Let me elaborate. The internet provides countless opportunities to get a zine going and is the best tool you have as an editor. To start off, why not get your theoretical zine listed on Duotrope Digest? Duotrope is an online database of thousands of journals and their submission statistics; a lot of young and new writers use it to find places to submit. A similar website is litmags.org.
But first, before that, you will need to create a website. Even if your zine itself is only published in print, a website is critical, if not essential. Almost all print journals have websites that provide a masthead, submission guidelines, a brief description of the journal, a list of writers in the newest issue, and sometimes even examples of the kind of writing the editor favors. For a small, underground zine (which is what you seem to be talking about) you can just use Blogspot or Wordpress—preferably the former. Blogspot gives you the ability to keep your readers up-to-date on submission deadlines and issue release dates. More importantly, you can list information on how to order the zine. The ordering can also be facilitated via the internet—use PayPal.
The next step is networking. Your goal is to meet other writers who can give you quality writing to publish, and to meet other editors who can help you expand your readership. In terms of meeting writers, Facebook is a useful tool. If you get your work published in a journal, for example, and in the same issue is another writer whose work you like, why not friend that writer on Facebook? Then you can get to know them a bit (or at least “make contact”). Other ways of doing this include blog commenting, instant messaging, emailing, etc. Then, by the time your zine starts asking for submissions, shoot all your writing friends (acquaintances, really) an email soliciting their work. Even ones who don’t submit might still decide to buy the zine, and one or two might even review your first issue.
Also, lots of journals create Facebook groups, Twitters and/or Myspace pages that work similarly to blogs. There are even zines that exist entirely on such networking sites. For example, a new literary movement/school called “Brutalism was begun by Tony O'Neill exclusively via Myspace.
Expanding readership works in the same way, but it's more about knowing other editors than just other writers. One easy trick that lots of zines use is having a Links section. You can then agree with another editor to provide links to each other’s websites, thereby sharing readers and giving people a sense of what sort of publications your zine relates to.
There is more you can do with the internet, too, but I’ve listed some of the basic stuff that I’ve learned from experience and observation.
Another thing is that some journals make their print publications available online in a PDF format (for a smaller fee than the actual journal). Some even distribute their journals through publishing services like lulu.com, though I don’t recommend that. It’s very tacky.
I would say that networking is the best tool for getting a zine distributed and read. And these days, the internet is by far the best way to do it.
And it’s definitely not boring. At least not always...
