A monthly GR magazine...well?

[Anonymous]

A comment on another topic post has urged me to ask this question. It must have been asked before, but to what end?

[?] When will 'Garden Railways Magazine' become monthly? [?]

From the way I see it (and do put in your 10yen's worth [2c] on this) there must be more than enough interesting and informative articles just from what gets presented on this forum to allow one issue per month! Wouldn't we all like to see more 'how to...' and 'What I've done...' articles?

From the amount of comercial adverts it must be possible to support a monthly mag financialy.

I'd love to see more private garden railways and see what we all do in our gardens.

Other garden railway magazines are monthly, well GardenRail, the British one, at least. GardenRail is monthly and has just a small splattering of adverts, but maintains a good collection of well written articles, from staff and readers.

So, what do you think? Let's kick this one around a bit and perhaps get those that have influence to do something about it.

[soapbox] Start posting!

Matthew [bow]

[FJ and G]

I replied to the other June06 post but doubt if many will reply. I think the gardeners are attacking the slugs and moles and are a bit busy this time o year. [:D]

[Anonymous]

I can speak for my wife( big train nut) and myself but I hate waiting 2 mo between fixs
we would buy one every mo.


Ed & Cheryll

[Anonymous]

I got my first year's subscription as a gift and I can't tell you how disappointed I was when I figured out that it was only bi-montlhy. [:(]

[Anonymous]

"From the amount of comercial adverts it must be possible to support a monthly mag financialy."
-----------------------

I don't think so. It's one thing for an advertiser to place ads in six or seven issues a year, and quite another to place similar ads in 12 issues a year. That's a big chunk of money, and you're already seeing many advertisers reducing the size or frequency of their ads due to the rather sluggish hobby market in general, which is apt to become even more sluggish as "free" money has to be diverted to gassing up the car or to pay for the impact of oil prices on virtually everything else (even the post office is seeking another rate hike in the near future).

Beyond that, who is going to provide all the content needed to fill 12 issues? Everyone likes reading their favorite magazines, but few--very few--are willing to devote the time and effort to writing and photographing articles for these publications. With small in-house staffs, these specialized ublication have to rely heavily on "freelance" contributors to provide the steady flow of material they need.

[Anonymous]

Agh, the cruel sting of reality once again intrudes on the fantasy. You're absolutely right, Allen. All it would do is increase the dealers' costs without increasing their revenues. It isn't like the additional exposure would entice us to buy any more than we already are - there's only so much in my piggy bank.

[Train 284]

I would prefer a monthly publication myself, but I don't know how hard that would be on the GR staff.

[kstrong]

QUOTE: ... I don't know how hard that would be on the GR staff.

*cough, hack, wheeze!* [xx(]

René, can I hire a ghost writer?

Later,

K

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Allan Miller

"From the amount of comercial adverts it must be possible to support a monthly mag financialy."
-----------------------

I don't think so. It's one thing for an advertiser to place ads in six or seven issues a year, and quite another to place similar ads in 12 issues a year. That's a big chunk of money, and you're already seeing many advertisers reducing the size or frequency of their ads due to the rather sluggish hobby market in general, which is apt to become even more sluggish as "free" money has to be diverted to gassing up the car or to pay for the impact of oil prices on virtually everything else (even the post office is seeking another rate hike in the near future).

Beyond that, who is going to provide all the content needed to fill 12 issues? Everyone likes reading their favorite magazines, but few--very few--are willing to devote the time and effort to writing and photographing articles for these publications. With small in-house staffs, these specialized ublication have to rely heavily on "freelance" contributors to provide the steady flow of material they need.

Come come now, are you saying that there are very few on this forum who would actually write in articles? What about all the scratch-building that is done in this hobby? 'How to' articles are always interesting, even if just to find out how someone else does it.

I've received three mags of my subscription so far and have seen very little in the way of reviews. Is nothing new being tested and reviewed? Don't people want to know the real low-down on new products before they type in the credit card details?

If the British counterpart can produce a full-colour issue, monthly, and the US mag can't then...

No, no let's concentrate on viability!

[?]Would you contribute articles, letters and whathaveyou if you knew there was a very good chance that they would be published?[?]

