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1. Do you have any "fun" ideas for employee interest articles (e.g. show baby photo, ask to guess who)?
-- Venita Fortune, Carefree of Colorado

Venita -- You are on the right track... people love to read about themselves (either as individuals or as a member of a group). Here are three other ways to encourage large-scale participation: 1) a companywide, anonymous poll (with relevant social, political or cultural questions -- take care with any company-related questions); 2) the tried-and-true "person on the street" interview where you ask five coworkers the same question and print their responses and photos; 3) a personal milestones column for people to send in graduation announcements, anniversary greetings, etc. (but no personal messages).

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2. What do you put in a first newsletter?
-- Michelle Gullet, LEAP

Michelle -- First things first. What does LEAP mean? Let's Eat a Peach! Leave Early and Park. Love England, Anglo-philes! Large Elbows Are Pretty. Actually, the question isn't so silly, because the specific content of a first issue depends on the organization publishing it and the audience. As you might expect, since we've done a heckofalot more Volume One Number Ones than Volume One Number Twos, the first issue is actually a bit of a free ride. You have the white card (carte blanche) to put in as much "Who are we?" and "What do we do?" sort of brochure-type stuff as you want. Beyond that, and the all-too-familiar "welcome to this newsletter" article, you need to set the tone for subsequent issues. For example, if you plan to publish a profile of a client or an employee in each issue, either put one in the first issue or, at minimum, put in a "what we plan for this space in future issues" article. Most of all, don't worry. Your readers have all received Volume One Number Ones that flopped, so most of them will not care what you put in your first issue. From our experience, it's issue three that you really have to worry about.

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3. ¿Por qué not do an article on how to determine what makes a good "lead" story?
--Rolando Garza, Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission

Rolando -- Please pretend that you are now reading the all-too-predictable wry comments about your profession. Hic. News that affects the largest number of readers makes the best lead story. If you have no important news to report, a feature story can make a good lead as well. You need a lead story that will interest people ... one that will make people remember that issue of the newsletter. If you had to choose between "Director's Column," "New Commissioner Appointed," "Unannounced Inspections Show 10% Increase in Juvenile Sales," and "My Thoughts on the Unabomber," the unannounced inspections story is the obvious lead. The commissioner story should probably also appear on the front page. Neither of the other two example stories (or any standing column and filler material) should appear on the front page.

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4. About Carol's letter on making an employee newsletter more interesting (May/June 1997) -- how about employee hobbies or activities, obscure dates to celebrate or just fun pictures?
-- Nancy Christie, freelance writer specializing in career and business issues

Nancy -- We wrote that Carol should use a feedback form with interesting questions for her readers to answer -- the answers could be combined in various interesting ways without much effort on her part. Hobbies, activities and obscure dates would all make excellent fodder for questions. Your suggestion about photos is excellent -- assuming she can find people who think taking candid shots is fun. Carol doesn't have a lot of time to go around interviewing people, so she needs a way to get fun stuff for her newsletter without much time and effort. Your comment (later in your e-mail) about group shots with the tops of heads cut off being called Marie Antoniettes still causes chuckles around here.

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5. Do I need to include photographs of the people who answer my person-on-the-street questions?
-- Emily Tesher-Johnson, National Agri Marketing Association

Emily -- Yes. Quotes mean nothing without context. Since none of your interview subjects are probably experts or partisans in the subject area, they have no independent credentials other than what they look like. We humans communicate with much more than just words. When asking such questions, make sure you phrase them so that they can't be answered with just a "yes" or a "no" -- you'll get more interesting answers. Ethics/morality questions are often the most interesting. Perhaps you need a copy of the board game Scruples -- it has wonderful questions. For example, if someone offered you $10,000 to just make up the answer to a reader's question off the top of your head, would you take it! Heck yeah. I'd do it for free!

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Marsha -- Since when do realtor newsletters need to be interesting? Like all newsletter readers, the homeowners on whose doorsteps your publication arrives will evaluate it based on how useful the information will be to them and how much they can trust it. As you know, homeowners choose a real estate agent based on many factors, including knowledge, trustworthiness and personality — all things a newsletter can demonstrate well. So, rather than worry about making the newsletter "interesting," worry about showing readers that your realty agents know what they are talking about, know the local market, have made other customers happy and are real people. Your readers will decide what interests them.

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1. What can I do about a contributor who insists on having something in every issue?
-- Kyrsten

Kyrsten -- How you deal with any contributor depends on the political situation. A strong editor can reject articles or article ideas. Writers who insist on getting drivel into the newsletter can provide the opportunity for an editor without political power to make a point. As long as the writer in question isn't the big boss, the possibilty remains of having someone higher on the food chain render an objective opinion in support of your position.

Now.... back to reality. If it is a personal byline the writer is after, you can create a regular column for him or her. Columnists work for the editor and can have their material trimmed to fit their "spot." If it is departmental fame your contributor is after, the only effective solution is to take over the writing process yourself. If you change the relationship to one where you interview the contributor and write the story yourself for, say, three issues, you will find that your tome-meister will have cooled off.

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2. How do you get people to remember [your newsletter's schedule]?
-- Amy Byrum, Waterford Homeowners Association

Amy -- Mainly, if you are timely, people remember by themselves. However, you made a good suggestion in the part of your question we left out-- printing a schedule of upcoming issues (we also left out your nice note about how you love Newsletter Nameplate). If you can plan your editorial calendar (in general terms) for an entire year, then including a schedule in each issue makes sense. People may forget or ignore the planned dates of production, but they will remember the "spring cleaning issue" or the "Christmas issue."

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3. We have a reporter in each of our 20 banks across the state. How can I get them to write more interesting articles?
-- LeAnn Segler, Gate City Federal Savings Bank

LeAnn -- It is amazing how many newsletter correspondents think interesting news is just "the same old thing" and write about boring stuff instead. If you can't give your writers specific topics to write about, try using their reportorial talents to gather information for statewide stories. For example, if you are having a change in employment policy, get your reporters to canvass their co-workers for opinions. Or, easier still, do a survey in each issue. If the questions are interesting enough, you will often get good answers that can sometimes spark ideas among your reporters for interesting sidebars.

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4. What's the best way to encourage other people to contribute articles?
-- Theresa Hochfeld, JLG Industries

Theresa -- People don't usually volunteer to do things that won't enhance their prestige in some way (without threats of violence). Normally, prestige comes from either being part of an exclusive club or by being praised by or associated with someone with more prestige. Find the right way within your organization to make writing for the newsletter important -- with a plaque, a special "writer's club dinner," awards for the best articles, subtle encouragement from the CEO, whatever. Finish the job by creating (and posting) strict criteria for newsletter submissions. If any old article can get in, the club won't be very exclusive.

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5. As the editor of an association newsletter, what can I do to appease most of the members who are not happy about the articles written by one of our members?
-- Leo G. Henry, Advanced Micro Devices

LeoG -- It's hard to be objective since you are a client and we get a lot of enjoyment out of the contributor-in-question's cranky musings. That said, I have two suggestions. First, I'm sure most of the unappeased members are upset about the large amount of space these articles consume. Serialization would be one solution. By cutting each article in half (or in thirds!), the contributor would still make all the same points (and extraneous comments), but less often and in less space. Second, if you (or another board member) is willing to put in some time, either editor's notes embedded in each article (to soften some of the contributor's more irritating assertions) or a brief rebuttal article on the same page could appease those members who are upset at the contributor's comments.

By the way, regarding your second question, "What is free speech?" in addition to reminding you to look at your last invoice from us (far from free!), recall Abbott Liebling's famous aphorism, "Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one." -- and in this case, it's the association that owns the press.

