Community Outreach Bulletin 6.0

Publishing A Newsletter


"Freedom of the press belongs to those who own one."

A. J. Liebling

A Three Part Process

The process of creating a good newsletter involves three considerations: design, content and reproduction. But these are not separate stages; they interact throughout the entire process. How well you handle the interaction will determine the quality of the final product. Careful planning of each step in the process will result in a newsletter that accurately and professionally reflects your group's identity and purpose.

Part 1: Design

The first consideration is the design of your newsletter. A good design is one that makes your newsletter easy to read. In fact, really great designs will entice people to read. Your choice of design should also project the style and identity of your group. The design process consists of four smaller steps: developing the concept, designing a format, selecting type, and creating graphics. The concept for your newsletter will determine how it will look and how it will "sound." Another way of looking at concept is to decide what you want to say and how you want to say it. The selection of a format for your newsletter follows the development of the concept. Is your newsletter to be formal or informal? Will your tone be professional or personal? The selection and design of the format can work for you or against you. The selection of a typeface is an important consideration. The typeface should match the concept and format and ease readability Finally, add graphics only where they will enhance the news, not detract from it.

DEVELOPING THE CONCEPT

Where do you start? A good place to look is other newsletters or periodicals. Instead of just reading the words, examine the way the publication is put together. Select elements and features that attract your eye. Try to see how you can integrate these into your own design. But do not try to use a concept that is beyond your means or that is inappropriate to your situation. For example, a small circulation newsletter which has limited editing and production capabilities would operate from a very different concept than would a newsletter that communicates with a wide audience and has the budget to support this expanded mission.

FORMAT AND PAGE DESIGN

Format refers to the actual size and layout of the pages and how those pages are arranged. Most newsletters use standard paper sizes, 81 2 x 14 inches (legal), 81 2 x 11 inches (letter), or 51 2 x 81 2 inches (half-size). Odd size paper will increase reproduction and mailing costs.
Next, decide on a page layout. This is not the place for unbridled creativity. The eyes of your readers are accustomed to only a few standard layouts. Whichever page size you decide on, it should have a vertical orientation. Then, depending on your concept, you may want to divide the page into columns. An informal, "chatty' letter could have only one column, yet a formal publication would have two or three columns on each page. The columns, plus the margins on all sides, give you a grid on which you "hang" your articles and graphics. This grid should be consistent for all pages. But, you can break the rules occasionally.

Once you have decided on the standard format, you will now work within that format to design attractive pages. Good design comes with practice and experience. It is not created spontaneously; don't try to force it. As you work, you will develop a visual style for your newsletter. Good design is determined by the balance of visual elements on each page taking into account that some elements are more important to your readers than others. Balance does not mean perfect symmetry. A symmetric page is static; is it is boring and dull. Use elements of unequal size to pull the reader's eye across the page. If your publication is printed on both sides of the sheet, consider how facing pages will look when seen together.

Each story must have a headline that tells the reader what the story is about. Writing headlines and choosing type for them will be discussed later. But for now consider headlines as design elements. A multi-column headline can tie a page together. "Breaker" heads are used to visually divide a long story and make it more inviting to the reader.

Other graphic elements (photographs, drawings, boxes, etc.) are also design elements that can be used to make your pages lively and interesting. Their use will be discussed below. Do not try to fill the whole page with type or other graphic elements. This make the page look crowded. Blank spaces on the page (called "whitespace") is very important in overall design.

TYPE SELECTION

The typeface you choose for your publication will give it its own personality. But sometimes, especially with desktop publishing via computers and laserprinter technology, editors tend to use too many typefaces within the publication. As a result, publications often have a split personality. Resist this urge to be "creative" with type faces until you've had some experience.

Typewriters do not create type. However, a typewriter is perfectly acceptable if the copy is clean and crisp. Typewritten text feels personal yet looks professional. There are typewriters that produce proportionally spaced type. These are better than standard units. The famous Kiplinger Letter is still typewritten.

Type fonts come in two basic families, Serif and Sans-Serif. Serif type (like the one you're reading now) has little strokes or tails at the tops and bottoms of each letter. San-serif type (like this) has no tails. The most popular typeface ever designed is a sans-serif font: Helvetica. The second most popular face is a Serif font: Times. However, a serif type is easier to read, especially in smaller sizes. LIKEWISE, TYPE THAT IS SET IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS IS HARDER TO READ than type set in caps and lower case.

In each font family there are at least four variations. For serif faces they are Roman, Italic, Bold, and Bold-Italic. Roman simply means straight up and down letters. In the italic version the letters are slanted . The bold version of a typeface is darker . And, obviously, bold italic is both darker and slanted . For San-Serif faces (like Optima) the four styles are Roman, Oblique, Bold and Bold-Oblique. The reason for the difference is that italic faces have different character shapes than the Roman, while oblique characters are simply Roman characters that are slanted. Examine Italic vs Roman "a" and "g" to see the differences. These different versions offer variety, but resist the temptation to use them indiscriminately. Adopt the Roman version as your standard, and only depart from it for consistent and logical reasons.

