Greetings, V8ers,
Well, it seems like we have a consensus. Most folks would be agreeable to
receiving the newsletter via electronic means. The survey wasn't exactely
un-biased, though, as only those who are computer/internet savy/connected
participated. I have no idea how many newsletter subscribers don't have
internet access, but I know there are a few, at least. It would not be fair
to them (and we don't want to exclude them from our group just because they
are not on-line) to offer the newsletter in electronic form only, so I guess
the only fair thing to do would be to offer it both ways.
This brings up the question of money. There is no profit involved in the
publication of the newsletter. Even if the entire $15 subscription fee went
into my pocket, I'd make more money flipping burgers. The small volume of
distribution eliminates any reproduction cost savings from bulk discounts, so
the cost of the printed version will not change by reducing the number of
copies printed. Based on that, I see no reason to restrict access to the
electronic version of the newsletter to only paid subscriber's. Only those
who prefer to have a printed version would be charged a fee, and that fee
would only be to cover the cost of printing and distribution, as it is now.
At this time, I don't have an exact figure for the cost, but I'm sure it runs
pretty close to the subscription fee when all out of pocket expenses are
considered. I also publish a 200 page electrical repair manual for Triumphs,
and the ink (toner) alone costs me very near $4.00 per copy (one toner
cartridge costs $216.00!)
That would take care of the future, but what about the past? I don't believe
Don is dishonest, and I will get the money sooner or later, so I would be
willing to eat the cost for right now and send printed copies to those who
prefer hard copy. The only hang-up to that is getting the names and addresses
of the subscribers. Don will give them to me sooner or later, I'm sure, but
there will be (and are) a lot of disgruntled subscribers in the meantime. For
the rest, I will get the newsletter out and make it available on line very
soon.
At least I think I will. I'm not sure what all it will take to do that, and
how big the file will be for downloading. I do not want to get into putting
the newsletter out as a web page, because that is a LOT of work (read time)
to do. And, as far as I am concerned, getting printed copy from a web page
leaves a lot to be desired. I'm a bit old-fashioned, and I don't like to read
a lot of material from the computer screen, so I always print anything I'm
interested in that contains a lot of reading material and read it at my
leisure in an easy chair. I'm sure I'm not alone in that. In the next few
days, as soon as I can get the Adobe software to do it, I will convert the
current newsletter to PDF format. I've never done this, so I have no idea
what all is involved, and I don't know if there will significant format
changes required to the existing version to make it compatable with PDF. As
soon as I know, I'll let you all know. I have tried to convert CorelDRAW
files to PDF using CorelDRAW to do the conversion, but the results are far
from satisfactory. Hopefully, Abode software will do the job a lot better.
I use CorelDRAW to create the book and the newsletter because a) I'm
comfortable with it and pretty well know how to make it do what I want, and
b) the file size is so much smaller than any other program I've tried. The
entire electrical book mentioned above only takes 12MB in CorelDRAW, but a
single chapter, 8 pages or less, takes 34 MB in MS word, and similar in other
publication programs.
Provided this is OK with you all, there is only one problem left. I may well
be promising more than I can deliver. When I agreed to edit the newsletter,
it was only as a help to Don. The agreement I had with him was that he would
supply me with enough material each issue to put together a quality paper,
that no article supplied by me would be a requirement for any given issue. I
can do some things relatively well, but digging up material for articles is
not one of them. I will be much more dependant on you all for input than Kurt
was. Kurt is a very skilled "people person," but I am not. It is difficult
for me to get out and around to talk to people and gather material. Also, my
expertise is electrical, not mechanical; if it were left up to me, the
newsletter would slowly morph into "British Wiring" instead of "British V8." <
G> If the newsletter is to survive, it is even more important than ever for
you guys to get material to me. It doesn't have to be polished; just send me
the raw data, along with as many photos as you can supply, and I'll do the
rest.
What do you think?
Regards,
Dan
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