In this Editor's Exploits, Dan pulls back the curtain on the trials and tribulations of getting a monthly magazine printed exactly how we want it (or in Wi406's case, exactly how we didn't want it)! Dan: The conversation a few months ago went something like this: Printer rep: I’m afraid the cost of paper is going up by £300+ per month. Would you like to switch to a cheaper grade matt paper? Me: No. We’ll stick with our current stock, the quality gloss really helps our photos ‘pop’, so we’ll take the hit of the extra cost. Fast forward two months, copies of Wi406 arrive in the office, and the conversation went something like this: Wi worker bot 004: Dan, I thought you told the printers we didn’t want to go with that lower grade matt paper? Dan: I did. Wi worker bot 004: Oh dear, they’ve printed this new mag on the wrong paper then! Dan: &*?@*!!! That, my friends, is how the October 2021 issue of Wargames Illustrated came to be on ‘different’ paper. Between me and you, it cost less money (in so much as it didn’t cost any more money!) than it was supposed to but myself and the rest of the Wi staff - worker bots 002 to 006 - were all rather miffed by: a) having the low-grade paper in the first place after I’d made it clear we didn’t want it and b) how poor it made the photos look. The mag on the right is printed on matt paper, the one on the left gloss. The main thing I’ve learnt from photographing the two magazines together is - you can hardly spot the difference in a photograph! But what came next was very interesting …. Reader response We started getting feedback from readers saying how much they liked the new paper! That was swiftly followed by readers saying how much they didn’t like it (including one emphasised by a “cancel my subscription” request), then more positives, interspersed with paper pooh-poohers. As confusing as all that feedback was, matters were made more indecipherable as readers commented on the content of Wi406. We knew this issue could cause some controversy as it featured, for the first time ever, more fantasy than historical in the magazine. The whole paper issue had been confusing enough but with content related comments ranging from: “Just wanted to let you know this month's Wi is exceptional. Really enjoyed every page of it.” to “… I am reviewing my subscription and will see if any improvement is made”. What’s an Editor to do? How page 28 appeared in Wi406. How page 28 should have appeared in Wi406 – with gloss