Once you've selected the typeface, you need to select the sizes that you'll be using for body copy, headlines, sub-heads and breaker heads. Type sizes are measured in points. A point is 1 72 of an inch; so 72-point type is about one inch tall. Type is measured from the top of the tallest ascender, e.g. "b", to the bottom of the lowest descender. e.g. "y." For best readability, body copy (your story text) type size should be within the nine to 12 point range. Photo and figure captions can be as small as six points. Headlines can be as large as space (and your designer's eye) allow. But try to save really big headlines for earth-shattering events.

GRAPHICS

The name of your newsletter as it appears on the front page is considered a graphic, and it is probably the most important graphic in your publication because it sets the tone for what follows. The name of the publication alone (set in display type), or the name combined with a logo or other elements, is called the "nameplate" or "flag." For example, below is the nameplate for the Renaissance national newsletter. Note the placement of each element in the nameplate.

The typeface used for "Renaissance News " is used no where else in the publication. Hopefully, this exclusive use will help the reader quickly identify the newsletter without having to read the name. The Mona Lisa logo is in proportion with the name. The size and placement of the nameplate is consistent from issue to issue. But it does not need to be. Some newsletters have smaller nameplates for special uses, or the nameplate "floats" on the page as yet another design element.

Illustrations, either line drawings or half-tone prints, can be used as the dominant visual item on a page. But don't feel you have to use an illustration on every page, and don't use any photo unless it will reproduce well. Good photos can make a publication while a bad one can break it. Photos must be screened for printing. This means that the continuous tones of a photographic print are broken up into a pattern of dots. Many stationery stores carry a nearly clear plastic sheet that can be used to screen photographs for reproduction on a Xerox or similar photocopier. Forget about scanning photos into your computer and printing from your laser-printer. The best resolution a 300 dot-per-inch laser printer can produce for a halftone is worse than the coarsest photo in a newspaper (about 55 lines-per-inch) at 32 shades of grey. A newer 600 dpi laser printer can reproduce 85 lines per inch at about 60+ shades of grey. This may be good enough for your purposes. Otherwise have your photos halftoned.

In the absence of an illustration, a "pull--quote" may be used to break up a large expanse of type. A pull--quote is a short quotation drawn from or summarizing the surrounding material and attracts attention to it. It is set in display type and positioned as a graphic element.

The large first capital letter is called a "Drop Cap" and it too is considered a graphic element.
Although headlines are written after the body copy is written, headlines are an important design element.

Big Headlines Organize Material

Sub-heads add more info, lead reader into article


Part 2: Content

The first consideration regarding the content of your newsletter is what tone do you wish to convey? Are you concerned about civil rights? If so, your newsletter should have a serious tone. Are you interested in providing information about personal appearance? Your newsletter should take an instructive, yet informal tone. Or, you may choose a balance between serious issues, information and entertainment. But what ever the tone you set, you must have something worthwhile to say.

Where do you get source material? Perhaps the easiest source is to write material yourself. Tell about upcoming group sponsored events and report on previous activities. Try writing an editorial ("In my opinion ") to stimulate correspondence from readers. A more difficult source is to have others within the group write material for you. Get a business report from the treasurer and secretary. Ask others to write about their opinions and experiences. These sources are difficult because contributors sometimes don't understand or honor your deadlines. A third source is from other newsletters. Always make sure that you have permission to reproduce material. Most newsletters in our community have a blanket permission statement that allows reproduction as long as the source is given credit. Once you get your newsletter underway, you can exchange it with other groups for their newsletters. Finally, scan newspapers and magazines for ideas. Using the initial material, write your own original piece. Never lift a news article, photograph or cartoon verbatim from any source without written permission. To do so is a violation of copyright laws and cheapens your publication.

Use the active voice when writing copy ("We made progress.") rather than the passive voice ("Progress was made."). Passive voice is vague and tends to hide your meaning.

Use a consistent style of writing and punctuation. This sounds a lot easier than it actually is. It means that you must pay attention to style, grammar and punctuation as well as the words. You will get better at it as you get more experience. There is a list of reference books for style, grammar and punctuation at the end of this bulletin. Your contributor may not follow these rules, but as the editor, it is your responsibility to change their copy to comply.

An editor is also responsible to ensure that all items published are clear and accurate. To do this, you may have to change some of the author's words. Don't hesitate doing this, but exercise caution. Good editing should enhance what has been written, but should leave the original tone intact. Good editing should also be invisible to the reader and to the writer of the original piece. In addition to correcting spelling, punctuation and grammar, you may also have to edit the text to fit the space available on the page. This may mean deleting, adding or substituting words that the author used originally.

