A club magazine is the most important way of communicating with members; it may often be the only thing some members get for their subscriptions and therefore it should be taken seriously.

• Ideally a magazine should be published monthly and on the same day each month.  Speed and topicality may be more important than elegant or expensive printing.
• The standard of club magazines varies enormously and the quality is not necessarily related to a club's size.  Standards generally are rising, not least because of modern technology, and a club should monitor what other motor clubs (as well as other organisations competing for people's leisure time) are producing so that it does not get left looking second rate.
• Enthusiasm is the key requirement and magazines work best when one person is nominated as the editor.  He (or very often she) should ideally be a member of a club's main committee so that he is in touch with all that is happening in the club.
• Although the committee should let the editor have his head, it should give instructions on the financial performance expected; is the magazine expected to break even (highly unlikely!), lose no more than 'x' or . . . ?  Committee members may also be able to use their influence to get advertising and obviously they should be the ones to lay down what is or isn't allowed.  What you can charge for ads will obviously depend on the quality and circulation of the publication - all the more reason for m aking it as good as possible.  Don't forget that although taking ads makes a magazine look more professional, it also means extra effort - take care to ensure that the effort is justified by the extra revenue.
• Once appointed and with some idea of budgets, an editor should consider the size and style of the magazine.  A5 is the most popular size, that is half the size of this piece of paper (around 65% of clubs use this size) and most clubs publish 12 or 16 pages.  Bear in mind that postage costs will be affected by the size and weight of paper used.
• Consult likely printers when deciding on size.  The printing world is highly competitive so get more than one quote.  Above all, check on a printer's reliability as well as quality because as mentioned earlier, a magazine should ideally come out at the same time each month.
• Discuss with the printer what form he wants the. copy in and then let possible contributors know.  Editors struggling for copy may be glad of something handwritten on the back of an envelope although things will be a lot easier if slightly better technology is available (see Guideline 10).
• Decide what flavour you want - elegant or earthy, luxurious or cheap and cheerful.  Try to give your magazine a character of its own although get legal advice if you decide to be deliberately controversial.  Avoid four letter words in it, you aren't writing a rag mag and members are difficult enough to recruit without offending any.
• Try to get skilled help in planning the layout of the magazine and in designing the cover.  Even consider drawing up a house style sheet for the magazine, spelling out whether certain words are always hyphenated, capitals always used for others and so on.  Your readers may not all notice the consistency but it will add a little something to the quality.
• Consult your printer about photographs, what form he would like them in and so on, and then set up a supply line for them there will usually be a club member at events who is a mild camera buff who will be happy to see his work in print.  Before you get too ambitious and think of colour photographs, do consider the cost and possible time delays.
• Some clubs successfully use cartoons in magazines but they do need care if they are not to look indulgently amateurish.
• Having sorted out the style of the magazine, the editor should then try to PLAN AHEAD.  Too often there will be a last minute scramble to get anything out at all, yet a little planning can prevent some of the panic.  Christmas will probably come around in December every year ... so why not think of a suitable feature for the December issue several months ahead?  A twelve month plan will help an editor balance a magazine so that over a year it covers all members' interests.
• Having produced a magazine to be proud of, it is important to get it to members as quickly as possible.  If the club meets on a regular day then schedule the magazine so that it can be given out then but do have a method of delivering copies to those not attending.  Mail is the most reliable method of distribution but it can be costly and it does need 'helpers' to stuff envelopes.  Advertising leaflets can perhaps be included during the exercise in order to defray postage costs.
• Print a few extra copies each month and send them to national enthusiast magazines, local journalists, club sponsors and neighbouring clubs; put a few in local libraries and other places where you may reach potential new members.
• The constant complaint of editors is that they can't get enough material - so this Guideline ends with a list of the items which appear most regularly in club magazines which may provide one or two ideas.

Possible things to include in a club magazine

• Contents page
• What it is, eg "The magazine of the XYZ Motor Club which does this and that".
• List of officials, addresses, phones and fax.
• In what form the editor would, ideally, like to receive copy.
• Calendar of events.
• Where the club meets and when.
• "Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the committee and officials".
• Invitations from other clubs.
• Championship positions and points.
• Editorial.
• Over 400 clubs now take 'Wheels'- 2 pages of A4 (or 4 of A5) provided free by the MSA and mailed direct to editors on 1O^th of every month.
• Committee news.
• News of social events.
• Reports on competitive events.
• Subscription details and a membership application form.
• Photographs (properly captioned).
• Date copy must be received for the next issue.
• Welcome to new members.
• Advertising rates.
• Sales and wants ads for members (usually free).
• Brief history of the club.
• "Ten (or 20) Years Ago".  Snippets culled from old copies of the magazine.
• Letters from members.
• Copies of key letters, e.g. from someone offering a discount to members or from a celebrity.
• News from a key club sponsor.
• Regional Association news.
• Cartoons.
• Quizzes.
• Crosswords.
• News from local companies.
• Articles about members' cars.
• Club clothing and badges for sale.

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