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6. How do I get my writers to proofread their copy?
-- Michelle McGowan, TSM Services

Michelle -- Sorry, playing the grammar cop is your job. However, the remainder of your question (not printed here) makes it sound as if you are in the unfortunate position of being a compiler instead of an editor. Having all of the responsibility for your contributors' mistakes, but none of the real power to edit their copy (editing and proofing are very different) is an all-too-common dilemma faced by newsletter folks. Most editors with real editing responsibility don't mind a few typos or grammar errors because they have so much fun chopping and rearranging.

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7. I despair at the negative response to my requests for contributions. My gentle hints/firm requests/aggressive demands fall on deaf ears.
--Ann Blackburn, Albany Arts News

Ann -- Yes, the famous contributor question has been asked and answered many times before (though never for a reader in Australia like you ... just imagine, the postage to send you our mug will be at least triple the cost of the mug itself!). When aggressive demands don't do the trick, the final solution (bad choice of words) usually works. Jot down a few questions for your non-contributor and use the answers to write the article yourself. If you craft good questions, your source will find it easy to comply and the article will write itself. For example, the questionnaire for an upcoming musical concert at your arts center might include: What is the name of the group? Have they appeared at any famous venues or on television? What sort of music do they play? Where are they from? and so on ... resulting in a lead sentence that might read, "Fresh from their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, The Beatles, a new, hit rock band from Liverpool, England ..." Once you have a good questionnaire, you can recycle the questions for similar events in the future.

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8. My 10-page newsletter features computer-related stories, many from the membership. How much editing should I be doing?
--Frank L. Palmeri, CDCE Review

Frank -- Knowing how most computer-related articles are written, editing may be besides the point. Nevertheless, editing a magazine, newspaper or subscription newsletter is much different from editing an association newsletter. When people are paying to receive a publication, the subscribers are the customers, not the contributors.

In your case, the needs of your contributors must be considered carefully too. Assuming all of your contributors' articles carry bylines, it would not be appropriate for you to rewrite passages that you find awkward or unclear. Different writers have different writing styles that must be respected. However, because your readers' needs take precedence, it would be very appropriate for you to correct poor grammar and remove extraneous filler as long as you're not trampling on the writer's style. For example, we often purposely use informal grammar in Newsletter Nameplate, but that is our style.

With luck, most Nameplate readers know that we know how to write absolutely correct, vocabularily-enhanced articles that work better than warm milk at inducing sleep. We are very familiar with how writers of computer-related articles often go off on tenuous tangents or come off sounding like poorly translated software manuals. Cleaning up those sorts of messes will increase the benefit your readers receive from your publication. By working through the articles with the authors, you might also have a chance of helping them submit better ones in the future (making up for all of the time you will have to waste explaining to them that their experience at the grocery store last Tuesday has nothing to do with disk drive performance).

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9. Should I split a four-page (or larger) article or print the whole thing in one issue of my 10-page newsletter?
--Frank Palmeri, The CDCE Review

Frank -- It all depends on how interesting the article will be for your audience. If everyone will get something out of it, why not print it all in one shot? However, if your audience has large blocks of readers with different interests, you shouldn't expend half of your newsletter on just one topic. If the article is really good, you might boost interest in your next issue by continuing the back half of the article in it. However, if the article is just a big, long, boring mess, don't print the full text as written. Edit it down or have the writer edit it down to a more palatable size. You will be doing your readers, yourself and your contributor a favor.

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Susan -- As with most committees, they work best when they don't require a lot of real work from members, and when what work there is gets evenly distributed. Newsletter committees can make excellent tools for generating content ideas and for encouraging interaction with readers. Make sure every major audience constituency is represented, and give each member a quota of articles they must either write or get written each year about the constituency they represent. Most important (and controversial) of all, make firm rules about how far you will let committee members slack off before you kick them out. It will probably take just one discipline action to make the committee seem like a prestigious assignment. Committees are a bit like prison... if you kick the butt of the biggest threat in the prison yard, the others will respect you. (As you can tell, everything we know about prison comes from television and movies.) Perhaps a better metaphor is that committees are like social clubs... the harder it is to get in and stay in, the more people want to join.

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1. How do I apply one color (as in your case) to get the most impact in my newsletter?
-- Kevin Taylor, via e-mail

Kevin -- Two words: contrast and tint. Color works best when it's used to draw attention to the difference between design elements. Use your colors together. Avoid big blocks where every element is a single color. For example, when using a combination headline such as a kicker+headline or headline+subhead, print the headline in color and the subhead or kicker in black. Finally, use screen tints of your colors (black, too!) for variety. For bright accent colors, try a composite tint by adding in a bit of black (30% color + 10% black perhaps).

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2. Can/should captions differ from the main text?
-- Tom Miller, Internal Revenue Service

Tom -- Competition between a serif and a compatible sans serif font family can make a newsletter design dynamic all by itself. If you have chosen that route (of giving the design equal weight with the articles), use the serif typeface for the main text and the sans serif for all/most headlines and the captions. Limit your font choices to these two families, but use them throughout the newsletter. If everything else in the newsletter is in, say, Times Roman, don't suddenly import the alien influence of Helvetica just for the captions. If your newsletter tends to have long captions with a lot of names, feel free to make the type size as small as 8 point. However, use the same type size, style and leading for every caption.

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3. Are there rules about color in creating publications? Should you choose some colors while avoiding others?
--Nadine Scheller-Blasko, via e-mail

Nadine -- The best scheme for a two-color publication is to use black and a relatively dark accent color. Forest green (PMS 340), fireball red (PMS 185) and navy blue (PMS 280) are all good examples of accent colors that are dark enough to use at 100 percent for text and that create nice screen tint backgrounds when you shade them to 10 or 20 percent.
The four most legible color schemes are, in this order: black on yellow, black on white, blue on white and green on white. Finally, if you plan more than two colors, you should employ the services of a color wheel to determine complementary colors. For example, a purplish ink such as Reflex Blue looks good on beige paper because yellow and purple fall on opposite sides of the additive color wheel.

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4. Is it okay to vary font point size and leading on different "spreads"?
-- Lisa Moser, University of Georgia

Lisa-- It's tempting just to answer your question as a big "no" and move on, but that would be misleading. As a general rule, you should keep your design as consistent as possible from page to page. If you get into the habit of just changing the point size or leading every time you run into a layout problem, the effectiveness of your newsletter will suffer. If you have too much copy, edit it. Yet, many layout artists have weak moments (even here) in which they decide that it's better to shave a 1/2 point off the point size and/or leading than to risk upsetting a cantankerous contributor. One assumption of yours is quite correct... if you modify the text format slightly for an entire spread, few people will notice the change. Fair enough.

However, the above comment assumes that you were asking for permission to cheat. Perhaps you want to change the point size or leading to make a special section appear similar-but-different from the rest of the newsletter. Well, if that's the case, feel free (but limit yourself to one per issue).

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5. I need to tinker with my nameplates. Do you have any suggestions?
-- Laura Hengstenberg, Crawford Electric Cooperative

Laura -- Well, besides recommending the Oct./Nov. 1995 issue of Newsletter Nameplate which had a Supplement article on nameplate design (and which we'll send with your mug), the biggest "do" is "do make them look like they go with your other stuff." For example, if your letterhead is printed in black and PMS 293, use those inks on your newsletters as well. The biggest "don't" is "don't forget to tell the readers who the newsletter is from." If possible, include the Crawford logo, name, address and phone number in the nameplate. As a rule of thumb, the nameplate should cover between 20% and 30% of the front page -- small nameplates get lost, large nameplates look hokey and squeeze the news hole (don't say that out loud). Don't try to fill every speck of space with copy. Blank areas are dynamic -- they make readers focus on what's not there.

