Table of Contents
- What is a newsletter shell?
- What does the newsletter shell look like?
- What hardware and software will I need?
- What do I get with my annual subscription?
- What is the best approach to printing my finished newsletter?
- Why would I subscribe if I already have a staff publishing our newsletter?
- Can I email my newsletter rather than print hard copies?
What is a newsletter shell?
You know what your news is, now, as Paul Harvey would say, “ here’s
the rest of the story”. The most time consuming process in producing a
newsletter is the designing, but you get to skip this step, because we
do it for you. Our newsletter shell is a professionally
designed newsletter that leaves blank space allowing for you to insert
your news.
At this point, you may be thinking, “I don’t want to produce a cookie
cutter newsletter that looks like we purchased it or made it from some
“computer template.” We don’t want that either. That’s why we focus
on giving you multiple choices at every step of the production process.
It’s our goal that you be able to produce a newsletter that is uniquely
yours. We promise, it will not look like a Word or Publisher template.
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What does a newsletter shell look like?
The four-page version of our newsletter comes pre-designed with
professional graphics and page layout, including the blank spaces we
design for you to insert your news into. The layout is as follows:
Page One (the front page) contains your custom designed masthead
(you get this from us when you first subscribe), a left column sidebar
designed to highlight coming events, and a space for the Pastor’s
monthly article. There will typically be at least two designs for the
left column sidebar graphic and the other graphics for this page,
included in each shell. You choose which ones to use.
Page Two is for your news but it will have a background graphic,
that is layered so that you will be able to customize it to suit your
layout needs, a custom graphic at the bottom of the page, that usually
indicates the month, and several custom column heading graphics that are
relative to monthly activities. We will also typically include a
completely different background graphic for this page that you can swap
out. Again, you choose.
Page Three will contain mostly fill content provided by us. It
will include a feature article about a relevant topic, that takes up 2/3
of the page, our "Home Cookin'" graphic designed for you to include a
recipe from someone in your church (don't underestimate the popularity
of the feature with the ladies, and the "Altar Ego" cartoon.. The rest of the page will contain an ad box graphic,
designed to conform with the design theme of the newsletter for that
month. This ad box is for you to add content that will advertise a
coming event or report on the success of a previous event. Again, at
least two different designs of these will be provided for you to choose
between.
Page Four (the back page) will contain a calendar on the bottom
half of the page. It will include a custom graphic identifying the
month. Of course, the days are blank for you to add your monthly events.
The top half of the page will be left blank for use as mailing address
space. If you don’t intend to mail it, of course, this becomes more
blank space for your news.
Our six page format includes an 8 ½ X 11 insert page. This format
is for churches who need a little more blank space than the four
page format provides. It also has a value added feature in the Family
Time Crossword Puzzle. This puzzle is designed for a parent and
child to work together (half the clues are for kids). It will have background graphics that will conform
to the theme design for that month. The back of the insert page will come with a background
graphic, designed from a youth perspective, for news of your youth
group. However, an alternate background graphic will also be provided,
in case youth news does not fit into your layout plans.
Our eight page format is
designed specifically for churches that need more blank space for their
news. Besides all the features included in the six page version,
the eight page version includes our "Family Matters" column and a
background graphic designed for family news.
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What hardware and software will I need?
You will need a computer running the Windows operating system and capable of running Microsoft Publisher version 2003 or later. Our newsletter shell is delivered as a Publisher file in the following formats:
- 8 1/2 X 11 four page
- 8 1/2 X 11 six page
- 8 1/2 X 11 eight page
Of course, we recommend that you print your newsletter as a booklet on 11 X 17 paper.
We use a lot of color, graphics and pictures so the file sizes tend to get pretty large. For this reason, you will not be able to work successfully with an old computer that has a small amount of RAM. We recommend at least the following:
Pentium 3 or 4, 2.0 GHz, with 512mb of RAM
Memory is not that expensive these days, so purchasing more RAM is well worth the increase you will notice in your productivity.
You will also need an internet connection for downloading the digital newsletter file each month. Although, since you're reading this, that must be something you already have. :-)
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What do I get with my annual subscription?
