Alright. I’ve rec’d a couple test copies of HM at one of these print-on-demand places. I’ve been working with lulu.com for awhile now and like what they do. Here is a link to buy an all-color version for $15.99 plus postage. It’s pricey and I wish I could find a place to print these cheaper, but this is as low as I could get. I am offering a black & white version for only $6, but the experiment revealed a page-alignment problem that needs to be fixed, so I’ll have that up soon.

Alright. Now I’m back. It’s nice to hold a copy of HM Magazine in my hands again. Here is a video of me flipping through both the color and b&w versions:

Why are the inside covers blank? The way this place publishes a “book” (a printer’s term for magazines, too) is a color cover wraps around the “guts” or interior pages (like a paperback book). This color one is really nice, but it’s expensive. It’s $16 (plus postage) for an all-color version, which is 52 pages (including the covers). Some of you folks will get this one and appreciate the color printing and the design of the magazine.

Most people, however, will probably go for the black & white version, because they’re closer to the price you’d normally pay for a magazine. These have a nice color cover, a spine (called “perfect bound”) with a label on it, and an extra 30+ pages of content. For this special edition I added a bunch of live concert photography and also all the major features (and album reviews) from Heaven’s Metal Fanzine issue #89. This is a nice way to combine the two publications. This one sells for only $6.

Below are the links on where you can find them at lulu.com:

52-page Color Version: $15.99

88-page B&W version: $5.99

And … here’s the DECEMBER/Christmas issue (B&W version): $5.99

I’ve been sitting on this idea for 15 years, waiting for the right opportunity to launch it. Turns out I’m always busy, with one magazine deadline after another sucking up any “spare” time that could exist. It’s a wonder I was able to “hunker” down and get my novel written. That’s why it took five years to pull off. This idea, this vision, however, is a little broader than a novel (though the novel dream is to become a movie, but not one that I’d make). This new magazine title (which I’ve published a sample 15 years ago to lock in my copyright) would involve an elaborate business plan, hiring an editor, advertising salesperson and a PR director (preferably an ex high school football coach) and (most importantly) two professional football players to invest in and advise the magazine.

Why a football magazine? The NFL just launched a magazine, so the idea is not too outlandish. There was a title called NFL Insider in the early part of this past decade that came and went. Magazines are going out of print left and right. My own magazine title, HM Magazine, for instance, just went out-of-print after 26+ years this past fall. I think this title could work, however, because it has the potential audience to reach the 50,000 circulation mark, which is where I’d like to level off at. I’ve seen magazines break themselves to go beyond that, to go beyond 100,000, to break a million and stay there. According to my calculations, 50,000 is a “sweet spot.” That’s my plan.

Why the tagline and subtitle: A FOOTBALL MAGAZINE WITH A FAITH PERSPECTIVE? First of all, because it describes the magazine’s content. Secondly, because there is no such thing as “Christian football.” Christians don’t tackle softer or run gentler pass routes (at least good players don’t). This magazine will endeavor to entertain and educate the reader about football, as well as edify them in their faith. I plan on utilizing great writers that will create content that is sometimes just about the game, focusing on players that are doing something great on the field (about players that do not profess a faith in Christ) and then also content about the faith of Christian players that populate the NFL.I want to help the mission of Christians in the world by helping demolish or diminish the “us vs. them” mentality that believers sometimes have with/against non-believers. There are differences between a believer’s life and a non-believer, obviously, but I hope that First & Goal Magazine can be more of a bridge rather than a wall that is erected around believers to focus in and on themselves.

I plan on focusing on one high school program per issue and its uniqueness. I will bypass coverage of NCAA football pretty much entirely. I think this narrow focus will help and support the enthusiasm people have for the sport. There are a couple of Christian magazines that focus on all sports (NASCAR, baseball, basketball, etc) and, while I appreciate those magazines, I would only pick up a copy of Sports Spectrum, for example, to read about its football coverage. This laser-like focus I think will reflect the passion that our staff and its readers have on the game.

First & Goal will come out with 9 issues per year. It’ll be monthly during the season (from August to February) and bi-monthly during the off-season to still feed the enthusiastic appetite for the game that a lot of us feel after every season concludes. Once I find two professional football players to invest in First & Goal, I will endeavor to hire a staff. The idea of utilizing an ex high school football coach is to facilitate the interest high school coaches have in providing their players with a positive influence. We plan on working with and supporting many faith-based organizations like Navigators, Athletes in Action and others that interact with sports to edify believers active in sports.

