American Dancer magazine - running thread, too

[tanya_the_dancer]

We should have a running thread about this magazine, too. Just got my issue last weekend.

I really have a big problem with their lead time. They're advertising things which are supposed to happen in November when the magazine gets delivered in the beginning of December.

[Porfirio Landeros]

They have REALLY improved the look of this publication. I have to say that I'm very impressed that this aspect was finally made a priority. There are still some editing/text-import problems here and there, but it's far better than before.

Yet, on the other side of the coin, I find myself flipping VERY quickly through it, looking at pictures, and then I'm done. I guess I chalk this up to not being the target audience, but that begs the question... who is the target?

Anyway, they deserve prop's for the aesthetic improvements.

[tanya_the_dancer]

Yet, on the other side of the coin, I find myself flipping VERY quickly through it, looking at pictures, and then I'm done. I guess I chalk this up to not being the target audience, but that begs the question... who is the target?


I feel like there is a bit too much of senior stuff in it in general. So I am wondering, too.

[caityrosey]

FYI, we have a thread on this pubication in dance articles. I think that's a good place for it. :)

[Me]

Yeah... very interesting issue. People in my area have been xeroxing the letter to the editor and passing around, feeling all vindicated and such. It's been a bit surreal - we're getting e-mails and phone calls from friends all over the country who read it.

[samina]

you work for the publication, me?

[Me]

They have REALLY improved the look of this publication. I have to say that I'm very impressed that this aspect was finally made a priority. There are still some editing/text-import problems here and there, but it's far better than before.

Yet, on the other side of the coin, I find myself flipping VERY quickly through it, looking at pictures, and then I'm done. I guess I chalk this up to not being the target audience, but that begs the question... who is the target?

Anyway, they deserve prop's for the aesthetic improvements.

It would appear to me to be targeting the social dancer, and I would say middle-aged and beyond, and mostly female. You walk into your average USA Dance function, and you see mostly people in their early 40's, and couples. (At least, this has been my South Mississippi observation.)

I noticed an article about a 'star' dancer was one who was featured a lot on television SYTYCD, instead of featuring perhaps a 'super star' comp champion. The featured couple was a sort of fairytale story about meeting 'the one perfect partner,' something a dancer of any level can appreciate. The story featuring the elderly lady would be to inspire a sizeable margin of their audience to continue dancing. A 'Christmas wishlist' article had people saying they wanted simple things, like a new pair of shoes, rather than people wanting designer competition gowns and what-not.

[Me]

you work for the publication, me?


No, I don't work for it - but a letter to the editor about ballroom concerns me directly, and my coach, two personal friends, and an aquaintance.

[samina]

No, I don't work for it - but a letter to the editor about ballroom concerns me directly, and my coach, two personal friends, and an aquaintance.

okay -- gotcha

[tanya_the_dancer]

It would appear to me to be targeting the social dancer, and I would say middle-aged and beyond, and mostly female. You walk into your average USA Dance function, and you see mostly people in their early 40's, and couples. (At least, this has been my South Mississippi observation.)

I noticed an article about a 'star' dancer was one who was featured a lot on television SYTYCD, instead of featuring perhaps a 'super star' comp champion. The featured couple was a sort of fairytale story about meeting 'the one perfect partner,' something a dancer of any level can appreciate. The story featuring the elderly lady would be to inspire a sizeable margin of their audience to continue dancing. A 'Christmas wishlist' article had people saying they wanted simple things, like a new pair of shoes, rather than people wanting designer competition gowns and what-not.

Actually when they listed suggestions from different people, they had one from a lady from our chapter. ;)

[Me]

Actually when they listed suggestions from different people, they had one from a lady from our chapter. ;)

Aw, that's so cool! :eek:

[Dancebug]

I don't find anything written there much useful or interesting. If they cannot find something interesting to write about, I suggest that they put more dance phtographs. I think pictures can help non-dancers get interested in dancing. You know a picture is worth a thousand words.

[wyllo]

Dancebug -- what would you find more interesting to read about?

The new editorial team certainly has done a very good job so far in improving the magazine. But I agree that they still have further to go in terms of content. I was really excited to see the product review section, but it was only a wish list. That's nice, but I want to hear about new shoes and what not and the pros/cons to different dance products. And they tend to only superficially cover things without asking the questions I really want answered. But it's a work in progress and they deserve a lot of credit for the work they have done so far!

