Walk into virtually any corporate-owned bookstore in America, and you won't find anything on any shelf that wasn't designed, mass-produced, ordered, delivered, and stocked primarily for the purpose of making a profit.

At its best, the underground press is the opposite of that. It's not about how much money can be squeezed out of publishing. It's about how much of the writer/artist's soul he or she can squeeze onto the page.

We're passionate about the underground press. We give a damn, and we believe our readers do too. Zine World is written, edited, published, and mailed out by an all-volunteer staff who believe free speech is for everyone, not just for giant corporations. Nobody here gets paid; we do it because we love it.

Zine World covers culture outside the corporate confines. We review zines, books, comics, newsletters, one-shots, videos, posters, spoken word recordings, or anything else in almost any media on any subject -- except music. Our focus is on material that's not available through normal commercial channels, so you'll find reviews of hundreds of hand-made magazines, newsletters, and books you won't find anywhere else. Every review includes ordering information, so you can get this material direct from its publishers.

In addition to the reviews, Zine World covers news nobody else does: When publishers are brought up on charges for what they've published, when kids are kicked out of school for creating a zine, we try to spread the word, letting our readers know what they can do to help.

In every issue of Zine World, small publishers let each other know which stores and distributors are trustworthy, and which aren't. We run free announcements about upcoming events, and other underground projects worthy of your support. We offer free classified ads for DIY or counterculture projects (up to 50 words; limit one free ad per issue).

If you've published something, and you're wondering how to get the word out to potential readers, please consider sending it to us. We're interested in almost anything that isn't corporate-controlled crap. Our pledge -- to ourselves, to our readers, and to you -- is that we'll give everything a fair read and an honest review. Our circulation is tiny, but we've been told that a good review can result in dozens of orders.

If any of this sounds interesting, you're invited to a whole 'nother world. We'd like to show you a different kind of literature -- lively, interesting, wide-awake publications made for passion instead of profit. Welcome to the underground press of the new millennium.