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6. What is the best white space percentage to painted surface space percentage?
--Loren Abell

Loren -- You must be an interior decorator. Anyway, think of white space as an active design element (in the same category as headlines, photographs and illustrations). Ideally, white space should comprise 30-50% of your active design elements. The percentage of active design elements should increase with the importance of the design to the overall success of the newsletter. For example, a technical, highly educational newsletter should favor text readability over design pizazz, thereby sticking with a ratio of 20-30% active elements (and, as a result, 6-15% white space). A flashy, knock-em-on-their-butts newsletter that must impress its readers on first glance can have 40-60% active elements (12-30% white space).

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7. How can I visually enhance an employee newsletter that is photocopied on canary yellow paper?
--Beth Weber, Bonestroo Rosene Anderlik & Associates

Beth -- Hmmm.... partner #3 Anderlik must have insisted on adding "& Associates" so solicitors wouldn't ask to speak to "Derlik." Sorry. We're maniacs; we admit it. Returning to the subject at hand, a newsletter doesn't need fancy two-color or full-color printing to be visually appealing. Dramatic use of illustrations and photos, combined with screen tints, can do the trick, but only if your photocopier can reproduce screens nicely. The second best visual enhancement is active white space (which doesn't require a decent copier!). For example, you can use the famous thin-thick-thick format with one column 1"-1.5" wide and the other two 2.5"-3" wide. You make it work by using the thin column just for headlines, captions, photos and pullquotes -- no text. In either case, white type reversed out of a solid black bar works well for section headings in such situations.

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1. When we are already overwhelmed with information -- info-overload -- why should we advise clients to publish another newsletter?
-- Juana G., creative director

Juana -- Boy, you really go to the heart of the matter, don't you!? "Info-overload" is a "quantity" problem that a good newsletter can give a "quality" answer to by focusing on the specific angle/story/raison d'erte of the organization publishing it. Too much unfocused, repetitive, poorly produced information is the problem. Sources of focused, valuable, concise information are the solution.

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2. Do most companies assign responsibility and time to a single person to get the newsletter out?
-- Alan Sue, OroAmerica

Alan -- Unfortunately, most companies freely assign responsibility to a single newsletter editor, but scrimp on time and authority. Timewise, the 10-hours-per-page rule of thumb works for most newsletters (writing, editing and layout). Authority is much harder. For a self-published newsletter to succeed, the Big Cheese must delegate the final say-so to a single person who acts as an editor (the person who decides what goes in each issue). Editorial boards are OK for coming up with ideas and for getting the members to contribute articles, but you must avoid editing-by-committee at all costs.

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3. What single quality separates an exceptional newsletter from an above-average newsletter?
-- Justin Schmitt, The Texan

Justin -- Exceptional newsletters are consistent. In our experience, the three toughest challenges for editors are sticking to the schedule, keeping content focused and serving the needs of the entire readership. A newsletter that regularly comes out within two weeks of the deadline, keeps the irrelevant content under 10 percent and gets something (even a tiny something) in every issue for each major readership constituency is most definitely above average. If you can meet those criteria and craft a clear sentence, you will sit at the right hand of the god of newsletters. (Notice that specific types of writing, layout and design are not required to be exceptional.) Long-time Nameplate readers will be fully aware of the fact that this newsletter does not qualify as "exceptional" (maybe "neato").

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4. What is the meaning of volume x number x?
-- Will Oler, KPG Ent.

Will -- How about this one... does the Winter 1997 edition come before the Spring 1997 edition or after the Fall 1997 edition? Publications got into the habit of using issue numbers to ameliorate such problems. Volume numbers are changed annually, and are an excellent way to let you know that, for example, Newsletter Nameplate is in its eighth year of publication. Most publications increment the volume number and reset the issue number on the anniversary of the first issue (for example, the major daily in our area started publishing on June 24, 1851, so on March 1, 1997 it was at Volume 146, Number 254). Some, like this one, set the change over date as January 1.

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5. Do you have a list of newsletter contests that I can submit my work to?
-- Nancy Hulme, Andersen Consulting

Nancy -- Several graphics publications such as Communication Arts, How, Print and Step-by-Step hold contests for all sorts of design projects, including publications. However, the annual newsletter design contest held by the Newsletter Clearinghouse (P.O. Box 311, Rhinebeck, NY 12572, 914-876-2081, www.newsletter-clearinghse.com) is probably more like what you're looking for. Unfortunately, all contest entrants are considered fair game for the organization's Newsletter Design monthly (ironically, it's a very poorly designed publication), which prints unsolicited reviews. The publisher and one of the contributing editors once went head-to-head in print to debate whether Newsletter Nameplate deserved five stars or one star, so you can see that the staff evidently has too much time on its hands.

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6. How do you tell a potential client that his newsletter is very unattractive and that you could do it much better for a very reasonable fee?
--Dana Burke, Mind Your Business

Dana -- What we wouldn't give for a quick and easy answer to your question! We usually handle this situation one of two ways. If the third party knows the prospective client well, we ask him or her to call the prospect first. Otherwise, we just send a letter with samples and a brochure.

However, no matter how unattractive you think your prospect's newsletter looks, do not mention it. Everyone who edits a newsletter feels pinched for time and, often, harbors doubts about how good it looks (which they won't say out loud until they know you better). Instead, stress saving time and your vast experience.

Even if your prospect mentions how poorly designed the newsletter is, do not agree. Say something like, "It looks fine. There are lots of ways to do a newsletter. I mean, there are quite a few tricks we've picked up over the years that can make it even more readable, but that's really just a side benefit to the fact that you won't have to do nearly as much work if you hire us to help you." (breathe)

In your particular case, you could also try offering to do a design makeover in your own newsletter, Our Newsletter (thank you for putting us on the list). Even if the prospect doesn't take the bait, you will be treating your readers to something special.

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7. What would be a practical "editor" gift to give to participants in a newsletter editor roundtable ($20-$30 range)?
--Scott Saalman, Kimball International

Scott -- Funny you should ask. Now that we accept plastic as payment, we're going to start selling our "Newsletter Demands Slowing You Down?" coffee mugs for $9.95, plus $3 shipping and handling (less if you order more than one).

If you don't like our self-serving suggestion, consider that most editors love books. If you go to the book-buying Web site www.amazon.com and enter "newsletter" in the search engine, it will show you a list of 112 items, including all of the famous texts of the industry. Or, if you have time and don't mind the effort, how about getting a jigsaw puzzle made of the cover of your participants' newsletters? You can get something along the lines of an 11"x14", 150-piece puzzle made from a photograph for less than $30 at most game stores and through many gift catalogs (such as Bits & Pieces, 1-800-JIGSAWS).

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8. Why is it important for newsletters to contain volume and issue numbers? Does the reader really give a rip?
--Rosemary Macray, Brussels Weekly

Rosemary -- Regarding volume and issue numbers, you are mostly right -- many readers don't know what they are for and don't look at them. However, they are very helpful for readers who do know about them. Those readers can immediately see how many years your publication has been around (the volume number), and whether they have missed an issue (by checking for gaps in the issue numbers). In the case of a weekly such as yours, the date is sufficient. You can reap the benefit normally found with volume numbers by adding the line, "serving the [whatever] community since 19[whatever]" to your nameplate (but, you know, don't actually write "[whatever]").

