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Newsletter Folding Without Publisher

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By ANGELA DELGADO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 6, 2008

TOWN 'N COUNTRY - The Town 'N Country Park Homeowners Civic Association has been putting out newsletters, in one form or another, for the past 40 years.

In December, days before the holidays, its publishing company, IKare Publishing, notified community leaders that it could not continue printing the newsletter.

IKare publishes newsletters for communities such as Twelve Oaks, Countryway, Charleston Corners and Heritage Harbor.

The way IKare operates is it publishes the newsletter free to the association and pays for it with advertising; it wasn't pulling in enough advertising to keep the newsletter afloat.

"Advertising had dwindled, and it's not profitable for them to do it," said association President Paul McShea.

Now the association is looking for another publisher that will print the newsletter without cost to the association.

McShea said IKare had published the newsletter since Spring 2003, and before that the civic association put the newsletters out on its own. The association stopped doing that, though, because it couldn't sell enough advertising to afford publishing costs.

This is why McShea said the association needs to find a publishing company that will not require the community to pay the difference if advertising money isn't enough. So far, many of the publishers the neighborhood has contacted have that requirement.

The newsletters are published quarterly. The January/February/March edition has not been published. McShea said he hopes to find a publisher in time for the April/May/June newsletter.

About 1,500 newsletters were distributed quarterly, even though the association only had about 500 members. McShea said the association handed out more newsletters to serve as a marketing tool for residents who hadn't joined. He is willing to settle for publishing enough newsletters for members only.

"Our No. 1 priority is to get out to actual members of the association, and if we can get some additional copies that would be a bonus," he said.

A committee has formed to handle the newsletter issue, and part of the group thinks the community should publish items normally placed in the letter online, but others say that would be difficult for residents who aren't technologically inclined, McShea said.

Anyone interested in helping the association find a publisher can contact McShea at (813) 884-7742 or e-mail the association at tncassoc@yahoo .com.

Reporter Angela Delgado can be reached at (813) 865-1501 or adelgado@tampatrib.com.

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