A couple days ago a Railroad Model Craftsman Magazine shows up in the mail. At first I thought it might be a joke by my wife because it featured the "Beaver Valley & Pennsylvania" railroad (long story there). But upon closer investigation it seems ligitmate with real mailing lable et.al. So I ask if anyone had ordered a subscription for me and the answer is "no". Hmmmm, interesting but the story skips forward to today. During the Las Vegas NASCAR race, I just finished writing an article and called up the Model Railroading magazine web site to submit it. What should I find besides a big note talking about the "last issue". It seems they are going out of business, and the good folks at Carstens Publications picked up all their subscribers (issue for issue), hence the new RMC magazine I just got.
I immediately got on the phone (Model Railroading is, I mean was, based here in Denver) and called the owner, Umm I mean former owner. It seems subscription rates have been dropping dramatically. Of those who responded to an exit survey of why they are no longer subscribing most indicated they could get all the modeling information they needed quicker and for "free" on the internet. So now I feel sort of guilty for answering people's questions here and on the other forums. Have I contributed to the downfall of a good MR publication? I had been thinking about putting a FAQ, and some of my railroad planning information up on a web site, but now I am pretty certain I am not. Many of us have been complaining about the direction Model Railroader has taken lately toward more pictures less words and less craftsman type stuff. Is this why? Has their market research found the same thing? Are all the people looking for that kind of information can getting it "right now" on the internet? Why buy a magazine that MIGHT publish what I need sometime..... Why buy a magazine (especially a magazine subscription) when I can post on Trains.com and find out what I need to know for free??? !?
Any one else, puzzled, concerned, maybe feel a bit guilty, or think this is just a real trend, or just a fluke of one magazine not the industry. Finally, if it is a trend what happens when the people who know the answers start to die off and there are no magazines to go back to for reference or to educate the new people? Everything on-line or internet based in the future?
The Internet offers an amazing tool for multimedia. You can search for anything and find it instantly. With print publications, you have to find the index (if there is one) and then search through it for the right magazine/article. Then you have to find the magazine itself. With the Internet, all that is done in seconds, with a lot more materials available. I for one would rather buy a PDF of MR instead of using paper and taking up space. Plus, you can search within the text and everything is right there. (Plus it doesn't rip, fade, or get misplaced) I would rather see you post your techniques on a website than not and let nobody know of them.
My
Why subscribe to a magazine despite information available on the net ?
Main difference is that the contents of the magazine is chosen by others (the editor or editors of the magazine) - so I get inspiration about stuff I didn't know I needed inspiration about there.
But if I have specific questions, I go search on the net for more details. I don't write a letter to the editor of a magazine and then wait 6 months to see if the letter gets published and gets an answer.
And I use the net to order books and downloadable articles and stuff like that. Those magazines that manage to _combine_ publishing a paper edition with a varied content with having FAQs and an interactive content probably are less likely to go out of business than those who depend on a paper edition only.
So I wouldn't worry too much about replying to questions or posting FAQs. Trying to hold back the tide seldom produces lasting results. Continually adapting to a changing world is the key to keeping a business alive in today's world.
Grin,Stein
Highlands Station has not been a well-managed magazine publishing company. While Randy's a nice enough guy, "Model Railroading" magazine has long suffered from late issues and a generally poor presentation that could not compete with the top-tier magazines in the hobby. I never subscribed to it for those reasons.
It is typical for the owners of such businesses to blame the customers, of lack thereof, for their business' failures.
Good media companies embrace new technologies, and use them for profit. Had Randy done this (and produced a better, on-time product overall), he might have succeeded.
That was great of the RMC folks to pick up the rest of your subscription.
The demise of Model Railroading, Mainline Modeler, and other mags has been much discussed elsewhere on this forum. These were all fine magazines they did not fail for lack of quality. And many issues seemed to feature plenty of advertising.
My own theory - and it is just that, mine, and a theory -- is that these mags were not doomed by the internet and forums such as this one. Either the mags were started by a guy -- and were often largely the work of just one guy -- who felt he needed to express his own unique attitudes and viewpoint on the hobby, or who felt some niche was being overlooked.
In some cases I think their dreams and best intentions were almost hijacked by a certain obsessive/purist element within the hobby. I once expressed to a high ranking editor at Model Railroader that MR seemed to be missing out on some really awesome freight car and locomotive detailing articles that were appearing in the "second tier" of magazines. He politely made two points. First, he said many articles he saw appearing in the other magazines he had earlier seen been submitted -- and be rejected -- by Model Railroader, and not for lack of quality in the photos which used to be the reason for most MR rejections. Rather the rejection was based on MR editor's notions of what large numbers of readers wanted.