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9. What are the pros and cons of ISSNs for newsletters?
--Andy Byers, The Great Blue Beacon

Andy -- Luckily, you sent along an issue of your newsletter, so nobody around here thinks The Great Blue Beacon is your superhero code name... anymore. Great ¿qué?stion! It got us to apply for one. Using an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) can help a publication in three areas: libraries, international copyrights and second class mailing. If your publication is not subscribed to by any libraries, going out of the U.S. in great quantities, or being mailed like a magazine, then you don't need an ISSN. However, they are free and easy to apply for, so there's no reason not to get one if you plan to keep publishing. To apply on line, go to http://lcweb.loc.gov/issn/. To have an application sent, contact the National Serials Data Program, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20540.

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1. Is there a column width or combination of widths most reader friendly for an 8 1/2 x 11 single sheet, low budget, monthly internal newsletter?
-- Sandy Catt, Longview Public Schools

Sandy -- Try an old favorite, the two-big-one-little column format. Make two big columns roughly 2-3/4" wide and a thin one roughly 1-1/2" wide. Use the thin column for side heads, poking artwork into, pull quotes, or info boxes (For more information, call....). This format forces you to leave some white space along the edges -- a real help to readers when (presumably) you're printing black ink only.

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2. You use great graphics -- simple and eye-catching. What software and hardware do you recommend?
--Mike Chatelain

Mike -- Who told you about our weakness for flattery? We create many graphics ourselves using Illustrator, Photoshop and a hodgepodge of other programs. Most of our stock illustrations come from Dynamic Graphics (we subscribe to two monthly services: Electronic Clipper and Designer's Club). We get our stock photos from Photodisc and Digital Stock. We prefer PageMaker for most newsletter layouts; QuarkXpress for small, fancy schmancy design projects. Macintoshes and PC-compatibles have the same software and abilities these days, so hardware is less of an issue now for most people. UNIX workstations are more powerful, but how many people can afford one?

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3. I lay out a four-page, copy-heavy church newsletter that I can't edit down. Any suggestions for making a lot of text visually appealing?
--Claudia Deakins

Claudia – Here's a do and a don't for you regarding "a lot of text." DO break articles up wherever possible by using subheads or by segregating self-contained portions of articles into sidebars. DON'T succumb to the depressingly common temptation these days of screening back clipart behind the text. It almost always makes the text nearly impossible to read comfortably and rarely adds any visual value.

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4. What recommendations can you give for editing a 50-employee newsletter with few software capabilities (i.e., Microsoft Word)?
--Leigh Hammond, M.G. Patton Construction

Leigh -- Since Word has really neat spelling and grammar checking capabilities, your question must be more along the lines of how you can make your newsletter look nice without a layout program. First, the functions for inserting graphics and putting text into columns are much more reliable in Word 97 than in regular old Word 6.0, so you might consider an upgrade. Second, don't worry about it too much. Desktop publishing has ruined thousands of newsletters with excellent content and writing. One of the best newsletters in the word, The Kiplinger Letter, is typewritten with a single column of text about 45 characters wide. Besides, you only have 50 people to write for. How fancy do you need to get? Finally, if your heart is set on editing a snazzy-looking publication, you can improve the appearance of it tremendously by having an artist design a nameplate and getting it printed on a few hundred blank sheets of paper. You can print your Word document onto these preprinted shells by using them in your laser printer (or copy machine) in lieu of plain paper. Use a two-column format with at least an inch margin around all of the sides and half an inch in-between columns. Make sure the headlines and the ends of the stories are easy to see. You'll do fine.

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5. Your newsletter mentions Word in the same sentence as PageMaker and Quark; are they really equivalent?
--Ilise Benun, The Art of Self Promotion

Ilise -- No, Word and QuarkXpress are by no means equivalent, but the simple layouts used by many newsletters can be produced in Word, as well as in many other word processing programs. The biggest requirement is an easy-to-use and reliable method for dividing a page (or individual stories) into columns. As with most subscription newsletters, Ilise, your publication is text-dominant, as it should be. Why blow a bunch of money, time and hard drive space on a gorilla when a chimpanzee will do?

One trick for making Word work out well is to use Quark or PageMaker to create a template with your nameplate and other standing graphic elements. The template can either be preprinted onto shells or just held by your printer in the form of film, if you print using metal plates. That way, if you can get the text to look good in Word, you can physically merge it with the graphical stuff later when you go to press (or to the copy shop).

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6. What is the best size for a newsletter page, 8.5"x11" or 11"x17"?
--Bill Soulsby, A.A.KRE8

Bill -- So is A.A.KRE8 your car's vanity plate? There is no "best" size for a newsletter page. Both are efficient to print and mail, so they beat out other sizes (such as 8.5"x14") on that score. A "letter" (8.5"x11") page is better for newsletters with long articles and very few graphics. A "tabloid" (11"x17") page is better for newsletters with varied article lengths and lots of nice graphics. In most cases, newsletters should have at least four pages to give the readers something to open up and dig into; otherwise, they seem too much like fliers. Keep in mind that a four-page tabloid newsletter needs the same amount of copy and graphics as an eight-page, letter-sized newsletter.

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7. I’m wavering between a 2- and a 3-column newsletter. What are the advantages and disadvantage of both?
--Garnett McDonough

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1. If I do an in-house, not-for-profit newsletter, do I have to worry about plagiarizing cartoons and articles out of other publications (if I give credit)?
-- Toni McGuire, USG Interiors

Toni -- The copyright police know who you are, Toni, and they're coming to get you. Just kidding. Actually there is a huge difference between reproducing a cartoon or article without permission for the purpose of selling it as if you created it (which is highly immoral and illegal) and "fair use," which allows reproduction for the purposes of criticism/comment, education and social value as long as it doesn't destroy the value of the copyright. Politeness (and a desire to prove "fair use" if necesary) dicates that you should include credit for the artist or author, as well as the publication you stole it from (the publisher might own the copyright). Finally, it's not that hard to ask for permission. Most publishers and authors would grant it freely to a non-profit, in-house publication. Just look in the masthead for a phone number. The publisher will know whom to ask.

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2. I've been asked to give a quotation on an association newsletter. What are the key factors to focus on?
--Ann Hovsepian, Temple News

Ann -- Our market research has been consistent on this point: organizations will hire an outside newsletter service to save staff time, decrease stress levels and make the newsletter more effective. No organization is interested in hearing about how its newsletter could look better or be written better. Recognition that the newsletter looks and reads better comes only after you have completed the first issue (or two). Focus on how newsletter editing is different from other sorts of writing and/or marketing, as well as on how experienced you are at doing it. Do not, under any circumstances, agree to help the association sell advertising to support the newsletter! (We have sure learned that lesson!)

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3. I printed an article I had asked a colleague to write. He sent the same article, worded differently, to an industry magazine. The magazine accused me of unauthorized reprinting and canceled my subscription. Who's right or wrong?
--Candy Cook, DGI Training Center

Candy -- It boils down to the agreement your colleague had with the magazine. For example, if your colleague sold the rights to the magazine and indicated it was an original, unpublished article... ooohh, watch out! For example, the magazine may have commissioned the article using a written work-for-hire agreement. If so, the magazine's publisher owns the copyright to the article, not your colleague. If there was no written agreement, the Copyright Act of 1909 assumes the magazine bought a limited license, not a transfer of the copyright. If your colleague owns the copyright, he or she can sell or give license to any publisher at any time, unless contractually bound not to do so. Regardless, your version might have been "worded differently" enough to be considered a different article. Or you may have rights under the fair use doctrine (see July/August 1996). If you are really peeved about it, you should check with a copyright attorney. Copyright law generally favors the author, but everything depends on the actual facts of the situation.