Also, yeah, lead time needs to be improved. I shouldn't be getting the November/December issue in December -- especially if it's advertising events in November.

[Indiana_Jay]

It would appear to me to be targeting the social dancer.
And as a social dancer, I thought the target must be competitors, because so much of the text is devoted to profiling competitors who I know nothing about.

Regarding the production schedule, the first issue by the new editorial team was the September/October issue, which got here at the end of October. In her column, USA Dance President Esther Freeman solicited member comments. I wrote about the timeliness issue (among other comments). Esther replied that the September/October issue arrived at members' homes three weeks later than expected, due to unanticpated mailing problems.

I expected that by their second issue, the new editors would have developed an understanding of how long it takes to get their publication into members' hands and edit accordingly. This does not, however, appear to be the case. The November/December issue arrived in late November and included future tense references to events that had by then already occurred.

Ideally, the January/Februray issue would arrive at the end of December and refer to any December events in past tense. If the issue doesn't arrive until late January, it should refer to January events in past tense. We shall see!

My two cents.

-IJ

[yaniv]

The magazine is getting MUCH better. I actually found myself skimming through some of the articles with interest. I enjoyed reading the articles about the senior latin, and the article on Heidy. Overall, a thumbs up from me.

[Laura]

It is a lot nicer, but I must admit that I was a little miffed that despite being VERY clear about how to spell my last name, and even writing it down for the author clearly in block printed letters, they still added an "R" to it even though there are no R sounds anywhere in my surname!

Oh well.

[bjp22tango]

...Ideally, the January/February issue would arrive at the end of December and refer to any December events in past tense. If the issue doesn't arrive until late January, it should refer to January events in past tense. We shall see!...

Ideally, the January/February issue would arrive mid-December so if they were advertising any comps you would be able to react in time, and any mention of December events would be held off until the March/April issue which would arrive mid-February.

We have two regional dance magazines that have a perpetual fight to get out on deadline because they wait to receive their articles from the dance community. I wonder if this is part of their problem. I seem to have heard that "we had a problem with the mail" statement before from Amateur Dancer (prior name of American Dancer).

Laura, did they put the R on the end of your name? I wonder if it was a British editor? LOL

[KevinL]

I wrote several articles related to dance and submitted them to Amateur Dancer (as well as Dancing USA), I think they are all in the "Articles" section of Dance Forums. I'm not a professional writer, but the topics were things that interest me, so I wrote the articles and submitted them. I don't know what the present submission guidelines are, but I'll bet that any well-written article would still be published.

It would even be easy for members of this forum to come up with topics to write about and to do research on that topic. Just check to see which topics generate a lot of interest (either multiple posts on the same general topic, or lots of responses on a single post), and write about that topic. You could even "interview" people from around the world via email.

If you are interested in making American Dancer the magazine that you want, with articles that interest you, consider writing about things that interest you:

the dance scene in your local community
a profile on someone "famous" locally
what makes the best dance floor?
what is the best dance to learn first?
your experience at your first comp
your experience at your latest comp
(or whatever interests you)

For that matter, if you've been a member of USADance (or USABDA) for 10+ years and still have old copies of the magazine check those out for topics that interest you and re-write them based on your knowledge and present experiences.

Good luck...

KevinL

[caityrosey]

Kevin, do you work for the magazine, or do you send in articles on your own?

Just curious. In the past the USA Dance publications haven't been too keen on accepting outside submissions.

[Laura]

Laura, did they put the R on the end of your name? I wonder if it was a British editor? LOL
No, they put it in the middle. Dancers perpetually put it there because somewhere in their subconscious language processing centers they mix me up with Ashly Del Grosso.

[KevinL]

Kevin, do you work for the magazine, or do you send in articles on your own?

Just curious. In the past the USA Dance publications haven't been too keen on accepting outside submissions.

I don't work for the magazine, but I am suprised to read that you think they haven't been keen on accepting outside submissions. The USADance website (horribly out of date since they still list the old title and editor) actually requests submissions. The link is:
usabda.org/press_center/our_publications/amateur_dancers_magazine/index.cfm

I don't know if these policies have changed with the new format and editorial board, though. Since American Dancer is a member-specific magazine I would expect them to continue accepting outside submissions. If anyone has a paper copy the contact page should list where to send submissions.

