The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.2004, Page 6

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THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 58 #4
Hello, faithful subscribers
by Lorna Tergesen
It is time to bring you, our subscribers,
up to date on how our affairs are going.
We have a very small crew of volun-
teers who do their best to bring you an
interesting magazine. We rely heavily on
you, the readers, to let us know what is of
interest and importance to you.
Articles, stories etc. come from all
over. We are not in a position to pay any-
one for his or her efforts. Despite this, we
seem to be able to acquire enough material
to choose from. Keep up the good work of
sending us this material or by recommend-
ing leads for us to follow up on. It is always
a challenge for us to gain access to writing
from areas that are not in Manitoba.
Remember to keep us in mind when you
see something that would be of interest to
our readership or if you know of a talent
we are overlooking.
Our biggest dilemma has come with
the cost of mailing. There are no longer any
special Publications rates for International
or United States mail from Canada. As
you, our American readers may have
noticed, the cost to mail each magazine has
risen to $2.80 Canadian as compared to
$1.60 and may go up again. Previous rates
were $3.25 to Iceland and other interna-
tional destinations, now the cost of mailing
the magazine is $4.20 per issue. Hence, you
will understand that we have had to raise
our subscription rates just to cover our
costs. The United States and International
subscription rate is now $40 US per year.
At present our finished product cost is
$6.08 per magazine. This can always fluctu-
ate slightly but has held in this price range
now for over a year. Advertising revenue
brings in approximately $1500 or less. Our
advertisers are very loyal which is such a
blessing. Other costs we incur are such
things as printed envelopes, stationery, our
Website and of course, the printing of the
magazine itself.
The only paid staff member is our
desktop setter, Karen Emilson. Karen is
devoted to the magazine and I know she
does not charge us for the many extra costs,
which add up. For that we are thankful,
Karen. It is a very tight ship that we run
and we hope that we will be able to contin-
ue to do so.
We wish to appeal to all the various
Icelandic National League Clubs and
Chapters for assistance in soliciting new
subscribers for us. Some of the chapters
and groups donate annually to our maga-
zine. Their support and interest helps us to
go on. If you are a grandparent or senior
member of your family, please think about
sending a subscription as a gift to another
family member or friend who does not
already subscribe. We know that many of
the magazines are passed around to family
members but we need new subscribers to
add to our list and to our coffers. There are
usually one or two “Kin Keepers” in each
family, and we would like to get in touch
with them and introduce ourselves. Family
reunion gatherings offer us an opportunity
to make the magazine known to potential
younger readers, as they are often less
informed of our publication. If you know
of such an event occurring, we will gladly
supply you with application forms, etc. We
must stress to them and all readers that the
magazine is in ENGLISH. If you feel so
inclined, you can have us mail a subscrip-
tion to a school or library and then in turn
you ask them for a tax receipt. We know
that the schools that do receive the maga-
zine find that they are used extensively for
projects and research.
In the area of board memberships, we
lost our scholarly editor with the death of
John Matthiasson. This position is still
vacant. We would be very happy to invite
anyone who may be interested to serve on
the Icelandic Canadian magazine board.
Our meetings are not many, but we do try
get exposure for the magazine by being