Send me an email if you’d like more information.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/188209269/bleed-into-one-the-story-of-christian-rock?ref=live

“Bleed Into One” is a feature-film length documentary, and will become the definitive voice on the history of Christian Rock as told by those who lived, struggled, and shaped the phenomenon. Bleed Into One has a goal to release by summer 2012.

In the vein of Dogtown and Z-Boys, the film will chronicle the underdog nature of a genre of music that truly had to battle its way towards acceptance. A battle against a world who did not understand the musician’s faith, and a battle against those of faith who did not understand their music.

To many inside the church, the mere concept of sacred themes being presented within the perceived immoral framework of Rock Music created almost immediate controversy in the early seventies that in some quarters continues to this very day. Simply on the basis of their chosen style of music these artists were instant outcasts in both the secular world who deemed them to be pushing an unwelcome agenda, and more surprisingly in the Christian world where they were viewed as an unnecessary and frightening evil.

Pastors and televangelists quickly began to focus their ire not only on the secular rock artists but also on the increasingly popular medium of sacred rock, its practitioners and fans.

The Christian community eventually acknowledged the power of the genre as a growing number converts directly credited Christian rock music as THE thing that brought them their newfound faith. The greater Christian community saw this music not as an art form, but as a new evangelism tool and the music quickly became exploited when mediocre Christian copycat bands flooded the Christian bookstores and airwaves. What was once rooted in music and message was now rooted in money and marketing, leaving the true rock faithful looking back underground.

The early 1990’s saw the important — if not revolutionary — emergence of a new breed of bands who became not only important in spiritual circles but to music in general. For the first time artists began to look past the outreach potential of music and began see the medium as much as an art form as it was a form of spiritual expression.

Largely ignored, and in some cases mocked by the Contemporary Christian music machine, a culture began to grow around the developing scene as bands began creating music that appealed to the public at large, with their success being determined solely on the basis of the merits of their music.

EXECUTION:

Bleed into One will be an uncompromising, controversial view of the history as well as the people behind Christian Rock. The narrative will primarily be told through interviews, archival footage, music video and live performance. Not shying away from criticism of the genre, Bleed Into One will feature honest summations of pundits, critics and offer a variety of pop culture references on the subject including but not limited to “South Park”, “The Simpsons”, “Rolling Stone,” “Saved,” “Alternative Press,” “King of the Hill,” and comments from comedians and other detractors. Additionally, the film will feature website chatter, VH1 and MTV references.

With interviews and performances by:

P.O.D., Underoath, MxPx, Skillet, The Crucified, ZAO, Stryper, Living Sacrifice, DC Talk, Sixpence None the Richer, Jars of Clay, Steve Taylor, the REZ Band, Servant, Randy Stonehill, The Violet Burning, Norma Jean, The Prayer Chain, Third Day, Phil Keaggy, Mike Roe, The Choir, Steve Scott, Guardian, Puller, Project 86, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, Relient K, Petra, Sacred Fire, Demon Hunter, Audio Adrenaline, Mercy Me, Jeremy Camp, Delirious?, Newsboys, DeGarmo and Key, Squad 5-0, Family Force 5, Charlie Peacock, Brian ‘Head’ Welch, Scaterd Few, Flyleaf, The Altar Boys, Plankeye, The OC Supertones, The Lifters, Undercover, Chuck Girard, Oden Fong, Terry Taylor, Darrell Mansfield, Shout, Bryan Duncan, Nancy Jo Mann and so much more…

And interviews with…

Tooth and Nail records CEO-Brandon Ebel,

HM Magazine Editor-Doug Van Pelt

Brian Quincy Newcomb

Relevant Magazine Managing Editor-Tyler Clark,

Gospel Music Association president John Styll

Former Editor CCM magazine editor Jay Schwartzendruber

Raised By Wolves author John Thompson-

And many, many more.

There it is: the planned cover art for the next issue of HM Magazine. It might be the last one in print … at least for awhile. I’ve not made it a secret that HM has been in a financial battle to stay in print the past few years. I’m half-willing to lay all the cards on the table, but I know enough that tact, class and discretion are pretty important. So, I won’t throw dollar figures around. I’ll just be slightly vague.

