Well, yes, I do do that sort of thing (although much less confrontational than an English teacher giving you a bad mark). Although I have to say that dealing with the nitty-gritty side of the business is not my favourite part. I don't think I could do book editing as a full-time job. My role as a magazine managing editor and social media/website content editor provides a lot more variety than just dealing with words, punctuation, and grammar.
On Monday I went to the annual business meeting of the organisation who publishes Japan Harvest magazine: Japan Evangelical Missionary Association (JEMA), I wrote a bit about them here last year). Business meetings are another thing that I tend to avoid where I can. But this one is a great opportunity to network with mission leaders who I don't get to see face to face at any other time of the year as well as to get a feel for what's going on in this part of the evangelical missionary world in Japan, as various ministries and "commissions" of JEMA get to present a short report.
I usually just attend, but this year I pushed it slightly further. In the reception/refreshments area there were tables available for people who wished to put up a display about their ministry or services etc. I decided to put together a small display about the magazine.
Rather than just do this on my own I put the idea to the magazine team. It took a while for good ideas to gel, but I've got a creative team. We weren't trying to sell the magazine—this was the choir—all members of JEMA get a copy of the magazine. Though it would have been good to get people brainstorming or volunteering to write for the magazine—we rely on members of JEMA to write our articles—it simply wasn't the right place for that. Conversations were short and often interrupted. People were in a networking frame of mind and time is always short.
This is what we came up with (after 67 comments on my request for ideas in our secret Japan Harvest team Facebook group):
I know it's a bit small for you to read. On the left are four encouraging quotes from readers about our magazine. In the middle there's a guessing competition: Can you guess how many hours goes into putting together one 40-page magazine each time (including the writing of articles)? On the right is an encouragement to check out our articles that are also published online at japanharvest.org. On the table at the far right are Stick-it notes with a suggestion that people could write encouraging notes to the magazine team (all are volunteers).
Our designer made this poster of the team. I love it and after the annual meetings, it's going up in the JEMA admin office.
So, in addition to dealing with lots of words, I also get to work with people—something I couldn't do without. Pictured above is an eclectic team situated in three different countries, who are passionate, not just about the mission of the magazine, but about doing an excellent job.
Another reason I attend this meeting is it's such an encouragement. I had several people tell me how much they appreciate the magazine and what I do. I even, for the first time, had someone tell me how much they appreciate the column that I've been writing on writing. I've been doing this for six years now = 24 articles. It's great to hear that someone especially appreciates it.
We got several encouragements written on the Post-it notes:
"In the past two years, I have really enjoyed the very relevant, practical themes of each issue of the Japan Harvest. Thank you for the many hours put into planning and printing it."
"Thank you very much for a great ministry tool. I have learned so much over the years.
God Bless."
"Thank you for all the work to produce The Harvest! May it help produce THE HARVEST!"
"Thank you all for your excellent work. I like especially all the culture-related topics and the fresh ideas on how to do missions. You are awesome!"
It's wonderful to know that what we spend many hours doing is actually making an impact and being of help to people.
Oh, and you're wondering about the answer to how many hours it takes to put out this quarterly magazine? My team's best guess was between 850 and 1050 hours (this includes the time taken for writing articles). It's really hard to know, and there are so many variables. But, still, that's a lot of hours! I'm so glad I've got a great team to work with. There's no way I could do this without them and I'm so glad to have this opportunity to work with them in this uncommon ministry.
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