KevinL

[wyllo]

I approached the previous Amateur Dancers magazine several times and was met with silence from the managing editor (had a much better response from the short-lived YCN section's editor). Of course, the difference is that I did not submit an already-written article. I write for a living and while I think it would be fun to write for AD and am more than happy to do it for free, I was not willing to send in an unsolicited article that may or may not run. So, I wanted to at least have a conversation with the editor to pitch a couple of ideas and make sure they didn't conflict with anything in the works. I even offered to do some volunteer copy editing. But, no response. So I took that as a sign they weren't interested.

I haven't tried to contact the new folks yet, but plan to in the near future. I get the feeling they will be much more responsive. At least I hope so! :)

[Anna]

Do you know what happened to the YCN editor?

[wyllo]

It was Shawn Fisher -- he's still the USABDA YCN vice president and I think he oversees the staff of the new American Dancer publication.

[wyllo]

I just realized I haven't received an issue of AD since the beginning of the year -- is it just me?

[Me]

I haven't seen any new ones, either. The last issue I read was the one where the letter to the editor was about the ballroom instructor in Mississippi suing all his competition. (Boy oh boy, THAT has been passed around a lot!)

[Laura]

I recall getting one but it was so uninteresting to me that I put it in the "recycle" pile about five minutes after I pulled it out of my mail box.

[Me]

Oh dear. THAT doesn't sound good!

A rough idea of when you received it Laura? It's been months since I've seen a issue.

[Indiana_Jay]

The last issue I received was the "January-February" issue, which, IIRC, didn't arrive until February. As in the past, the issue contained future tense references to events that had already occurred. I gathered that the new staff still had not developed an understanding of the production/delivery schedule.

Seems like there should have been "March-April" issue by now, but if so, I haven't received it. Perhaps having college students produce the magazine isn't working out as well as hoped. Has anyone queried the USA Dance national office about the missing March-April issue?

-IJ

[Chris Stratton]

Why don't we just reduce dues by 10 bucks and forget about the thing...

[Meagan]

I also haven't gotten an issue in months...I dont think I even got the Jan/Feb issue :(

[Indiana_Jay]

Why don't we just reduce dues by 10 bucks and forget about the thing...

Not a bad idea, although I'd hoped not that much of my dues payment is subsidizing the magazine, which, IMO, should have enough advertising to be self-supporting.

A four-page monthly newsletter to members would probably be sufficient to communicate matters of importance to members nationally (and would certainly be more timely).

-IJ

[wyllo]

I called the national office. They have not been able to get together a March/April issue and are hoping to put one out in May/June (although there might still be a very late March/April issue).

[Indiana_Jay]

I called the national office. They have not been able to get together a March/April issue and are hoping to put one out in May/June (although there might still be a very late March/April issue).

Wow, that doesn't sound very good. Barring editorial staff incompetence, I can't imagine why they would not be able to put together a bi-monthly issue. And the "hoping to put one out in May/June" part is also disconcerting. There shouldn't be any question about whether or when a national magazine will come out. If I were an advertiser or a potential advertiser, I'd take my money elsewhere.

If the national organization can't correct these problems, and soon, I think Chris is right... it ought to stop publishing altogether and reduce membership dues accordingly.

-IJ

[wyllo]

Yeah, not sure what's going on. The woman I spoke with says the staff is run by volunteers. Maybe they don't have any publishing experience? I made an offer to help out so we'll see if they take me up on it.

[caityrosey]

Personally, all I really liked it for was the pretty pictures.

[tanya_the_dancer]

Considering that all the time-sensitive information in the magazine was chronically late (i.e. you would get a magazine advertising a competition and its entries deadline a week after the competition is finished), nobody should really count on this as a timely notification tool. That said, I didn't realize that they were so late with this issue. How do you "fail" to put together an issue of a magazine?

[Laura]

The woman I spoke with says the staff is run by volunteers. Maybe they don't have any publishing experience?
It was my understanding that it was being run by journalism students at BYU-Idaho, and their working on it was going to get them some kind of internship credit in their journalism program. Of course, I heard this about a year ago, so who knows what is really going on now.

[saludas]

Why not put the money into a web based 'zine? Think of all the paper it wastes...

[Laura]

It could go out in a faster more timely manner, too.

Plus there would be a significant savings on postage.

