Bi-monthly magazine

3 June, 2011 - 22:17 by Belmontboy
Hi from St Peter's Belmont Village We have been publishing a magazine for many years now and delivering it freely to the 300 homes in and around the village. For some time we have found publishing bi-monthly allows us to communicate regularly (with occasional fliers for important events) and saves on cost. We are new to Parish Pump so I apologise if this topic has been raised before, but is there any chance of material being published more than a month ahead - we are already finding that material linked to seasons or the church year don't fit in with our pattern (eg some of the items anticipating school holidays would have fitted in our June /July issue but are a bit late for our August/September edition). Would editor's of monthly magazines be unhappy about material being published two months ahead? Even so, we are making good use material, especially the cartoons! George Skinner
survey ›
Submitted by Mrs Audrey Frodsham on 29 June, 2011 - 10:47.
Like you we also publish our magazine bi-monthly and would appreciate access to material earlier. It is difficult to find seasonal items of interest when you are working on August/September issue in July!
Submitted by Trader on 1 July, 2011 - 15:57.
Hello Belmontboy and Audrey, I have been publishing a monthly magazine for thirty years. I would not like material 2 months ahead.
Submitted by Alan Rickards on 3 July, 2011 - 15:31.
I tend to agree with Trader on this one. I suspect that a majority of church magazines are published monthly, although I can see the merit of publishing less frequently, especially if there is no cover price.
Submitted by Mrs Sam Waldron on 6 July, 2011 - 10:06.
Information for bi-monthly magazines would be helpful to us also. We produce a monthly magazine except in the summer when its August/September combined or at Christmas when we do a December/January edition. Thanks for supplying a choice of front covers, its nice to vary the designs.
Submitted by Chaffinch on 18 July, 2011 - 11:26.
We produce a monthly magazine for most of the year too but like Sam we combine July/August and December/January. I would have no objection to the material being published 2 months ahead as long as it is still accessible when we need it. If you propose to combine covers into 2 monthly please keep the single month ones as well. Great resources, thank you, I have been a member since 2002
Submitted by Werburga on 19 July, 2011 - 13:04.
We produce a monthly magazine but very occasionally, if the editor needs a holiday at publication time, we do combine two months. In that case it would be useful to have some topical copy from PP. In any case, I have no objection to material being made available a month earlier - after all, it will still be there when I need it.
Submitted by Marlene Brooks on 13 August, 2011 - 09:50.
I agree with Werburga. This would be helpful to us too for the same reasons.
Submitted by redglen on 19 July, 2011 - 13:15.
like others here our monthly magazine runs double issues over August/September and December/January. Some general items would be useful earlier but others, such as the news section and events would need to be more current.
Submitted by Ed in Dorset on 15 August, 2011 - 14:44.
I edited a bi-monthly church magazine for over 10 years and didn't have a problem finding material - especially as I used to visit the Pump website EVERY month and stock up on items of interest that I could use either next year or anytime. I now edit a monthly church/neighbourhood mag - it's much more difficult! But I like the search feature on the Pump; that's useful.
Submitted by rachelmaile on 22 August, 2011 - 20:30.
We are just moving to bi-monthly and so I would also appreciate it if material was posted more than a month ahead, to allow for this. With the cost (financial and environmental) of paper it seems a good way to continue the magazine whilst lightening our footprint!
Submitted by 1945dormouse on 31 August, 2011 - 09:21.
We, too, have decided to produce a bi-monthly magazine. Some information may seem a little out of date, but a lot of people like hearing about what's happening, even if it is a bit late in the day. This only relates to a few articles. However, it would be useful to have back-up for the months ahead and (as I discovered as a new member) it is impossible to look at copies of last year's issues for ideas. Surely this wouldn't be a problem?
Submitted by Barbara Irwin on 5 September, 2011 - 13:03.
We have 10 magazines a year. Double issues being July/August and December/January. I have never missed out on the parish pump as, like Ed in Dorset, I visit monthly and stock up with items. As our magazines are themed sometimes articles are not used for two years. With the monthly headings it is easy to change the date if you use publisher. I don't know what I would do without Parish Pump ~ best thing we ever did was join.
Submitted by Mrs Editor on 4 November, 2011 - 10:58.
We also produce 10 magazines a year dated as Barbara Irwin's above. next year we will also do a March/April issue, due to editorial holidays. As Parish Pump usually have July/August and Dec/Jan already covered, I haven't experienced any problems, and use a lot of their material in our magazine. However, I can see that those doing bi-monthly magazines would have problems, not only with the seasonal stuff, but also with having to manually change things like the headers, which only have one month (with exceptions for Dec/Jan etc) So my input to this is - if it is at all possible to produce enough information for 2 months ahead, then that would be really helpful. Provided the headers etc are still available for the editors of monthly magazines. Thank you Parish Pump for the very varied items from you that I am able to put into our magazine.
Submitted by Clive Billenness on 14 November, 2011 - 17:27.
Our magazine - like many of the correspondents on here - is published only 6 times a year and so we have gotten used to storing back editions of Parish Pump to fill in the gaps next year. Getting the double edition for December/January is very useful. I do realise that trying to be two months ahead won't work easily for news items, but having advance notice of Saints Days would perhaps be possible ? Overall - thank you Parish Pump for lightening my load !
Submitted by StMichael03 on 19 November, 2011 - 00:07.
I have been editor now for just over a year producing a quarterly magazine. I must have created an impression as the PCC have asked if it could be produced bi-monthly. It is slightly difficult finding a suitable front cover in colour from Parish Pump even when I go back in the archives. To produce graphics 2 months in advance would be a great help especially as I now start on the next issue as soon as one bi-monthly magazine goes to print as I am sure other editors do the same. I am grateful for the content of Parish Pump which is a blessing for illustrations.
Submitted by Clive Billenness on 31 December, 2011 - 11:01.
The front cover is one my biggest nightmares. In this age where everyone, it seems, over the age of 3 has a digital camera in their house or on their mobile phone, getting a parishioner to take a few snaps of the Easter lilies or at the Fayre seems an uphill task and I find myself roaming the parish with a camera permanently in my pocket! My recommendation for the front cover is to go for a photo of something which happened last month or 11 months ago (e.g. the crib or an Easter Garden) to keep the cover topical and local. I then have a small box on the inside cover which explains the significance of the picture. Feel free to download our online version from http://freespace.virgin.net/niddside.news/niddsidenews/niddside.pdf to see what I mean. Happy New Year to you, all Parish Magazine Editors and our good friends at Parish Pump
Submitted by Mikhail on 1 January, 2012 - 16:59.
Thank you for the sample of niddside.pdf. Some useful ideas to steal - I mean compliment by borrowing. I'd value examples of other parishes'/communities' productions in .pdf format. Mikhail
Submitted by Mrs Editor on 2 January, 2012 - 08:16.
Thank you Clive for showing us your magazine. I will follow Mikhail in borrowing some of the ideas, especially the layout. Our magazine is shown on our church website and I hope that by using this link, it will take you to the page with the links to each magazine. http://www.medwaymethodistchurch.org.uk/gmcmagazine.htm Thanks again Mrs Editor