Break into Print with a Newsletter

Article Tools

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

TESTING THE WATERS

To launch my publication, I typed a one-page sample issue outlining the proposed categories, had 200 copies printed ($13.00), and mailed them to libraries and genealogical and historical societies in the Appalachian area ($40.00 postage).

During the next two weeks I received orders for 15 subscriptions at $12 a year each, and received several article submissions as well. I was really in business!

PRODUCING THE GOODS

The response to my sample outline was encouraging enough to convince me to stick to its basic format. Each issue starts with a full front page how-to article describing one phase of genealogy research, such as "Information from Old Cemeteries," "Variations in Name Spelling," and "How to Use Census Records." The second section is called "Sources"; here I listand sometimes review-recently published reference books. I en courage my readers to submit information, and I scan other periodicals for mention of books, journals, and quarterlies. Each issue features at least ten such listings, including prices and ordering information. Everything from research method books and published census records to printed family histories is presented here. The newsletter also contains a "General Interest" page for announcements of meetings, seminars, reunions, and picnics for family groups or area societies and organizations.

Other than a half page for the "Editor's Corner," which I use to pass along last-minute news and notes, the remaining space is devoted to information requests from my readers. In genealogy these are called queries, and usually ask for specific help on a particular person or family. Many publications charge a fee for printing queries, or allow only one free query with a subscription. I allow each reader to send up to three eight-line queries a month ... free. This keeps interest high (and, incidentally, helps to fill pages). I have no paid advertising.

The back page has two sections: The top folds over to form the address area, and the bottom contains a subscription order form with spaces for readers to fill in the particular surnames and family names that interest them.

Deadline for information to appear in any given issue is the twenty-fifth of the preceding month. Since I mail the copies during the first week, this gives me about ten days for final composition, typing, and printing.

LAYOUT AND TYPESETTING

Because the newsletter follows the same general format each month, layout is relatively simple. The first page is topped by a masthead featuring a drawing of a log cabin on a hill, rendered for me by an artist friend, and the title Appalachian Roots, which I printed using a plastic lettering guide. I used the same lettering guide to print headings for the newsletter's various sections, and put aside extra copies of these headings to use in setting up the "dummy" for each issue.

Preparing the dummy is just a matter of putting the headings and typed sections together in the proper order. A glue stick works well to hold the pieces in place on a base sheet of white paper. .

Typesetting, of course, refers to the preparation of typed pages from which copies are printed. There are expensive typesetting machines that produce clear, clean print in different sizes, but for a small newsletter, a good electric typewriter—with clean keys and a dark ribbon!—is sufficient. When I first started, I used an old manual machine; now I type every issue on a Smith-Corona electronic typewriter, which I bought with part of my profits. Any title or heading I want to emphasize is either capitalized, underlined, or highlighted by broad lines drawn in with a ruler after typing.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print