Major changes to the Philatelic Literature Review coming up
Susanna Mills, Editor-in-Chief of the American Philatelic Society, is guiding us through the major changes to the Philatelic Literature Review in 2025:
The PLR has been struggling to remain self-sustaining for years at its current publication schedule, and has cost more to produce than it makes in subscriber or advertiser dollars. Not only that, but our subscriber base has fallen, as has our advertiser base. We have several very dedicated authors, but otherwise, engagement in the PLR remains low.
These are the major difficulties that motivated us to take a hard look at potential solutions. However, there were positive motivations as well.
We know that the PLR has an important role in the hobby as a vehicle to share knowledge and resources that would not necessarily have a place in many other publications. We know that our core base of subscribers is highly committed to the success of the PLR and of the American Philatelic Research Library. And we know that, given the right circumstances, we could revitalize the PLR in terms of design, color, and further curated content.
Our motivations thus laid out, we reached out to printers for quotes. Reducing the frequency to twice a year naturally allowed us to cut a significant portion of the usual costs – enough that we are able to subsequently dramatically increase the quality of the journal itself – 8.5 by 11 inches size; a sturdy cover; high quality paper with glossy pages; and an increased page count per issue. The quality of the journal will be that of a keepsake.
Read the full article here.
