How does this work? Do you have to be asked? Can you volunteer articles? Do they pay you? Just interested.
I assume you are not talking about 009 News? If this is going to be your first foray into this field why not submit your article to Mark Howe at 009 News first? Mark is always on the look out for more authors and articles.
As for the mainstream modelling press, some appear to have little interest in any form of narrow gauge modelling, and submission of an article to those magazines is unlikely to meet with any success.
The only magazines likely to be interested are Railway Modeller, Continental Modeller, and Narrow Gauge World. Of these, I believe the Peco publications are the most rewarding finacially. Payment is only made on publication.
Unsolicited manuscripts do get published, but it always best to send a brief outline with a couple of photos to the appropriate editor first. Steve Flint of RM and Andrew Burnham of CM usually respond quite quickly to such letters.
That said, it is also a sad fact that submission of a completed article, even if it has been specifically commissioned, is no guarantee of publication
thanks garry...yes I might well write for 009 news...
maybe a reduction in the membership fee for those who submit articles might get the typewriters going?
Quote from: rhydddu009 on July 27, 2009, 16:52
thanks garry...yes I might well write for 009 news...
maybe a reduction in the membership fee for those who submit articles might get the typewriters going?
Oh dear Colin! If that were the case, then my subsciption would be reduced so much that the 009 Society would owe me thousands!..............
The whole point of Society newsletters, which is what 009 News is, is that the membership supplies the content of it. The reward is to see your article in the News and know that it benefits the other members. From personal experience, it also gives you a satisfied warm feeling that you have done your bit whilst the society is waiting for the other 1100 odd members to do theirs!.......... Financial reward for contribution to a club newsletter should not be a required incentive to contribute.
To supplement the answer Garry gave to the other part of your question regarding payment for articles published in commercial magazines, I advise that you make contact with the relevant editor before submitting anything. I once sent photos to the Editor of Railway Modeller simply by sending them with a covering email, which were indeed duly published, but in the "letters" section of the magazine, and I did not receive any payment. Lesson learned from that. I have also submitted material to the modelling section Editor of Narrow Gauge World, having first made contact with him by email to see if he was interested, which was published and I have received prompt payment on a per-page published basis from Atlantic Publishers quite soon after publication of the magazine issue that carried my piece. Having articles published in the commerical modelling press will not however pay enough for you to give up all other forms of employment unfortunately!!
Regards
Mick
Thanks Mick, btw I was just suggesting a one-off reduced membership fee (
Quote from: MickT on July 27, 2009, 19:21
The whole point of Society newsletters, which is what 009 News is, is that the membership supplies the content of it. The reward is to see your article in the News and know that it benefits the other members. From personal experience, it also gives you a satisfied warm feeling that you have done your bit whilst the society is waiting for the other 1100 odd members to do theirs!.......... Financial reward for contribution to a club newsletter should not be a required incentive to contribute.
I totaly agree with Mick on this one, in regard to the 009 News the feeling of achievement and satisfaction I feel at seeing my work published is enough reward for me.
If however I was ever lucky enough to get something published in say RM or CM for example then I wouldn't say no to a small donation to the modeling fund :)
Talking of articles, I did recieve your email Mick, keep forgeting to reply though, any way just wanted to say thanks.
Regards,
Darren.
maybe I'm trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist though... perhaps we should move to a bi-monthly magazine with more pages and therefore longer feature articles...? discuss....
Quote from: rhydddu009 on July 27, 2009, 23:25
perhaps we should move to a bi-monthly magazine with more pages and therefore longer feature articles...?
Do we need to?
Regards,
Darren.
it would stop the practice of splitting articles across parts of the magazine, and indeed splitting articles across multiple issues... it would presumably also allow images to be printed larger. just a thought. some of the other scales have wonderful thick feature rich magazines, ours is more frequent but is that really needed?
Quote from: rhydddu009 on July 27, 2009, 23:36
it would stop the practice of splitting articles across parts of the magazine, and indeed splitting articles across multiple issues... it would presumably also allow images to be printed larger. just a thought. some of the other scales have wonderful thick feature rich magazines, ours is more frequent but is that really needed?
I can see your point about the splitting of articles across mulitple issues though it dosn't bother me personally. With regards to thicker magazines but less frequent, wouldn't you still use the same amount of material for lets say 12 monthly issues at 16 pages each and 4 quarterly issues at 48 pages each. Sections such as diary dates, branchlines, etc, would take up the exact amount of space overall, this is just an example.
But to me the most important factor is the fact that for probably 90% of our membership a monthly magazine is their only comunication with other 009'ers. Now I consider myself lucky in the respect that I am part of a very good area group (South Yorkshire) and we have some excellent regular bi-monthly meetings but I still look forward to my news dropping through my letter box every month.
Regards,
Darren.
The economics of issue frequency are complex, involving many factors, for example, including but not limited to, paper grade and weight, similarly envelope strength and quality, and also postage rates. All are regularly reviewed, and a forum such as this is not the place to discuss and debate the matter.
However, although there have been at least 2 periods in the Society's 36 year history when for necessity, at the time, the frequency was reduced to bi-monthly, it has been the overwhelming wish of the majority of members that the News be issued monthly. This has been regularly confirmed by the members at AGM's over the years.
009 News is issued monthly because that is what the Society's members want.
Quote from: garrywhiting on July 28, 2009, 07:02a forum such as this is not the place to discuss and debate the matter.
Why not? I thought the point of a forum is that it's a place to debate opinions, ideas and thoughts...ask questions etc...
Quote from: rhydddu009 on July 28, 2009, 09:28
Quote from: garrywhiting on July 28, 2009, 07:02a forum such as this is not the place to discuss and debate the matter.
Why not? I thought the point of a forum is that it's a place to debate opinions, ideas and thoughts...ask questions etc...
To Quote Alan Rolfe
"The more appropriate channel for this type of communication is through the Secretary so that he can choose it make it available to all members of the Society through the News rather than just to the 10% or so of the Society membership which have chosen to use this forum."
May I also add to Alan's quote that the Secretary may feel that such a matter be discussed at Committee level first.
As one of those who was on the Committee when
this forum was being set up,
I thought that the idea of this forum was "to debate opinions, ideas and thoughts...ask questions etc..."
about 009 model railways.
Matters of editorial policy of 009 News, like the splitting of articles across issues (which has never bothered me) should be addressed to the person concerned - whose contact details can be found on Page 3 of 009 News - as he is best placed to directly answer your questions.
ok, but that isn't clear in the charter as far as I can see, and why therefore is it not called the '009 railway modelling forum'..
its title '009 society forum' makes it appear that it is for all chat/debate etc of and about the 009 society...
Isn't that splitting hairs somewhat?
Personally I would find a forum devoted to chat/debate about the 009 Society to the exclusion of everything (including model railways) else only slightly less interesting than watching paint dry.
The main issues against chat/ debate about the Society on this forum are:
1. Only 10% of the Society membership are members of this forum, and discussing Society policy on this forum effectively excludes the remaining 90% from discussing their Society. Hardly democratic, which is why 009 News is the best place for it.
2. When it comes to questioning Committee policy, such as how Mark choses to edit the News, number of issues per year, the best placed person to answer is the member of the Committee concerned who may not be a member of this forum (having better things to do like a full time job, committee duties and actually modelling 009).
Nobody is suggesting that the Committee should not be questioned or challenged, as they are only human and do make mistakes. But working on that principle I am sure they would much rather be spoken to than spoken about, and its's not as if they keep their contact details secret or requier a secret handshake before they'll discuss anything to do with the Society.
Now, I wonder what the above has to do with "writing for modelling magazines"... ::)