CONTACT – Issue 60 OUT NOW
CONTACT issue 60 – December 2018 – read right here…
- If you prefer to download the .pdf (50meg) version, you can find that here
but PLEASE save the .pdf to your hard drive, then reopen it from there before exploring (otherwise hyperlinks won’t work properly)
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Official announcement – CONTACT will not be printed in 2019
I have bad news and good news…
The bad news is, I have decided – no, actually, the audience decided (except for our DFSW Club members, who all voted ‘yes’ with their credit cards) that…
CONTACT will not be printed in 2019
It became very obvious after publishing the above magazine that the whole print plan was a lost cause.
My editorial plea and double-page advertisement in CONTACT 60 attracted just 6 new supporters – and I lost 3 older ones at the same time. Which means I currently have fewer than 70 DFSW Club members, when I needed 1000 to get CONTACT back into print.
Which brings me to the good news…
My heart and my brain – and, most importantly, my wife – told me it’s OK to carry on.
So, I will continue to publish CONTACT – the whole ‘media empire’, including the magazine – pretty much as is, for now.
I do plan on making some changes and trying a few new ideas. I hope to recruit some help (in advertising sales especially) and a few other tweaks in the short term.
I even have one completely radical plan in my head that could massively change things up (hopefully for the better) – but I won’t announce that until I consult a few more confidants, just in case I really have gone totally mad (yep, it’s that radical).
I have also made it known to my chain of command that I’m available and ready to do some Army Reserve Days, to supplement the family budget – and to re-engage in some brothers-in-arms camaraderie, which I have missed over the past few years.
I will keep the DFSW Club going too – and hopefully improve it. It is a genuinely heartwarming gauge of audience love and support and – I won’t beat about the bush – a very welcome source of direct funding support of my work. There are a few amazing people out there who want to support what I do, regardless of printing, and I thank them dearly, always worrying that the benefits of DFSW Club membership doesn’t adequately repay their amazing generosity. So, I will always be looking for ways to improve that balance, and will always welcome and truely consider any suggestions you may have in this regard.
In line with this, I have begun to edit and rationalise the rewards/tiers list – and will soon begin to make some features on this web site accessible to DFSW-Club-members only. And anything else I can think of to make DFSW Club membership more attractive and rewarding.
Anyway, if you are disappointed (as I am) that CONTACT will not be printed next year, I commiserate. But, the majority of the audience voted overwhelmingly ‘no’ when I asked for their support to achieve something grand, which I couldn’t achieve on my own.
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So, with that, I wish you all a very happy, healthy and safe Christmas and a wonderful 2019,
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Brian Hartigan
CONTACT Editor
editor@militarycontact.com
0408 496 664
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A great read, but getting to be an oldie (failing eyesight etc) I prefer find the emailed pdf, cause I can enlarge the print/images and make it easier to read.
I can also read it on my mobile/tablet when I am travelling.
Plus when I am finished I hit “delete” and nothing to put in the bin, thus no wastage.
Tom Crossan
PROTECTIVE SECURITY MANAGEMENT Pty Ltd
Greetings,
I appreciate that potential advertisers would prefer you to publish hardcopy rather than an emailed PDF file.
However at an Officers’ Mess AGM, at RAAF Edinburgh last Thursday of RAAF and Army members, we voted in favour of discontinuing Mess newspaper subscriptions.
Why? Because, while we (Vietnam
-era) guys and gals might prefer copy we can hold in their hands, today’s generations prefer electronic publications.
What are your demographics? If you cater exclusively for we older ex-servicemen and women, you might have a case for returning to print. Your responses don’t seem to suggest that?
But if you cater for a blended audience (of ex and serving ADF) the writing is on the wall! Eventually the younger “electronically savvy” will outnumber us.
I suggest that you bite the bullet and remain with electronic publications.
Regards
Wayne
Mr Wayne Johnston
HONREPASST
Committee (2004-Present)
Officers’ Mess
RAAF Edinburgh
Mobile: 0422 958 936
Sadly, I think that’s very sage advice Wayne. Thank you.
Brian Hartigan
Editor