Basic HTML Version
PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, September 11, 1979
Page 2
EDITORIAL SERVICES UPDATE
Mr. Armstrong has just approved the cover picture for an abbreviated
edition of the Autobiography. The booklet will contain the first two
chapters and is primarily intended for our young people. The project
arose as a result of Mr. Armstrong's visits to the summer camp at Orr.
We'll get this to press right away.
The literature inventory area informs us that the full size U.S. and
Britain in Prophecy book will be available about January. Originally it
was planned for this month but festival plans and other production con
siderations have delayed it.
The September PT is now off the press and we are finalizing layouts on
sig. 1 of the combined October/November issue. Copy for part of the
December issue has also been sent to Mr. Armstrong for his editing and/or
approval.
The October/November issue will have Winston Churchill on the cover to
illustrate Mr. McNair's article on leadership. We have just received
Mr. Armstrong's approval on that today. Some of you may recall that the
first color cover of the PT (February '65) also was of Winston Churchill.
--Brian Knowles, Editorial Services
PUBLISHING SERVICES UPDATE
This past week we have been putting together our various budgets for 1980.
With inflation as it is in the U.S.,we need a 15% increase in the publish
ing budget just to hold level for this coming year. At the moment this
type of increase doesn't seem to be forthcoming, so we are working on yet
more ways to make our dollars go even further.
One dramatic impact on our cost effectiveness would be an increase in our
PT newsstand percentage response. I mentioned before how with a little
more effort some local church areas have increased their response. This
has been done by either changing the outlet used or avoiding waste. Some
church areas are very good and have a response that is double to other
areas. An example of one badly run area was a deacon who was stocking
unwanted magazines in his garage without letting us know, while an area
just 40 miles away was desperate for more magazines. Let's all be very
careful with the magazines we're entrusted with.
Another very effective way of saving money once we get people on the PT
list is trying hard to keep them there. To this end we're continuously
refining our renewal program and are, with the help of the Quest magazine
staff, increasing the effectiveness of the program to ensure the highest
renewal rate ever.
We are just about holding our own in PT circulation. Having begun the
year with a total of 694,000 subscribers /1n the U.S./ and, in spite of
severe cutbacks in newsstand distribution-and media coverage, we still
have a circulation level of
681,000.
This is just over
100,000
less than
the same time last year when we were enjoying the results of more extensive
TV coverage, TV commercials, and a newsstand circulation of one million.
We have been able to maintain this circulation with a massive mailing to
former subscribers, PT newspaper inserts, gift subscription envelopes
I
•
'