As you open the pages of this latest edition of our monthly magazine, you may not be aware of what has happened behind the scenes for it to reach your hands.
Within days, the editor, Sally Schofield, will call a contributors’ meeting. Whoever is available among the 16 contributors will meet for a couple of hours at someone’s home. We’ll have a debrief on this issue: what worked, what didn’t, any glitches or typos missed by the proofreaders, a fabulous shot chosen for page 17, news of upcoming concerts or exhibitions, new business openings, or any exciting events happening in the surrounding hills. A couple of hours later, Sally will have enough ideas noted down to send out the first rough draft for the contents of next month’s issue – and we’re off.
Of those 16 contributors, some write regular columns on particular themes: wine, books, gardening, recipes, or a reflective piece on life itself. None of the contributors is paid to turn out 50, 500, or 1500 words each issue. It’s done for the love of it. Newcomers to town find it a great way to understand how the town ticks and what sorts of things are going on behind the shopfronts up and down the streets of the town and along the winding roads of our 2479 postcode. We’ll likely have about 10 days to do the interview and write it up. Copy deadline is around the middle of the month – most challenging in short months like February.
As well as feature articles, Sally gathers info from the dozens of community groups listed towards the end of the magazine. There are always upcoming workshops, plays, art shows, theatrical and musical performances, lectures, and cultural gatherings that need audiences, and our pages present the perfect promotional opportunity.
Rumbling away on a slightly different wavelength is our advertising person, Pippa Vickery. Working in the bottle shop as well as gathering our ads, Pippa is well placed to sniff out appropriate advertising opportunities. Only Pippa, Sally, and our magazine designer, Gaby Borgardts, receive any payment for their valuable work – and by city standards, their payment is modest – but highly valued by us!
Needless to say, invoices need to be written up for the ads, and a keen eye maintained on timely bill payment. Ad income pays for print production. That’s where our trusty treasurer, Adam Susz, comes in, making sure income and outgoings flow smoothly and that we meet all the legal requirements of a non-profit incorporated body like ours.
Around mid-month, the articles start dropping in to the editor. Writers may take their own photos, or we may be lucky enough to have local professional photographer Lyn McCarthy available to do the some of the shot. Sometimes photos are supplied. Once all the promised articles have reached her desk (or sometimes not), Sally works out the sequence stories will run and edits or adjusts the length before passing the pages on to designer Gaby for the nearly final phase.
Around now, the handful of available proofreaders and the writers have the opportunity to read over their stories with keen eyes, noting whether any errors or glitches have crept in. If you, dear reader, have a nitpicking eye, feel free to volunteer your services; they would be welcome.
With the clock ticking, the editor keeps an eye on the sequence of dates followed with each edition: copy to the editor by mid-month, to design three days later, to the printer within the week, with delivery back to Bangalow scheduled for as close to the end of the month as possible.
Sometimes drama happens. Our Lismore printer was flooded the other year, causing chaos. If things run smoothly, the magazines are delivered to our keen team of 12 volunteer distributors by the very last days of the month. This dedicated team, headed by chief distributor Murray Hand, each has his or her specific delivery beat, and within hours your copy finds its way into your letterbox or into bundles taken to key locations around town, starting with boxes outside the post office and supermarket and to specific shops in neighbouring villages. And only then can you open these pages and read all about life in Bangalow 2479. New volunteers always welcome.
Photo caption: From left: Adam Susz, Jan Casey, Murray Hand, Enid Meldrum, and Barry Brown from our team of 12 distributors. They donate about an hour each month to hand-deliver bundles of between 100 to 320 copies of The Herald to Bangalow homes. “It’s great exercise as it includes hills,” says Jan. “Better than walking around the sports fields,” adds Enid, “and you get to see what’s happening around town!”