Keep it coming[:)][:)]

Matthew [bow]

[MTCarpenter]

I'll say "WORD" to a monthy, even if it costs a bit more.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by MTCarpenter

I'll say "WORD" to a monthy, even if it costs a bit more.

Allan, is right they need more articles WELL written and submitted by people like us in the forums. How to articles seem to be of most intrest from what I have seen from posters in the forums. Everyone here other than "newbie's" know how to do something. So write an article about it and flood Marc Horiwitz's desk with them. I believe if he thought he could fill 12 issues a year every year he would.

I myself let it go about 12 issues instead of 6 because I don't have time to write articles, so I feel I can't complain, gipe or what ever. The GR writer's that they do have Kevin Strong, Vance Bass and others who do write have jobs other than GR, and families. Not to mention a RR of their own to work on. So fill the void and write something![:D]

[cabbage]

I used to submit articles to the previous editor of 'the UK one' -only to have a series of rejection replies based on the fact that no-one would ever want to build anything like them...

Nowadays I use my prose and text editor on my web site. I have no idea who reads the contents -and it may only be the ultimate in vanity publishing. But it is all mine.

The UK magazine has become more thinner in content and I have stopped buying it. The US one is a 'sometimes' buy. The only railway magazines that I have suscriptions to are "Locomotives International" and "Narrow Gauge World". Niether of which is a monthly!!!

regards

ralph

[gtrainman1]

An other consideration would be that if doubling the amount of issues per year, 12 vers 6, may also double the yearly subscription price?

[Tom The Brat]

I can't imagine anybody wanting to model Ralph's prototypes![:o)]

[Anonymous]

I think it is about time it went montly, and its never been easier to do you own articles and photos, most of us have a good or even really good digital camara, we type on these forums about what we do in our garden railways, just put it in an article style, and email submit it with the digital photos to GRR. I plan to once I get just a bit farther along on my water/garden railway. While I love seeing the large deep pocket garden railways. Its the smaller lines with tight curves and no proper ballest, the track layed right on top of the mulch that probably comprises many garden railways. The trains are the minor player in my garden, they exhist with the flowes, bushes and other features. Ballest ect will come in time, but then I model civil war era and many lines were just laid in the dirt. Just my 2 cents on things. Cheers Mike

[Anonymous]

Can we coax a word from Rene? I think we would all be interested in an editor's view point.

Money-wise, I counted only 50 out of 124 pages without adverts. I gave up counting individual ads as there are so many (interesting but still so many). I would pay more for more! It costs more to send over here but so what!

Seems we have a good few willing to write and send in articles. Not just US based either.

At the mo. the actual 'gardening' sections are not so abundant. I'd love more space in the mag on the gardening elements.

With all that's being produced, even vaguely connected with GR, the reviews section is another favourite for a spot of growth.

These are just ideas. One wonders whether any real plans have been made.

Rene, please tell, is there any chance of 12 rather than 6?

Matthew [bow]

[Rene Schweitzer]

Hi Matt,

Ok, I'll step in here. . .Alan brought up some good points about the advertising. However, as for content, we would not have any problem finding enough. Marc H. has a huge backlog of manuscripts and offers coming in all the time. AFAIK, there are no plans to go monthly or otherwise change the frequency.[:(]

Let me say that it's great to know that you are wiling to support us if we ever change. You are the reason we are here today! [:)]

[TonyWalsham]

As an advertiser I hope GR does not go monthly.

All that will do is make it easier for the moneyed up manufacturers and dealers to more thoroughly dominate the market.

I wi***he Brtisih Garden Rail magazine would go back to bi-monthly.

[Anonymous]

I re-read all the comments so far and I must admit there have been some worthy points made both ways.

Thanks Rene for the comments. Though it doesn't encourage me to send in any articles if there is such a backlog. Do some pieces just get thrown out and not used? It would be a shame.

I'm still in favour of 12 a year! Gas/petrol prices are taking a bite at the mo. and it affects us all. Nevertheless, a smaller magazine twice as often is appealing to me.

On the subject of ads, many pages have small ads where the smaller companies can use the space and larger companies take up two to six pages. Both kinds of ads are interesting, the smaller ones often more so. Just my thoughts.

