But in this age of tweets and status updates, a bit of promotion is in order.

For the last almost 10 years, I’ve had the honor of working with some of the community’s best.

Best dealers.

Best readers.

Best writers.

OK, “best” is a bit subjective. But on the subject of the latter, it’s not.

Fact: For the last eight years, the Numismatic Literary Guild has given COINage numerous awards in various areas within our category.

Fact: This ninth year was no exception.

U.S. COMMERCIAL NUMISMATIC MAGAZINES
BEST ARTICLE OR SERIES OF ARTICLES
Tokens & Medals: “Benedetto Pistrucci,” David T. Alexander, COINage
Paper Money: “Signs of Progress,” Jon Blackwell, COINage

BEST COLUMN
“My Two Cents’ Worth,” Ed Reiter, COINage

BEST ISSUE
COINage, August 2009, Ed Reiter, Senior Editor; Marcy Gibbel, Managing Editor

So don’t just take my word for it.

The NLG is made up of our peers. Membership is open to “authors of numismatic books; publishers and editors of recognized numismatic periodicals or club publications in the numismatic field; staff writers or columnists of such periodicals; writers whose work has been published in such periodicals or club journals; published research numismatists; auction catalogers; curators of recognized numismatic museums; and others deemed worthy by the NLG Membership Committee.”

The NLG thinks COINage is (one of) the best, too, and for this, I am thankful.

About a year ago, COINage finally decided to pursue some avenues in electronic magazine delivery. We contracted with Zinio to help us publish and distribute online versions of the magazine. The global leader in digital publishing, Zinio enables you to shop for, search inside, read, share and save content. Take a look at Zinio.com for more details.

Anyway, we made the announcement in our magazine and on our Web site, but I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it here. My mistake, since the chances are good that if you’re reading blogs, you’re probably reading other publications online.

I am a huge fan of print, but I have to admit that there are several advantages to reading COINage online. (By the way, you get the exact same issue you’d receive in the mail or purchase on the newsstand.)

1) Distribution. I understand that it’s become difficult to find COINage on some newsstands. Zinio is the largest digital newsstand in the world. You WILL find COINage on Zinio’s newsstand.

2) Live links in every issue enable you to conveniently get more information.

3) Permanent access to your electronic back issues.

4) Print only what you need.

5) Reduce your—and our—environmental impact. Whether or not you subscribe to the Global Warming theory, our resources are valuable.

And did I mention the price? A digital subscription to COINage will run you around $25 for 12 issues. That’s well over 50 percent off the cover price, so there’s no excuse to stop receiveing COINage because it falls under “discretionary income” in your budget. If you’re a coin collector, you need COINage.