For years HM has sold or generated “C” amount of ad sales dollars per issue. This was enough money to cover the rent, utilities, supplies and salaries of a small staff. Almost three years ago that amount coming in was cut in half (let’s call it “B” amount). This forced us to cut corners wherever possible and two staff positions were either laid-off or simply not replaced when someone moved on for other reasons. We down-sized every way fathomable. I skipped salary checks when necessary, our paper (”trim”) size shrank. We kept going, but kind of limping along.

I switched places with my wife, who became the “bread winner” in the family. This was no small thing. It kept us in print, though. In January of 2011 our ad sales were half of “B” (meaning they were “A”), which is just a complete loss. Most people would’ve thrown in the towel at that time. I changed our “frequency” from bi-monthly (every other month) to quarterly. This would reduce our income, but also chop up our expenses (like those large print bills). I kept going, rolled out some new plans and was able to climb back up to “B” with our April/May/June Issue #148. I realized, though, that even with my wife working full-time that “B” was not enough. I kept going. Sold “B” again with our July/Aug/Sept Issue #149.

I decided that Issue #150 (our Oct/Nov/Dec issue) would have to get to a point where we could survive (and actually get a salary again). This amount is slightly under “B-and-a-half.” My deadline is tomorrow. I’m a good ways away from reaching that point. Something could happen. I could reach the B.5 mark, but I’m not holding my breath. I have a feeling it’s not going to happen. I’ll follow-up with a blog and let you know. I still have another ad agency working for me to sell ads in certain categories (books, universities, music gear, child sponsorship organizations) and I still have until September 23rd to put this issue together. It could happen. Four weeks ago I thought it would, but less than 24 hours away from my self-imposed deadline, it’s so far away from the goal (not even at “B” yet) that I’m thinking I will soon find out what the next chapter will be.

I don’t know what the future holds, but I sure do love the One that knows the future. I don’t love Him because He has the power to raise funds for HM Magazine. I love Him because He first loved me. He pulled me out of the mess I was in. He’s treated me like royalty, given me hope, purpose and an identity I can be sure of. He’s adopted me as His own. It’s so good to know Him. Even if my print magazine goes digital-only, He’ll still be my Savior. I love God. He’s awesome and I need His help. If that’s not in the form of cash to reach the B.5 goal, I can accept that. He is God. I am not.

From HM Magazine
[be prepared for the HM Mag apps]

Click on the iPad 2 image above to enter.

This is part two of a two-part blog, so please STOP and read part one before you come back and read this part. Click here to read part one (there will be a link at the bottom of part one that’ll lead you back here … plus there’s always that “back” button on your browser).

Here’s more of my regular, on-going job duties (all of which I need to consider delegating to someone):

Subscriptions that come in via our online store. I get an email report from our online credit card payment checkout system, which includes the name and shipping address of the buyer, along with what they bought. In this case, it’s a subscription. I give all print subscribers a free digital subscription, so I copy their email address and paste it into the admin back-end of our online/digi-edition server. After I log in I paste the subscriber’s address in three spots, click “add user” and then open an email form letter I’ve composed (Outlook lets you save emails as a .msg file, which I keep in a special folder that allows me to double-click on the file and it opens as an email. I’ll paste the subscriber’s email in the “send” field, as well as in two places I have left blank for “username” and “password.” This way the subscriber gets his or her login info as quickly as possible after they subscribe. I’ll also print out this email report and then use it to type in the subscriber info into our mailing list database. After this is done I’ll insert the latest copy of HM into an envelope, fill out a mailing label and send them their first copy of their subscription (unless it’s a renewal, which would mean they were already sent the latest issue or if it’s close to the next issue, we’ll just make the next issue their first). Then I’ll file this one-page email print-out in a box with all paid subscriptions (I do this because we could be audited by the Post Office, who would require me to show them proof that 10 people they’d randomly pick from our mailing list had paid for their subscription. In that case we’d have to pull their subscription order, as well as a deposit slip from our bank showing those funds being deposited.).

Merch orders that come in via our online store get sent to me as email reports, too. I’ll print this out as well and then fulfill the order by going to my storage closet where we live, pulling the item (a t-shirt of a certain size, a sticker, poster or coffee mug, back issue, etc) and placing it in an appropriate mailing envelope or package. I’ll fill out a mailing label and then either print postage online or take it to the Post Office on my next visit and pay for the postage then. If the order was placed with “Priority Mail” postage, there is a special emphasis on placing and mailing this order as quickly as possible.

