Hi dearest reader,

May's snail mail was a fun, meaningful whirlwind to make. I've learned new things about publishing in print, which takes much more planning ahead (leaving plenty of time for errors) than when I publish digital. 

You know I love sharing, so here's photos and notes on how May's mail came to be, the problems I faced and fixed, and what I admired.

making the zine & envelopes

Surprise, I listen to audiobooks when I craft for the mail club, because putting these mailers together takes many weeks of planning and physical labor. The best part is when all the printed materials arrive and I can finally put them all together. IT FEELS SO GOOD to see the vision I had for weeks come to life. I just think the pistachio-raspberry color combo this month is divine!

After I finished gluing the dark green inserts into the envelopes I got to work on folding the zines. The prints came out good this time (last month I had to reprint!). All the below images are from different days and times, slowly building something beautiful.

each zine takes time and care

Mini zines are made from a single piece of paper. And I’ve made things challenging by using thick glossy paper. It looks great but is super hard to fold. This is a strong paper that requires a lot of strength to get the lines straight. But of course zines like this can never be perfect. Did I mention it’s a single piece of paper?! I think the rough handmade quality is part of the charm. But now I know why origami paper is so thin! 😆

There are five book recommendations and reviews in the May zine, which are the result of many months of reading, analyzing, and sourcing advanced copies + backlist books to make sure I can recommend novels I think are great. Also, to make sure the zine offers a variety of recs to fit different moods. The B&B zine is the ultimate curation. All 5 of the book recs inside have something unique to offer.

the bookmark

So guys, the biggest problem for May's mail were with the tassels.

At first I'd told the club these bookmarks would come with a mystery color tassel, but as the weeks continued and I user-tested the bookmark in my daily reading life, I discovered the tassels I'd sourced weren't up to my standards and seemed to be falling apart. 

Uh oh! I simply couldn't use them for us anymore and I was on a major time crunch! This means I had to let go of the mystery color tassel idea and source better quality tassels. These light gold one's matched with the peachy color of the bookmark the best.

I always want to give you the very best keepsakes. So I’m extremely happy with how these turned out. We fixed it!

the letter

May’s letter comes with 3 pages! Cut and folded into a cute thing to hold. It’s personal, funny, and honest, intending to leave you with a sense of having more knowledge than you did before. After writing it, I felt a supreme sense of cohesion forming around this mail club project. Like, ahhh, this is it!!! This is the whole point of being penpals! (Please write me a letter back if you so desire.)

First, I wrote this letter by hand with a fountain pen in a notebook. Then, I transcribed it into a word processor so I could revise and edit it, and send it to you. It feels correct to write my letter to you longhand first, and so I thought you’d like to know this part of my process!

There’s a thousand more banal details I haven’t covered, but I hope this gives you a fun sense of how the envelopes arrive to your mailbox. My letter, zine, and bookmark were written and designed with utmost care. It was extremely fulfilling and—no spoilers—I have plans to incorporate more original art with the bookmark.

See you soon to make more of our epistolary dreams come true!

Love,

Amani

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