HomeARC ML 1661
AUSTERITY MEASURES! DFO 1661 11/83--Talk to Leaders Regarding New Smaller FN!
1. IT WOULD SAVE A LOT ON WORK & POSTAGE & EVERYTHING IF YOU WOULD JUST GET OUT A LITTLE 32-PAGE SIGNATURE OF THE FAMILY NEWS LIKE WE STARTED OFF WITH IN THE BEGINNING! As fast as you get one filled up, print it, & we'll just keep printing them as fast as we can. And you don't have to read'm all. (Maria: I want to read them, I really need to, that's one of the ways I stay up on what the Family is doing.)
2. I THINK THE NEWS WOULD BE A LOT FRESHER IF YOU'D KEEP IT MOVING LIKE I'M DOING THE WND NOW & like I'm going to do the GN from now on. Just give yourself a limit, & I don't see why poor Maria has to wade through those big bulky originals. I don't see why they can't mock her up little 32-page signatures of the FN as they come in, as fast as they come in. Just as soon as they've got a signature-full, send it to her, let her look it over & OK it or change it or nix it or whatever, & then print it. That way we can keep a steady flow going. It's both an economy measure & it's a speed measure.
3. I BELIEVE I HAVE DISCOVERED THAT THAT'S THE SOLUTION & IT WAS THE DEAR LITTLE WND THAT HELPED US DISCOVER IT! When we get it filled up, we just go ahead & print it, that's all!--With nothing but a little paper cover on the front. Do you like our little paper cover & our new little logo we've got on there?: "All the news you need to know now!" It's a little gimmick but I think it'll help impress on'm what it's for.--It's the news, just what you need to know & now, & as fast as it gets filled up we shove it through!
4. WE CAN SPREAD OUT MARIA'S WORK FOR HER by just mocking up little 32-page mock-ups of FN material & sticking on a little front cover, even use one of the best pix for the front cover like I do. I just use my cover page for my front article & put a little tiny logo across the top. And just keep'm moving. They're just nothing but a little paper rag which most people are not going to keep, they're just going to read quick, pass around & throw away.
5. ALL OUR FOLKS HERE COULD BE READING THE 32-PAGE MOCK-UP & help Maria do the proofreading & all the rest & find mistakes & things that need to be corrected. Of course we're not going to correct things on the original copy unless it is something very necessary, a security hazard or something really bad. We don't correct spelling, we just let it be spelled the way they did it & punctuate it the way they did it & look exactly like they did it unless there's something really wrong with it in the content or security or something like that.
6. WELL, I THINK YOU OUGHT TO TRY IT & GET RID OF YOUR LAST BIG MAGAZINE! This can be your last one & from here on as fast as they get 32 pages in, print it! It doesn't matter what it is. We cannot be fancy & have certain themes & blah, blah if it's just straight Family News & it's not worth putting in the Specials Magazine. You always nickname it that anyhow, so why not just call it "Specials Magazine"?--Or "Family Specials", what about that?--The "FS" instead of the FN. (Great!)
7. I LIKE "THE FAMILY" ON THE COVERS OF THINGS BECAUSE IT KIND OF TONES DOWN ANY SUSPICIONS OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT. Of course "Family" is a bad word nowadays too, but anyhow, I notice even the preachers are now using it in the churches--talking about the Family of God & joining the Family of God & they found out it's popular to call themselves a family. We started it, but here they go. As usual the System finally adapts some of your ideas & slogans when they find out they're really good & they work. One of the biggest publications in the United States is a "Safe Way Family Circle" Magazine. So if "Family" is a bad name, "Safe Way" is sure using the wrong name! I think it's a good name!
8. "FAMILY SPECIALS!"--In other words the very best articles that are especially news or informative for everybody, put those in the Specials Mag. Maybe they can put a little cover on it to make that worthwhile. The Specials are supposed to be something that's not just passing news anyhow. It's lasting information, reference material & important news about a field, information that is really going to be lasting that they're going to want to keep & refer to. Now that I would be willing for you to accumulate into the most economical-size Magazine with a cover because it doesn't pay to cover anything very small. Now what number of pages did you guys settle on as the most economical size?--388? Well, then about once every quarter or something like that you can get out that Specials Mag.