Confirming ad sales. When an ad client expresses an interest in advertising, I will compose an “Insertion Order,” which is a document I have saved with pertinent info for their ad. I will change the things specific to their ad (like their name, contact info, ad size and price) and save the document with a specific name (like “IO_companyX.doc”) and then email it to them as an attachment.

Processing credit card sales. Lots of our advertisements are paid for by ad clients with credit card (information they supply on the Insertion Order). Some customers will order subscriptions or merch this way by calling us on the phone and placing their order. I will log on to a website that handles our credit card processing, fill out the card member information and submit it as a sale. If/when the sale goes through I’ll mark “approval # such and such” on the paperwork and file it away.

Tracking ad sales. I use an online spreadsheet to track ad sales and the many stages they go through – from booking the ad, the size of the ad, invoicing for the ad and receiving payment for the ad.

Listening to independent music. We get on average 80 to 100 albums sent to us (either physical CDs or digital files, links to streaming audio and even a login platform called Sonic Bids). We listen to each and evaluate it. When we had a staff, all of us would vote. 1 is a veto vote that says “No way!” 5 is a veto vote that says, “Yes! This band is a ‘Pick of the Litter’ and I don’t care what anyone else on staff thinks.” Obviously, 5 ratings get in, as do most 4’s and the occasional 3-point something (we get detailed here with decimal points) gets in. It’s all a competition and the top 12 albums/bands get chosen. Sometimes 30-seconds into an album tells us all we need to know (both in the good and bad senses). Sometimes we have to listen to more than one song, etc.

Writing a blurb for each of the 12 “Pick of the Litter” bands. These “blurbs” are really glorified highlight information rather than critical reviews. The purpose of the “Pick of the Litter” section is to showcase the top 12 indie bands we’ve come across. It’s not to dissect what might be wrong with an album. These bands will get more of those kinds of reviews as their careers progress. We are just trying to highlight young, emerging artists that are not signed to record labels with national retail distribution. By the way, that is the HM definition of “indie.” An artist is indie if their music is only available via mail-order, internet-order or online streaming. Meaning some person in Miami, FL another in Seattle, WA and another in Cleveland, OH cannot go into their local music retail store and pick up a copy. In other words, if they do not have national retail distribution, then they’re indie.

Interviewing artists. I’ll record the audio from a phone interview (called a “phoner”) using a relatively cheap little Radio Shack device that hooks up to the phone line. I will compose questions that I hope will get the interview subject to open up and talk. After recording the interview I’ll transcribe it. I have a machine that features a foot pedal, which allows me to type as I listen, lifting my foot off the pedal to pause the tape. It rolls back a couple seconds to allow for the delay in the “reaction time” between my brain deciding to pause and my foot actually lifting off the pedal. If it’s a digital recording I have to actually pause the player by using my hand on the device or moving my computer’s mouse to the pause button. Once transcribed I’ll save the document in a folder for the issue number and type of file (doc, ads, or image), like “artistname.doc”

Composing feature article. Unlike the “So & So Says” feature, where I just draft an introduction and then place the raw “Q&A” (question & answer) interview, most of our articles are feature style, which major on editorializing, story-telling, descriptions and the occasional interview quote from the artist. This usually flows better and is more concise and fun to read.

Reviewing albums. This usually involves listening to an album several times and comparing this work with the artist’s previous work and possibly the work of others. This can be hard, but rewarding if you feel like you’ve “nailed it” and evaluated it fairly and described it well. Usually these are between 150 and 250 words long.

Gathering images, photos and cover art. Our “Album Review” section spotlights album covers as small squares that are less than one-inch tall. Because they are so small, the low-resolution or small size images found on the internet can be used here. Each one still has to be re-sized at 300 dpi and converted from RGB color to GRAYSCALE black & white and then saved as a .tif file. Photos and other artwork usually needs to be requested from a publicist, who emails me a large-sized, high resolution image. Because we not only print a magazine but post a digi-edition as well, I like to save the original color versions of images that we print in black & white. This will mean having to save the images with different file names.

