Publishing is a pain in the butt.
I'm doing two publishing things right now. First, I'm making a little 1/8 page ad about Hometown for a regional Sunday-paper insert travel guide. Second, I'm proofing Hometown's 4 tourism pages for a state magazine's profile on Hometown.
First, the little ad. I came up with 5 different designs with 2 different messages and sent them to the tourism commission for comments and votes. I got ONE response. I submitted the one that got the one vote and was told everything was good. Then I was told that it was blurry. Redo it, resubmit, still blurry. WTF? I don't know--I'm not that good on computers. So redo it again, wait for them to lay it out, cut words, do this and that, wait some more. It will get done, but I'm frustrated about the almost complete lack of input from the TC. Sure, I work for volunteers, but I didn't realize I worked for such hands-off volunteers who volunteered to be active in tourism.
Second, the 4 pages. The TC paid thousands of dollars for 4 pages in a 52-page profile of Hometown that is going to be in the big State Magazine AND that will be available as a free-standing publication. It's a great magazine, with gorgeous photos and a clean layout. I told the writer in charge of tourism's feature what we wanted in the spread: Hometown's charm, a little relevant-to-tourism history, and our big events. I said I wanted Hometown to come across as the hub of a region with lots of interesting little towns to visit--and to have those little towns featured along the side margin or in some other way. I wanted a map, a small calendar of events, and colorful pictures showing beautiful sites and lots of people.
I didn't get it.
I have yet to read the text thoroughly (just got it, you know), but there is no mention of a hub or of any other town (besides one), no map, no calendar, no link to our website. And the pictures are surprisingly lame! There are back-to-back, full-page "sunset silhouette" shots that are predominately yellow and black. There are three photos of people bicycling on a statewide rail trail--one full-page and two insets within that same page--showing a total of 4 people, none smiling. On the next spread, there are 2 buildings, 2 sidewalks and 1 beautifully decorated room in a historic room...and no people.
The other problem is that there are, apparently, no really good shots of Hometown in existence. I've searched the web and the local photo guy's stash. The local guy takes tons of pictures, but there are very few that are artful, close-up, filled with color, etc. Despite dozens of festivals and events, there are no good pictures of people at a festival or event. There is no picture of downtown Hometown at night, showing all of the buildings outlined with white lights. I'm seriously going to start taking my own.
And the real kicker is that it's too late to make many changes! What I was given, despite having asked for pages long ago, is up against a thisweek deadline and in near final form! Dangit!
I thought I was finished with all of this excitement!
First, the little ad. I came up with 5 different designs with 2 different messages and sent them to the tourism commission for comments and votes. I got ONE response. I submitted the one that got the one vote and was told everything was good. Then I was told that it was blurry. Redo it, resubmit, still blurry. WTF? I don't know--I'm not that good on computers. So redo it again, wait for them to lay it out, cut words, do this and that, wait some more. It will get done, but I'm frustrated about the almost complete lack of input from the TC. Sure, I work for volunteers, but I didn't realize I worked for such hands-off volunteers who volunteered to be active in tourism.
Second, the 4 pages. The TC paid thousands of dollars for 4 pages in a 52-page profile of Hometown that is going to be in the big State Magazine AND that will be available as a free-standing publication. It's a great magazine, with gorgeous photos and a clean layout. I told the writer in charge of tourism's feature what we wanted in the spread: Hometown's charm, a little relevant-to-tourism history, and our big events. I said I wanted Hometown to come across as the hub of a region with lots of interesting little towns to visit--and to have those little towns featured along the side margin or in some other way. I wanted a map, a small calendar of events, and colorful pictures showing beautiful sites and lots of people.
I didn't get it.
I have yet to read the text thoroughly (just got it, you know), but there is no mention of a hub or of any other town (besides one), no map, no calendar, no link to our website. And the pictures are surprisingly lame! There are back-to-back, full-page "sunset silhouette" shots that are predominately yellow and black. There are three photos of people bicycling on a statewide rail trail--one full-page and two insets within that same page--showing a total of 4 people, none smiling. On the next spread, there are 2 buildings, 2 sidewalks and 1 beautifully decorated room in a historic room...and no people.
The other problem is that there are, apparently, no really good shots of Hometown in existence. I've searched the web and the local photo guy's stash. The local guy takes tons of pictures, but there are very few that are artful, close-up, filled with color, etc. Despite dozens of festivals and events, there are no good pictures of people at a festival or event. There is no picture of downtown Hometown at night, showing all of the buildings outlined with white lights. I'm seriously going to start taking my own.
And the real kicker is that it's too late to make many changes! What I was given, despite having asked for pages long ago, is up against a thisweek deadline and in near final form! Dangit!
I thought I was finished with all of this excitement!
posted by lulu | 11:10 AM
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