Second he said, next time you see one of those wonderful superdetailing articles, don't just read it and marvel at the craftsmanship and the attention to detail. Go ahead, get out the Walthers catalog and price out what they are telling you to do. So I did and my jaw dropped. A perfectly reasonable freight car detailing article ended up suggesting more than $45 worth of parts, NOT counting the paint! A single container redetailed ended up about $25. And the a locomotive article for a diesel switcher ended up being priced out at nearly $300!
His point was, we aren't stupid here at MR. We know what it takes to superdetail a car or locomotive to these standards. Many of us do it on our home layouts. But you cannot attract and retain thousands and thousands of readers with this kind of "sky's the limit" article where you buy a decent kit,file off every detail and replace each rivet with a tiny hole and a tiny piece of styrene in the hold and filed off, etc and etc. A few hundred, maybe a few dozen, readers are attracted to each article. You just cannot make a go of it on that basis.
I know from my own experience that a few years ago some guys who seemed to be obsessive purists on the issue of containers virtually took over one of my favorite second tier magazines with their articles, which interested me precisely ZERO due to my era and prototype. I could admire the storehouse of knowledge involved. I could admire the modeling and research and photographic demonstrations of fairly small detailing differences. But to me they were and remain wasted pages. Yes they were "great" articles -- everything anyone could want to know on the chosen subject. It is just that very few people were among the interested.
I think the other thing is, capitalization is everything in business and I suspect the failed magazines were under capitalized.
Their owners and editors have nothing to be ashamed of. They gave it their best shot and contributed much of quality. Those issues will be out there for the interested modeler to benefit from for years to come. That is one reason why I almost NEVER throw away a magazine. Sooner or later I or someone else will appreciate what is of quality in it,
End of rant .... sorry
Dave Nelson
Midnight Railroader wrote:"Model Railroading" magazine has long suffered from late issues
The internet may have things available but the first item is finding it, and finding what one is looking for. Net/web based subscription items may be the wave of the future, but not for me. I still like to have the in-hand thing to read. I have many medical issues, and thus many apts. I like to have the mags to take and read. I do not have a laptop, the only current way to read online only magazines and publications.
If I were following a printed diagram or instructions on an item of oh say scenery technique and wanted a handle on-site reference, I would be hard pressed to move my computer to my layout. After a while, staring at a screen makes me buggy-eyed as well. There was talk about 5 years ago of a new web-zine carry-with thingy. It would be like those electronic clipboards the UPS guys carry. It would only be used for suscriptions, only half a laptop size. But, I see it has not yet materialized.
Also, my paper magazine doesn't go down, doesn't crash, doesn't get "out of date" (like windows 98....come on people it is 2007), doesn't get infected with viruses, doesn't have compatiblity issues, doesn't require a password I may forget, and fits in my jacket pocket.
And, of course I can not correspond with it like I do here. Each has its place. I like both.
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
The trend toward the electronic transfer of information is irreversible. Just this morning I was reading an op-ed piece by George Will in which he observed the transfer of information is becoming instantaneous and at near zero cost. Way back in 1970 I took a journalism course at Ohio State and the professor told us that the day was coming when magazines and newspapers would be transmitted to a TV set rather than on a printed page. The internet was around then but nobody had heard of it so this seemed like science fiction stuff to us. Now it's here and there's no going back. I still like reading hard copy magazines and newspapers more from a comfort level. I like taking the newspaper out on the back porch and reading it while I drink my morning coffee. But now wireless laptops are making that an electronic option as well. Data storage and bandwidth have increased so much and have become so cheap that we may be very close to becoming the paperless society that has been predicted for decades. I receive my retirement payments electronically, I charge most of my purchases, and when the bill comes due, I pay that electronically. Even paper money is becoming obsolete.
There will always be a need for providers of information and they aren't going to do it for their health. They will charge us for electronic magazines when the printing presses stop. The good news is that they will be able to do that so much more cheaply and still remain profitable which will be good for us as consumers. I'll miss seeing the latest copy of MR showing up in my mail box near the end of each month, but I'll adjust.
dknelson wrote:That was great of the RMC folks to pick up the rest of your subscription.
next time you see one of those wonderful superdetailing articles, don't just read it and marvel at the craftsmanship and the attention to detail. Go ahead, get out the Walthers catalog and price out what they are telling you to do.