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4. What should I do when other newsletters ask to reprint articles from my newsletter?
-- Meredith Brucker, Childhood Cancerline

Meredith -- Charge money (except to other Nameplate readers!). The fee depends on the length of the article and who wants to buy it. For example, say a pediatric medical clinic wants to reprint a two-page story surveying the side effects of various oncology drugs in its 20,000-copy patient newsletter. Since they aren't selling it (and one of their doctors could probably write the same article), a fee of $100 is in the right ballpark. If a major monthly health magazine wanted it, your fee could easily go up to $1,000 or, perhaps, with some haggling, $20,000 (depends on the IQ of the guy on the other end of the phone).

Here's your potential big problem: you might not own the article. If the article in question was submitted by a contributor who does not work for you (or your parent foundation), and you have an informal, perhaps even verbal, agreement to print it in your publication, your right to the article ends there (although you can reprint the article as part of a collection). In that situation, many publishers strike a deal with the writer -- we'll make the deal and split the fee with you. Since the writer probably wasn't expecting such a situation, it would be an easy sell.

That said, it should be obvious that you need reproduction rights agreements to use with freelance contributors (even if they are working for free) and with publishers wishing to reprint articles. Again, the law would assume the rights stay with the author, but everything depends on the actual contract. Sample agreements are available in the numerous legal guides available at your local library. A good one we use here is "The Artist's Friendly Legal Guide," published by North Light books.

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5. If I copy a cartoon from a magazine for use in my newsletter and give proper credit to the artist and the publication, and that action would not affect its value, would that be considered "fair use"?
--Andy Byers, Great Blue Beacon

Andy -- Reprinting a cartoon in a subscription publication for the purpose of entertaining your readers is not considered "fair use" under the fair use doctrine. It is considered "stealing."

If the theme of the cartoon prompted you to write a commentary about it, and you had to reprint the cartoon so that your readers would understand your points, you might squeak by under fair use. The size of your circulation and the age of the cartoon are relevant to the questions of "Will you get caught?" and, if so, "Will the copyright owner care?". It is true that you are unlikely to get caught, but unless you have some education- or criticism-related need that requires it, reprinting a cartoon out of a magazine without permission (as many newsletters do) is a copyright violation. That's where your circulation and editorial mission can work to your benefit. It is quite possible that you may ask permission (for unsyndicated cartoons, start with the magazine) and discover that they will grant it free of charge or for a very nominal fee.

Val -- Before you go the comics route, please consider using the space for specific, useful information instead of fluff. For example, Q&A columns are wonderful ways to generate genuine employee interest and interaciton with the newsletter. You'd be amazed at how many questions people have about their benefits, holidays, schedules, etc. Peace of mind about a recent policy change is worth much more than a brief chuckle over a cartoon you probably saw in your daily paper.

If you still think comics are the ticket, you can make two reasonable arguments for just copying a comic that you see in a newspaper or magazine for free:

1. The Fair Use clause of the copyright law allows for the reproduction of copyrighted works for the purposes of education, critique and parody. While it's a bit of a stretch to consider a company newsletter as educational, you are at least on somewhat squishy ground, not completely underwater.
   
   
2. Fair Use also specifies that the reproduction can't affect the original's market value, and clearly your employee newsletter has no effect. If anything, it has a positive effect on the market value of the comic.
   

There's also the politician and corporate CEO argument, which is that you are extremely unlikely to get caught. However, if your scruples don't allow for squishy logic, you have two choices:

1. Contact the artist's representative (most of the comics you see are handled by either the United Media or King Media syndicates) and plead your case. They might let you off easy with a $50 fee for a particular cartoon.
   
   
2. Subscribe to one of the comics services meant for company newsletters and small newspapers. For exmaple, the United Media service, which includes Dilbert, is called ComicsPLUS. Visit United Media's Web site for more information.

Sandy -- With more and more companies attempting to save on printing and mailing costs by sending their newsletters by fax or (like this one) e-mail, your question is quite timely. To the best of my knowledge, the United States is the only country to have outlawed unsolicited faxes on a national level. Several states have their own regulations, but the law you should be most interested in is Federal -- the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991. Essentially, TCPA makes it a crime to send fax advertising to people who have not indicated that they want to receive it (punishable with a $500 per incidence). You might protest that your newsletter is educational, not commercial, but it's much safer to assume that your newsletter will be deemed to be advertising. The only exception is for tax-exempt non-profit organizations, which can fax fax fax to their bleeding hearts' content.

How do you know if someone wants to receive your fax newsletter? Two ways: 1) They have specifically requested it in writing. 2) You have an existing business relationship with them.

One other thing: any broadcast fax you send must have a header that identifies the organization that sent the fax, it's telephone number, and the date and time the fax was sent.

The rules for junk faxes as well as telemarketing phone calls, not to mention a lot of other communication related stuff such as some rather fascinating phone scams, are available on the FCC Web site.

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1. Regarding your May/June makeover... what are the mailing imprint requirements and where would the mailing label go on the Well Being newsletter?
--Caroline R., Elkhorn Slough Foundation

Caroline -- A mailing panel must include a return address, easily identifiable postage and a mailing label that appears lower than the return address. Qualifying for automation discounts brings other requirements (such as orienting the mailing panel so that the folded edge is on the bottom), but Well Being would not qualify for automation anyway. It's much more important to check with your mailing house on its labeling capabilities. The mailing label on Well Being appears just above the nameplate (and sometimes covers a bit of it).

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2. We fold our four-page newsletter down to 5.5"x8.5" with the fold on the bottom for post office sorters. You mail yours flat. What is the easiest way to mail a newsletter?
-- Noreen Manfredit, Signal Fire Newsletter

Noreen -- Don't mix up easy with inexpensive. Your way is the least expensive way, especially if your mailing qualifies for the new automation discounts. Just in case you don't qualify, but would like to, your mailing panel should consume the top half of the back page so that the other fold is on the right; the bottom 5/8" of the panel should be free of copy; and you must seal it with a tab. Your mailing house must have PAVE- and CASS-certified software (they know what that means) and your list must be 100% deliverable. As for us, when we mail our newsletter first class, it doesn't matter whether we fold it or mail it flat because the over-an-ounce postage is the same regardless. When we mail via standard mail (the new name for bulk mail), we fold it because the size makes a huge postage difference. Our mailing panel and method has now changed to make this newsletter automation compatible so we can save some big bucks on postage.

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3. What is the maximum number of pages (20 lb.) that will fold neatly enough and still qualify for the cheap bulk mail rate?
-- Linda Scott, University of Miami

Linda -- We sent your request out to Ruddle Laboratories for testing. Your mailing piece can weigh 3.3087 oz. before it costs any more -- about the weight of 20 sheets of 8.5"x11" 20 lb. bond paper. Assuming you folded it down to 5.5"x8.5" and sealed it tight with two tabs, this theoretical 40-page newsletter might squeeze under the 1/8" thickness required for letters (the rate for "flats" -- pieces that exceed 6-1/8" in height, 11-1/2" in width or 1/8" in thickness -- is 6-9¢ higher). Of course, this gibberish simply confirms the need for a reliable mailing house.

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4. I would like to put my group's newsletter into the hands of the public to encourage membership, but I distribute it in my spare time. Any ideas?
--David Raasch, Kansas City Christian Computer Users

David -- Can we assume that mailing your newsletter to a list of non-members who subscribe to relevant publications is out of the question budgetwise? There are two other well-tried methods. First, you can probably find places such as public libraries, your favorite computer store, community centers, and your church that might agree to let you leave 20-30 copies on a counter near the door. Some other places, such as grocery stores and apartment complexes, have public bulletin boards on which you might be allowed to post a copy of your newsletter. Luckily, once you get a list of places compiled, you can do the distribution in a single afternoon or evening. Unfortunately, you will probably need to enlist the help of other club members (although the job of dropping off a stack of newsletters might be just big enough for them to feel useful, but not so big that they feel inconvenienced).

