[FARReps] To Publish or Not To Publish

[w3qx at qsl.net]

On 8/10/05 at 1:47 PM -0400, w3qx at qsl.net wrote:
>  FAR's monthly meeting Wednesday 10 August
>
>  [....]
>     Future magazine publication
[.../]


Ladies and Gentlemen,

Those who attended the FAR meeting last night learned a major part of 
the Auto Call staff will be unable to continue working on the 
magazine beyond the next issue.

If nothing else were done, Auto Call publication would be suspended 
after the November or "Winter" scholarship issue.

FAR's intent is to put this out to its members:  If a new team can be 
formed that has the needed skills, a business plan, and is 
fully-staffed, FAR will work with this new team to continue 
periodical publication.

Skills refers to ability and tools to produce a publication to 
schedule.  A plan can be as simple as a forward growth budget and the 
steps that will be taken to realize measurable goals.  A full staff 
would have one or more persons responsible for increasing the number 
of subscribers, one or more people responsible for selling the 
advertising space in the magazine, and two or more editors who would 
assure the quality of the publication and assemble and produce it.

FAR will help as it can.  It expects make the remaining Auto Call 
subscriber list available.  It has existing relationships with a 
printer and a mail service.  Individuals who have experience with 
Auto Call have already said they would be available to help with 
start up.  Of course, publishing in FAR's name means FAR will retain 
control.  FAR is open to new ideas:  The publication that continues 
after November may look completely different and may have a different 
publication frequency.  Different printing and mailing solutions may 
be used.  Several individuals may identify themselves or a club or 
group of clubs could take responsibility.  Discussions with 
individuals or member clubs (or both) that want to do this will 
determine further details.

Based on what's known now, Auto Call's contributing 
departments--Rules&Regs, Gnoshes, VE Testing, Public Service, DXDXDX, 
AreaEvents--will be available.


What will be hard about this is the time--there's not much.

If a group salespeople and editors can step forward to take over, FAR 
has to know it by Thursday 15 September.

There are two overriding reasons only 35 days remain to do this. 
First is the fact that doing the next issue of an ongoing magazine is 
very different from doing a final issue.  When the November issue 
closes and production starts, FAR must know if it will be suspending 
publication or introducing a new successor publication.  Second, if 
there is no workable option by 15 September and FAR does suspend 
publication, the existing subscribers need to see a letter addressed 
to them that explains what is happening, gives them some choices, and 
shows FAR's appreciation for their support--before they see the last 
issue.

In a few words

     FAR is putting this matter out to its member clubs
     to see it they want publication to continue and,
     if so, whether there are people who will do

       Subscriptions

       Advertising

       Editing, and

       Editing, layout, and design


Why is this coming to a decision now?  There are two main reasons. 
First, people are busy.  In the last three weeks, schedule changes 
affecting the lives of three of the current Auto Call staff resulted 
in their decisions to not continue with Auto Call.  Factors include 
increasing work responsibility, big job relocations, or promotions. 
However, the more somber and more serious side is that, in terms of 
subscribers, advertisers, and even contributing authors, Auto Call's 
overall trend over the last 10 years has been down.  Improvements 
since 2002, when FAR re-assumed control of Auto Call, were done at 
considerable effort and included producing a high quality product, 
having people in the editorial process available at every FAR 
meeting, and focusing on a positive future for Auto Call.  These 
editorial and customer service improvements garnered words of praise 
and appreciation but only temporarily stemmed the decline of 
advertising and subscriber sales.  Auto Call achieved break-even only 
when FAR cut printing and postage 66 percent by publishing quarterly.


Again, FAR wants its members involved in this.  If you have any 
questions or need more information to help you take this to the 
others in your clubs, please just ask.

Send messages about interest in being part of the new staff to w3qx at qsl.net.

Thank you all for keeping an eye on the clock and working within this 
very short time period.


Best regards,

William Hatfield
Executive Vice President