need more info in the journal

[Greg Newell]

Clair,
         No flame suit needed! I think it's a great idea!! Just the facts mam!

Greg Newell


At 06:02 AM 6/5/2002, you wrote:
>Hi all --
>I too have long been thinking about the journal and its importance in
>our professional lives. Before I was a piano tech, I had a fairly
>long career in publishing--some of it with trade magazines.
>
>Because it is a magazine that, for the most part, only we see, I
>think the format could be changed significantly.
>
>At present:
>The Journal is glossy, 4-color covers with some color inside. I
>realize that ads pay for the color, or should. There's a two-page
>spread for the table of contents in a averaging 48 pages that comes
>out once a month and is the *only* source of information in our
>profession. In the current June issue there are only 13 pages (25% of
>the issue) that carry real working information, and a number of those
>pages are cut in half with head design and pictures larger than they
>need to be. The rest is convention stuff, ancillary writing, and ads.
>
>My suggestion:
>Move to a heavy, smooth newsprint, something like InfoWorld used to
>be. This gets us a lot more room for regular sections which would
>cover all aspects of our trade every month. These sections would not
>be one column snippets, but would allow one article of decent length
>grouped with shorter pieces related to the same area--e.g.,
>refinishing, tuning, stringing, tools, action work, business,
>convention news, etc. You get the picture.
>
>I don't want to be misunderstood here--the current Journal design is
>lovely--but given the kind of conversation that goes on on this list,
>there are far more questions out there than the Journal ever covers
>in a year. And, ours is a profession -- unlike auto mechanics, for
>instance -- that is not covered by a plethora of other magazines or
>books. Our main source of information is the Journal and I think it
>should be expanded at the expense of glossiness into something which
>contains as much information as can be crammed into every issue.
>
>Practically every guild member out there has had to reinvent the
>wheel innumerable times. The greater the number of various solutions
>to various problems that the Journal could provide would, by that
>much, increase its value to us. I for one would love to have a
>Journal that was more of a tool than a showpiece. Find a much cheaper
>format and spend the saved money on greatly increasing the length.
>
>(Now, if I could borrow someone's flame suit-- please :)
>
>Cheers,
>Clair
>
>Clair's Piano Service
>http://www.vt2000.com/cps/

Greg Newell
mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net