How to Fold a Minizine Instructions – with Photos!

Minizines are mini 8-page comic books folded from a single sheet of paper. DIY crafters start from a blank sheet, but readers can start from a printed PDF provided by a comic creator (such as the Adventures with Titan minizines I provide in my Ko-Fi Shop) and fold it to have their own copy of comic!

Folding a minizine is pretty easy, but it helps to have visuals if folding one for the first time.

Steps on how to fold a mini zine

Step 1: Fold in half lengthwise

After printing out your downloaded PDF, your first step will be to fold it lengthwise (also called “hotdog fold”).

Adventures with Titan minizine folded in half lengthwise. Only 4 of the 8 pages on the single paper on visible.

Open up the paper and lay it flat again.

Step 2: Fold in half widthwise. Do this twice

With your first crease from Step 1 created, next fold the paper widthwise (aka “hamburger bun fold”) to create the next crease.

Fold it again to make another crease.

2 images of folding an adventures with titan minizine. First fold, named Fold 2, folds the paper in half short wise. 2nd fold, named Fold 3, folds the paper again until it is 1/4 the size it it once was.

Step 3: Cut the slit

Unfold once. You’ll see a dotted line at the bottom of the half-folded paper.

A half-folded adventures with Titan minizine, with a finger pointing to the end point of a dotted line, which is in the middle of 2 folding creases.

Cut along that dotted line.

A half-folded minizine being cut along the dotted line with a pair of scissors

Step 4: Final assembly

Once the dotted line is cut, unfold the entire paper and lay flat. Now there should be a slit in the middle of the paper where the dotted line was.

A minizine paper spread semi-flat with folding creases and a slit cut in the middle. A finger points to the cut slit in the paper.

Pick up the paper and fold it once again lengthwise (“hotdog fold”). The slit should be at the top like shown below.

2 images showing a half-folded minizine with the cut slit facing up. The edges of the folded paper are then pushed inwards so the cut-open parts in the middle fan outwards to create a semi-diamond shape with 2 wings.

Bring to 2 edges of the folded paper towards the middle. The cut slit allows the middle part of the paper to fold outwards, creating the pages in your mini zine.

Final steps of creating a minizine. The folded edges are brought together and flattened along the creases, creasing a fan of 4 folded pages that just need to be finally creased so the cover is facing up.

Flatten it out. It should look like the above.

Now give it one final fold in the middle (you may want to lay it on a flat surface and give it a good press to firm up the crease) and voila! A mini zine!

the folded paper is given one final fold down the middle to make a little book withe Adventures with Titan cover at the front.

Now you can read your very own copy of this little comic!

Want to download some minizines?

My web series Adventures with Titan has a few episodes that were specifically drawn to be read in minizine format. You can find the PDFs in my Ko-Fi shop for download

Visit My Minizine Ko-Fi Shop

Thanks and enjoy!