SILICON
SILIC
CHIP
www.siliconchip.com.au
Publisher/Editor
Nicholas Vinen
Technical Editor
John Clarke, B.E.(Elec.)
Technical Staff
Jim Rowe, B.A., B.Sc.
Bao Smith, B.Sc.
Tim Blythman, B.E., B.Sc.
Nicolas Hannekum, Dip. Elec. Tech.
Technical Contributor
Duraid Madina, B.Sc, M.Sc, PhD
Art Director & Production Manager
Ross Tester
Reader Services
Ann Morris
Advertising Enquiries
Glyn Smith
Phone (02) 9939 3295
Mobile 0431 792 293
glyn<at>siliconchip.com.au
Regular Contributors
Dave Thompson
David Maddison B.App.Sc. (Hons 1),
PhD, Grad.Dip.Entr.Innov.
Geoff Graham
Associate Professor Graham Parslow
Ian Batty
Cartoonist
Brendan Akhurst
Founding Editor (retired)
Leo Simpson, B.Bus., FAICD
Silicon Chip is published 12 times
a year by Silicon Chip Publications
Pty Ltd. ACN 626 922 870. ABN 20
880 526 923. All material is copyright ©. No part of this publication
may be reproduced without the written
consent of the publisher.
Subscription rates (12 issues):
$105.00 per year, post paid, in Australia.
For overseas rates, see our website or
email silicon<at>siliconchip.com.au
Recommended & maximum price only.
Editorial office:
Unit 1 (up ramp), 234 Harbord Rd,
Brookvale, NSW 2100.
Postal address: PO Box 139,
Collaroy Beach, NSW 2097.
Phone (02) 9939 3295.
E-mail: silicon<at>siliconchip.com.au
ISSN 1030-2662
Editorial Viewpoint
More articles than space –
a good problem to have!
In the October 2020 issue, I wrote about wanting to
publish a range of articles, including some of historical
interest and others about the latest technology. This
has created a bit of difficulty; while we have a good
mixture of different articles, I am struggling to fit all
this content into the magazine.
You might be wondering why I don’t just print
magazines with more pages. That is not as easy as it sounds.
For a start, our printing and mailing costs would go up, and given the
general economic malaise caused by COVID-19, I am reluctant to increase
our expenditures. Note that we have not increased the magazine cover price
for more than seven years now – an unprecedented period in the magazine’s
history.
Another problem is that if I print magazines with more than 112 pages on
our current paper stock, they might not fit into the binders that we sell. We
also sometimes have problems with the centre sections tearing out in larger
magazines. Printing on thinner paper would solve these problems, but result
in worse print quality; something I am not keen on.
Another option is for me to reduce the number of constructional project
articles in some issues.
Since taking over the magazine in August 2018, I have stuck faithfully to
my predecessor’s guideline of having four such articles in every issue. I think
he was right that this strikes a good balance, but perhaps I should make the
occasional exception and run three project articles in some months. That
would allow us to include more feature articles. I think that makes sense,
but I wonder what our readers would think of that.
The other option is to raise the cover price (which I am still trying to put off
as long as possible) and then use the extra revenue to print larger magazines
with more content. That’s assuming we don’t lose too many readers when the
price goes up. But I still couldn’t publish large issues too often, or we would
run into the over-full binders problem I mentioned above.
That makes me think that perhaps dropping to three projects per issue
from time to time is the best solution.
It also occurred to me that we could run some smaller, simpler projects
(which I want to do anyway; again, trying to strike a balance) which will
free up more space for feature articles. That’s what we’ve done in this issue,
running a clever little four-page project which allows us to have five features
plus all our usual columns.
It’s a good solution, but we can’t always come up with shorter projects
that are worth publishing and building (and what seems like a small project
initially can often balloon into a major one!). One of the biggest problems
with these simple projects is that often when someone has an idea, we
have published something very similar before, and I don’t want to keep reploughing the same ground.
If you have strong feelings one way or another about what I have written
here, you are welcome to provide some feedback (eg, by sending an e-mail
to silicon<at>siliconchip.com.au). That will help guide my decision-making
when it comes to figuring out which articles to run in future issues, based
on what our readers want.
Printing and Distribution:
Nicholas Vinen
24-26 Lilian Fowler Pl, Marrickville 2204
2
Silicon Chip
Australia’s electronics magazine
siliconchip.com.au
| 
