Cohousing-L Mailing List: Regional editions of CoHo mag.

[DLinde (DLinde]

You probably don't want to read this unless you have a strong interest in the

way information is collected for the CoHousing journal (or is it a
magazine?).  
If you do, plow ahead.

I just got back to Berkeley yesterday (Wednesday) from Colorado and found an
E-
mail note from Fred Olson expressing some concern about the long delay
between 
the time when information is collected for the regional inserts of CoHousing
and 
the time when the magazine is finally delivered to mailboxes.  Speaking as
managing 
editor, I agree:  we need to become more efficient.

Just for the record, folks should know that the Fall issue was subject to an 
unusual amount of delay due to the national conference in Boulder.  Bill
Paiss, 
who deals with all of the layout and production details, was swamped with the

demands of conference planning at just the time when magazine production was 
supposed to be in full swing (and I was pretty busy myself).  This was
obviously 
a unique situation, but the bottom line is that everybody is getting the fall

issue about 3-4 weeks later than we'd originally planned.  Of course this
only 
begins to address Fred's concerns about timeliness and relevance of the
inserts.

The basic reality we have to live with is that the postoffice takes, in some 
cases, as long as 3 weeks to deliver a copy of the magazine from the moment
it's 
dropped in the mail.  [Aside:  When did you get yours?  Following Fred's 
suggestion, send me a one-liner: "Mine arrived 10/__/94" to cohomag [at] 
aol.com]

Backing up from the mailing date, it takes at least a week from the moment we

submit everything to the printer until the copies are sorted and mailed.
Backing up from the submit-to-printer date, we feel that we need a one-week 
"comfort zone" from the date that regional inserts arrive in in Boulder.
 This 
gives us breathing room to allow for the inevitable fact that one or more of
the 
inserts is going to be late.  (The editors are all volunteers, after all.)

So... regional inserts need to be done about 5 weeks before the journal gets
to 
your mailbox.  At this point the question becomes:  how far in advance does
the 
regional editor need to start gathering material?  I don't know the answer to

this -- it probably varies depending on the editor's style and time
constraints, 
but I'm sure that most editors want to start hunting at least two weeks
before 
their deadline.  Depending on a particular editor's mode of operation,
articles 
could probably be fine tuned up to a couple days before the insert deadline.

In summary, the schedule looks sometime like this (DD=delivery date)
DD-7 weeks              regional editor starts to gather information
DD-5 weeks              regional inserts due in Boulder
DD-4 weeks              everything goes to printer
DD-3 weeks              copies mailed out bulk rate
DD                      delivery date (copy arrives in your mailbox)

At the meeting of regional editors in Boulder last week, we decided to revise

the optimistic schedule we'd sent earlier to Joan Ruhela (I don't know her
new 
last name yet either) and others.  I just wasn't able to imagine going to the

printer by Thanksgiving, the original target.  Now it looks like we'll go to
the 
printer just before Christmas and mail out copies right after the first of
the 
year.  This means we're requesting inserts to be done (in Boulder) by
December 
16th.  (I just left a message on Joan's answering machine to that effect.)

Of course this begs the question:  do the regional inserts serve a useful 
purpose?  I think so -- many readers seem to like the level of detail on core

groups and regional activities that some (or most) of our inserts provide.
 At 
the same time, I recognize that the inserts are considerably LESS detailed
than 
some of the newsletters out there that just cover a particular metropolitan 
area.  

My gut feeling is that it's worth trying to improve our inserts and make them

more timely rather than get rid of them altogether.  I think there is
something 
special about the energy created when people from all over the continent get
to 
put their personal imprint on the magazine.  (If you've seen the various 
inserts, you know they're all quite distinctive.)

Fred suggested that inserts could be more timely if people were able to
E-mail 
last-minute changes.  I think that's a good idea, but I also think this is 
something to be worked out individually with regional editors.  (Bill and I 
certainly don't have time to fiddle with the regional inserts after we
receive 
them.)  I am going to send these ramblings to all of the editors -- some are
not 
"online" yet -- and we'll all talk about the information-gathering process.

Anyway, for now it appears that folks in the Midwest have until sometime in
the 
first week of December to get updates to Joan.  I will actually meet her and
the 
other Chicago people in person on October 29th, and we'll probably talk some 
about the magazine; I wish I could get to Minneapolis on the same trip to see

Fred/Judy/Joelyn/Mark et.al but I don't think it'll be possible.

This is starting to bring up quite a few other thoughts relating to the
future 
of our publication, including plans for the next issue, but I'll say more
later.  
Any comments about our regional inserts (or the journal in general) are most 
welcome.

P.S.  I also had a fantastic time at the national conference.  If you're a 
conference addict, be advised that a regional conference is planned for 
November 12th here in Berkeley at the University of California.

Don Lindemann, Managing Editor
Cohomag [at] aol.com