Invoicing advertisers. We use an accounting program called QuickBooks to track and run our business. While looking at our ad spreadsheet I’ll go to each client and create an invoice for their ad. I’ll then either print and mail the invoice or email it to them. The program will track whether or not it’s been paid, alerting me if they pass the terms we’ve agreed on the sale.

Collecting money. This is a touchy subject. Once I complained about ad clients owing me money and a wise and caring friend from a record company “pulled me aside” with an email and pointed out that making such accusations hurt the “good guys” as well as “the bad guys.” The average person might see an accusation like I made and think, “I wonder if my favorite record company (possibly a good guy) owes them money, too?” This casts the good guys in a bad light by association and since the average consumer doesn’t know who’s good at paying their bills and who’s bad, they are left to guess … and the guessing causes harm. Perception of this nature can be bad. I’ll share a few things that will help alleviate this guessing. We have a policy. It’s like the motto “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” If an advertiser doesn’t pay their invoice (and new advertisers have to pay upfront anyway), then we don’t allow them to advertise again. We’re not going to stay in business if we keep letting some irresponsible company continue to mount up “debt” to us that never gets paid. The system of invoicing clients is basically a system of lending money to those clients. If they are not paying upfront, you are giving them your product or service (an ad in HM is like a service we are providing – getting the client’s ad message in front of thousands of people) with the promise that they will pay. Normal terms are 30-days. If the client does not pay by the 30th day, they are “late” and “past due.” So, before we go any further here, let me repeat: If an ad client is delinquent in paying their invoices to HM Magazine, we don’t let them advertise again (until they pay up their past-due invoices and then from then on out they are paying upfront). So, if you are playing the guessing game, be assured that the regular and repeat advertisers you see in HM Magazine are good businesses and are faithful to pay us for the advertising spots they buy. I’m still toying with the idea of posting some jpgs of ads that we ran but were never paid for. Some of my close friends tell me not to do this. They say, “Shaming people is not a good way to motivate them.” That’s easy to say when they don’t have over $70,000 in bad debt owed to them. If I end up having to go out of business someday, it will be hard not to be upset and bitter about this kind of debt. Those people stole from me. I fulfilled my end of the agreement (ran their ad), but they did not hold up their end. Every one of these delinquent clients has their own story. Some have gone out of business long ago, like Planet Records, No Compromise, Rugged, Rocket Dog, Rustproof, Slanted, Affinia Music, Media Solutions, Berean Stores and others. Some companies work with us, which we appreciate, sometimes paying small amounts per month. Some just offer one broken promise after another. Many collection agencies will not bother chasing invoices that are more than a year old (a majority of our bad debt is very old, some going back to the late-’90s), plus they usually charge 50% of the amount collected if they are old like that. I’ve heard lots of advice about this problem and I don’t bring it up here to dwell too much on the past. The problem of collecting money continues on for just about any business (just much less if managed well), but there is still some energy spent on sending statements, making contact, etc, with these accounts.

Reviewing DVDs, books and gadgets. While HM Magazine’s primary focus is music, we have branched out over the years to include reviews or editorial on music gear, electronic gadgets, books and DVDs of movies, etc. This takes time, of course, as evaluating anything requires focus and “test driving” or reading/watching the subject of the review.

Uploading files. When an issue of HM is finished, I will send a PDF file (one per page) to our printer for the print version. I will repeat this for the digi-edition and the new app versions. For the print magazine I use a web browser, which has upload capabilities. Once I upload a page or pages I can preview them and approve/reject the file so that, when I am finished approving, the magazine is ready for plating and printing at the printer. For the digi-edition and app versions I have to use special FTP software to upload the files and they do the rest.

Mailing list maintenance. I have to turn in our mailing list, which is broken down to foreign and domestic copies, as well as a few hundred that are sent out to advertisers, publicists and other industry people that get a complimentary copy. This all has to be documented to comply with our special “Periodical Rate” permit we have with the Post Office. This database of the mailing list has to be turned in on the same day as all of our magazine (PDF) files. This new arrangement makes the final days of deadline a hurried rush, but the benefit is that now our printer only takes 7 working days to “turn around” (print, stitch, label, sort and mail) an issue of HM Magazine. From time to time we will get torn covers of a magazine with a little yellow label affixed from the Post Office, telling us when a subscriber has moved. Subscribers will also phone, mail or email me with their change of address. I open up our mailing list database software, find the subscriber and change their address information. Also, when a new issue is mailed out I have to export the subscriber records of those subscriptions that have expired out of the mailing list, so that is only has active and current subscribers in it. I’ll save these exported records in a file I can later use to possibly mail those former subscribers a renewal notice or promotion to get them back.