[Indiana_Jay]

Why not put the money into a web based 'zine? Think of all the paper it wastes...

There still oughta be some kind of postal communication for members who don't use the web.

[caityrosey]

Might be a good compromise on the newsletter though. Might be nice to simply have a USA Dance Web page with news that's updated regularly.

[saludas]

There still oughta be some kind of postal communication for members who don't use the web.

Well, perhaps a hardcopy mailout could be on a 'requested' basis.

The problem is that your dues pay for all this printing and postage.

Why not hire pros to do the reporting and writing, using the many thousands saved on postage?

Should we also provide a tv show for people who are not using paper? To produce a magazine for every member when there might only be a very small percentage that haven't started using the web is the kind of expenditure that gets a CEO fired from a company. You do NOT spend money that way and stay in good graces of stockholders. You are, in effect, spending THOUSANDS of dollars on perhaps a few hundred members. We ALL share the burden. Perhaps (ala Freakonomics) we should look at the reality - the newsletter costs everybody a few dollars a year; but since only a smalll percentage of members 'need' the newsletter, the cost per reader becomes many times the cost of the subscription to the organization (in other words, we may be spending hundreds of dollars per luddite member to get them their 'preferred' magazine).

Additionally, the 'news' value has always been minimal; infor is disseminated HERE much more effificently and cheapely than a bimonthly 'magazine'.

[caityrosey]

IJ does have a good point. He's thinking of the 65+ population. I work on a lot of Medicare-related communications and we pretty much rely on mail for this population. The under-55 population tends to be pretty web-savvy. It's those in between that can be hard to predict.

Still, as you say, we could probably do a better job with web-based news of some kind. There are a lot of good, easy-to-use programs out there (like Constant Contact) that would work really well for this purpose. And one could still print out and mail pdfs to those members who request a hardcopy.

[wyllo]

The benefits of a web publication aside -- the fact that they are having so many delays getting the magazine out in a timely manner has nothing to do with it being a print publication. I work for a trade newspaper. We go to press every Friday and most of our readers get the latest issue in the mail on Monday (there are some regional delays that hold it up a day or two).

[Indiana_Jay]

To produce a magazine for every member when there might only be a very small percentage that haven't started using the web is the kind of expenditure that gets a CEO fired from a company.

I see your point.

I don't know what percentage of USA Dance members don't use the web. For that matter, I don't know what percentage is older than, say, 65 (making web use less likely). Perhaps its a "very small" percentage and perhaps its larger than you imagine.

Nonetheless, I'm thinking from a communication goal point of view. If the goal of the organization is to communicate to its members information that the organization needs all of its members to have, it's in the organization's best interest to use whatever combination of media will best accomplish that goal.

To expand on your publicly held corporation analogy, there are businesses in which some, but not all employees, have email. There are times when such businesses need to communicate something to all employees. Stockholders would be dismayed if sales (and therefore the stock price) decreased because certain employees who don't have email didn't get the important information. That's why the smart CEO would make sure her human resources director uses whatever combination of media best gets the information to the intended audience.

So, no, I wouldn't have USA Dance create a full-color slick magazine for a couple hundred members. I would have it go to an e-zine, hard copies of which get snail mailed to members who are not on the web. It would be ok with me if such members have to pay a small premium for the privilege of postal delivery, as long as requiring it did not impact negatively on the organization's communication goals.

Of course, this all assumes that USA Dance actually has important information to communicate to its members. It's kind of hard to tell from the last few issues of its magazine.

BTW, our local chapter gets a multi-page monthly newsletter to its members without fail... even the month after the editor resigned on short notice. I realize that a black-and-white photocopied newsletter is an entirely different animal than a magazine like American Dancer, but my point is that chapters all over the country, with all volunteer staff, manage to meet a monthly deadline. I think it reasonable, therefore, to expect the national organization to meet a bi-monthly deadline.

-IJ

[saludas]

...and that is the reason why this needs be re-thought.

I also get emailed monthly newsletters from USAD Dance chapters, FULL of local info, ads, and such. They routinely are more interesting and pertinent. It IS possible.

I was told by the org people that the editor that was doing it before the BYU kids tried it was getting a salary of $40,00 a year to do the magazine! I GUARANTEE that if you gave someone HALF that amount to make a good magazine, get it out on time, etc on the web, that person would be VERY happy with the salary and the modest goal of a few pages etc. Heck, every third person working at the local coffee shop probably is websavvy enuf to do the mechanics alone - and they get under $10/hr pumping caffiene. Just sayin'...