9. I THINK YOUR FN INDEX WITH THE REFERENCE ARTICLES LISTED IS A VERY GOOD IDEA & A VERY WORTHWHILE PROJECT! I certainly think it's worth it if we can ever get around to it, if they ever finish it. But for right now at the moment I suggest, number 1, that you start putting the FN in just little 32-page signatures as fast as they come in. Just have them mock you one up in a full-size xerox the way they think it ought to be with one of the most interesting or prettiest pictures of the suggested first article on the cover. That's what I try to do with my GNs & Books & it acts as both the cover picture & headline for the article as well as for the whole thing. I'm not doing that on the WND, though, because we've got a little cover on it. Well, you can figure out your covers, but it's something that would be sort of standard like the LIN & the KIDZ. They've got a standard masthead but a different picture on there every time.
10. PUTTING SOME KIND OF A NICE PICTURE ON THE FRONT IS NOT ONLY JUST A DECORATION, BUT IT HELPS ID IT. Most people will remember it by what picture was on the front, that's the way they do even with the GNs. You can put a small narrow masthead of some kind up at the top, any size you want to, & if it weren't for the difficulty of the field & the folks out there typing things, I'd almost recommend that you reduce the FN to GN-size! But it's a little difficult because of the photos & the typewriter type & all that sort of thing.
11. I THINK THE FN IS FINE IF YOU'LL JUST HAVE THEM START MAKING THEM UP IN 32-PAGE SIGNATURES & KNOCK'M OFF JUST AS FAST AS YOU CAN! Then if we get two or three of them done together, we can run them off together if we want to. Actually I think it's better! The more I thought about it on my GN it's better, because the more copies you have, the more they can share'm in a Home & pass'm around. That's the way we get'm here & that's the only way we ever get'm read. I read the KIDZ & the LINs from cover-to-cover every time because they're so small, even though they come through frequently.
12. SO YOU'LL HAVE YOUR SPECIALS MAGAZINE--JUST CALL IT "THE FAMILY SPECIAL MAG"--WITH YOUR VERY MOST IMPORTANT REFERENCE ARTICLES--how to do this & that & all about this country & that country or what the field is like, really important testimonies that inspire & teach'm how to trust the Lord for healing or how to witness or to FF or something like that.
13. BUT I WOULD JUST KEEP THEM MOVING! You should hardly have to pay any attention to the FN, the Family News, just sort of scan it or something & then just let it go to print. Then with your Specials you can let that accumulate to make a nice little book, & when you hit that 388, that's it, cut it off! Don't keep pulling stuff out & shoving it in, I know what that means!--Then you never get it off! When you hit 388, no matter what it is, no matter what's in it, no matter what order or whatever, just go ahead, & maybe we can afford to get them out once a quarter. I mean it!
14. WE COULD START TAPERING OFF TO MAYBE ONCE EVERY OTHER MONTH UNTIL YOU LEARN HOW TO DO IT, but we just cannot afford to publish 388 pages, that's a full-sized book, every month!--And you've been putting out two of them, plus mine! We've been publishing several books every month & I don't know of any little group as small as ours with as little money as we have that can afford to do that!--And we can't afford to do it any more, let's face it. We're spending more than our income & we just cannot do it.
15. SO THAT'S THE NEXT PLACE WE'RE GOING TO HAVE START SLICING OURSELVES, RIGHT AT THE TOP! They can be thankful they get a little run-of-the-mill FN News at all. But on your Specials Books they had better be very special, let me tell you, to be able to afford to put out one even every other month! Now I mean it! That's the present limit right now, & as soon as you learn to do that I'm probably going to cut you down to one a quarter & I mean it. (Maria explains that the Specials Mag is more important than the News & if anything needs cutting we would rather cut the news & leave the Specials.)
16. I THINK PICTURES OF COURSE, ARE PARTICULARLY INTERESTING, BUT I AGREE WITH YOU, IT CERTAINLY ISN'T VERY GOOD SECURITY. I wouldn't want to put our pictures in the paper! I would say pictures of the country & people & customs & food & new disciples & all that sort of thing are very good, but not constantly putting in the same pictures of the same staff of every single Home in the World!
