Getting Ready

It's been a challenging week in the Subritzky household, and consequently, my "hurry up and get your articles and ads in for the NOVEMBER issue" email is well overdue. Apologies for that, but you have until the end of business Tuesday (18th) to do so.

When John and I took over this newspaper back in May, we had a lot of enthusiasm and high hopes, but very little experience. We were excited for this opportunity, and came with two, intertwined goals:

(1) to write and source articles that people want to read, and
(2) to make the paper worthy of the trust of our advertisers.

They remain our goals, front and centre, every issue.

It's been a steep learning curve, with its ups and downs, but we have enjoyed the journey.

We frequently receive feedback from sources such as email, social media, website contact form etc, as well as from people we meet out and about. The general vibe has been overwhelmingly positive about how they love to read the Beacon, comments on the various articles, and how good it is to have a community paper that reflects community issues, happenings and opinions.

Although we have developed a particular 'flavour,' we aim to have something in there for everyone.

Yes, people do read - and digest - our paper! A few weeks back I was having coffee at the Block with a friend and noticed a couple sitting there, both reading copies of the Beacon. I was pretty darn chuffed to see that.

Another goal has been to create consistency in the delivery date, which we have now achieved. We were aiming at having the Beacon in letterboxes by the 1st of each month, and October we finally hit our target. It was necessary to plan the preceding months in such a way that we eventually get to our goal, and it's our pleasure now to be able to give everyone some fairly reliable dates to be able to work with.

So, here they are. Roughly speaking you will need to get your bookings and articles in by the middle of the month, for inclusion in the following month's paper.

Email kerrie@bhb.nz