▶ I’m sure you noticed in the last issue that we had less pages than normal. We do have less than our normal 100 pages in this issue also – total pages equals 84.

Why? I here you ask. Well, since the end of last year there have been paper shortages globally. The pandemic caused a drop in paper demand due to publishers either closing titles or reducing pagination of printed magazines/books, which resulted in some paper mills closing down. Those that did remain in business to supply paper are now overwhelmed with orders and can’t keep up with demand. Oh, and they have increased the prices too.

What didn’t help anyone was a strike at a paper mill in Finland at the beginning of this year which may still be happening. This put pressure on other mills, especially those in Europe, who then opted to increase prices further. And there is still, at the moment, a lack of paper stock available to all publishers.

CM publishers had to make a difficult decision to either raise the cover price or reduce pagination. So, I can only apologise at the moment and say hopefully the situation will be back to normal come the summer months.

In the meantime we had planned a special ‘bumper’ issue for the

May 2022 issue – that will still happen with a 116-page issue. Look out for our Top 50 Bargain Buys supplement we have for you – on sale from April 15th.