Regional or multi-state publications have long been considered a  good idea,  but actual benefits to participating states have been defined only in general terms

Scherer, Clifford W.

English

Kansas State University

Journal of Applied Communications Volume 62 Issue 2 Article 10 Multi-State Publications Save Dollars and Staff Time Clifford W. Scherer Follow this and additional works at: https://newprairiepress.org/jac This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License. Recommended Citation Scherer, Clifford W. (1979) "Multi-State Publications Save Dollars and Staff Time," Journal of Applied Communications: Vol. 62: Iss. 2. https://doi.org/10.4148/1051-0834.1866 This Research Brief is brought to you for free and open access by New Prairie Press. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Applied Communications by an authorized administrator of New Prairie Press. For more information, please contact cads@k-state.edu. Multi-State Publications Save Dollars and Staff Time Abstract Regional or multi-state publications have long been considered a "good idea," but actual benefits to participating states have been defined only in general terms. This research brief is available in Journal of Applied Communications: https://newprairiepress.org/jac/vol62/iss2/10 -Multi-State Publications Save Dollars and Staff Time Regional or multi-state publications have long been con-sidered a " good idea ," but actual benefits to participating states have been defined only in general terms. An evalua-tion of North Central Region publ ications has shed some light on the concept. When states cooperate in the development and printing of a manuscript, benefits come in at least two forms: 1) lower per-copy costs, and 2) less demand for editorial and special-ist time. Per-Copy Cost Reduction Press runs and per-copy cost figures were analyzed for nine of 15 North Central Region publ ications printed during 1978. Information on the other six was not available at the time of analysis . Fig ures show that the per-copy costs for regional publ ica-tions dropped from 10 to 56 percent as a result of coopera-tive cen tra lized printing. For example , NCR 56 was an exist-ing Iowa State publication which had been popular th rough-out the region for two or three years. In 1977 the publication was revised and submitted for regional id entification. Iowa's order was for 25,000 copies . On a press run that size, the per-copy cost would have been 25 cents. In the past, this would have been the purchase price for other states . Through the regional procedure, however, states were given an opportunity to place a pre-print ing order. Orders from the other 11 North Central states inc reased the press run by 14,450 cop ies. With a total press run of 39,450 copies the per-copy cost dropped to 17 cents (includ ing sh ipping). Assuming that the other states would have purchased the same number of cop ies of thi s publication from Iowa at the original price of 25 cents, the shared savings for partic ipa ting states through pre-pri nti ng orders was more than $3,000. On other publications- again , assuming that partiCipating states would have purchased the same number of copies without centralized printing and cost sharing-the dollar savings ranged from $250 to more than $9,000 . The average savings for these nine publications was $2,798. (See Table.) 41 1Scherer: Multi-State Publications Save Dollars and Staff TimePublished by New Prairie Press, 2017r Regional savings Compared with Publishing State Region Per-copy states 'purchase Regional Cost per Cost per cost without regional Publication Order copy Order copy reduction printing NCR 11 - The Farm Corporation 7,000 $.32 28,000 $.1 4 56% $5,040 NCR 50- Farm Bu siness Arrangements 2,250 .31 5,000 .23 25% 400 NCR 52- Utilization of Waste Water 10,000 .455 15,000 .378 16% 1,155 ~ I NCR 56- -Soybean Diseases 25,000 .25 39,450 .17 32% 3,155 NCR 58- Boo ks fo r Young Children 15,000 .10 25 ,000 .09 10% 250 NCR 59- Identifying the Community Power Actors 4,350 .51 8,500 .32 37% 1,615 NCR 61 - Livi ng Within Your Income 12,000 .1 7 37,075 .10 38% 2,595 NCR 62- 4-H a nd You 20,000 .115 39,200 .082 28% 1,293 NCR 63- Tree Fuit Insects 6,000 3.25 10,000 2.29 29% 9,600 2Journal of Applied Communications, Vol. 62, Iss. 2 [1979], Art. 10https://newprairiepress.org/jac/vol62/iss2/10DOI: 10.4148/1051-0834.1866Staff Time Savings Saving in staff time through multi-state publications is dif-ficult to estimate. Defining an average manuscript or even documenting the time spent by authors, editors, and artists in preparing a publication is necessarily tentative. By defin-ing several assumptions and using obviously conservative estimates, however, we can arrive at some useful compari-sons. We assume that purchased multi-state publications are needed and would be developed if they could not be pur-chased. If we also assume that 80 hours of staff time are spent developing the "average publication and that staff time costs S8 an hou r, each new publication developed rep-resents a $640 investment in staff time . If a sta te purchases 10 publications whic h otherwise would have been devel-oped, the " saving " is $6,400 in staff time. Obviously , this does not represent actual dollar savings, but rather the avail-ability of staff time for other production or activities. The Costs There are some added costs involved in reg ional publica-tions . Meetings to plan , discuss , and develop manuscripts may erode some or all of the savings resulting from shared printing. The North Central Region is making an effort to have high quality multi-state publications with little staff time spent in planning and development meetings . Individual au-thors are encouraged to draft manuscripts for regional con-sidertion. Specialists in all 12 North Central states are given an opportunity to evaluate the draft and make suggeslions.1f there is enough interest (at least seven North Central states) the author is encouaged to revise the manu script and submit it for fina l approval or rejection. At this time states are also given an opportunity to participate in the cost sharing by placing pre-print orders. Summary If 10 states participate, the estimated dollar "saving " in staff time amounts to $6,400 for each publication. The per-copy cost reduction amounts to $2,789 per publication . For the North Central Region in 1978, that meant a " savings " of more than $137,800 for the 15 publications produced jointly by the 12 states. CUff Scherer, Coordinator North Central Region Educational Materials Projec t 43 3Scherer: Multi-State Publications Save Dollars and Staff TimePublished by New Prairie Press, 2017

Multi-State Publications Save Dollars and Staff Time

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