NAMI North Carolina Affiliate Tool Kit | Publishing Your Affiliate Newsletter

As newsletter editor, you are responsible for—

• Tracking other publications for new and information of interest to members
• Planning story lists for each issue
• Writing and/or editing stories
• Developing and maintaining a graphic design format
• Establishing and maintaining a regular publication schedule
• Printing, addressing and mailing the newsletter

You may find yourself completing all tasks yourself, or you may make your newsletter a collaborative effort.

Your members depend on your newsletter to keep track of meeting dates, affiliate programs and activities, news of other members and local events and issues. They also depend on the newsletter to help them interpret news and understand how issues affect them.

As an advocacy group, your affiliate has a definite viewpoint, and your newsletter stories should reflect that. You’re not trying to present stories objectively. You’re trying to represent the under-represented viewpoints and interests of people with mental illness and their families. You are writing specifically and solely for them.

Newsletter Goals

You can help your affiliate achieve its larger support, education and advocacy goals by setting supporting goals for your publication and planning content accordingly. Your goals might include—

• Keeping members informed about upcoming affiliate meetings and events.
• Reporting on the local aspects or impact of state and national news stories of interest to members.
• Recognizing and expressing appreciation for member contributions to affiliate projects.
• Encouraging members to use a full range of affiliate services.
• Providing information readers can use to follow up on stories, such as telephone numbers and addresses, magazine and journal article citations, book titles and publication information, etc.
• Promoting NAMI programs and encouraging members to seek the training they need to participate.
• Promoting a sense of ownership and belonging in the affiliate for all members.
• Keeping members informed about pending legislation and opportunities for advocacy.
• Informing prospective members, mental health care professionals and other targeted audiences about the affiliate and encouraging them to join.

Story Lists

Plan newsletter contents based on the goals.

First, sketch out plans for a year’s worth of lead stories. Some stories will fall naturally into a particular issue. For example, you’ll want to publish a report of an affiliate fund-raising event in the next issue after the event. The timing for other stories can be more flexible. For example, you can publish stories on general interest topics—medical research, treatments, services—any time.

Why plan ahead?

• You’re more likely to achieve a balanced mix of stories over time.
• You can scan other publications for the topics you plan to cover and file clippings or photocopies as you find them. When you’re ready to write the story, much of your research will already be done.
• It’s easier to work with other contributors to the newsletter if you can assign stories well in advance of the publication date.
• You’ll minimize last-minute scrambling to meet your publication deadline.

As a general rule, include only information not readily available in other publications. Remember, your purpose is to support the affiliate’s goals and serve as a resource for the members of your affiliate—not to duplicate the efforts of scientific journals and magazines.

Certainly, if you find a book or article that would interest your readers, summarize it in the newsletter and direct those who want more information to the source. Don’t waste your affiliate’s resources reprinting materials your readers could easily find in another publication.

Make your newsletter complement NAMI’s “Advocate” and your state organization’s newsletter by focusing on news of your affiliate and local angles of state and national stories.

While the content will vary from issue to issue, the types of information you publish will be fairly consistent from issue to issue. By establishing standard “departments” that carry over from issue to issue, you can simplify the planning process for each issue and help your readers find the information they’re looking for quickly and easily.

Possible departments you may wish to include in every issue—

• A President’s Letter
• Business meeting minutes
• A calendar listing upcoming affiliate support, educational and business meetings and their programs and/or agendas
• Treatment update
• Legislative update
• Current news about your State Mental Health Agency and other resources and services in your community

Provide readers the information they need to take action after reading a story. If you suggest they write a legislator, provide the address. If you review a new book, give readers the information they need to order it or find it at the bookstore.

Writing & Editing

As editor of your affiliate’s newsletter, you plan each issue’s content. You will probably serve as chief reporter and copywriter as well. Ideally, a number of members will contribute newsletter content.

• Your secretary will supply business meeting minutes.
• Committee heads can provide monthly reports of their activities.
• Your president can write a monthly column about affiliate programs and activities.
• Other members may write articles about personal experiences.
• A local agency staff member may be willing to write an article or column specifically for your members.
• Other local professionals, such as therapists, doctors, lawyers and law enforcement officers can write articles of interest to your readers.

