

       from the editor . . .

            My apologies for the  length  of  this editorial! But I have
       many,  many  important things to discuss.  Your  subscription  is
       affected so, everyone, please bear with me.

                          

            Apparently, judging from the mail I receive, some of the NQF
       readership believe that NQF is a non-profit organization. Others,
       it seems, think it is a big, sprawling business,  interested only
       in profit. Neither is true.

            Genealogy  is  dominated  by non-profit organizations, which
       could be the basis for  the  first misunderstanding. On the other
       hand, NQF is and has always been a one man business, operated out
       of an extra bedroom in our home.

            Tiny   businesses  like  NQF  do  not  have  the  advantages
       available to non-profit  organization:  huge postal discounts and
       tax  breaks,  tax  free  contributions  from   corporations   and
       individuals,  grants  from the government, volunteer help and the
       willingness of some businesses to donate their services.

            Although Galen has been a tremendous help on several fronts,
       I am NQF's secretary, mail room clerk, bookkeeper, typesetter, ad
       representative,  marketing  director,  editor,  publisher,  proof
       reader and subscription  department.  In  fact, I do nearly every
       thing but the printing (which is expertly done by Pizazz Printing
       in San Jose).

            NQF  receipts  have  allowed me to buy some of the necessary
       equipment to run the  business  efficiently. However, despite the
       fact that NQF is a commercial business, I  have  yet  to draw any
       salary.

       The problem

            My  principal  strategy  in the last fours years has been to
       generate subscriptions by mailing about 3,000 free copies of each
       issue to potential subscribers. To do so,  I  had to come up with
       3,000  new  names  for  each  issue.  However,  there is only one
       commercially available  mailing  list for the genealogical market
       and  that  is  not  rented  to  other genealogical  vendors.  The
       alternative, then, has been to compile each list from scratch.

            For  awhile,  I  had  good luck at that and now have 100,000
       names and addresses in  my  database.  However, as the "archived"
       file grew, so did the percentage of duplicate  entries. It got to
       the  point  that  60% to 70% of the names I entered for a mailing
       were  thrown out because  they  were  already  in  the  database.
       Additionally,  the  cost  of printing and  mailing  the  freebies
       generally  matched  or  exceeded the revenue generated from those
       mailings.

            A business that mails promotions to hundreds of thousands of
       households in a single mailing can do exceedingly  well with a 2%
       response  rate, which is considered to be excellent. However, NQF
       simply does not have the  resources to reach potential readers in
       such large numbers; 2% of little is not much.  In  fact,  it  has
       become virtually impossible to proceed in that way.

            A dead end?  No, not at all.

       First, some good news ...

            I plan   to   keep   shipping  NQF  in  bulk  to  fairs  and
       conventions.  I  also  intend  to continue  sending  freebies  to
       persons whose addresses have been sent to me.  But I have found a
       far better way of circulating free copies.

            Beginning with NQF #34, the diskette version of The National
       Queries  Forum has been  uploaded  to  the  BBS  (Bulletin  Board
       System) of  the  National  Genealogical  Society and  to  America
       Online,  one  of  the  five  major  electronic  online  services.
       Beginning with NQF #36,  NQF  ON  DISKETTE is also being uploaded
       regularly to GEnie and Delphi, two other commercial services, and
       will soon be available from ROOTS-L on the Internet.

            The sysop of the NGS-BBS says that NQF will end up on nearly
       1,000 boards worldwide.  A  ROOTS-L  volunteer  says that NQF can
       reach up to 20,000 people each month.

            America  Online has 450,000 users and GEnie  has  nearly  as
       many.  Of  course,  the  users on the commercial services are not
       all genealogists. Nevertheless,  given some time, NQF ON DISKETTE
       will be seen regularly by thousands of people,  with little or no
       cost to them and at virtually no cost to me. This means that your
       queries will reach a  vastly  greater audience than would ever be
       possible through the regular mails (snail-mail  as it is known by
       the electronic world.)