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We custom design your unique masthead. You get this when you first subscribe (a one-time graphics design set-up fee will apply). You will insert this masthead into your newsletter each month.
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Then, of course, you get a new and uniquely designed newsletter shell each month. You will be notified by email, usually sometime between the 1st and the 10th day of the previous month, that the newsletter is ready for downloading. This gives you plenty of time for getting your news into the shell, then printing and delivering your newsletter by the 1st of each month.
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We will be constantly designing original and unique graphics to be used for column headings, announcements, etc. These will be included with each newsletter shell you receive. You pick and choose which ones you will use.
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What is the best approach to printing my newsletter?
For the very best results you should send your completed newsletter file to a professional service provider for printing. We recommend that you use a printer who has a digital color printer. Color printing continues to gain in popularity and is getting cheaper all the time. You should be able to get your full-color newsletter printed for a price in the range of $0.60 to $1.00 each.
Keep in mind that you won't be printing one for each and every person in your congregation, but rather approximately one per family. Plus you will want to print some extras for visitors and to place around your community for outreach purposes.
Of course, the newsletter can be printed on your own color laser printer (a fairly good one can be purchased for around $399). The limitation is that you can't print it on 11 X 17 paper so that your newsletter can be a one-piece folded document. You will have to, instead, print on four 81/2 X 11 pages and staple them together. This will not look nearly as professional as the folded version and we think you'll find upon investigation that it's not really that much cheaper. The commercial quality color laser printers used by service providers are much better in print quality.
If you choose to use a commercial printing service provider, we recommend that you use the "Pack and Go" feature in Microsoft Publisher. This prepares your newsletter for the printer so that there won't be any problems when it is opened on their computer.
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Why would I subscribe if I already have a staff publishing our newsletter?
Even if you have a staff that is quite capable of designing and publishing your newsletter. Even if you're already doing one, the time savings, a subscription to It's Your News will provide your staff, can be huge and makes it well worth the subscription price. Have a member of your team check us out and we're sure they will agree.
And, you have nothing to lose. If you and your staff are not completely satisfied after the first issue, we'll cheerfully refund your subscription.
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Can I email my newsletter rather than print hard copies?
Sure, no problem. Once you have inserted your news into our newsletter shell, just print it to a PDF document for emailing. This makes a very attractive email. It's arrives as an attachment and when opened is a full color newsletter that looks exactly like the printed version. Your readers can even print it out for themselves if they want. They can also print individual pages for showing to friends or, for instance, many people print out the calendar to hang on their refrigerators.
You may still want to consider printing some paper copies, however, for those who do not have email, visitors, and to place around town for promotional purposes.
Also, maybe you've noticed that while your email box has filled up in the last few years, your mail box has not become empty. This is because studies show that a printed advertisement or newsletter is still more impactful and more thoroughly read than email versions of the same document.
Consider these advantages and disadvantages in making your decision:
Printed Newsletter:
Advantages ~ arrives at the home; no hardware needed to read; can be read away from the computer (in bed or bath or perused while watching TV); can be filed and shared with others.
Disadvantages ~ costs of printing and mailing; can't be updated quickly; depending on budget may not include color photos; not searchable.
Emailed Newsletter:
Advantages ~ can send for little or no cost; can publish and send updates between newsletters; can include links to more info on your website or on other websites.
Disadvantages ~ user must make the effort to retrieve the email and read it while seated at the computer; not everyone has email or uses the web; connection speed influences download times and amount of time spent online; if it is text only, it might be considered boring (no images); can't be read away from the computer; do you have email addresses for all your attendees and visitors?
A good compromise might be to publish and mail your newsletter in paper form and supplement it with text only email updates between newsletter editions. You might also allow your readers to choose their preference by letting them sign up for the emailed version which would take them off the mailing list for the paper version.
Whatever you decide, you should survey your readers periodically to make sure you are getting the maximum exposure and reader satisfaction with your newsletter and its form of delivery.
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It's Your News, Inc.
Copyright © 2005 [It's Your News, Inc.]. All rights reserved.
Revised:
09/17/09.