Even a day a month repurposing some of the tips, comments and news on this lowly forum alone would be time well spent - how about a monthly column "From The Dance Forums"? I am sure there would be tons of useful info and news - it'll sure beat those tired 'Our social has been going on for xx years and we always enjoy the cookies and coffee' articles ....

And anyway, nearly every senior I know is web savvy. They use the web daily to keep connected. There are luddites in every age bracket, sure... but seniors are not necessarily a 'given'...

[Indiana_Jay]

Received in today's mail (May 30) the March/April issue of Amateur Dancers! I suppose that means we shouldn't expect the May/June issue until the end of July. I wonder why USA Dance doesn't use its web site to explain the situation to its members and/or apologize for the late issue.

[tanya_the_dancer]

I received it yesterday. Btw, if you read the part about different dance cruise companies, I think my son is mentioned there when they write about "Let's dance" vacations, unless they had another family with a 10 year old recently. We took a cruise with them over a year ago.

[Borbala_Bunnett]

Hi folks,

Here is a response from Shawn Fisher, the editor of the magazine:

Hello, my name is Shawn Fisher, I am the director for the American Dancer Magazine.Thank you for your questions and input. Please allow me this opportunity to respond to some of the discussion, and please keep the feedback coming - our goal is to provide you with a magazine that caters to your needs!

We are in the process (volunteer organization) of putting the magazine online with the new website.
The organization's main audience (70%) is still the over 45 social dancer, who expressed a preference for a hard-copy version of the magazine - hence still having a non-electronic version. I hope to have a response area on the new website for many of your good questions that need to be answered.

We have had some challenges in the transition to the new editorial group. Yes, I am running the magazine with student interns from Brigham Young University-Idaho. Yes there are actually three BYU’s. There is one in Hawaii as well (believe it or not).

In general we have reduced the old magazine budget by 20-25% and spent more on the magazine (now we are able to have it in full color vs. the previous black and white). The content has hopefully been updated. Yes, we will have more pictures. At least you will look through the magazine now...

We are setting up ways for members as well as other to submit stories to the magazine. This process hopefully will be out in the next 2 to 3 months.

I hope this has helped and look forward to your input.

Shawn Fisher

Ad-editor@usadance.org

[caityrosey]

Shawn,

As an example of a magazine to emulate, you and your staff might want to take a look at Dance Magazine. I realize they're a more commercial magazine with a larger subscriber base (and more money and staff) than Amateur Dancers magazine, but they have some very good ideas for regular features that I think would also work well for your magazine.

1) Short profiles of "what's going on in the dance world"--things different companies are doing, dance-inspired artists, new dance innovations/innovators, etc...
2) Announcements for dance workshops/camps/summer programs, etc...
3) Articles on dance fashion
4) Health and fitness for dancers
5) More lengthy profiles and interviews with famous dancers/choreographers
6) Articles about dance history
7) Dance Book and Movie reviews
8) Dance and Broadway
9) Pop culture and dance (SYTYCD, DWTS)
10) Dance Psychology

And more.

[Indiana_Jay]

Borbala:

I wonder how long Shawn thinks it'll take for the (relatively) new staff to work out and stick to a production schedule that will get issues in the hands of readers in a more timely manner (i.e., a May/June issue that arrives by the beginning of May). Getting on a reliable schedule will probably be good for the budget, too, because advertisers will know what to expect and might therefore be more willing to buy space.

BTW, how long has the "new" staff been on the job? Eight months?

If the majority of members prefer a hard copy magazine, then the organization should probably provide it. After all, it's listed as a benefit of membership, so members probably assume that part of their annual dues pay for it.

I'm concerned about having the same overworked volunteers and interns attempt to produce a web site ("e-zine") and the hard copy magazine, especially if they're having trouble meeting deadlines now for the hard copy edition. How will that work?

-IJ

[Borbala_Bunnett]

From Shawn....

Hi,

Points are well taken.

The organization is working on updating the website which will improve communication. The May issue should be in hand by the end of June or Early July. The July issue will be out by the end of July. The sept issue will be out the middle to end of Sept because of Nationals...

We should run smoothly after that....


