Qayaq, GLSKA’s quarterly magazine, is a valued read for many of our members, with its reports of paddles undertaken and club news. The type of content has not changed much since the first issue appeared thirty years ago in the spring of 1989, just after GLSKA got started. What has changed however is the way in which information is distributed these days, and Qayaq is no exception – our readers increasingly go on line and feel comfortable reading their news on a screen. We distribute Qayaq in both printed and digital (pdf) versions, asking members to choose their preferred format when joining or renewing their memberships. Increasingly, members choose the digital version. The demand for a printed version has now fallen to less than 25% of the total distribution of the magazine and the trend is clearly downwards.
Unfortunately the economics of printing involve substantial preparation costs which remain the same, whether one or one hundred or one thousand copies are printed. On top of the printing costs comes the need for an envelope, an addressed label and volunteers to put it all together. Then comes the postage! The digital version however uses the same artwork created for printing, costs nothing to create and goes out as an email attachment to our existing membership list – no printing, no envelopes, no postage. What’s more, the photography and illustrations can be in colour, video clips can be incorporated and articles could carry active links. Your Board has therefore been considering what we should do. The only realistic option seems to us to be to discontinue the print version and we are planning to do this before the end of this year.
However there is another issue which has to be addressed. Most of Qayaq’s content is produced by our members and then laid out for reproduction by Viki Mather our volunteer editor. But increasingly the lack of submitted material is forcing Viki to create content herself – this an onerous task and not the job she volunteered for. So if you are already a contributor – thank you! (and keep up the good work). But if you have ever thought about sending us an article – it could be a trip report, your thoughts on a piece of gear or anything related to our sport – then please make this the year you get to see your name in digital print and, most important, help Qayaq to continue as a valued benefit of our GLSKA membership!
Your comments and thoughts on the future of Qayaq would be very much appreciated. Please send them to me at keithrodgers@glska.com or by mail to the address given on the back of Qayaq and I will pass them on to Viki and our Board.