       Now, the bad news ...

            Despite the above, it is necessary to take decisive steps to
       turn NQF around. It  will  also  be  necessary  to  buy  ad space
       regularly  in several periodicals. So, effective  immediately,  a
       regular  one-year  subscription  is increased to $17.50. NQF will
       now be published only 6 times a year.

            Of course, the new publication  schedule does not affect the
       number of issues due to you. If you subscribed for 9 issues, that
       is  what  you  will get.  The difference is that you will receive
       them in the course of 18 months, rather than a year.

       Can you handle some more good news?

            But you will not be paying  more  for  nothing in return!  I
       have also revised query rates to make them  even a better bargain
       than before.

            The  first  20  words  of all subscriber queries will now be
       published at no charge.  In fact, if you keep them to 20 words or
       less, you need not pay for them at all. Words  21  through 50 are
       now 10 each and words above 50 are still 25.

            Soon,  I  will  announce  the  ability to accept queries via
       electronic mail (e-mail).  (There are several obstacles that need
       to be overcome.) In the meantime, subscribers  can  submit all 30
       word  queries  at no charge on computer diskette (IBM / DOS ASCII
       text only). Obviously, when queries are presented in this manner,
       there  is  less work for me to do; hence, the  additional  break.
       Please  note that free queries are now limited to 10 per mailing.
       Nevertheless, there is  no  practical limit to the number you can
       send  in  the course of a year. As always,  Founding  Subscribers
       maintain their privileges.

            I am  also offering the NQF Query Club. For an annual fee of
       $15, in addition to  your  subscription  fee,  you  will  receive
       coupons  for  5  free  50 word queries and  15  1/2-off  coupons.
       Naturally,  if  you  submit only short queries, 1/2 of nothing is
       not much of a deal. But if your queries average about 50 words in
       length, and you have plenty to send in over the course of a year,
       this can be an excellent deal.

            For  obvious  reasons, subscribers can submit only their own
       (or spouses') queries.  They  must  be in your name and have your
       return address.

       New features

            Last year I introduced Open Forum.  This  new  feature  is a
       good  opportunity  for  readers  to  exchange useful genealogical
       information that is not  of  a  "query"  nature or specific to an
       individual's genealogy. You, the reader, can make Open Forum into
       a dynamic and interesting addition to NQF. It's up to you.
       From  the  Internet  begins with this issue. It will feature non-
       copyrighted material found  on the Internet. Although I intend to
       keep NQF essentially a queries magazine,  I  am  actively looking
       for  items  that  are  of general interest to the NQF readership.
       Contributions are always welcomed.

       What it all means

            So far as I know, NQF  is  the only genealogical publication
       that bridges the electronic and printed medias.  This concept has
       obvious  benefits to you. Non-computer users will find a vast new
       audience in the computer  world  and  those  that find themselves
       relying more and more on the "virtual domain" can maintain a link
       to the paper-bound population.

            Everyone   has   heard  Clinton  and  Gore  talk  about  the
       Information Superhighway.  This  is  not  a new concept nor is it
       empty political rhetoric. Although the Internet is really a rough
       and  tumble  (and  non-commercial)  version  of  the  president's
       vision, it has been  around  for  years.  Big  business  has been
       encouraged by the administration's stand. In  recent months, huge
       corporations  are  making  big deals with one another, pairing up
       into  competitive  teams  and  pulling  together  once  disparate
       technologies in an effort to become leaders in this new frontier.
       This is going to be bigger than TV!

       It's a wrap ...

            Although  you  will  be paying more for fewer issues, NQF is
       still in keeping with  other  genealogical  periodicals,  and  is
       still less expensive than most. ... And you  get some of the very
       best  query  rates  in  the biz. Additionally, queryists will now
       receive an audience that only those that own a computer and modem
       have had access to.

            I am very excited about these changes and am looking forward
       to NQF's future.

            I wish every one of you the very best in 1994.

                                              Michael
                                              nqf@netcom.com
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