Magazine

The SCCA magazine has been published in e-magazine (pdf) format since edition 73 in 2001. Hard copy (printed) formats continue to be available to members at a modest cost. All membership categories are entitled to receive the e-mag, with every edition available for free download from the members' page. Life and patron members receive free printed copies of the magazine in their first year. Life and patron members (second and subsequent years) and annual members require to pay a £5 annual fee to receive printed copies.

Production Schedule

Edition	Copy Submission	Email Distribution	Paper Distribution
Spring	end-Mar	Apr week 2	Apr week 3
Summer	end-Jun	Jul week 2	Jul week 3
Autumn	end-Sep	Oct week 2	Oct week 3
Winter	end-Dec	Jan week 2	Jan week 3

Copy Submission

Games	Alastair Dawson
Grading	Alistair Maxwell
International results and news	Gordon Anderson
Domestic results and news	Iain Sneddon
Other material and production	Iain Mackintosh

e-mag History (reprinted from Edition 72)

SCCA Magazine - The Future

Introduction

This edition of the magazine is the last under the editorship of Alan Borwell, ably assisted by his wife Moira. Together, they have set a standard for chess publishing which has been recognised by the wide domestic and international circulation the magazine now enjoys. Their dedication to quality has helped Scotland achieve recognition beyond its size in the international chess community, and they leave office with a very well-earned vote of thanks!

The SCCA is committed to continue their good work, and we also have to take account of changing membership, economic and technology trends. This article sets out our plans to ensure that our readers continue to receive a lively and informed magazine.

Internet

At our AGM in June 2000, we made a policy decision that web-based publishing would be our future direction. Since then, we have demonstrated that all the various magazine contents can be published on our website, and that we can readily archive back levels of results tables, games downloads and feature articles.

In consequence, we will now store all our submitted copy in web-enabled format (for the technically-minded, this means documents in HTML code - prospective authors shouldn't worry overmuch, as most common word processors like MS Word can store documents in this format after you've typed it up in the usual way).

Subscription

Also at the last AGM, we reduced magazine subscription amounts in anticipation of being able to reduce the bulk printing and postage costs we currently experience.

The new ordinary member subscription costs £8, of which £5 is the membership fee, and £3 is the magazine subscription, with quarterly electronic delivery assumed. We feel that this represents excellent value for our members.

Life members who wish the magazine (electronic or paper), ordinary members who wish a paper copy of the magazine, and magazine-only subscribers require to pay an extra £5 magazine subscription per annum.

Complimentary copies of the magazine will still be distributed, but will only be available to those people who can receive electronic transmissions (ie they have e-mail addresses).

In order to preserve the rights of paying subscribers, the full magazine will not be publicly available on the website. Results tables, and other current information such as book reviews will be available to all website visitors, but feature articles will only be available to subscribers. The full magazine will ultimately be located on a secure area of the website.

Production & Distribution

Each quarter, the magazine will be compiled from source copy and converted into Adobe Acrobat format, resulting in a document with a pdf suffix. For all subscribers with e-mail addresses, each edition will be mailed to them directly. In order to read or print this document, subscribers will need to install a copy of the Adobe Acrobat Reader software on their computers. This software is freely available on the web, and a link has already been provided on the SCCA website to assist subscribers to download it to their own machines.

Once we establish a secure area on the website, back numbers of the magazine will be available for download to members and subscribers under password control.

Subscribers who wish a printed copy of the magazine will receive this in the usual way. We are discontinuing the current bulk printing arrangement we have, and will use a small commercial provider to print and spine the smaller number of copies now required.

The size (and thus the content) of the printed magazine will be determined by its printing and postage costs - we are resolved to use the subscription income to break even at worst, so there will be no subsidy arrangements. Feature articles will be the first priority for printed copies, as other information can be obtained from the website.

Editorial

We are aware that we need to maintain the high standard of contributions to the magazine, and I'm very happy to report that Alan has agreed to help us through his wide network of contributor contacts, as well as penning some articles of his own.

The mechanics of production, plus any editorial comment, will fall my lot for the time being, and I'm looking forward to extending the sequence of issues in the near future.

Iain Mackintosh