The earliest to become more than a small informal group of friends was the National Amateur Press Association (NAPA) founded February 19, 1876, by Evan Reed Riale and nine other members in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Its members have included Dwight Decker, Mark Evanier, Carl Gafford, Fred Patten, Richard and Wendy Pini, Roy Thomas, Dan Alderson, Rick Norwood, Don Markstein, Don and Maggie Thompson and Jeffrey H. Wasserman.
During this same period, a group of British science fiction and comics fans also set up a short-lived "tape APA", contributing music and spoken word to a central anthology.
APAs were a way for widely distributed groups of people to discuss a common interest together in a single forum before the advent of electronic bulletin boards or the Internet.
Many were founded in the 1930s and later by fans of science fiction, comics,[4] music, cinema and other topics as a way to develop writing, design and illustration skills.
Many professional journalists, creative writers and artists practised in APA groups and email mailing lists.
Some APAs involve the submission of camera ready copy; in such cases the CM arranges the reproduction of the material.
Most APAs also require each member to maintain a credit balance in a central funds account to cover common reproduction costs and postage.
Although some APAs are autocratic, most run on a democratic basis and the CM usually chairs any discussions and arranges any management meetings.
In many cases people on the waiting list are permitted to contribute to mailings and may receive excess apazines provided by the members.