Editor of The Village Magazine – a job description.

The Village Magazine (formally known as The Parish Magazine) seeks to support  and engage the community by providing it with information about local events. It covers secular activities but at its heart and its ethos, it is an ecumenical church magazine.

This monthly journal is an independent, not for profit, volunteer run publication. The controlling committee consists of the Editor (who is also chair), the Treasurer, Advertising Manager and a Distribution Manager. The publication consists of notices and articles contributed by local people; these are sent into the magazine email address. Occasionally, the editor will commission work, but the majority of the articles(and this is the magazine’s strength) are written by the people who read the magazine.

The role of editor will  become vacant in September 2025 and if this position is not filled, this local resource will have to close.

As current editor, I would describe the task as collecting, acknowledging , encouraging, correcting (spelling and punctuation), formatting  and filing contributions. Then when the deadline for submissions has passed, the articles and notices are downloaded into a template for the magazine, pictures and logos are added if there is room. A new Editor needs to understand that the adverts have priority  and must appear in the magazine at the same size in every copy. However, the Editor does have some discretion over the size and format of any new advertisement, and should give advice to new advertisers if their copy is not suitable.The advertisements are our major source of income and subject to a contract.

Following a final careful proof reading, the file is converted into a pdf file and sent to our printers, Adroit’s in Nailsea. At this point  the distribution team take over.

To give the role in a bit more detail –

Before the deadline

 Choose a front cover image and set up the template, making changes to adverts if this is required.

 Check articles as they come in, storing them in a folder as a Word document with a standard format. I also acknowledge receipt of the material if it sent to me by email.

After the deadline

 Download articles into the magazine template (Affinity Publisher). Some regular articles are always in the same place, but otherwise it is like a word jigsaw and articles get slotted in where they can fit. Then photos and logos are added if there is room.

 Double check that everything from that month’s folder is included in the magazine (if I think the material submitted is suitable)

 Proofread the edition and then, when I am satisfied with it, turn it into to a pdf to send to Adroit’s.

 Finally, I post the pdf version onto the magazine website and advertise its availability through Facebook.

My estimation is that I spend about 15hours a month sorting out the magazine. It was more than that when I started. It would be perfectly possible to make this role a job share. Before I took it on, the magazine editor was a teenager supported by the Rector.

There is a small honorarium that goes with the role.

Jane Canning