I’m probably not done. I’ll add more later (in a third post), but is there anything so far that you could see yourself doing or helping out with? Let me know.

Thanks for reading this blog and thanks for caring about HM Magazine. The past couple of years running HM Magazine have been difficult. I feel bad that the struggle has gone on so long without clear (and miraculous) resolution. I was chatting with Anberlin’s Stephen Christian backstage at the Cornerstone Festival this year and he asked me how things were going. I gave him my typical, “I’m hanging in there” response, sharing how I wasn’t certain of HM Magazine’s future. “Yeah,” he said in a tone that sounded like an attempt to be encouraging, “but haven’t you been saying that for four years?” I laughed, because the exaggeration was funny, but it made me sad to think that it might seem like this has gone on forever. I don’t want to be that guy that’s always begging or holding on to something long after it’s basically gone (or should be gone).

While there’s a risk in being vulnerable and honest in what I’m going through, I have chosen this route. If I’m going to ask for help, I’m not going to put on a show or pretend that I’m doing better (or worse) than I’m actually doing. I’m cautious that sharing the wrong word at the right time with the wrong person can be harmful. If you’ve played the “sharing secrets” game (where you start with one phrase and whisper it to another and let it spread around the room. After a few people have relayed the message it changes form and conveys a completely different meaning.), then you know how this can be negative. I didn’t want one person to tell another that HM is struggling and have the message turn into a rumor that made its way to a regular client, who might hear, “HM has gone out of business!” Bad news can travel fast and get worse as it goes along. That’s a risk I’ve been willing to take, but I remain careful as I pursue keeping HM Magazine in print.

A year and a half ago I went up to “Mount Sinai,” so to speak, to inquire of the Lord whether or not He wanted HM Magazine to keep going. There were and still are many factors that would suggest shutting it down (like lower advertising revenue and business income in general), but since this is a “God thing” that I believe He had a hand in starting, growing and maintaining, I didn’t want to assume. I could have mis-heard what I believe God to be saying, but I came away with some fresh direction and about 8 pages of notes. One of the last couple of pieces has yet to fall in place, which is the purpose of this particular blog.

I would like to raise a “Volunteer Army” to help HM Magazine achieve what its capable of, to survive and grow. Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to share what I do on a regular basis (some daily, some not as frequent). As you look over these duties and descriptions, you can do one of a few things:

a) pray for God to bless these efforts and/or guide us
b) pray and consider getting involved in this particular duty/effort (or a few duties)
c) consider telling a friend that somehow “fits” the description
d) yawn and move on, adding a few more details to your understanding of the inner workings of a magazine

I would like to suggest that you take options “a” and “b.” Now I’ll try to list all the things I do as well as a few things that I wish I did or wish I did more often. One way to improve is to get creative, pray and dream up solutions. I need to delegate some of these duties to others (if possible). Check these out:

Answer email. I get email sent to several addresses (editor@hmmag.com, service@hmmag.com, advertising@hmmag.com, contest@hmmag.com, lustcontrol@hmmag.com, digital@hmmag.com, streetteam@hmmag.com and a personal gmail account). Email, while a wonderful and helpful tool, is also almost the bane of my existence. I could almost do nothing but email all day everyday. I get so much email it’s ridiculous. One idea I have is perhaps I could find someone I trust that would be willing to receive all my emails and route them to me as needed. This screening process could be tedious and long, but it would help me from doing it all myself. I recently changed my long-standing email address (dvanpelt@hmmag.com) and it helped tremendously by slowing down the amount of spam or junk email I was getting.

Posting news at hmmag.com This is something that helps bring traffic to HM’s website. Because HM Magazine is a recognized media outlet, news comes to me from various sources (like publicists, record companies, bands, etc). I like to stay on top of these and post them as they come in or at least a few times a day. I simply copy the text (and sometimes the photos) in the email or press release and paste them into my Word Press blog-style website, add photos if it’s a good idea and carefully make sure that the width of the document I’m copying isn’t wider than the frame size (439 pixels) of my news section. I can view the contents of any post as “visual” or “preview” and “html,” which is what I have to tweak if the content is part of a “table” or an image is wider than my frame size. It can be a little bit of trial and error.

