point of view. The archive is not a blog with a new skin. It is the publication.
The name is written ZINEHQ, in full capitals, and pronounced “zine HQ”. The HQ is a location — a desk, a cabinet, a place where things are filed — not a claim to be the headquarters of an industry.
A publishing house, not a feed
Most editorial projects are organised by time. A post appears, slides down, and is replaced. That structure is good for news and bad for anything you want to keep. ZINEHQ is organised by intention: an issue is finished before it is published, numbered when it is filed, and dated so it can be read in context.
There is no daily cadence and no content calendar. Three finished titles are worth more than thirty unfinished posts. A quiet month is not a failure; it is a month when the cabinet did not need a new box.
How an issue is made
- Commission. A subject is chosen because it can be finished, not because it is trending. The format — archive, dossier, or playbook — is decided before writing begins.
- Edit. The argument is reduced to what can be defended. Claims without sources are removed or marked as opinion. Numbers are checked twice.
- Set. The issue is typeset as a booklet, not a web page. Page count, cover, and reading time are fixed. The design is allowed to be quiet.
- Proof. The digital edition is read on a phone, a tablet, and paper. Links, tables, and headings are checked. The print stylesheet is tested.
- File. A number, a date, a status, and a canonical URL are assigned. The issue enters the cabinet and the index. Corrections are logged, not silently rewritten.
Editorial principles
- A number is a promise. If it is numbered, it is finished enough to be used by someone who was not in the room.
- Short is a form. An issue should be readable in one sitting. Length is not a substitute for structure.
- Sources over vibes. When a claim can be checked, it is checked. When it cannot, it is labelled.
- No fake traction. No invented subscribers, revenue, partnerships, or history. A small archive that tells the truth is worth more than a large one that does not.
- Corrections in public. Errors are corrected in the issue and noted in the colophon. The archive keeps its history.
What this is not
ZINEHQ is not a social network, a marketplace, a writing tool, or a subscription platform. It does not host other people’s publications, sell audience access, or promise growth. It is a publishing project with a shelf and a door.
The house is also not a registered trademark, a company, or a team of dozens. It is an independent editorial project. Any claim to the contrary would be a fiction, and the archive has no room for those.
The desk
ZINEHQ is edited from one desk, with contributors commissioned issue by issue. The desk writes, edits, typesets, checks, and files. When a contributor is involved, they are credited in the issue. When a mistake is made, it is signed.
The desk is small on purpose. A cabinet does not need a crowd; it needs someone who will keep the numbers straight.
Contact
Enquiries are handled through the form on the acquisition page. There is no public mailbox: the form is the only channel, and every submission is logged before it is answered.