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bbcnewsworld_feedbbcnewsworld_feedsnopes_feedbbcnewsworld_feedbbcnewsworld_feedbbcnewsworld_feedbbcnewsworld_feedbbcnewsworld_feedsnopes_feedsmartbitches_feedHappy Thanksgiving, if you’re celebrating!
My inbox is overstuffed with Black Friday email messages, but I grabbed a few of the device deals from Kobo and Kindle to share with y’all.
If you’ve got Black Friday deals you’re shopping, please drop them in the comments of the post! If I tried to list them all I’d be at my desk until 2029, and my back would be very sad.
Happy holidays – may everything be peaceful and deliciou!
bbcnewsworld_feedbbcnewsworld_feedbbcnewsworld_feedsnopes_feedotw_news_feedEvery month in OTW Signal, we take a look at stories that connect to the OTW’s mission and projects, including issues related to legal matters, technology, academia, fannish history and preservation issues of fandom, fan culture, and transformative works.
A recent POP! feature highlights the growth of the “fan-art economy,” where fans are increasingly turning creative passion into sustainable work. The article delves into the music scene in the Philippines and the various ways in which fans are turning their love for music into art-fueled creative businesses that can sustain them. Fan communities are thus building their own systems of support—where illustrators, designers, and craft-makers create in dialogue with the fandoms they belong to. As the article notes, fan enthusiasm therefore grows to become the foundation for collaborative artistic communities.
These gatherings blur the boundary between commerce and community. Fans get to meet the artists behind the work, while creators get a firsthand witness to the excitement and appreciation their designs evoke. It’s a continuous loop of inspiration where music fuels fandom, fandom fuels art, and art fuels livelihood.
This shift also underscores how fandom frequently becomes an entry point into professional creative work. Concert photographer Cassilyn Anderson, profiled in SLUG Magazine, traces her artistic perspective back to her early experiences as a One Direction fan. Anderson stresses that her “eye” as a fan helps her center the emotional exchanges between bands and their fans as cultural snapshots worth preserving. The article highlights this saying:
In her work, Cassilyn says that she puts a deep emphasis on the experience of the fan. Capturing those moments of connection is what truly drives her to shoot the way she does.
Her story resonates strongly with ongoing conversations about the value of fan labor and the ways transformative creativity migrates between fandom and broader cultural spaces.
Another facet of the fan-art economy that is witnessing renewed interest is the zine—handmade, self-published magazines with long roots in counterculture and fan communities. A recent Times report notes that younger creators are embracing zines not just as a nostalgic medium but as a way to produce personal, expressive works outside traditional digital platforms. These small publications mix art, commentary, and identity in ways that are distinctly tied to one’s autonomy.
Their resurgence also speaks to a larger tenet central to the OTW’s work: the preservation of fan-made media in all its forms. While online archives play an essential role in safeguarding digital creations, zines remind us that physical artifacts remain a vital part of fannish memory. They carry the choices and contexts of the communities that produce them, becoming lasting records of how fans document their worlds.
Are you interested in exploring fanzines? Look no further! The AO3 Fanzine Scan Hosting Project (FSHP) is dedicated to the digital preservation of select fanzine works and other fannish artifacts, with permission from the creators and/or publishers.
If you are interested in helping Open Doors and Zinedom transcribe works from fanzines or if you have any other FSHP-related queries, please contact the Open Doors committee.
We’d also love it if fans could help us preserve the story of any fanzines in which they may have been published on Fanlore. If you’re new to wiki editing, no worries! Check out the visitor portal, or ask the Fanlore Gardeners for tips.
Thank you for your interest in preserving fannish history for future generations of readers!
We want your suggestions for the next OTW Signal post! If you know of an essay, video, article, podcast, or news story you think we should know about, send us a link. We are looking for content in all languages! Submitting a link doesn’t guarantee that it will be included in an OTW post, and inclusion of a link doesn’t mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.
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