Texas Zepher wrote: It seems they are going out of business, and the good folks at Carstens Publications picked up all their subscribers (issue for issue), hence the new RMC magazine I just got.
It seems they are going out of business, and the good folks at Carstens Publications picked up all their subscribers (issue for issue), hence the new RMC magazine I just got.
That was a very nice thing they did for the former subscribers. I hope they can work out something with the MM people as well.
As to the question of these bit-player magazines folding, consider the niche the magazines like Mainline Modeler or Model Railroading filled. Mainline modeler was born in the 1970s as the third major alternative to Model Railroader or Railroad Model Craftsman and rode along on the trend to more accurate modeling of the prototype, and also helped usher in the photo-rich how-to article.
With the advent of desktop publishing in the 1980s, Mainline Modeler got a new lease on life since doing the magazine became easier and cheaper than ever. During this era of cheaper than ever publishing, Model Railroading and Railmodel Journal were born.
So the bit-player magazines rode the publishing technology wave of the 1980s and through the 90s. However, come the 21st century, a new publishing technology is now reaching critical mass -- the internet.
No longer do modelers have to submit their writeups to magazines and hope they get published. With the internet, it's possible for anyone on the planet to publish at next to nothing for the whole world to see. Who needs a magazine to make your content available?
In my opinion, the greatest boo-boo these magazines made was missing the next technology wave. They rode the desktop publishing wave well, but they failed to adapt to the next wave.
I believe the free internet wave is large enough that it's going to take out newspapers and all kinds of print publishers in the next decade if they don't adapt to it. Yes, even Kalmbach will need to adapt or face serious downsizing in the years ahead, I think.
Joe Fugate Modeling the 1980s SP Siskiyou Line in southern Oregon
Internet publishing is great. All you need is a camera, $48 bucks a year for space on a server and a free webpage program such as WebDwarf to become a famous author. If your articles are interesting enough magazines will ask you to write hard print versions of them.
There will always be a realm of hard copy and cybercopy. I like hard copy magazines and the audience for them is different than the cyberworld audience. The small niche publications failed because they didn't have a product that had a wide enough audience or did it poorly.
Just a thoughtHarold
I think Joe hit the nail on the head. The key for any business, but in this case the print media is adapting to changing conditions. In this case, their former subscribers apparently told them what they needed to change. The publishers either decided they couldn't fix that or didn't want to.
One thing for sure, if the hobby industry sees the consumers as the enemy because of our buying or information gathering choices, they will all go away. It's awful hard to force feed a market based on expendible income. But as in any market some will indeed curse the "good ole days" are gone and drive themselves into extinction, some will adapt and some will even come up with something new.
- Mark
I don't feel guilty at all about getting my model railroading info on the internet. Technology is always evolving and something better always comes along. That's life. Talk to the guys who made horsedrawn buggies, typewriters, and steam locomotives.
For example I'm sure many of us on here research websites about what our favorite railroads do and how they operated. Many of us go on sites to look at model railroads. If you'd have told most model railroaders as little as 20 years ago that one day you would be able to look up everything about any railroad in existance and visit model railroads anywhere in the world at any time of the day they'd have probably looked at you like you sniff model airplane glue. Sadly some magazines have fallen by the wayside and some still hold on but that's the nature of the business.
Harsh as it is you cannot deny reality. You either adapt or you get left behind in the dust. Information wants to be free and no matter how hard you try to contain it it will get there. Trying to do otherwise is akin to trying to hold back a pitbull with a leash made of dental floss.
While I have to agree that the Internet makes finding modeling info easy and varied the one thing everyone is missing is
The info is instantaneous and the info can and does disappear just as fast!
Why is that?
Now what does someone do if they needed that info?
And those that save into on CD’s DVD’s etc – what happens in 10 years or so when you go to retrieve the info and you can no longer read the info as you NO longer have the CD or DVD player???
The Government is running into that problem all of the time!
The printed magazine will still be readable as long as we, the human, can still read!
I have MRR magazines from the 30’s and I can still read them. Now fast forward another 50 years and MRR mag had been printing the articles on CD or DVD (state of the art at the time of printing) and I bet you will not be able to retrieve the info.
While the internet is a great thing it also loses more info everyday which will never be seen again.
BOB H – Clarion, PA
cmrproducts wrote: The printed magazine will still be readable as long as we, the human, can still read
The printed magazine will still be readable as long as we, the human, can still read
TONY
"If we never take the time, how can we ever have the time." - Merovingian (Matrix Reloaded)
Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum
The times, they are a changin'...
