Monday, 5 December 2011

CAMRA magazine not issued - again!

Ale & Hearty from April - June 2009
My job as editor of Ale & Hearty, the magazine of the Southport and District Branch of CAMRA, is becoming more and more theoretical.  Our Summer edition, due out in August, didn't materialise because Fred, who collects the adverts for us, was in hospital for an operation, which was followed by a period of recuperation.  No adverts = no money = no magazine.

The Winter edition, due out in November, fell by the wayside because two advertisers withdrew their adverts at the last minute:  one because the licensee never got around to designing it (we'd have done it if he wanted), and the other because of a change in licensee.  This created an immediate loss of £330 and as we have no reserves to fall back on, all the work in trying to get adverts and in obtaining and writing articles has gone completely to waste, and our credibility with licensees has taken a bash.  Unsurprisingly, Fred and I are feeling rather deflated at the moment.

Ale & Hearty is basically a two-man operation nowadays, and it's too much for us, but requests for extra help at meetings usually result in silence with people staring fixedly ahead.  I have a plan to resolve this, but if extra help is not forthcoming, I will with great reluctance (as I was very keen when I took over) consider throwing in the towel.  I hope it doesn't come to that.
Posted by at
Labels: , ,

8 comments:

  1. Tandleman5 December 2011 at 20:25

    Consider going to a model where you write the content and a publisher finds the ads. I can give you our publisher's details if you like.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Neville Grundy6 December 2011 at 20:31

    Yes, please do; worth looking into. I'll e-mail you. Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Martyn Cornell7 December 2011 at 04:47

    Have you considered posting a pdf version on yr website when you don't get the cash to print an issue? At least that way your info isn't wasted ...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Neville Grundy7 December 2011 at 15:18

    Martyn; yes, I might do that, with some of it at least. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  5. John Clarke7 December 2011 at 19:23

    I think you also need to seriously kick ass here. I edit something called Opening Times (which comes out monthly for my sins) but I have always made it clear that if I didn't have a team of people working on it then it wouldn't happen. Just ask the branch - "do you want a magazine or not, and if you do then this is what has to happen". Don't be afraid to walk away if the ungrateful buggers still sit on their hands.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Neville Grundy8 December 2011 at 02:46

    Thanks, John; I think it might have to come to that. As you say, do they want a magazine or not?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dave Thackeray15 December 2011 at 16:04

    What a wonderful idea it would be to publish the magazine online during an enforced hiatus. I can't say I've had that idea myself, and shared it, at least a dozen times in the past three years... :-D

    ReplyDelete
  8. Neville Grundy15 December 2011 at 16:47

    The method of publication isn't the problem. It's always not knowing whether we could publish it at all.

    ReplyDelete

Comments, including disagreements, are welcome.
Abuse and spam are not and will be deleted straight away.
Comment moderation is installed for older posts.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)