Second, you can use the power of public relations. If you have something particularly useful in an issue of your newsletter, you might be able to convince your local paper, computing magazines or other club newsletters to print a blurb about how you will give a subscription to non-members under some condition (if you don't make a condition or two, people will think the newsletter is worthless). When you sign-up those non-member subscribers, you'll want to have a membership application to stuff in the envelope, too.

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5. What is the best way to mail 50 newsletters to one address at numerous different locations?
--Nils Langenborg

Nils – If this newsletter had anything to do with English usage, we'd have to ask how you can have one address at different locations, but we won't. Anyway, if you've got 50 newsletters going to the same address, the government agency or large company in question probably has a mail room that the post office delivers to instead of delivering cubicle-by-cubicle. The mail room staff works to protect its "customers" against unwanted mail, so some bulk and incorrectly addressed mail will never make it to its final destination. If you send a bulk-mailed newsletter to Mr. Smith, but he's gone to Washington and his replacement has a different name, the mail room staff will in many cases throw it away. So, your best hope (and possibly a cost-saving measure) is to cultivate a relationship with the manager of the mail room. Continue to label all 50 copies of the newsletter, and mail them first class in a large envelope to the manager of the mail room with a polite note asking him (by name, if you know it) to please see that the enclosed pieces arrive safely at their destination (if the department or job title counts more than the actual name, say that in your note). By acknowledging the mail room manager's function, you can become a "customer" too, just like the tenants in the building. If you are really nice, it might even be possible to get your mail delivered to a branch office using the organization's internal mail system.

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6. Do you suggest mailing newsletters flat or folded?
--Leilani Souza, Southwall Technologies

Leilani -- Well, as in the sports world, there are pros and cons (i.e., professionals and convicts). Mailing a newsletter that is folded smaller than 6-1/8"x11-1/2" saves money on postage because it qualifies as a "letter." For first class, you'll save the 11¢/piece "oversize surcharge" if it is under an ounce; the postal folks waive the surcharge when pieces are over an ounce, so you'll just pay the regular postage (32¢ + 23¢ for each extra ounce). For bulk mail, you'll save as much as 5¢/piece. For newsletters that use an entire half page for the mailing panel, you have an opportunity to use it for teasers to highlight articles in that issue. So, Leilani, you must weigh the postage savings and the inconvenience of saving an entire half page for the mailing panel against the dramatic effect of readers seeing the front page immediately. If your front page is exciting, it might be worth paying the extra postage to make the most of it. If your front page is ugly... well, perhaps it has a good personality.

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7. I want to mail a double postcard to potential subscribers. Isn't there a special bulk rate?
--John Zorn, Arts Reach

John -- The bad news first: among bulk mail's many rates, there is no special category for postcards. They are considered letters for the purposes of pricing. The good news: first class presort rates for postcards are less than bulk rates for letters. For example, the "basic" rate for an automation-campatible card is just 16.6¢/piece. The equivalent rate in third class is 18.3¢. Less money, more services and better delivery. Such a deal. The so-so news: first class presort requires a 500-piece minimum, some of the packaging rules are different, and it requires another $75 imprint fee over and above the fee for your bulk mail imprint.

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1. What can be done to compel the apathetic to read a community newsletter and how can I start one with zero resources?
-- George Allen, community activist

George -- You can't start a newsletter with zero resources. However, if your cause is just and your heart is pure, you should be able to find local businesses and philanthropists who are willing to sponsor or advertise in a newsletter that will interest a large enough audience. Luckily, you don't need many resources to get started. Newsletters can get away with typewritten artwork and reproduction via photocopier -- people who read them usually care more about what the articles have to say than what they look like. However, it's tempting to surmise from your apathy accusation that you are the only person interested in the subject you wish to edit a newsletter about. If that's the case, keep your opinions to yourself, George. If not, you may just need better market research. For example, a lot of communities still have weekly newspapers that gear their editorial and advertising policies toward stay-at-home moms. No wonder so many of them go bankrupt! If you can find out what your apathetic community is interested in and write about it, the resources and reader interest will come.

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2. Our employees want information faster. We use e-mail, but should I increase the frequency of our monthly newsletter as well? If so, where do I begin?
--Susan Broussard, Current

Susan -- Begin by making reservations at the local booby hatch. Just kidding. As hard-to-believe as it may sound to some about-to-be-shocked Nameplate readers, newsletters become exponentially easier to produce as you increase the frequency. You begin by simplifying your formula for filling the pages. Simultaneously jettison the notion that any difficult recurring content (such as the president's message) needs to appear in every issue, while building an easy-to-fill editorial matrix. Something from marketing? Check. Something from human resources? Check. Et cetera, et cetera, as the King of Siam would say. For example, we have produced two-page weekly bulletin templates for clients with a column for "the hot topic" front page left, 50-100 word news blurbs front page right, and human resources and calendar stuff on the back in chart form. Communicating doesn't have to be difficult or expensive. Go for it, Susan!

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3. Are many companies saving trees by producing an electronic newsletter being distributed by e-mail?
--Ann Gallegos, Rocky Mountain Arsenal

Ann -- Bet your newsletter articles include a lot of bullet points. Ha! Couldn't resist ... There are no data on this, but e-mail bulletins have long been common within large, geographically diverse companies. They don't save a lot of trees though because most people print out all of their significant e-mails. In fact, when you consider the lack of space constraints, electronic newsletters probably kill more trees than printed ones. The new trend (at least here in Silicon Valley) is toward company-based "intranets" -- internal information formatted in HTML, just like a site on the World Wide Web. As with e-mail information, intranets work with only highly computerized workforces (and, hence, discriminate against workers on the production floor). Unlike e-mails, intranets are just as passive as the Internet -- they require people to "pull" information off rather than "push" it onto them as e-mail and printed newsletters do.

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4. We are now faxing our newsletters. This brings up different problems especially regarding graphics and photos. Do you know of any publication that helps people with fax newsletters?
--Allan, FDOAmerica

Allan --We searched our collection of newsletter books and the Baron's list of publications to no avail (although one book did include a paragraph on "newsletters of the future" verifying that fax newsletters exist). Most likely, the subject isn't specialized enough. After all, a fax newsletter is still a newsletter. We have produced them ourselves and have learned a few things (which probably aren't news to you, but what the heck):

1. Use medium weight sans serif fonts for text (no smaller than 10 point).

ii. 40% screen tints seem to work well (although you should leave most tints out altogether).

C. 200 dpi graphics are best (though 150 dpi usually looks just as good).

d. Turn up the contrast in the mid-tones and highlights on your photos 5-10%.

V. Avoid rules whenever possible, but if you must use them, go no thinner than 1 point.

six. Optimal size: two pages + cover sheet; maximum size: four pages + cover sheet (how can it be "hot" news if it blathers on beyond four pages?).

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5. I've been thinking about doing a newsletter for quite some time. Where do I begin?
--Iris Kabert, Value Business Products

Iris -- Begin by deciding who your readers will be and what you want them to do. Newsletters directed at long-time customers should have different content from those directed at cold prospects. Next, work up an editorial matrix. A good newsletter normally has content for every type of reader -- fact-based and human interest stories, long stories and short stories, something about every major constituency (in your case, every heading in your product catalog). Finally, decide who (if anyone) at your organization has the time and the necessary level of authority and organizational skills to produce it. If you discover that your staff doesn't include anyone with those qualifications, consider outsourcing all or part of the writing, design and/or project management. Hint hint hint.