Tony, what makes you say you wi***he British GardenRail would return to bi-monthly? Is that from an advertisers perspective? I wouldn't have thought it would matter so much in the British mag.

Matthew[bow]

[Rene Schweitzer]

QUOTE: Originally posted by MatthewFoster

I re-read all the comments so far and I must admit there have been some worthy points made both ways.

Thanks Rene for the comments. Though it doesn't encourage me to send in any articles if there is such a backlog. Do some pieces just get thrown out and not used? It would be a shame.

Certainly not! We recommend emailing Marc if you have an idea first, to see if we are interested. It's also possible we already have a similar article on file. Marc reviews all submissions and replies. If accepted, we mail a contract. If not, we return with the materials with a letter.

[TonyWalsham]

Matthew,
For the same reason I would not like GR to go monthly.
The ads start to cost a lot more for the return they bring.

[FJ and G]

One sign that would indicate if a magazine should go monthly is the circulation numbers. If you are approaching 100K, it's time to go monthly. Unsure what GRR's numbers are, however.

Of course there are a lot of other signs, one being personnel costs (new personnel would likely be needed), which are not cheap.

Another factor might be feelings of advertisers and their perceived benefits or lack thereof.

[Anonymous]

Good points, all of them David.[:)]

I too wonder how many copies are sold every other month.[:-^]

Well, as much as I'd like a copy every month, I don't see overwhelming support for the idea. Still Garden Rail is due next week so I've got that to look forward to.[swg]

Matthew[bow][^]

[markperr]

I, for one, would not pay double the subscription cost. It is a shame that the mag only comes out bi-monthly. Perhaps a sister publication that would come out on the off month? If it were diverse enough, I'd consider subscribing to the two different publications. Are there enough subjects in GRRing to split them into two different mags?

Mark

[FJ and G]

I've been meaning to take a look at some British garden railway mags to supplement my desire for more reading material. Can anyone recommend any with lots of "how to do it" and scratchbuilding articles. I noticed a couple of garden RR mags during my visit to Switzerland this year, but not being able to read German, I didn't have an interest in just looking at photos.

[Anonymous]

The other Brits will correct me if I'm wrong, but there is only two British garden railway magazines 'Garden Rail', published by Atlantic Publishers, and '16mm Today'. Having said that I would think there is also a G scale mag (?) too.

I'm into my second year of subscription to GardenRail and I look forward to each 'monthly' issue. It isnt as large as the US counterpart but the pages are larger in size and the weight of the paper is more substantial, giving it a permanent feel. There is a good mix of G scale, SM32 and Gauge 1 (standard) articles. I often re-read articles and take inspiration from the photos. There is a fantastic pic of one of the Editor's stations inside the back page of the most recent issue - truely inspiring!

On average there is at least one or two scratch builds per issue, one or two private line articles, review articles and a general review section plus some other types of articles.

I'm writing a article for Garden Rail on a kit-bash I'm doing at the moment. This will be my second article. The Editor is very friendly and always replies to Emails promptly. It encourages me to keep on doing my own thing.

The '16mm Today' is just for SM32 and is quarterly. I don't get it yet as the subscription to the association is a bit steep if you don't live in the UK and make use of the related services. I wonder what subscribers think of the magazine. Should I subscribe?[?]

There are no Japanese garden railway mags so I depend on GardenRail and Garden Railways for regular reading material.

Try these links:

Garden Rail Magazine http://www.atlanticpublishers.com/GR.html

16 mm Today http://16mm.org.uk/membersindex.htm

Matthew [bow]

[FJ and G]

Thanks, Matthew. (Domo)

[cabbage]

Matthew,

I am a member and I would not advise you to subscribe! You would be far better raiding your plastic for subscriptions to :

"Locomotives International" http://www.locomotivesinternational.co.uk/
Or
"Narrow gauge World" -which is also an Atlantic Publication

As to scratch building -as we are both members of Keef Browns Web ring -have you looked there ???

regards

ralph

[Anonymous]

Hey Ralph,

Thanks for the links. The 'Locomotives International' looks really interesting. I think I'll get a subscription for a year and see what it is like.

Thanks for the advice on 16mm too.

Regards, Matthew [bow] (Arigatou)