As editor, you assign stories, set deadlines and keep each issue on track.

You also edit.

Since your contributors are volunteers, you may feel reluctant to make changes in their copy. Still, you should at least check spelling and grammar and use consistent abbreviations, capitalization and other style variables. For example, most newspapers follow the Associated Press Stylebook custom of referring to people by their surname after the first reference. The Wall Street Journal uses a different style, referring to people using a title (Mr., Ms., Dr., etc.) with the surname.

The particulars of the style you follow for your newsletter are not so important as consistency. If you abbreviate days of the week in one article, abbreviate them in all articles. If you capitalize job titles in one story, capitalize them in all stories.

You may edit copy to make it more readable or more easily understandable. You may edit a story to make it fit—ideally by making a number of small cuts throughout the piece, rather than simply dropping the final paragraphs.

You may also add notes, such as contact information, additional resources on the topic or suggested actions the readers can take.

Finally, check the language used. Replace any references to “mentally ill people” or “the mentally ill” with “people with (“or suffering from” or “coping with”) mental illness.”

Graphic Design

A fundamental rule of design states, “Form follows function.” Another important design principle: “Less is more.”

The function of graphic design is to help you communicate most effectively. The form your newsletter takes should support the newsletter’s communications goals as simply and directly as possible.

There’s seldom any functional purpose served by fussy borders, decorative clip art or computer-rendered type effects. You’re trying to inform, educate and motivate your readers—not demonstrate the features of your design software to them.

Your design should look and be easy to read.

• A series of short paragraphs is easier to read than a solid block of text.
• A familiar typeface is easier to read than an unfamiliar one, so choose a simple, standard type for story text. Use novelty faces sparingly, if at all.
• Roman or upright type is easier to read than italic type, which tends to slow the reader down. That’s why it’s good to use italics for emphasis, but not for long passages of text.
• Words written in all-capital letters are the most difficult to read because readers recognize words by their shape—not by their individual letters. Words in all caps have essentially the same rectangular outline.
• Type set in columns is easier to read than type set the full width of the page.
• As a general rule, a line of type should be no longer than one and one-half times the width of the alphabet set in that type at that size.
• The longer the line of type, the more space you should put between each line. The standard is to space lines at 120 percent the size of the type. Usually, this is the default or automatic setting on word processing, graphic design and desktop publishing software.

You can design your newsletter to fit on single 8.5 by 11- or 14-inch sheets, printed front and back, with multiple pages stapled at the corner. You may also design for printing on 11 by 17-inch paper, folded to 8.5 by 11 and then in half or thirds for mailing.

Make your graphic design consistent from issue to issue. If possible, place regular columns at the same location in each issue.

Printing

For most affiliates, photocopying is the most cost-efficient printing method. Use a high-resolution laser printer and smooth paper to make a sharp master copy. If you use an ink jet printer to create your master copy, use premium-grade paper made especially for ink jet printers. The paper’s coating will keep the ink from soaking into the paper, resulting in sharper lines and edges.

Circulation

Your mailing list should include—

• All current members by household
• One or more state office staff members
• Local reporters and editors who cover mental health issues
• Editors of newsletters for other affiliates (who send you copies of their newsletters, too)
• State Mental Health Agency contacts
• Any social worker, psychiatrist or psychologist who has expressed interest in your affiliate
• Opinion leaders, such as ministers, hospital discharge planners, editors and reporters
• Teachers, school counselors and school psychologists
• Other organizations with compatible missions, such as the local branches of the Mental Health Association, the Depressive/Manic Depressive Association, Legal Aid or organizations for mental health care consumers

You should maintain a separate list of prospective members and establish a time limit of three to six months for their free subscriptions. Otherwise, your mailing list and your printing and postage expenses will keep growing at the expense of your dues-paying members.

Certainly, use the newsletter to give prospective members a sample of your member benefits. Just remember the purpose of a sample is to make the prospect buy the product—or, in your case—join the affiliate.

The most likely prospective members include—

• Family and community education course participants
• Family support group visitors
• Callers to your local contact number