We are the only zine distro to offer 100% of the cover price to Black zinemakers and also offer printing to Black zinemakers who cannot access self-publishing resources. We print for free of charge full color laser and risograph printing. Because self-publishing takes time and resources we recognize the barriers to marginalized communities to be able to participate. With donations for white allies we create a specific route of redistribution for allies and help Black self-publishing flourish.

Brown Recluse has been slowly working on digitizing a zine archive that dates BIPOC involvement in zine culture for the last 30 years. We see this as an accessible alternative to a university zine archive or physical zine library. Right now, we are still in the process of collecting and scanning. We hope to have the time and resources to build out the digital archive, which includes supporting QTBIPOC in tech to assist our page builds.

We also recognize our unique position as between generations of the last zine boom of the 2000s and current youth discovering zines, because of this we have always offered programming in the form of zine workshops, panel discussions, and political workshops to pass along zine skills and self publishing knowledge. In the pandemic we pivoted to offering digital workshops and panels.

We offer 100% of cover price of zines to Black zine makers, and also free printing to Black zinemakers when self-publishing is inaccessible in their communities.

We offer our profits as monthly microgrants to queer and trans black people in Oakland in need.