R. Seth Friedman

R. Seth Friedman is most-known as the final publisher of the review zine Factsheet Five, as well as the author of the book The Factsheet Five Zine Reader (published by Three Rivers Press in June of 1997). In the introduction to the The Factsheet Five Zine Reader Friedman recalls discovering music zines in the late 1970s and getting hooked. His uber-fandom of zines peaked when he restarted the failed Factsheet Five in 1991 with capital derived from working as a computer consultant in New York.

Under Friedman's helm as publisher, Factsheet Five was published quarterly on a consistant schedule from 1191 until it folded in the late 1990s. Friedman reached national prominence when the zine scene exploded in the 1990s and was constantly interviewed and written about in the mainstream press. Friedman also published his own zine called Food for Thought. Eventually he burnt out and decided to stop publishing Factsheet Five. Friedman claimed he would be starting a publication doing wine reviews, but he publication never saw the light of day and Friedman completely dropped out of the small publishing world.