1984 Elite Historical Research

[user2357]

For the purposes of historical research regarding the original 1984 Elite simulator, I would like to learn about the magazine publication processes of the mid-1980s, specifically regarding monthly and weekly computer magazines in the UK, in general, on average.

Is there anybody in this group who might be able to answer any of the following questions, or who could refer me to sources or people who might be able to do so, please?

If the publication process can be divided into: (1) writing, (2) editing, (3) printing, (4) distribution, and (5) public release, for *monthly* and *weekly* magazines...

1. How long before final public release would an article be written, more or less, for monthly and weekly magazines?

2. How long did editing take, i.e. proofreading, as well as placement and arrangement of articles and ads, for monthly and weekly ...?

3. How long did printing take, for m&w Ms?

4. How long did distribution take, 4m&w Ms?

5. If a monthly magazine indicated the publication date "November 1984" on its front page, when was it likely to have actually been released to the public?

6. If a weekly magazine indicated the publication date "Sept 4-10, 1984" on its front page, when was it likely to have actually been released to the public?

Thanks.

[Cholmondely]

For the purposes of historical research regarding the original 1984 Elite simulator, I would like to learn about the magazine publication processes of the mid-1980s, specifically regarding monthly and weekly computer magazines in the UK, in general, on average.

Is there anybody in this group who might be able to answer any of the following questions, or who could refer me to sources or people who might be able to do so, please?

If the publication process can be divided into: (1) writing, (2) editing, (3) printing, (4) distribution, and (5) public release, for *monthly* and *weekly* magazines...

1. How long before final public release would an article be written, more or less, for monthly and weekly magazines?

2. How long did editing take, i.e. proofreading, as well as placement and arrangement of articles and ads, for monthly and weekly ...?

3. How long did printing take, for m&w Ms?

4. How long did distribution take, 4m&w Ms?

5. If a monthly magazine indicated the publication date "November 1984" on its front page, when was it likely to have actually been released to the public?

6. If a weekly magazine indicated the publication date "Sept 4-10, 1984" on its front page, when was it likely to have actually been released to the public?

Thanks.

Not an expert but this may help. You've left out typesetting. One would send the text into the printers who would print it out as printer's galleys. You would then edit those for typos and paste them up on the dummy pages before sending them back to the printers who would then produce page proofs. You then had a last chance to clobber the typos and now knowing the page layout you could write your table of contents etc.
Since Fleet Street newspapers literally sat on top of their printing presses they could do all this overnight. Quark Xpress & Pagemaker simplified all this when they came out - hence the battles with the unions, as the management finally had the upper hand.

[Cholmondely]

Furthermore, the librarians at the British Newspaper Archive (used to be in Colindale in NW London, may have moved North to Boston Spa in Yorkshire: Tel 01382 210100) should have someone who can answer your questions.

Or you could try the Media, Journalism & Publishing Department at Oxford Brookes University (01865 741111) who should have someone who knows about it - or who knows someone else who knows about it!

[ffutures]

I was writing occasionally for PCW and other computer mags in that era, I'm pretty sure I never saw anything I wrote appear in less than three months. The games mags were given previews before games were ready for market - for example, I saw Wing Commander 2 at the developer's offices while it was still in development and VERY bug-ridden.

[user2357]

Thank you very much indeed, commanders, for your helpful replies.

Commander Cholmondely, I have followed your leads via email. May I quote you, please, if necessary?

Commander ffutures, may I quote you, please, if necessary?

*

According to my best estimates, based on internal, textual evidence, monthly articles were usually written from five to ten weeks before final public release, although rush articles could be published as quickly as two and a half weeks after the event on which they reported (e.g. a quick review of the Elite simulator in the 1984 November 'Personal Computer Games' No. 12, p. 43-45, 'SCREEN TEST', col. 1 & 2; https://archive.org/details/Personal_Co ... 2/mode/1up. Although the front cover indicates a publication/release date of 1984 November, there is other internal, textual evidence, from the 1985 January edition, indicating that it might actually have been released on October 16 already.)

I furthermore presume that (1) writing, (2) editing, and (3) publishing (including typesetting, printing and distribution), occurred concurrently, in 'parallel', as it were. For instance, a magazine would be writing articles for the November issue, while editing the October issue, and simultaneously publishing the September issue.

However, while writing and editing would take place throughout the month, publishing would be a relatively quick process, presumably taking only about a week before the final release for a monthly publication. Similarly for a weekly magazine, although writing and editing would take place throughout the week, publication (including distribution) would only take about two days. ...

Would you agree with this assessment of mine?

(The only news media and press education I have, is from a very brief, introductory, day-course presented by a few journalists of a national, daily newspaper, presented at a local school, about two decades ago, for the purposes of educating the students contributing to the school newspaper.)

Any input and feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you, again.

[ffutures]

I think you're underestimating the complexity of the final publishing process - DTP wasn't very advanced, and page layout was mostly done by horrendously complicated markup languages, a very skilled job. I was writing for White Dwarf at that point and when I visited their offices they were still using specialist computers, printing everything out, assembling the final page by hand once the editor approved it, then producing master plates for printing by a laborious photographic process. While I didn't visit any of the computer magazines I have no reason to think that they were much more advanced, since they were mostly sharing facilities with other publications from the same publisher so it's likely that none of them were using all-new equipment.

