Welcome to my perfumed garden

I once read a post on some list where a fanfic writer was asking people not to pass around her stories online, saying that she never posts her stories on the web but only puts them in zine forms and sell them because she needs money.

I remember thinking at the time, "If this is how she makes her living, she must be either very talented, popular and rich or living in poverty."

I don't know what a zine is exactly, have never seen one in person and don't know what they look like, how they're made, how much they cost, how the whole thing works.

But from what little I understand about them, aren't fanfic writers who put their stories in so-called zine forms and sell them making money? Very little profit, I'm sure, but still, money is money, isn't it?

I'm NOT accusing anyone or implying anything negative about zines. I'm just curious cuz I really didn't know anything about this zine stuff until recently, and just about every fanfic I read has a disclaimer saying "The characters belong to blah, blah, blah... and I'm not making a dime off this blah, blah, blah."