Not too long ago, someone asked me "How long does it take to put together one issue of Singing News?" Since I don't think I've ever wrote about that here on Danny's Diary, here's a brief overview of the process.
The first thing that has be be decided - as it usually takes the longest amount of time to pull together - is who will be featured on the cover. Once that issue has been settled, the process of setting up a cover photo shoot begins. Because of trying to get the schedules of the artist and the photographer to match, this usually takes about three to four weeks from the time of the decision to the snapping of the camera's shutter. HOWEVER - and I capitalized that on purpose - I have seen as much as six months between decision and photo shoot. And, in one bizarre instance, nearly a whole year (but in all fairness, that was a result of group personnel changes) went by before the first picture was taken.
Speaking of personnel changes, that IS the biggest risk we at Singing News face once a cover decision is made. More than once, we've shot cover photos, only to watch it go up in smoke as someone left a group - or a group left someone! My all-time favorite "it wasn't funny at the time" story took place in 1995.
It was the second year of the National Quartet Convention's run in Louisville, Kentucky. We had made the decision (since all the groups would be there) to go ahead and shoot a whole year's worth of magazine covers at various locations in Louisville. So, the plans were made and we went to Church Hill Downs, a museum, a couple of grand hotels and many other drop-dead gorgeous locales and when we got back to Boone, we had our whole year on film.
They started dropping like flies.
First, member "A" left group "B." Then, group "C" decided they could do without member "D." Then, group "C" hired member "A" - and it was like that over and over again.
I think we actually used three covers of the 12 we had shot in Louisville.
Naturally, the photographer loved it as he got to re-shoot the other nine. You don't get discounts when group members change. And since this was before the time of much of the technology we have available now, we simply couldn't resort to computer creativity to bail us out. Thus, we'd line 'em up, and shoot them again elsewhere.
To say that thoughts of a real "line 'em and shoot 'em" didn't cross mind my a time or two would be a lie. Suffice it to say, that was an expensive year.
Anyway, now that the cover subject has been established and the photo shoot is scheduled, we begin the work on the "guts" of the magazine. Features are decided and writing assignments are made. And this, my friends, is where things get interesting.
I'm convinced that the people of Southern Gospel music know more about playing phone tag than any other people of the world.
More about that in the next diary.
