Official announcement – CONTACT will not be printed next year

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I have bad news and good news…

The bad news is, I have already decided – no, actually, the audience decided (except for our DFSW Club members, who all voted ‘yes’ with their credit cards) that…

CONTACT will not be printed in 2019 – the #printCONTACTagain plan is officially dead

I know I said I would make this announcement on 10 January. I also said I’d make a big push in the six weeks after I published CONTACT 60 until 10 January. But, really, it became very very obvious recently that the whole print plan was a lost cause.

My recent plea and double-page advertisement in CONTACT 60 attracted just 6 new supporters – and I lost 3 older ones at the same time. Which means I currently have fewer than 70 DFSW Club members, when I needed 1000 to get CONTACT back into print.

So, at this stage of the year, I think it is wise to stop flogging what is obviously a dead reindeer – and get on with whatever comes next.

Now, let me be totally honest here – I seriously toyed with the idea of calling it quits on CONTACT after publishing issue number 60. And I don’t mean just the magazine – website, Facebook, newsletter, the lot.

I always get into a bit of a downer when I publish a new magazine, after the hype and tempo of pushing to get it out on time.

But … Rosie talked some sense into me – I got over my temper tantrum – and I took a few days off to let my brain wander and weave and see where it led me.

Which brings me to the good news…

My heart and my brain – and, most importantly, my wife – told me it’s OK to carry on.

So, I will continue to publish CONTACT – the whole ‘media empire’, including the magazine – pretty much as is, for now.

I do plan on making some changes and trying a few new ideas. I hope to recruit some help (in advertising sales especially) and a few other tweaks in the short term.

I even have one completely radical plan in my head that could massively change things up (hopefully for the better) – but I won’t announce that until I consult a few more confidants, just in case I really have gone totally mad (yep, it’s that radical).

I have also made it known to my chain of command that I’m available and ready to do some Army Reserve Days, to supplement the family budget – and to re-engage in some brothers-in-arms camaraderie, which I have missed over the past few years.

I will keep the DFSW Club going too – and hopefully improve it. It is a genuinely heartwarming gauge of audience love and support and – I won’t beat about the bush – a very welcome source of direct funding support of my work. There are a few amazing people out there who want to support what I do, regardless of printing, and I thank them dearly, always worrying that the benefits of DFSW Club membership doesn’t adequately repay their amazing generosity. So, I will always be looking for ways to improve that balance, and will always welcome and truely consider any suggestions you may have in this regard.

In line with this, I have begun to edit and rationalise the rewards/tiers list – and will soon begin to make some features on this web site accessible to DFSW-Club-members only. And anything else I can think of to make DFSW Club membership more attractive and rewarding.

Anyway, if you are disappointed (as I am) that CONTACT will not be printed next year, I commiserate. But, the majority of the audience voted overwhelmingly ‘no’ when I asked for their support to achieve something grand, which I couldn’t achieve on my own.

And it was pointless waiting until 10 January to acknowledge the obvious, especially when there’s so much work to be done 😉

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So, with that, I wish you all a very happy, healthy and safe Christmas and a wonderful 2019,

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Brian Hartigan
CONTACT Editor

editor@militarycontact.com
0408 496 664

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