In our free market society, there is very little room for failure to keep up with changing demands.
I give enough to charity (through church, government employee charity programs, donations, etc.) that I don't have a lot leftover to run my hobby like a charity too. I do buy some items from my LHS in an almost charity-like fashion (he charges full list) because a) I want him to still be there some Saturday afternoon when I get stuck on a project and need a part NOW and b) I like hanging out and talking to other modelers. But I can't logically extend that to magazines that might (but probably won't) have an article or two which interests me.
For example, I used to buy both N Scale Railroading and N Scale Magazine. I found the former fit my bill much better than the latter, so I stopped buying the latter. Now that N Scale Magazine is under new management, I may look again.
Nevertheless, there are still lots of magazines out there competing for my hobby dollar. If I'm going to pass up a boxcar for a magazine, it had better apply directly to my interests. Since that's an unrealistic expectation (everyone has different interests), I'll buy what I need in magazine form and use the Internet for the rest.
Modeling the Rio Grande Southern First District circa 1938-1946 in HOn3.
Quote: We have discovered the enemy and he is us.
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I have heard that lie before. Fact is, times are changing. It is mainly old timers who cannot, do not realize they have to adapt. People, businesses have to adapt. I am 66 so I speak from experience.
I model 1890. Very little in mrr magazines for me. Besides, there is much more in the way of finding ideas on the 'Net. Right now I am scanning articles of interest in my collection ofpast MR & RMC and storing them on my computer. I also keep a DVD with the files at a bank safe deposit box in caes the house burns or the computer is stolen.
rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
I find the best advantage of the really good magazines like Model Railroader is that they provide a better, more interesting presentation than most web sites. I have visited many sites about a someone's model railroad. While some are interesting, most are not as well presented as MR's articles - usually don't have a track plan done as well as MR's art department turns out. I guess what I am taking the long boat to say is tha MR gives you a professional product that you don't find elsewhere.
Frankly, the only two modeling magazines worth the money are MR and Railroad Model Craftsman, which provides information not easily found on the net. Others are interesting, but I get them only as a side product of membership in NMRA and NASG or because they fill a niche like S Gaugian. I bought Model Railroading, Mainline Modeler, and others from time to time, but never found them to be worth a subscription over the long haul.
Enjoy
Paul
Change is the only constant.
-George
"And the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers ride their father's magic carpet made of steel..."
It's not just hobby publications, but other types have also come and gone over the years because they couldn't or wouldn't adapt to the whims of their readership.
Remember Life and Look magazines? Coronet? Computer Shopper seems to be the only one of their ilk that has been in existence for more than a few years. There must be hundreds of others that have gone out of business over the years.
on30francisco wrote:Although I still subscribe to MR, NGSL, and RMC, I get about 90% of my information on modeling, products, techniques, etc over the internet - for free...
Not to quibble...okay, I am quibbling... but the internet isn't free. If we choose to pay for that service, a magazine subscription is another packet of money on top of it. So, like you, I get lots from the internet, and if I get what I need, then buying a magazine that adds so little to the hobby for me is money I don't have for something that will add more to the hobby.
I am not meaning to argue, just to point out that we already spend for the service of the internet by subscription, so all the magazine does is allow us to sit upstairs in our easy chair and peruse it nearer other members of the family...at least, that would be my experience.
selector wrote: on30francisco wrote:Although I still subscribe to MR, NGSL, and RMC, I get about 90% of my information on modeling, products, techniques, etc over the internet - for free...Not to quibble...okay, I am quibbling... but the internet isn't free. If we choose to pay for that service, a magazine subscription is another packet of money on top of it. So, like you, I get lots from the internet, and if I get what I need, then buying a magazine that adds so little to the hobby for me is money I don't have for something that will add more to the hobby.I am not meaning to argue, just to point out that we already spend for the service of the internet by subscription, so all the magazine does is allow us to sit upstairs in our easy chair and peruse it nearer other members of the family...at least, that would be my experience.
True, since most of us have to pay for an ISP the internet is not free, however, the internet is also extremely useful for other things besides the hobby such as banking, shopping, news, e-mail ect. Although I'm aware of the many pdf downloads available, I have never used them because either the info does not pertain to my interests, the info is available in older Kalmbach books or magazines - which I either have or are available at the public library - or the info is already out in cyberspace on other sites. Granted, the downloadable pdf files are a good source of info if you want information on a specific topic but if it came down to either paying for a download or buying the magazine, I'd opt for the latter..