Introducing...
Friends of the Scottish Review

Dear Reader

Two weeks ago, we launched a support group to be known as Friends of the Scottish Review. Each Friend is asked to donate £30, renewable annually, to help us achieve the long-term objectives of the magazine.
     When we established SR online early last year (after 14 years as a print journal), we could not have predicted how successful it would become. Its remarkable growth, both in readership and frequency of publication – we now appear three times a week – has created its own challenges. How do we secure the resources necessary to allow SR to flourish as an independent and inquiring voice for Scotland?
     The magazine is published by an educational charity, the Institute of Contemporary Scotland (ICS), which also organises the Young Scotland Programme. ICS generously provides the basics required for survival, but we need additional revenue for the development of this pioneering initiative.
     We are unenthusiastic about allowing advertising in the Scottish Review, at least for the foreseeable future. It would have the potential to be editorially compromising, particularly in a magazine which asks so many awkward questions. We would much rather appeal to those readers who share our ideals and who are able to make a modest annual contribution to SR's continuing progress.
     The scheme is, of course, voluntary. Registered readers who would rather not be Friends of the Scottish Review will remain registered. Unlike some mainstream publishers, we will never charge for access to the site – such a practice is hostile to the spirit of the internet. We hope and believe, however, that there are many among our growing community of readers who will want to help sustain and enhance high-quality internet journalism in Scotland.
     Within the next few weeks, we will open a dedicated page listing all the inaugural Friends of the Scottish Review, except those who wish to remain anonymous. Meanwhile, as a token of our appreciation, each reader who makes a donation will receive with our compliments a copy of one of the Scottish Review's books: either that splendid collection of photographic character studies, 'Islay McLeod's Faces of Scotland'; or the newly published 'Scottish Review 2009', a hardback anthology of articles from the last year, edited by myself.
     To enrol as one of the inaugural Friends of the Scottish Review, click on the link below, complete the short form, and email it back to us. You will be invoiced for your donation in due course.
     Or, if you prefer, telephone with your credit or debit card details and we will put your book in the post today – always assuming there is a post today.
     I hope I can look forward to hearing from you. SR needs you.

Yours sincerely

Kenneth Roy
Editor, Scottish Review

[click here] to become a Friend of the Scottish Review