New newletter editor

[pabob]

I just became the newsletter of my local club.

What software do most of you use?

The old newsletter mostly of event dates and meeting dates.

I'm wanting to expand to articles and pictures.

Maybe a feature car with background on car and owner

I'm hoping for input.

[R W Burgess]

Congradulations Bob. You can make your new job interesting just by trying out new things. Using pictures of clubmembers cars with well written descriptions can bring a club alive with new participation from members. Our region uses the Microsoft Publisher program for ease of picture attachments and text placement. It may seem overwhelming at first, but you can pick up its operating procedure very quickly by trial and error. You know, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!" Seriously, it's easily used and will make you look like a "pro" in no time. If you get this program and need help, most editors stop by this forum regularly.

Wayne Burgess-Editor, Northern Neck Region

[Guest Moepar]

Congrats & good luck. Wayne is right about the Microsoft Publisher being easy to use (once you get the hang of it) & gives great flexiblity in adding graphics, photos, etc. I've been doing our newsletter for 3 years now, & I am STILL finding cool stuff out about Publisher. Main thing to do is have fun with the newsletter-if your having fun with it, everyone reading it will have a blast with it plus you'll have an easier time getting input from club members.

Dawn

Great Smoky Mountains Region 'High Beam'

[Guest BruceW]

Bob,

WELCOME!

Welcome to the AACA discussion forum and the wonderful world of the AACA newsletter editor. All of your ideas are good ones and a great way to start. I basically had the same situation when I started as editor about 3 years ago. It got that the newsletter was very dry and not being read by many members. It took some work to get members to start reading it so they would see the changes and now everyone in the region is very supportive. A good newsletter is a strong membership tool.

Don't be afraid to try new ideas. Three years later and I still experiment with new ideas. It may be tough getting material from your members at first, but if they enjoy reading it, the maerial will get easier to get.

One thing is to be sure and exhange newsletter with other editors. How many you exchange with is up to you and your budget, but exchanging newsletters is a great way to see what other regions and chapters are doing and cultivate new ideas.

I think you will see that most people probably use a version of Publisher. I don't but thats only because I never had it and its very easy for me to format on my own. Its worked good for me over the past three years and especially during last year.

Another good resource for new editors is the AACA Newsletter Editor Handbook located on the AACA web site at http://www.aaca.org/publications/. It appears to be down right now during the web site revisions but take time to read it over. It provides great hints, important do's and dont's, and more.

Feel free to ask for help or questions. You have joined a great group of editors that is always there to help each other.

What chapter/region and area of Pennsylvania are you?

Bruce Wheeler

Editor, Harford Horn

Harfords Region AACA

[JanK]

Bob, in our stint as editors, we used first a typewriter, then Word and finally Publisher. We found Publisher to be the most flexible of all of them.

Whatever you choose to do, remember that someone will follow you as editor eventually. You will want to produce a good product, but don't make things so complex that you scare off prospective editor candidates!

Jan K.

Wis Region

[novaman]

I have the done the newsletters with QuarkXpress and Adobe PageMaker. Both are consider commerical software and are pricey. Quark is around $800 and PageMaker is around $500. I have also done a couple if issues with Serif products, which is a cheap program but is capable of the job. I perfer the Quark and PageMaker but that is due to my graphic design schooling where we had to have things ready to go to the print shop.

[RKFrazee]

Congratulations, Bob! I am in my third year as editor of the Smoky Mountain Antiquer and really enjoy the job. I use Microsoft Publisher and find it to be both powerful and easy to use. If you are already familiar with Microsoft Word, then learning your way around Publisher will be a piece of cake.

I also use a PDF creator to convert the newsletter to a PDF file when I'm finished. This makes it easy for the print shop to work with, It also makes it possible to e-mail copies of the newsletter to members who use computers.

Good luck, and please don't hesitate to write if I can help in any way.

Roger

[JanK]

Roger, your comment about creating .pdf files caught my attention. What do you use to convert your Publisher documents to .pdf? All of the free converters I've found online will convert files created in almost every other Microsoft software EXCEPT Publisher. I'm not ready to hand over the money for a full package of Adobe Acrobat yet, and I'm hoping you have something else that does the trick.

Jan K.

Wis Region

[RKFrazee]

Hi, Jan. I use PDF Producer which is made by Data Becker. I bought a used copy of it on Ebay for about $20. It works just fine for my purpose.

[pabob]

Thanks for the tips

I got a copy of MS Pub and played around with it last nite.

Hope to get something together for our next meeting.

I'm a member of The Susquehanna Valley Region AACA in Berwick Pa.

I'm also webmaster of our web site hosted by AACA

The web site is going slow, but hopefully the both will grow!

[24T42]

Welcome - and congratulations! I think you will find that this forum is a well of information. Don't be afraid to ask anything. Chances are someone has been there and done that.

I am Editor of <span style="font-style: italic">On the Road, Again!</span> - the newsletter of the Brass-Nickel Touring Region. This is my 8th year as editor. Like everyone else I use Publisher and have since version one. I have tried most of the others programs and keep coming back to Publisher. It is very easy to use and adapts well to whatever level of skill you have. Once you have established a template, it basically becomes a matter of cut 'n paste.

Our newsletter is printed in color. The format I use is booklet form (5 1/2 by 8 1/2") and usually runs about 16 pages plus cover. Since it is stapled like a book, I have found that this holds up well in mailing. I do the printing, assembling, etc. at home with a HP 1700 printer. I have used several different printers and have found that the HP 1700 is most economical. It runs about 50 cents per issue for a newsletter full of color pictures.

Once again - welcome aboard!

[JanK]

Judy is being her usual modest self. Not only does she do her region newsletter, but she also does the region website AND the Junior AACA website. She is a resource beyond compare to both editors and web editors. I know I've called on her many times, and she's always been most generous with her help.

And, Roger, thanks for the info on the PDF Producer software. I'll see if I can hunt down some more information on it. If it's as good as you claim, it would come in handy for use with AACA stuff and for some things I want to do for my own company.

Jan K.

Wis Region

[24T42]

[pa67smith]

I did editing for a car mag a few years ago and the office used Quark

and PageMaker. We didn't use it to near its full capability. I left in 2003 to freelance fulltime. I may get back with a magazine if the conditions are right but I'm having fun writing about cars and trucks as a gun for hire. Pat

pa67smith@yahoo.com