17. I'M SICK WITH A COLD & I CAN'T TALK TOO MUCH, I DON'T WANT TO STIR UP MY THROAT & GET HOARSE, BUT THAT'S ALL I HAVE TO SAY, THAT'S THAT! The only way you're going to do it is to do it & to stick to it & limit yourself: "Now this is all we've got, 388 pages every two months!" And if you want to accumulate a bunch of signatures on the running News of the Family, if our printer gets several of them on hand & he wants to print them all together & just staple them together, fine!--No binding, no cover.
18. GET'M OUT IN AS SMALL SIGNATURES AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN, & EVERY TIME YOU GET A SIGNATURE READY, GET IT OFF TO SPRINT! Then by their printing date if they have two or three of'm on hand, well OK, they can go ahead & print'm all!--Or if it's easier to print them one at a time, fine, whatever. I don't really think we can afford three or four mailings a month any more but if we can, all right.
19. I'M JUST TRYING TO MAKE THINGS EASIER FOR YOU & MAKE THINGS MOVE FASTER! But this business of stacking up a great big pile that has to meet a deadline at the last minute & you've got people working day & night & overnight & all day Sunday trying to get it ready to go, that's the mess we've been in & I refuse to do it any more, that's all! From now on we're just going to do our little thing & no more of this stacking them up & trying to make theme books & blah, blah. As soon as we've got 64 pages we're going to shoot it & print it! Now why don't you try it? Then whatever Sprint gets, they print & mail, regardless of size.
20. THEY CAN EVEN SEND YOU LITTLE MOCK-UPS OF YOUR SPECIALS & YOU CAN KEEP THEM FLOWING WITHOUT LETTING THEM GET STACKED UP. And you can always make changes. As you can see, we make oodles of changes on the GNs at the last minute, shifting things around & shoving something less important out etc., so you don't have to pub'm just exactly the way they mock them up. That's your job as Editor to change things around in whatever way you think is best or important or whatever. But if they could just keep mocking'm up & flowing the xeroxes through, I think you wouldn't find it quite such a monumental job to have to stay up all night reading one huge Book at the last minute of the deadline. What do you think? So why don't you get them on that idea?
21. AMEN, PRAISE THE LORD! TYL! GIVE US WISDOM, LORD, HAVE THY WAY! You know what's best to make it easier on these folks to handle the volume of material that's coming through & also to help us to be more economical & more practical, in Jesus' name.
22. ANYHOW, THERE ARE A FEW SUGGESTIONS OF HOW TO KEEP YOUR MAGS MOVING & HOW TO CUT THEM DOWN TOO. You're just not going to be able to use all the volume of material you get & publish everybody's little Prayer Letter & every little photo sheet & everything, you're just going to have to publish the best & just tell them we cannot necessarily publish everything they send in. Warn them that we are only going to be able to publish the best. We're enforcing austerity measures & economic measures to try to live within our income & we can't publish everything. We'll just have to publish the main reports from the field & things like that.
23. I'M JUST WARNING YOU, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO CUT DOWN, that's all there is to it, & I suggest that we set an actual limit on the Specials Magazine & make it 388 pages & that's it, period! And whatever News is fit to print, just keep them going through the mill at 32-pages-a-signature & shoot them & print as fast as they come in.
24. IN FACT, IF YOU'D PRINT TWO OR THREE OR FOUR OF'M AT A TIME, EACH ONE DIFFERENT, SPRINT WOULDN'T HAVE TO PRINT DUPES OF EACH PER HOME, but just one of each kind, & then they'd have plenty to share & pass around even in big multi-Family Combos!--Amen?
25. THERE'RE SOME MORE TIME, TROUBLE, WORK & MONEY-SAVING AUSTERITY MEASURES that aren't gonna hurt anybody, only help us all to live within our means in the present hard times & prepare for even harder times to come!--Amen? PTL! GBAKY saving God's time, men & money!--And women too!--HAL!--In Jesus' name, amen!--Amen? GBY!--ILY!--D.
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
