Back in the 40s Joe Gibson attempted to hoax fandom by inventing a sister, Jay Gibson, who -- among other activities -- produced fanzines which she dubbed snapzines because they were a snap to produce and mail. In the autumn of 1953 the term was adopted to describe the informal, single-sheet newsletters such as Magnus' Saturday Morning Gazette (aka SMUG) and Charles Wells' GREY, which were also a snap to produce, tho mailing a single-sheeter rather'n a full-size fanzine for 2ยข wasn't very sound economics. Short-shots and letter-substitutes fall in this same category, more or less.
|