Steve Shipley wrote:
> Of course. There are sereral ways to make these things. My opinion is
> that the number and freqency determine the amount of labor involved. I
> fold, label, and stamp 125 at a time and I hate these tasks.
One labor-saving method I stole from a club up in the Northeast (I think
it was that Etheir guy specifically, if I remember correctly, and he may
still be on this list) is to split the labor up as much as possible.
I was the editor of our newsletter for two years and learned first hand
just how much work is involved to do it right. I'd already decided that
my second year would be my last as editor, but about half-way through
last year I recruited some distribution help. This worked WONDERFULLY!
Then, when Janaury rolled around, I stepped down as "editor" and assumed
the role of "publisher"... all I do is layout the final product and send
it to the printer.
We actually have 4 separate tasks for our newsletter (circulation around
300/mo):
1. Editor - legwork, writing, editing
2. Publisher - layout, fill-in where needed, 2nd proof-read, finish and
deliver to printer
3. Distribution - pick up from printer, label, sort & mail
4. Database maintenance - we have yet another guy who keeps up the
database for us. We keep the latest copy available online where I can
download it and print labels each month.
> I'm no expert but it sounds like you need desktop publishing software
> but aren't ready to buy. I think that's the problem with newsletters.
> The work falls on the shoulders of the few and the resources aren't
> there to lighten the load.
A "booklet" type newsletter can be done with Word, it just takes a
little more effort. The way I do it is to print each page on a separate
sheet, then cut & paste (physically) each page in its proper place.
Lucky for me, my print shop is willing to do that part for me.
> I think that we all learn efficiencies as part of the process. But I've
> never been able to find any major increases in productivity.
Biggest increase in productivity was getting some help. Unfortunately,
I don't think I could have gotten that help so readily if I hadn't
provided the club with a top-notch product BY MYSELF for two years
first... to get them spoiled. The system is great now, though.
--
Loren Williams | Homepage - http://www2.southwind.net/~lsw
'94 Saturn SC2 | Wichita Region SCCA - http://www2.southwind.net/~scca
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