Editing and Publishing Magazines, Distance Learning Course

Editing and Publishing Magazines

We have created an example “Trade Association” magazine named, The Storage Trumpet, especially for ESTON Training’s unique “Editing and Publishing Trade Association-type Magazines” distance learning training course (ESTON Ref: EDL4). However, any similarities between The Storage Trumpet magazine and any other trade association magazine is purely co-incidental. Similarly, all of the characters mentioned in the magazine and in the EDL4 course material are fictional, with the exception of ESTON Training’s staff members. However, many of the advertisements depicted in the EDL4 course magazine are examples that have previously been placed in trade association magazines by bona fide companies, and have been reproduced (with suitable amendments) with the kind permission of the various advertisers.
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The EDL4 Training Material

During the EDL4 training course, you will learn the essential skills required, as well as the various tasks that must be carried out, to successfully edit and publish a full-colour, glossy, trade-association magazine. The EDL4 distance learning training course comprises ten separate Training Packs; the pertinent information is presented in a number of Study Notes and progress is assessed via stimulating and effective Exercises, which are either self-assessed (SA) or assessed by your personal ESTON Training tutor (TA).

The EDL4 study notes contain information that is of great practical use to a magazine editor, including: strategies for communicating with advertisers, how to prepare and update an advertising schedule, how to manage electronic data, how to edit news items and articles, how to prepare draft page layouts, and much more.

The EDL4 course “Exercises” have been designed to allow students to demonstrate that they have absorbed and understood the information provided in the study notes, and in the other course material. Approximately half of the course exercises are Self Assessed (SA), which means that students must check their completed exercises against the “Specimen Answers” provided. The rest of the course exercises are Tutor Assessed (TA), which means that when a tutor-assessed exercise is completed, it must be e-mailed to the student’s personal tutor, who will grade the exercise and provide “Tutorial Comments” and, when appropriate, a “Tutorial” (which is similar to a Specimen Answer).

The two main activities associated with the EDL4 training course, and magazine production generally, are editing news items & articles and laying out pages (the process of arranging text and images on each page). On this training course you will learn how to edit the news items and articles for the UK section of the magazine and (with a few exceptions) you will learn how to lay out the pages of the European section of The Storage Trumpet magazine.

The Storage Trumpet Magazine

The Storage Trumpet is two magazines in one; when you pick up the magazine one way the front cover states that it is the 40^th edition of the UK Storage Companies Association (UKSCA) magazine. However, when you turn the magazine over, the front cover states that it is the 5^th edition of the Federation of European Storage Company Associations (FESCA) magazine.

The United Kingdom (UK) section of the magazine comprises 37 x A4 portrait pages (including the front cover) and the European (EU) section comprises 19 x A4 pages (including the front cover).

Both the UK and EU sections of the magazine include a “Leader Article” on Page 3, together with a “Contents List”, and there is a “UKSCA News” page on UK Page 7 and there are two “FESCA News” pages on EU Pages 4 & 5. In addition, the UK section of the magazine includes: “Company News”, “Business News” and “Industry News” items, as well as six feature articles in five different categories and the EU section also includes six “Country Feature” articles. The Storage Trumpet magazine, which is a quarterly publication, is fully funded by the UKSCA and its production is overseen by the UKSCA’s editorial team. Nevertheless, the FESCA also provides news items and articles for the European section of the magazine.

The UKSCA and FESCA

The UK Storage Companies Association (UKSCA) is a fictional trade association that has been invented for the purposes of the EDL4 training course and any similarities between the UKSCA and any other trade association are purely co-incidental. The UKSCA’s editorial team is referred to throughout the training course material; again, this team is an invention, but the tasks that its members perform while overseeing the production of The Storage Trumpet magazine are both essential and typical. Similarly, the Federation of European Storage Company Associations (FESCA) is a fictional organisation.