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6. For marketing purposes, is it preferable to produce a 6-8 page newsletter every quarter or a one-page news sheet every month?
--Janet Hill, Cupertino Senior Day Services

Janet -- If you send a one-pager, you have to worry about readers asking, "What is this sheet?" Ha. Just kidding. Actually, the choice depends on how much of your revenue comes from one-time sales and how much from incremental fees. A one-page monthly would naturally be geared toward getting readers interested in what's going on at the center right then. The content of a large quarterly should demonstrate the quality and reliability of the services you provide so as to create the confidence needed for a prospective client to make a commitment. If you get all your money up front, publish a quarterly; if your clients pay as they go, publish a monthly.

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7. Our bi-monthly newsletter is about to go through major changes (from employee relations to more functional) and format (from 16-20 to 2-4 pages). How do we make a smooth transition?
--Traci King, Roney & Co.

Traci -- It sounds like your boss hired a consultant. We've had our share of calls from clients asking us to follow a consultant's advice to turn a newsletter into a bulletin (as in your case) or a bulletin into a newsletter or a newsletter into a magazine... yadda yadda yadda. Our usual advice (yes, we're consultants, too!) is to not even attempt to "transition" a publication which has become familiar as one thing into something totally different. Your situation sounds pretty drastic, so a new name and design are needed to go along with what will have to be quite a different editorial focus and tone. In fact, you might even consider working the word "bulletin" into the nameplate or the tagline since that is what your new publication sounds like.

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8. Should I split a four-page (or larger) article or print the whole thing in one issue of my 10-page newsletter?
--Frank Palmeri, The CDCE Review

Frank -- It all depends on how interesting the article will be for your audience. If everyone will get something out of it, why not print it all in one shot? However, if your audience has large blocks of readers with different interests, you shouldn't expend half of your newsletter on just one topic. If the article is really good, you might boost interest in your next issue by continuing the back half of the article in it. However, if the article is just a big, long, boring mess, don't print the full text as written. Edit it down or have the writer edit it down to a more palatable size. You will be doing your readers, yourself and your contributor a favor.

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9. When you make changes to a newsletter format, what considerations are there about implementation?
--Lisa Wittman, Association of Unity Churches

Lisa -- Unless a newsletter really stinks, it's usually best to make small changes issue-by-issue so that the readers sense that things are constantly improving, but that they are still reading the old, familiar publication. If you think a complete renovation is in order, it is a good idea to solicit input from readers ahead of time (although don't expect too much insight, and don't take what comments you receive as completely representative of your audience). It might sound selfish (since we're in the business), but you should consider getting an expert's opinion before you make changes on your own. It's often hard to tell when a change you want is a subjective matter of your personal preference or an objective requirement to make the publication more reader friendly. No matter how you go about the overhaul, be sure to announce it. You don't have to waste a lot of space. A brief article stating that changes have been made and explaining why you made them will do the trick.

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Nicol --There are several companies that do newsletter seminars, and several that do PageMaker classes, but I've never seen one that specifically does a class on newsletters using PageMaker. If your biggest issue to learning to use the program, then stay away from the newsletter seminars ... they won't help at all. You probably have a computer training company or junior college in your area that offers PageMaker classes. It's not the kind of thing you can do in a one-day national seminar format.

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1. We needed 200 copies of a four-page piece. We received more than 500 copies. Is this normal?
--Jane Deel, via e-mail

Jane -- Yes, all print runs go a few hundred copies over their target. When you only order 200, the extra copies seem extreme. If you had ordered 10,000 and received 10,300, it would not have seemed so strange. New technology is solving this problem. We occasionally use a "direct-to-press" print shop that has a printing press that hooks up directly to a computer. Because they work essentially as high-quality, high-speed color copiers, these machines don't require as much "makeready" (the source of most of the waste). These shops are very new, so you might have to search a bit to find one.

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2. What is the best size for a newsletter page, 8.5"x11" or 11"x17"?
--Bill Soulsby, A.A.KRE8

Bill -- So is A.A.KRE8 your car's vanity plate? There is no "best" size for a newsletter page. Both are efficient to print and mail, so they beat out other sizes (such as 8.5"x14") on that score. A "letter" (8.5"x11") page is better for newsletters with long articles and very few graphics. A "tabloid" (11"x17") page is better for newsletters with varied article lengths and lots of nice graphics. In most cases, newsletters should have at least four pages to give the readers something to open up and dig into; otherwise, they seem too much like fliers. Keep in mind that a four-page tabloid newsletter needs the same amount of copy and graphics as an eight-page, letter-sized newsletter.

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3. In a past issue, you stated that "the typical 18-inch, two-color press" would find it difficult to print your newsletter. A Ryobi or Heidelberg 18-inch press would do a great job.
--A "typical" (and anonymous) quick printer

Anonymous -- Yes, generalizing about anyone or anything is bound to lead to trouble. Not all quick printers or 18-inch presses are alike. (Likewise, your lumping of Ryobi into the same class as Heidelberg would not go over so well in Munich.) The rinky dink sort of shop envisioned by our broad rule of thumb was probably clear to most readers. Obviously, the real evidence is in the actual quality of the shop's printed samples, number of presses, professionalism and facility cleanliness. As everyone who has heard of Gulliver's Travels knows, size isn't everything.

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1. Do you know of any low cost ways to track response to a newsletter? I'm in charge of publishing a quarterly newsletter and would like to know who is reading it and what their opinions are of the articles. Any suggestions?
-- santinic@ada.org

Santinic -- Tracking newsletter success is tough because there are not normally any direct sales opportunities. The only reliable, fairly inexpensive way to get a good cross section of response is to offer a postage-paid reader questionnaire once a year. If 10 percent of your readers return the questionnaire, your publication is being well received. You can generate some response by enclosing a fax back form or asking readers to e-mail answers to specific questions, but only the happy readers will respond.

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2. What are your thoughts on inserting donation reply envelopes in non-profit newsletters?
-- Susan Mulcahy, Environmental Volunteers

Susan -- Despite the "friendly gotcha!" you sent with your question, you'll get an honest opinion. We've had mixed results with non-profit reply envelopes. Most of the time, the cost of printing and inserting the envelope is about the same as the donations received in them. Newsletters make much better "persuaders," giving a hesitant donor the intellectual push needed to respond favorably to the emotion-based appeal you send later on. Yet, some clients swear by newsletter reply envelopes because it keeps their donors in the habit of giving and attracts donations from people who might not have otherwise responded. As a marketing consultant friend always says, "You won't know for sure until you test it."

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3. I send a one-page newsletter to insurance agents around Oregon. These agents are bombarded with "junk mail." How can I tell if my newsletter is being read or is helping to sell our products?
-- Jo Herzberg, Garth T. Rouse & Associates

Jo -- That is the toughest question of all regarding newsletters. Good newsletters persuade readers with information -- a real soft sell. Using different language or making different offers is the only tried and tested method of singling out the effect of your newsletter on sales. A newsletter's sales effect is similar to that of a radio ad -- if you survey buyers, most will not remember that they first heard of the product or offer in your newsletter or your radio ad. In fact, studies have found that even if you don't advertise a product in any daily newspaper at all, roughly 25 percent of tracking survey respondants will check the "newspaper" box anyway. If you call your widget a "AA Deluxe Gizmo" in your newsletter and nowhere else, all orders using those words will track back to your newsletter. Of course, you also have to make your newsletter interesting, personal and informative enough to get those busy agents' attention in the first place!