To ease the edition process, have your contributors give you double spaced drafts. If you have your text in electronic form, use a spelling checker, if possible, but don't expect it to catch all the errors. Most spelling checkers won't catch contextual errors like "form" when you meant "from." So, you'll still have to read your copy to catch contextual errors. If your text is non-electronic, read it forward for context and backwards to catch spelling errors. If at all possible, have someone else read it. One of the biggest problems with effective proofreading is familiarity with the copy. A fresh set of eyes often finds mistakes that others missed on their third or fourth reading.

After you've proofread everything, proofread it one more time. The biggest mistakes are the hardest to find. Check all the display type carefully. Don't forget the small stuff either. Check everything, even the page numbers and publication date. Check that every opening quote, parenthesis, bracket and comma opening a dependent clause has a corresponding closing element. Check one more time for spelling, punctuation, grammar and contextual errors.

Part 3: Production

The third and last consideration is production and the method of reproduction. The method chosen should be cost effective. Cost is determined by the quantity to be printed and the quality needed. Production will proceed in two steps: paste-up and reproduction.

PASTE-UP

Paste-up means to assemble the text and graphic elements on the page prior to reproduction. In the publishing industry this patchwork page is called a "mechanical." If you are doing manual paste-up, you will need some layout boards, available from an art supply house. These boards have the page borders printed in non-reproducing blue. In a pinch, you can use another sheet of regular paper. You print your text files in the desired format and cut them to fit the space on your layout. Test fit everything first. Once you paste it down, there it stays. Paste them down with double-faced tape or stick glue.

With computer equipment, this "paste-up" process is performed electronically on the screen of the computer. The advantage of computer layout is the ease with which changes can be made. You can try out different formats and type faces without a lot of additional work. Your pages can be printed from a dot-matrix printer or a low resolution laserprinter. If you are going to offset reproduction, and your publication warrants the additional cost, you can output your pages to a typesetter. Some computer systems will allow you to "scan" drawings and photographs. This changes them to electronic data that the computer manipulates just as it does text. The product that comes out of the printer is ready for reproduction ("camera ready").

PRODUCTION

You finally reached the last step: reproduction. The method you choose will depend on the number of copies you need, their quality and the amount of money you are willing to spend to achieve that quantity and quality.

The simplest and least expensive method of reproduction is mimeograph. The quality of mimeo is reasonable, but the capacity is limited. Mimeo masters must be typed directly on the manifold to transfer the ink to the master sheet. Mimeo has severe limitations in reproducing graphics; you are generally restricted to using a typewriter and a ball point pen. Mimeo can also be very messy.

The next simplest method is photocopy, or Xerox. The quality of reproduction ranges from good to excellent, depending on the type and age of the machine. Reproduction costs are moderate. Masters can be "pasted up" by hand or electronically. Photographs are reproduced in an acceptable manner if they are screened first.

The best quality reproduction, and the highest cost method, is offset/letterpress. There are two variations of offset reproduction. The cheaper of the two methods uses paper printing plates (Quickprint, ZIP & PIP). The masters are produced by photocopying the originals onto the paper plates. This process is very attractive for runs in excess of 200 pieces. The older, more traditional process uses metal plates exposed through a photographic process. This method is even more expensive, but it gives the best quality and is good for several thousand copies. Photographs reproduce very well. Masters may be prepared by hand or electronically. If you elect to use this method, you will probably deal with a full-service print shop that also offers a variety of other useful services which will improve your newsletter, but for an additional charge. Other print shops simply copy what you give them, for better or for worse.

 References

STYLE AND GRAMMAR

Elements of Style , Wm. Strunk and E.B. White, Macmillan, 3rd Edition, $3.50 (paperback)

The Elements of Grammar , M. Shertzer, Collier Macmillan, 1986, $10.00

The Elements of Editing, A Modern Guide for Editors and Journalists , A. Plotnik, Collier Macmillan, 1984, $10.00

The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual , Revised Edition, C.W. French, Ed., Addison-Wesley, 1987, $11.00

GRAMMAR, USAGE AND SPELLING HOTLINES
Georgia State University Writing Center , (404) 658-2906, Hours; M-Th: 8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Fri: 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.

Northeastern University (Boston) English Department Grammar Hotline , (617) 437-2512, Hours; M-F: 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Burger Associates , Glenn Mills, Pa., (610)-399-1130, Hours; M-F: 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

University of Houston Downtown Grammar Hotline , (713) 221-8670, Hours; M-Th: 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.

Purdue University (at Indianapolis) Writing Hotline , (317) 274-3000, Hours; T-Th: 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.

Issued by Renaissance

A non-profit association to educate the professional and general communities about transgendered people.
For more information write:
Renaissance
987 Old Eagle School Rd., Suite 719
Wayne, PA 19087
Phone: 610-975-9119
Email: renaissance@ren.org

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