The Endurance News (was Donna's Column)

["guest@endurance.net" <guest@endurance.net>]

K S SWIGART   katswig@earthlink.net

It seems to me that the whole question about whether the EN should be paying for 
articles comes down to a very simple question:  Is the Endurance News a magazine 
or a newsletter?

If you want my answer, I'd say it is a newsletter.  It is a way of keeping the 
membership informed about what is happening within the organization.  It 
publishes ride results, the ride calendar, standings, has editorial comment from 
the president, the vice president, the national office, publishes outcomes of 
protests, letters from the membership, minutes from board meetings, financial 
statements of the organization, statements by the trails committee and the vet 
committee...the education committee???...you catch my drift.  

If, on the other hand, people would rather see it as a magazine than a 
newsletter, then that is a completely different animal.  AND it will need to be 
run completely differently.  In fact, it will have to be run like a magazine.  
Which means that the AERC will have to hire competent, experienced staff to 
publish a magazine. It will have to have an editor who knows what it means to be 
an editor (and whose job it is to be an editor, not one that has a bunch of 
other responsibilities too).  It will have to have a graphic designer who knows 
something about layout, it will have to have an editorial staff that can review 
all articles that are published, check them for accuracy, validity, etc. ...you 
catch my drift.

I, personally, think that the AERC is totally ill-equipped to undertake such a 
task, and it should stick with sending out a newsletter.  I can subscribe to 
excellent magazines that have whole editorial staffs, staff writers, etc. whose 
job it is to provide me with quality articles, excellent layout, etc.  These 
people do nothing other than produce a quality magazine. And I can get these 
magazines for a whole lot less money than it would cost the AERC to do it.

Not only that, it is totally outside the bounds of the charter of the AERC to go 
in to the magazine publishing business.

So here is my take.  The Endurance News is NOT, nor should it ever be a "premier 
magazine."  It is an organization newsletter and should be published as such.  I 
liked the Endurance News better when it was much shorter, on cheaper paper, and 
was ... get this ... Black & White.  I liked it better when it was understood by 
everybody that the Endurance News is intended to provide the membership with the 
information that they needed because they were members of the organization.

Producing a quality magazine requires much more than just expensive paper and 
color photos.  And it requires much more than just paying authors for their 
articles.  If the AERC wants to try to get into the magazine publishing 
business, I have but one thing to say ... that's absolutely NUTS!!!! (And I will 
fight it tooth and nail because that is NOT what I pay my dues for and I would 
much prefer that the AERC stick to the important business of providing the 
membership benefits that only the AERC provides: Ride sanctioning, rules (if it 
is going to publish something it should publish its rules), mileage tracking, 
the awards program and leave the magazine publishing business "to the 
professionals."  I don't join the AERC so I can get a good magazine.  I already 
subscribe to a bunch of good magazines and there is NO way that the AERC can 
compete with them, nor should they even try to.  And if the AERC thinks that it 
can run a "premier magazine" without hiring a professional magazine publishing 
staff to do so all I can say is that it is an insult to true professionals to 
think that this can be done by a bunch of part-time amateurs.

And as far as advertising goes, advertisers advertise in the Endurance News 
because it is sent to every endurance household in the country.  When I am 
looking for something that is specifically endurance related, I look at the 
advertisements in the Endurance News. It is the best place to go for that kind 
of specific product information.  While magazines, on the other hand will target
specific advertisers if they are going to be having an article about a particular
horse care requirement. (i.e. if Equus is going to be having a special feature
on fencing options they will let fencing manufacturers know about this in 
advance and solicit advertising from them so that the people reading the article
about fencing can then contact people who provide it.  Does the AERC want to go there???

So while I agree with the AERC's policy of not "paying" for contributions to the 
Endurance News (not even in trade for advertising space in the magazine), I see 
no reason that a one-liner biographical information about the author of a 
particular article cannot be provided (such as:  "Donna Snyder-Smith is a riding 
clinician in Central California").  Yes, this does serve as "advertising" for 
the contributor if they are a professional horseperson looking for clientele, 
but it also provides information to the reader as to just how valid the 
information provided might be.  If expert horsemen then make contributions 
because of the advertising that they get from it, well ... that's okay.  But if 
expert horsemen feel that they can get better compensation by selling their 
articles to magazines, well ... that's okay too.  If Donna Snyder-Smith wants to 
go in to the business to selling articles to magazines, the AERC is not, by its 
current policy, keeping her from doing so.  And if AERC members want to avail 
themselves of Donna Snyder-Smith's expertise, the AERC is not, by its current 
policy, keeping them from doing so.

But I do think that the AERC needs to decide if it wants to publish a newsletter 
or a magazine.  Currently, the Endurance News is not a premier magazine (I 
wouldn't describe it as even a good magazine); it is just an expensive 
newsletter.  Me?  I would stick to the business of running the AERC rather than 
trying to get into the magazine publishing business and go for cost cutting on 
the newsletter.  One of the reasons being that printing ride results (one of the 
things that I think is an obligation of the Endurance News) does not sell 
magazines.  

kat
Orange County, Calif.