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4. Any suggestions on how to get feedback on my "new and improved" newsletter? Surveys? Focus groups? How many people? How often?
--Tammy Lang, St. Edward's University

Tammy--The easiest way is to insert an anonymous questionnaire in the newsletter. Use mostly rate-this-from-1-to-5 questions (people don't like to answer open-ended questions on such surveys). If 8-10% of those that are addressed to specific individuals don't respond, you're in trouble.

A set of focus groups will provide the most accurate feedback, but they are quite complicated and expensive to implement and plan. You'll need to do at least six of them each year with 10-15 people from different groups (arts faculty, science faculty, on-campus undergraduates, whatever, etc.).

However, the best way to track a newsletter is to include material in it that requires an action on the part of the reader and which does not get advertised anywhere else.

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5. We have had no luck with readership surveys. How can we get employees to respond?
--Lynda Trimm, Imperial Irrigation District

Lynda -- First off, read Tammy's ¿qué?stion above. Usually, low survey response comes from making the questions too complicated and the returning of the survey too difficult. Most readers are willing to help, but won't go out of their way or tax their brains too heavily. If you try a rate-this-from-1-to-5 type of survey of no more than 10 questions and make it easy (and free) to return, but still get a dismal response, then the employees are not reading the newsletter. Unfortunately, lack of response is a survey answer in itself.

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6. If you don't have the resources to qualify your mailing list on a consistent basis, how long should prospective customers stay on it?
--Jörg Mössinger, SMART Modular Technologies

Jörg -- The most common practice in high-tech is to delete names after 18-24 months. However, you can use the age of the prospects as an opportunity. Before dropping them, send a letter to the old prospects that gives them an opportunity to stay on the list. Every cold prospect who warms to your offer can be considered a keeper.

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7. How can I get our association members to respond to reader survey requests for article topics and story ideas?
--Beth Barrow, Clinical Laboratory Management Association

Beth -- Since the not-reprinted-here portion of your ¿qué?stion indicated that you have already tried gimmicky giveaways and the "help-us-help-you approach," you have stolen our two most common answers to this question and left us with just two remaining thoughts (on this topic, not in toto). You don't want to read the first thought, Beth, so skip to the next paragraph, quick! For everyone else, it is possible that of Beth's 8,000 "recipients," only the 20-30 who respond to her surveys actually read her newsletter. In that case, she has a Catch-22® situation. That is, she has to make the articles more interesting and relevant to get her readers to help her find out how to make the articles more interesting and relevant. What an icky thought.

The other possibility, Beth, is that your readers are like most people who can't think of a joke to save their life when someone says, "make me laugh." It's not as if your readers have these mental lists of topics they wish you would cover, but are withholding them from you out of spite. It's more like the best line from the movie The Truman Show: "We accept the reality with which we are presented." They probably think your newsletter is fine as it is, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't like it better if you wrote about things that are so new and interesting to them that they don't even know to suggest them. Here's the irony: most of your readers could probably suggest topics that would interest every other reader except themselves. The information is so familiar to them, they assume it's nothing worth writing about.

So, perhaps instead of asking questions of the "What articles should I write?' variety, try less open-ended ones. Yes/no and poll questions are good. Best of all, ask "What do you do? Describe your job." or "What is going on in your department?" Those are easy for people to answer, and they will willingly bore you with details from which you may be able to craft an article concept.

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1. We would appreciate some bullet points to [help us make our employee newsletter more interesting]. Please don't tell us to run around to find out who had the latest baby or prostate surgery.
--Carol Medusky, The Remington Club (retirement community)

Carol -- It's great that you wrote prostate instead of prostrate. It's amazing how many professional journalists call that little gland by the wrong name. Call the Columbia Journalism Review! The routine human resources stuff you have now is OK. Keep that. Do not succumb to the temptation to print pithy quotes ("There is no try. There is only do or do not." -- Yoda, the Jedi master). Unless extremely relevant, quotes aren't very interesting to most people and sound preachy. The easiest way to create interesting, relevant articles for an employee newsletter is to include a feedback form. It can be of the "What surgeries have you had recently?" variety, but survey questions make more interesting reading. "Do you think the cancellation of Murder She Wrote was the fault of CBS or Angela Landsbury?" "What is your favorite variety of music?" "On a scale from one to five, please rate the following news anchors." and so on. You don't have to run around at all... and sorting through survey forms can be quite entertaining.

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2. In an association newsletter (circ. 15,000, 8-12 pp), how long should the longest article be?
--Jane Whaley, Holstein Association of Canada

Jane -- Anything over 1,000 words would be udderly too long (you probably hate it when writers milk that old cow pun). A maximum size of 600 words is better. Avoid articles that will require more than two of the eight to 12 pages. It sounds like a bet is riding on this answer. Hope you win.

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3. What advice can you give regarding paragraph length in a newsletter?
--Nancy H., Performing Arts Center

Nancy -- Newsletters should bear no resemblance whatsoever to research studies, five-paragraph essays, technical white papers or rambling personal letters. They should tell the reader who, what, why, etc. and then stop. Paragraphs of one sentence are just fine. Try to vary your paragraph lengths, but shoot for an overall average in the 30-40 word range. Yes, short and punchy is good. Even sentence fragments.

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4. How can I become a better "roof-preader" of my own articles?
--Susan Lester, Sunnyvale Public Works Dept.

Susan -- It's nearly impossible to proofread your own articles. At Ruddle Creative Inc., we pass articles around like a Christmas fruitcake to be proofread by other writers (and sometimes non-writers). The only antidote to improofability is time. If you allow yourself a few days to forget what you wrote, you may have some chance of catching mistakes instead of just subconsciously filling in the correct or missing words. (In our case, we normally don't reach the point of self-proofreadability until after the newsletter has been printed. Ha!)

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5. I recently moved from a for-profit to a non-profit. Are there things to be aware of when writing newsletters for such different audiences?
--Patricia Wanty, Boston Lyric Opera

Patricia -- Certainly you didn't abandon the for-profit world just for fun -- there had to have been a "feel good" component to your decision. The same goes for supporters of non-profit groups and their newsletters. A few rambunctious generalities: Readers of for-profit newsletters tend to look for the "what's in it for me" angle to every story. Non-profit readers tend to look for the "what's in it for my conscience" angle. You can't escape the need to make opera sound like a roaring good time, but you can rely on the readers having a bit of the "it's good for me" factor built in. Finally, remember that many donors are sensitive folk. Avoid talking about money you've spent or any detailed accounts of expenses (one person's necessity is another's "dubious waste of resources"). Be sure to mention the environment ("we reduce, reuse and recycle," etc.) -- conscience-motivated people can't get enough of it.

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6. I want to improve my editing skills. Can you suggest any books, seminars, courses, etc.?
--Eve Tuset, Spread The Word Christian Newspaper

Eve -- Since we give writing seminars, we've sampled a few competitors and have found none (even ours) that can avoid the pitfall of cramming too much into too short a time -- thereby ensuring that very few participants leave with lasting skill enhancements. Like most things, good editing takes practice. Look into what's available at your local community college. For self-help, there are excellent books that can guide you. The best book published on writing is "The Elements of Style" by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White (MacMillan Publishers -- also the publishers of "The Elements of Editing" by Arthur Plotnik). "The Associated Press Guide to Good Writing" by Rene Cappon (Addison-Wesley) is very useful for journalistic writing. The hard-to-find "Editing Your Newsletter" by Mark Beach (North Light Books) goes beyond just editing.