Newsprint is Dead!!!, long live e-Newsprint???

[Gary]

From a previous posting: -

Food for thought or [probably] Can of worms: Each edition of our fantastic magazine 'Newsprint' costs about £1,000 to print and send out to each member. We do this twice a year. This represents over 50% of our income [members subs]. I'm reliably informed that the same magazine could be 'e-hosted' for about £250, regardless of numbers. I recognise that e-hosting isn't a universal panacea, but every 6 months the association would save circa £750.

Now there are many things we could spend £750 on, but as an example, every 6 months, £250 off the price of a new mainsail for 3 association members might be an attractive offer. In the case of Windsport's most recent winter sail offer, rather than disappointing 6 members, the association would be able to 'internally' extend the offer, thus supporting the membership whilst simultaneously supporting the class supplier through the sale of additional sails at regular price.

The largest expenditure items for the association each year are the two copies of Newsprint. Now, don't get me wrong. I greatly enjoy reading them, but when they end up going into the recycling, their value to the membership is pretty limited. If I could read them 'for free' and get "money off a new sail", "replace your rigging - 50% off", "chipped and battered rudder blade - here's a new foam filled one at £***", "covet a one piece mast?" - yours today at the discounted price of ???, that to me seems better, it seems more and it's available at no cost to the association of the membership.

At this point, I'll open up the post to comment and hopefully not too much vilification. Before I do however, I'll say this: It's easy to say "No, it can't be done". I'd suggest that if inclined, you can probably list 5 reasons off the top of your head as to why you regard this proposition as literally impossible. Before you do however, perhaps you might spend 5 minutes imagining that you personally were financing the magazine to the tune of £1,500 a year. What things are no longer 'impossible!'? What things could be lived with?

Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.
James Bryant Conant

[Liam]

As somebody who helps make the Internet, I would like to continue with the magazine being printed out on dead trees at great expense.

[Bob Carter]

As somebody who helps make the Internet, I would like to continue with the magazine being printed out on dead trees at great expense.

I'm with Liam. For those of us that went to the Nationals, George Love asked the same question at the AGM and the overwhelming response was our members want to continue to receive the magazine hard copy. We have asked the same question at regular intervals and the response is always the same. You also must remember that maybe half of our membership never take part in our open meetings and for them the magazine is the only thing they see for their membership fees. Many of our committed sailors keep their copies of NewSprint and these retained copies record the history of the class. I have every copy of our magazine since I first bought a boat in 1988. I know others who have even more...........
Long live NewSprint.
Regards
Bob

[Liam]

This discussion has leaked out onto the Face Book. It happens automatically, but normally it is mostly ignored.

[Jenny Ball]

I am up for keeping the paper version too. Not because its not possible to go online but because I think we get good value from the magazine for members as Bob outlines above. I am perfectly able to find my way round an e-magazine - but I much prefer to read a printed version.

Besides, I think I have written half the content for the next one - so it had better go to print ....

[dave42w]

I'd offer a slight contrarian view.

I'm happy to support the paper newsletter through my subs. However, I'd very much want to encourage all the content to be available on the association site. Ideally as individual articles tagged so that we can find them in multiple ways.

a) as a newcomer it would be great to get access to back issues
b) when I was looking at the Sprint 15 the volume of resources on the association site was a big attraction. Compare it to the Dart 18, or the Formula 18 and it becomes a real encouragement to buy a Sprint 15.
c) resources on the internet can be shared so much more cheaply that they can be used to attract more members.

I know tips end up on the site but it would be good to get everything else too.

I'd be happy to help a bit if resources an issue.

Dave

[hhawkes]

Sorry Gary, I feel strongly that there is more to this than the simple logic of profit and loss. For the members that we 'active' members never see, the magazine is the only tangible evidence of the Association that they have and it's periodic arrival on the doormat is a reminder of the benefits of belonging to the association. Please don't underestimate the worth of something that has a physical presence!

[Martin Searle]

I'd offer a slight contrarian view.

I'm happy to support the paper newsletter through my subs. However, I'd very much want to encourage all the content to be available on the association site. Ideally as individual articles tagged so that we can find them in multiple ways.

a) as a newcomer it would be great to get access to back issues
b) when I was looking at the Sprint 15 the volume of resources on the association site was a big attraction. Compare it to the Dart 18, or the Formula 18 and it becomes a real encouragement to buy a Sprint 15.
c) resources on the internet can be shared so much more cheaply that they can be used to attract more members.

<snip>

Dave

I believe the recent copies have all been done in PDF format for a number of years since the printers all need PDF files for printing out. So in theory it is fairly easy to upload the magazine to the website. When I was managing the site my problem was I had a limited quota of disk space available for the site (2gb) and I needed it for the site content rather than newsletter back issues they were very large 100+mb each (its the pictures that does it!), George knows the size better than me. There are some in the members area that I uploaded but it is a bit sporadic . But Liam has his own servers and thus can be a bit more frivolous with disk space

As for the main question: I like my hard copy of the newsletter but if there was an opt-out to have a digital version then I would probably would go for that since my storage space for the hard copy is getting a bit full! I keep my past copies too and have them going back to '93 mostly. I am also aware that even in this day and age not everyone is online so digital only is probably not a good idea. Having an opt-out would allow a smaller print run of the hard copy which may or may not lower the cost of the printed version or even ironically it may increase it.

Martin S.

[Liam]

As Martin says, plenty of room on the server. I can stick the lot on the members section if people want me to.

We are up to 4.8GB for the web site at the moment. Most of it taken by the Editor's Muse and the Howie-Woods.

