Introduction
Putting out a good leaflet, brochure, newsletter or paper is hard work. But it's one of the most rewarding jobs you could take on. After a while, you'll wonder how you ever lived without a deadline. You'll get addicted to the satisfaction of putting the paper to bed and most of all, to that wonderful day the publication appears and everyone's reading and talking about it.
It'll bring out latent talents you never knew you had, from organizing meetings to cartooning. And when you get excited or upset about something, whether it's the government hiking interest rates or how messy the restroom is, you have the tools to get hundreds of other people to take the problem seriously too.
This book was developed from both technical knowledge and the experience of dozens of groups. Although we hope you'll eventually read the whole book, we don't expect you'll go through it all at once. Chapters are designed so they'll make sense no matter what order you read them in. All unfamiliar terms are defined when they first come up and indexed in the back.
For the Seasoned Editor & Committee
You'll find here new ideas and ways to polish up your technique. And when you're stumped about any part of your job, from a technical typesetting term to the cheapest way to set up a mailing list, check both the Table of Contents and the Index on p. 143 to find where the answer lies.
Crash Course for Beginners
To get a good start producing a simple, inexpensive paper, first read the 48 pages marked with an asterisk (*) in the Table of Contents. Then skim the
Table of Contents to see what other areas, such as brushing up on grammar, professional typesetting, fund-raising or getting mailing discounts, you should read right away.
When You've Read It All
Build on the ideas presented in this book by scrutinizing all the written materials you see. How are words, type and space used? Why does something attract or repel you? What articles or leaflets do you enjoy and which ones do you stop reading in the middle? Which ones do you remember? Investigate why some things work as communication and others don't.
Good luck!