Selling ads. Usually I’ll use email to contact my known, regular and potential ad clients. It’s easy to send off, easy to reply to (or ignore, which is the downside of this method). Sometimes I’ll pick up the phone to ask an ad client if they want to buy an ad. One thing I learned when applying for a job as a Radio Shack retail store management position was sales involves “closing” the transaction, which requires asking the simple and straight-up question of “Do you want to buy it?” I try to keep this in mind with my ad sales inquiries.

Choosing content. Our “formula” for choosing content is (as a rule) based around the release of a new album. We’re not about nostalgia and talking about great albums or artists of the past (though we do try to inject some “history” every now and then), so our feature articles are going to be on bands/artists that have a new album that will be dropping at roughly the same time that our new issue is coming out. This requires some planning and knowledge. Sometimes I’ll know that a certain band has a new album coming out. Sometimes I’ll confirm or learn this information by asking the Publicist a question like, “What artists should we be considering for coverage in our next (Oct/Nov/Dec) issue?”

Communicating with freelance writers and publicists. When I figure out who I want to cover in an issue of the magazine, I’ll choose one of our freelance writers (we have a “pool” of a couple dozen regular writers) based upon how well they “fit” the assignment. Perhaps one writer, like Matt Conner (one of our best) is better at rock and pop than metal or hardcore. Giving him the new album from TDWP would be a poor “fit,” while assigning him the new one from Deas Vail might be a great fit, for example. I’ll email that writer, asking him/her if they’d like to do such and such assignment. I’ll give them the word-count (how many words/how long the article should be), their deadline and the amount we’ll pay them for this assignment (lately I’ve asked a lot of writers if they’d volunteer an assignment, as our budgets have shrunk). If/when they say, “Yes,” then I’ll contact the publicist and share with them the writer’s name, their deadline and ask them if they’d setup the writer with bio information, music and an interview (if it’s a story; just music and bio info if it’s an album review). As a rule, I never share with the publicist the size or prominence of the story.

Following-up with people. Whether it’s a potential ad sale or a writing assignment, I’ll touch base with the responsible party to see how things are going, asking if there’s any assistance I can offer.

Answering questions. Many times the emails or phone calls I’ll get will be questions that only I can answer or questions that require some knowledge of what HM Magazine is doing or planning in order to properly and accurately answer the question.

Answering the phone. These days the phone doesn’t ring “off the hook” like it might have in the past. There are still times, however, where phone calls will increase in frequency. It’s possible that calls could be routed somewhere, like a virtual receptionist or something. It stinks how often I’ll get a sales call. “Can I speak to the person that handles your phone services or mailing supplies.” I usually politely reply with, “That would be me, but I’m sorry, I’m not interested. Have a good day. Goodbye.” Then I slowly hang up.

Planning events. The Cornerstone Festival has had a stage called the “HM Magazine Stage,” as have other fests (Purple Door, Sonshine and even Ichthus this year). Sometimes this requires choosing bands that should play on these stages. I keep a folder in my Outlook email program called “stages,” where I’ll file such inquiries or replies. If it’s not the right time to plan the stage, but a manager or band sends me an email expressing their interest in playing the stage, I’ll file it there for later reference. This is one of many things I manage. I hope I can remember them all for this blog today, but I might forget some details…

Promoting HM. Sometimes opportunities will come to me from another party (magazine, radio show, festival, etc) that will potentially help HM Magazine grow or expand its reach. One of my points here is that these ideas or opportunities often times come as a result of an outside influence. They’re not just ideas that I have dreamed up. Each opportunity could be replied to with wisdom and knowledge of our capabilities and resources. Some we take advantage of, others we decline.

Promotion activity. Sometimes I’ll have an idea, but it takes some work to make it happen. That might be dropping off some promotional materials or copies of HM at an outlet in Austin (like the Spider House or Waterloo Records) or going to a website or message board to post a message about HM. Perhaps it’s as simple as tweeting something from our two main twitter accounts (dooglar and HM_mag). It might be contacting a newspaper and suggesting that they interview yours truly for an article about something relevant (like a cover story on local artists from the Lancaster, PA area, like ABR; or perhaps promoting my new novel, Desert High, by suggesting coverage). It might be designing and printing a new promotional postcard or sticker or something.