[Andrew Hannah]

In defence of Gary, I think he has a point. Whilst we all like to receive our six-monthly glossy mag, there is sense in publishing it online as well.

As things stand, the magazine is 'exclusive' to members that stump up £20 a year to receive it (plus a range of other benefits). If NewSprint is published online, any member of the public would be able to read it. But isn't that precisely what we want? The less exclusive we make ourselves, the greater chance we have of promoting the class.

[Liam]

The members section is password protected. There are a few back issues in there already.

Maybe we could change the password every six months and advertise the password in Newsprint.

[George Love]

Or how about putting the previous edition of the magazine on the web after the latest edition is published in hard copy?
At least that way, the website would be only one issue behind and anyone could read it and any other back copies, whilst retaining some exclusivity for the current issue to members who've stumped up their subscription. I have pdf files for all the mags I have produced over the last ten years - 19 issues at present. I also have around 10 issues of the 'Special Edition' published each year for the RYA Dinghy Show which could also be made available with ease. I think we should at least publish the current version of this on the web. Let me know.
Just for info. - the pdf file of each edition is round about 300MB - give or take.

[moreair]

I think you should load all the old magazines up to the Internet. They are no good hidden away. Being visible to the world will only advertise the class and encourage new people in. Newsprint is an outstanding resource. Hold back the newest if that is what is believed why we pay Association membership, but to me it doesn't matter the membership payment is for a lot more than just the magazine.

The size would be a problem, however I had the same with the TBYC Club Magazine but now days it is best to use a service that is made for the job, especially if they are free. ISSUU has been around for many years and is totally free to upload your .PDF versions, it then optimises (reducing the size) but making easier to read for everybody. My server owner didn't want Mb's worth of mags on the webserver and pushed me to ISSUU. You can pay for other services, but it isn't required. For the administrator it also tells you some fantastic stats on what pages were read and for how long.

The magazines can be read from any PC, however are definitely best from a tablet. On Android you can use the ISSUU App, however their is also an App called "All Magazines" which is just another front end for ISSUU but also allows you to bookmark and offline download, and it seems a little faster.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... arch&hl=en All Magazines Android App
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... .app&hl=en ISSUU Android App
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/issuu-w ... 53825?mt=8 ISSUU iOS App

Link to ISSUU TBYC Magazine Stacks or just search for TBYC within the Apps. https://issuu.com/search?q=tbyc&type=stack We have also used it for some other documents from our history. When viewing make sure you go full screen on a PC for the best experience.

The Finn class has also been using it for years and here is the link to their FinnFare https://issuu.com/finn-class/docs

The Laser Class https://issuu.com/laserclass

I shouldn't say this but sometimes somebody accidentally puts one of our popular shelf magazines up there, which often gets removed soon after.

Lets not try to protect something that should be available to all, we are losing out to other classes.

Go on George load them up and if the Committee don't like it and I am sure they will then you can delete them just as easy (or easier with 300mb) per issue.

If you really like one of the old Newsprint mags then ISSUU used to print in quality and send you the one you select at a cost (slightly more than a normal magazine). Can't find the option now but I am sure it is just temporary.

Paul

[dave42w]

This sounds a great option!

I think you should load all the old magazines up to the Internet. They are no good hidden away. Being visible to the world will only advertise the class and encourage new people in. Newsprint is an outstanding resource. Hold back the newest if that is what is believed why we pay Association membership, but to me it doesn't matter the membership payment is for a lot more than just the magazine.

The size would be a problem, however I had the same with the TBYC Club Magazine but now days it is best to use a service that is made for the job, especially if they are free. ISSUU has been around for many years and is totally free to upload your .PDF versions, it then optimises (reducing the size) but making easier to read for everybody. My server owner didn't want Mb's worth of mags on the webserver and pushed me to ISSUU. You can pay for other services, but it isn't required. For the administrator it also tells you some fantastic stats on what pages were read and for how long.

The magazines can be read from any PC, however are definitely best from a tablet. On Android you can use the ISSUU App, however their is also an App called "All Magazines" which is just another front end for ISSUU but also allows you to bookmark and offline download, and it seems a little faster.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... arch&hl=en All Magazines Android App
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... .app&hl=en ISSUU Android App
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/issuu-w ... 53825?mt=8 ISSUU iOS App

Link to ISSUU TBYC Magazine Stacks or just search for TBYC within the Apps. https://issuu.com/search?q=tbyc&type=stack We have also used it for some other documents from our history. When viewing make sure you go full screen on a PC for the best experience.

The Finn class has also been using it for years and here is the link to their FinnFare https://issuu.com/finn-class/docs

The Laser Class https://issuu.com/laserclass

I shouldn't say this but sometimes somebody accidentally puts one of our popular shelf magazines up there, which often gets removed soon after.

Lets not try to protect something that should be available to all, we are losing out to other classes.

Go on George load them up and if the Committee don't like it and I am sure they will then you can delete them just as easy (or easier with 300mb) per issue.

If you really like one of the old Newsprint mags then ISSUU used to print in quality and send you the one you select at a cost (slightly more than a normal magazine). Can't find the option now but I am sure it is just temporary.

Paul

[Liam]

George has given me almost ten years' worth of Newsprint copies in PDF format. I have compressed them and uploaded them to http://www.sprint15.com/magazine.php

They are available to all without a password. There were already a few copies on this site but they were password protected previously.

The intention is to add the previous issue each time a new one is published.

Let me know if you have any problems. I compressed them for an up-to-date version of Adobe Reader so make sure you have the latest version installed.