Thanks for the suggestion to look at Dance Magazine. We are looking at other magazines for ideas and are always looking for new story lines. We are going to add a sport nutrition column.

Yes, we are limited in some ways by being an association magazine and not a trade magazine...

Again thanks for the good responses.... I cannot wait til the new website is up... It will improve our overall communication with the tech user members.

Shawn

[DanceScientist]

So, is this magazine only available to members? I was asked about providing some pictures for the magazine, but I've never seen it.

[tanya_the_dancer]

Since we are giving feedback to the magazine staff here. ;)

If I were a competition organizer, I would not want to advertise it in a magazine which might get to the target audience after my event actually happens. Which was the case last year with the nationals (at least for some of us). Just something to think about.

[Indiana_Jay]

So, is this magazine only available to members? I was asked about providing some pictures for the magazine, but I've never seen it.

From the publication's masthead: "American Dancer is published bimonthly as a service for members and is included in membership annual dues."

Subscription
Individual Non-Member $25.

USA Dance formerly put PDF files of its magazine (then called Amateur Dancer) on its web site, but does not appear to have done so since 2005.

I assume that if you want to see a single copy, the USA Dance headquarters can help you: central-office@usadance.org.

[White Chacha]

Since we are giving feedback to the magazine staff here. ;)

If I were a competition organizer, I would not want to advertise it in a magazine which might get to the target audience after my event actually happens. Which was the case last year with the nationals (at least for some of us). Just something to think about.

And their lead time is so long, that a comp could change dates twice before the pub comes out with the wrong date. Case in point: Northeast Regionals last year...

[bjp22tango]

If I were them, I would skip one or two issues and concentrate on getting out a magazine with a date that corresponds with the time it arrives.

They are already working with dated material because they are so far behind so why publish it?

Most popular magazines actually arrive BEFORE the printed date. ex. May/June is avail late April.

[Indiana_Jay]

From Shawn....

Hi,

Points are well taken.

The organization is working on updating the website which will improve communication. The May issue should be in hand by the end of June or Early July. The July issue will be out by the end of July. The sept issue will be out the middle to end of Sept because of Nationals...

We should run smoothly after that....

Just received the May/June issue today, July 24. To the editorial staff's credit, on my quick perusal I found no future tense references to past events in editorial copy. But then, very little of the editorial copy mentions future events. I did, however, see one advertisement that gives the date of a past event.

At least the May/June issue arrived before the national championships, although barely.

It will be very interesting to see if the July/August issue arrives within the next seven days, as Shawn predicted.

I was particularly interested to read in Esther's column that 16% our membership dues fund the magazine. I'm trying to decide if the members are getting that much value from the publication.

-IJ

[caityrosey]

snerk

[IlyZislin]

Just received the May/June issue today, July 24. To the editorial staff's credit, on my quick perusal I found no future tense references to past events in editorial copy. But then, very little of the editorial copy mentions future events. I did, however, see one advertisement that gives the date of a past event.

At least the May/June issue arrived before the national championships, although barely.

It will be very interesting to see if the July/August issue arrives within the next seven days, as Shawn predicted.

I was particularly interested to read in Esther's column that 16% our membership dues fund the magazine. I'm trying to decide if the members are getting that much value from the publication.

-IJ

I just got my copy. Unfortunately, I keep finding typos in the articles and advertisements. Most importantly, sometimes website URLs are misspelled, which render the information unusable (unless you can guess what the correct website is).

[tanya_the_dancer]

Is it just me, or this magazine really doesn't have much information about actual dancing and is mostly about chapter events and USA Dance competitions? I was making room for some stuff and decided to save articles about dancing from it and toss the rest of them. I had a stack of about 5 years worth of this magazine. I found one (that's right, just one) very useful article (spread over 2 issues) and 2-4 marginally articles about practicing and technique. That's not a whole lot in 5 years.

Dancebeat is mainly about competition reports, too, but at least they have several advice columns which consistently contain some useful info.

[Meagan]

Probably has to do in part to who is contributing and why...rather easy to get comp reviews/event reviews because the organizers will take the time to write the articles themselves if need be just to get the word out.

Other articles would have to be someone who took the time cause they were really interested in the topic, journalism, or both and who had the time and didn't want money/much for it other than any bragging rights associated with being published in AD :)

Just thoughts, but I just doubt those in charge are turning any useful articles down to keep it all chapter related.