[user2357]

Yes, ffutures, I suspected that I might have been underestimating the complexity. Thanks for your clarification of some of the background behind the scenes of the process. I would also expect, like you, that one magazine did it pretty much the same as any other, and shared publishing facilities, taking turns to have print runs at scheduled times during the month. Otherwise, it would inevitably be leaked how the best mag did it quickest, and then all of them would eventually start doing it like that, to save time, increase profits and remain competitive.

I would still like to know, though, how long each of the various major steps in the process took for both monthly and weekly magazines.

All I have been able to establish so far, seems to confirm one little bit of my own estimation, i.e. that monthly mags had a lead time of about two to three months (five to ten weeks, according to my initial attempts at more precise calculations, based on textual evidence). However, I have no idea how long it took for (a) page layout, (b) editorial approval, (c) producing master plates, etc., and (d) when the deadlines were for final submission of articles for the next editions.

BTW, I have also posted at https://www.reddit.com/r/Journalism/com ... _research/ and at https://able2know.org/topic/553883-1.

Any suggestions for posting on any other related forums, would also be greatly appreciated.

[Cholmondely]

Not sure if its relevant, but I've included links to a couple of articles on the history of elite on the Classic Elite page in our wiki.

[Disembodied]

Francis Spufford's book Backroom Boys (Faber, 2003) has a chapter on the development of the original Elite. Here's an extract, in case it's of interest:

https://www.faber.co.uk/blog/elite-dang ... -spufford/

[user2357]

Thanks, Commanders Cholmondeley and Disembodied.

I sincerely appreciate your input. Any and all suggestions and recommendations are more than welcome. Keep'em comin'.

I have, however, read somewhere else (can't remember) that Spufford isn't all that accurate, and admits as much, apparently due to having had to rush to meet a publishing deadline, as well as trying to compromise between multiple points of view and conflicting information. ...or something like that. "Backroom Boys" and the "Brits Who Made the Modern World" episode on the making of Elite seem to be pretty much in the same class: possibly entertaining, but not necessarily factually correct (except for quotes directly from the horses' mouths, of course).

[user2357]

For anyone interested, on 2021apr16fri, Lucas Rayner posted the following, thoroughly-referenced reply on the alt.fan.elite Google Group.

This is a bit of a late reply, but I'll follow up just in case it's
still useful.

It was (and I think still is) usual for UK magazines to arrive in shops
the week or month before the date listed on the cover.

You may be able to find an exact date by carefully checking the issue
before the one you're interested in. For instance:

- Crash reviewed the Spectrum version of Elite in issue 22 (dated
November 1985). Issue 21 has "Next Instalment of CRASH hits the streets
on 24th October" on the contents page.

- Amstrad Action reviewed the Amstrad CPC port in issue 3 (dated
December 1985). Issue 2 has a "Next Month" page near the back that
states "Available from Thursday November 7th!!"

- Zzap!64 reviewed the Commodore 64 version in issue 1 (dated May 1985).
As such, there's no previous issue to check, but issue 1 says "Zzap!
No.2 on sale May 9th!!" on the contents page, so it's a fair assumption
that issue 1 went on sale similarly early in April.

My guess is that the practice of printing the next release date was more
common in newsstand magazines, where it was good business to remind
readers when to buy the next issue, and less common if the magazine was,
say, a user group newsletter that would always be mailed out on a
regular subscription.

All the best with your research!

R

[Cholmondely]

For anyone interested, on 2021apr16fri, Lucas Rayner posted the following, thoroughly-referenced reply on the alt.fan.elite Google Group.

This is a bit of a late reply, but I'll follow up just in case it's
still useful.

It was (and I think still is) usual for UK magazines to arrive in shops
the week or month before the date listed on the cover.

You may be able to find an exact date by carefully checking the issue
before the one you're interested in. For instance:

- Crash reviewed the Spectrum version of Elite in issue 22 (dated
November 1985). Issue 21 has "Next Instalment of CRASH hits the streets
on 24th October" on the contents page.

- Amstrad Action reviewed the Amstrad CPC port in issue 3 (dated
December 1985). Issue 2 has a "Next Month" page near the back that
states "Available from Thursday November 7th!!"

- Zzap!64 reviewed the Commodore 64 version in issue 1 (dated May 1985).
As such, there's no previous issue to check, but issue 1 says "Zzap!
No.2 on sale May 9th!!" on the contents page, so it's a fair assumption
that issue 1 went on sale similarly early in April.

My guess is that the practice of printing the next release date was more
common in newsstand magazines, where it was good business to remind
readers when to buy the next issue, and less common if the magazine was,
say, a user group newsletter that would always be mailed out on a
regular subscription.

All the best with your research!

R

Thank you. And yes, various magazines (Prospect, The Critic etc) do indeed still appear before the date on their cover.