I'm writing this in late February. This should surprise you, since the original completion date for issue #11 was in mid- December and, in fact, it was almost entirely complete by that time. So what happened?
There seems to have been a conspiracy of circumstances which have kept this issue from going out on time. J.D. is busy at National Guard training, as some of you may know. He's back in the A-7, this time for the AFNG, and will be involved with that training for a few more weeks. As a consequence, he has been relatively busy and has not been producing a lot of material for the newsletter. In addition, what time he does have has been dedicated to producing data cards for Gunslingers to meet GDW's deadline.
Then there has been my new job. I have been quite busy trying to keep up with the workload that had resulted from some reductions in staff at my company. I also had the joy of spending essentially the last two weeks of January on the road and as a result, the original version of this issue did not arrive at the printer until my return, at the beginning of February.
But wait, there's still more. Ile printer apparently lost the issue at some time and decided not to tell me in the hope of relocating it in time to make a print run. I did not actually learn this until very recently, hence I decided to rewrite this column and make some other minor corrections while hunting down a new printer.
We are still tying to provide the best possible service, but I have lost my staff in the move, I have difficulty in doing layout work whenever I'd like now because my computer must usually be on my desk at work and transporting it to home gets to be a real problem. Some of the hardware and software which I had access to at the college is unavailable here in Huntsville. In all, something of a pain.
Nevertheless, life goes on. We have found a new printer and he will hopefully be more reliable than the last two we've tried. Issues #12 and #11 will be printed together and shipped together and I'll have #13 ready as soon as J.D. gets the time to complete his columns. Even though the ground campaign in the Gulf has started (tonight, as I write this), we will be avoiding any details in issue #12. J.D. intends to devote issue #13 to an analysis of the air campaign over Iraq, and that win be an issue no one should miss.
As for our continuing printer difficulties, we are now looking into electronic publishing houses as an alternative, perhaps even for issue #13. This would allow us to bring you a higher quality issue with better artwork and photos for essentially the same cost. If any of you know of a house that does timely, inexpensive, and quality work, I'm open to suggestions.
This issue is also going out via Bulk Mail again, a return to the tactic that failed miserably in our first year. We have several advantages now in comparison, however. The issues are now going out in heavy stock envelopes which should prevent damage, and the local Post Office Bulk Mail outlet is a regional mailing center. This means that our issues will be placed directly in the trucks that carry them to the local distribution centers.
This should allow the issues to get out much quicker than they did from LaGrange because they do not have to be handled as many times. It also means that we are less likely to have a "missing issue" problem. I'm sorry that we have to go back to this technique, but I hope it will not cause any problems. In light of the recent postal rate changes, we really have no alternative other than raising prices, which J.D. and I are committed to avoid.
There has been a hue and cry about the possibility of no longer producing back issues. OK, OK, I get the picture. A lot of you had the same comment: "If it costs more to make them, raise the price, stupid!" I may be stupid, but I'm not a fool. Effective immediately, we have reinstituted back issue ordering, with the provisos that the price will be US $3.00 per issue (postage included) for domestic subscribers and US $3.50 per issue for overseas subscribers. All back issues will be photocopied on 8.5" x 11" paper and stapled.
I no longer have access to inexpensive, large-format photocopying so I will have to use a Kinko's (or equivalent) to make the back issues and that will result in the format changes. The good news is that it will no longer be necessary to batch-up large quantifies of back issue orders to get a quantity discount, and therefore we will be able to process the orders much more quickly.
Well, I see I'm about out of column inches again, so I'll be wrapping up. If you've been expecting something from us (other than issues #I I and # 12) and haven't gotten it, please write me and I'll get on it as soon as possible. Thanks to the few of you that have been contributing material, we really appreciate it and are processing it as we get it. Where are the rest of you? Parting shot: why is it easier to train Iraqi pilots? You don't have to teach 'em how to land! Check six!
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© Copyright 1990 by J.D. Webster
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