Picking up the mail and mailing packages. We have a PO Box here in Lago Vista, Texas. I’ll try to check this every other day or so. We also get mail at our residence. When I have something to mail out, like new issues of the magazine or other merchandise people order at our online store, I have to pull (from the shelf/storage), pack, label and ship the package. I’ll use that next trip to the post office to ship it. Getting help with this particular job, of course, would require someone that lived nearby Lago Vista, TX.

Receiving and processing new content. Whenever a writer submits a written assignment, I need to save it (or “file it” by renaming the filename in a way that’s easy to find, like “150_thrice_feature.doc” and saving it in an appropriately named folder, like “150/docs”). Then I’ll proofread and edit the story. If someone else does this for me (like an intern) I’ll ask them to rename the edited version with their initials, just in case if I don’t agree with their changes/edits I can always go back to the original/raw file. (For example, if Tony Bryant were sending me an edited file, he might rename it: “150_thrice_feature_tb.doc”)

Communicating with our printer. I’ve done business with the same printer (Quad Graphics, who’ve changed ownership and their name a few times over the years from Pendell Printing, Inc) since 1991. From time to time I’ll need to communicate with them in regards to the date I’ll be supplying them with files for the next issue.

Laying out features. I will take the content for an issue and paste the text into a design program that’s part of the Adobe Creative Suite – InDesign. I’ll paste the text into a text box, place a photo in a photo box and arrange them on the “page” to be aesthetically pleasing and easy-to-read.

Preparing images. For a photo or image to go in HM Magazine’s print version, it has to be re-sized to 300 dpi. This is “high resolution.” If it is formatted at 72 dpi, it better be a large file, because when it is re-sized at 300 dpi, the dimensions will shrink proportionally. We can’t use something that’s small at low resolution and pretend that we can keep it same size at high resolution. Technically, PhotoShop will “allow” the user to do this, but it’s making poor quality look even more clearly as poor quality. You can’t take a newspaper photo and make it look pretty for a magazine cover. You can go from high quality to low, but not vice-versa. Once the image is re-sized at 300 dpi, it needs to be converted to “grayscale” mode if it’s going to be black&white or “CMYK” if in color. These images need to be saved as .tif files. An “RGB” image is only good for website stuff. If it’s going on our website, it can be low resolution (72 dpi) and re-sampled to fit our website’s frame dimensions, which is 439 pixels wide. These images need to be saved as .jpg files.

…this is taking me longer than I thought. How ’bout I post this now and add more later?
Here is a link to later – Part 2.

FrontGate Media; the leading faith-based, culture-engaged media & marketing group, announced today the signing of HM Digital and HM Magazine to their expanding internet & event media group.  The signing marks the expansion of HM’s digital media options and the return of the HM brand which had previously been part of the FrontGate Media group from 2003-2005 as HM Magazine.

Safket Publishing will be releasing “For Those About To Cook” by Bruce Moore who is a regular weekly contributor to PureGrainAudio, and has been published in various national and international music magazines including HM Magazine, Thrash Magazine, Crave, Sick Drummer, and The Gauntlet into the real world on August 1st. You can still pre-order a copy and starting August 1, you can regularly order the book in your book store and cook what your favorite musicians suggested.

Pre-Orders available at the following link - http://www.safkhetpublishing.com/books/cookbooks/978-1-908208-02-6/FTATC/For_Those_About_To_Cook.htm

On August 13th, 2011 there will be a launch party held at Cullens Cove in Mechanicsville, Virginia. There’ll be a concert starting at 6:00pm and continuing throughout the launch party. The concert will be open to the general public so please come see us! Ticket prices will be $7.00 per person.

About:

For Those About To Cook is a collection of recipes, anecdotes and pictures from musicians and music industry personnel. With contributions from numerous musical genres and countries, this is truly a multi-genre and multi-ethnic collector’s cookbook. Readers will be presented with recipes ranging from appetizers to full course meals and desserts. For Those About To Cook is more than a cookbook: it is also a fan collectible as it includes short informative biographies, high quality pictures of the artists (mostly in a kitchen setting – see the preview below), pictures of the food and, in some cases, a quote about why the recipe or food is important to the contributor.

Readers and fans will gain an insider’s view into the lifestyle and habits of the artists and bands; a sort of backstage pass or behind-the-scenes look into the lives of their favorite artists far from the stage and the studio.