Many of you now we’ve been working on a new database to help us better keep track of our ever-growing lists of subscribers, friends, and advertisers. Charlie Smith had been working with Jeff on this for some time before Charlie’s untimely death this past spring, and last month all our work finally started to be put into action. We wish Charlie were here to see it!
We now have new and improved invoices for our advertisers. The new layout, including much more information about each account, should make our billings more accurate and problems easier to solve. The subscriber database will automatically print out a renewal letter when subscriptions expire, which will make it much easier to assure that no one misses an issue. Of course, renewal letters for our Friends contributors will automatically be generated as well. The idea is to make our record-keeping more accurate, as well as to save staff time and allow us to spend more time on the important thing putting out a high-quality newspaper!
As the new system gets up and running, there may be a few glitches. If you notice any errors or “funny stuff” that might be caused by the database, please call to let us know. Thanks to those of you who have already let us know that you got multiple copies of the paper in the mail last month hopefully you only got ONE this month!
Since 1996 we have devoted space in Access Press to the Friends who support the paper financially. To the left there is an article thanking all the people who help the paper in other, just as important, ways. In future months we plan to include the names of these indispensable In Kind supporters as a regular feature. Let us know if your name belongs there and you don’t see it.
For the past few months we have had sufficient advertising revenue to allow us to consistently put out a 16-page paper. That’s a good thing, as there is so much going on that we want to report on!
As we get used to the increased space, you’ll notice a few changes in where you find regular features. The In Brief section, anchored on page 3 for a number of years, will now be found on the first page after the center section (page 10 in a 16-pager, page 8 if we decide to go with 12 pages). We want to reserve space on page 3 for “breaking” news and other “almost-front-page” articles. Our regular columns have been moved a couple pages back as well, from pages 4-5 to pages 6-7, just before the center section.
Jeff Nygaard has been an enormous help to Access Press and me. Over the last couple months he has slowly taken on less and less responsibility and left the responsibilities to Laurie and me. Jeff and I have decided that he has fulfilled his promise to Charlie as interim editor and tutor. Now he has made a promise to me he will continue, with shortened hours, as a part-time editorial adviser, bookkeeper, data consultant, and all-around “super-assistant” for a few more months. Believe it or not, Jeff is looking forward to his new role.
