How easy is it to get an N scale article published in (HO) Model Railroader Mag?

[Loren Perry]

I can't argue with photographs, but editors should expect to do their job:  editing.  Most articles are a few hundred words and would require an hour of editing by a professional.  Good grief.

When I edited Scale Ship Modeler magazine in the 1980's, I didn't worry very much about the style of writing being offered. The quality of submissions ranged from crude and semi-literate to professorial but I accepted them all gratefully. After all, editing text was my job.  Instead, I concentrated on getting the best quality photos I could from the authors. Sometimes this involved a request from me for a reshoot. One author went so far as to hire a professional photographer to reshoot all the photos in a studio and it really paid dividends. Remember, this was still in the age of film cameras and having to pay for development costs. My philosophy was to do whatever it took to make the author look good and by extension, our magazine.

I would then work closely with our art department in arranging the article and cropping photos. The magazine's publisher, being an avid ship modeler himself, was also a hands-on guy when it came time to refining the final look of each piece and of course he had the last word.

Whenever possible, I tried to preserve the author's personality while editing. Sometimes I ended up making a number of authors look better than they thought they could. On at least one occasion, I received a nice letter from one man who gently "complained" that I made him look TOO good - he knew he could never write like what appeared in his published article. But he was happy nonetheless.

[Scottl]

Good editors are gems.  They can make almost anyone look good!

[alhoop]

.........

On a semi-related note, one thing that really bugs me about Model Railroader is that they publish articles about electronic circuits, without having the circuit reviewed by someone who understands electronic design. 

.......
Pete, I agree but I don't think MR has anyone proficient enough in electronics to review technical articles, most of the editors backgrounds are in teaching.  Last one qualified in electronics seems to have been Gordon Odegard.

I have been published in MR a couple of dozen times, and in N-Scale, NSR and RMJ. I have had experience over some time, and am anticipating contributing more as time allows. In the case of MR, it is true that most staffers are HO modelers, and they depend on over-the-transom submissions for N. The big problem for most is their standards. They expect you modeling to be first rate, your photos exceptional and your writing skills professional.

Professional writing skills? Then what are the editors for?

Al Hooper

[Rossford Yard]

I have a few friends with magazine quality layouts, and yes, its the photos that hold most articles back.  Those two gave up because they couldn't get photos the magazine would approve of without hiring a pro.  I am sure many could get quality photos on their own.

They can edit your banal or repetitive prose, but not much they can do if the photos just don't work.  Too low a lighting is one complaint.  And, they want mostly low angle photos, not airplane shots, although, N would lend itself to that.

[DKS]

They expect you modeling to be first rate, your photos exceptional and your writing skills professional.

Professional writing skills? Then what are the editors for?

But seriously... the editors are there to make sure every author sounds exactly the same.

[davefoxx]

I wasn't going to get involved with this thread, but I will add that I write professionally.   I post to these forums with the same attention to grammar that I use at work.  I also take the time to review and edit my posts.  If someone were to categorize me as not having sufficient writing skills to be published in a model railroad magazine, I might be easily offended.  That said, I recognize that writing styles can be subjective, but proper grammar is important to me.

Regarding photos, I am guilty of not putting forth the effort to obtain high quality photos for posting online, as I would if I were trying to get a photo into print.  Lately, I admit that I've been only using my cell phone to take pictures, because I'm usually only grabbing a construction shot to quickly demonstrate my progress here on TRW.  That, and I still haven't found my tripod since we moved last year.  To me, it's not worth the time and effort to try to get magazine-quality photos for posting to my Layout Engineering thread or the Weekend Update threads.  Sometimes it's the wee hours of the morning, and I just want to document the project and get to bed.  When I decide that my layout or my work is sufficient for magazine-quality photos, that's when I'll take more time and possibly even submit a photo to a model railroad magazine.

DFF

[Cajonpassfan]

To get back to the original question, I've had several articles published by Kalmbach, MR and MRP, and always found the staff receptive and very interested in doing something in N scale. Granted, my experience is not recent, but the impression I got was they were actually anxious to get their hands on publication quality N scale materials. For me the hardest part was coming up with decent photos, as the expectations are indeed quite high, but my articles  generally got through with relatively light editing.

Speaking of photography, in my opinion it's inherently harder to photograph similar objects or scenes in N; a comparable HO model taken from similar angle and relative distance will always look better and more detailed when the two photos are enlarged and placed side by side. Where we have a clear advantage is photographing credible scenes (incredible scenes?) with trains in a realistic setting. That's where N scale really shines....Mark Dance's layout, and others, prove my point. (I don't subscribe to the three foot rule, I like to detail my models for close inspection, I'm simply pointing out an area where we have a photographic and visual perception advantage).

Unfortunately, the mindset of what constitutes an optimal photo at MR seems to be an in-your-face semi closeup where the locomotive or other object dominates the scene, so if there is a bias, it maybe in an expectation that our modeling photos look more like HO, rather then like the real thing in a real setting.

I enjoy NSR and NS much more than MR, but must admit it's very satisfying to see great N scale modeling published to a broader audience. I'd encourage folks on this forum, many of whom are excellent modelers, to give MR an occasional try....your work might just inspire others to come home to N scale...

Regards, Otto K.

[peteski]

.......
Pete, I agree but I don't think MR has anyone proficient enough in electronics to review technical articles, most of the editors backgrounds are in teaching.  Last one qualified in electronics seems to have been Gordon Odegard.

Exactly!  That is the problem.  But publishing articles which none of their staff really understands or cannot properly review is not the correct answer either.  They should find someone (a consultant) who would review this type of articles for them.  It shouldn't be that difficult to find a person who is an electronic professional and a model railroader.

[DKS]

They should find someone (a consultant) who would review this type of articles for them.  It shouldn't be that difficult to find a person who is an electronic professional and a model railroader.

You'd think, but it can be tricky. Many moons ago a model railroading magazine published an article on how to build a simple AC-to-DC power supply. Really basic stuff: on-off switch, fuse, transformer, bridge rectifier, filter capacitor. Except... the on-off switch was shown connected to the neutral side of the AC supply, instead of the hot side. This is a safety no-no because that means everything in the box is always "hot" when plugged in. Now, here's the clincher: the author was a certified electronics engineer with a masters degree. I wrote a letter to the magazine to alert them to this little faux pas, but the publisher intercepted my letter and replied that I was a mean man just trying to hurt the author's feelings.

[bbussey]

I've been published a number of times over the years in both NSM and NSR.  I've never submitted an article to MR or RMC.  Truth is, the N scale modelers are more likely to read the N scale magazines, and submitting an N scale article is more likely to be published in an N scale-centric publication.  And both magazines pay promptly.

MR having their strict publishing standards doesn't mean that the other magazines are producing publications with lesser standards.  MR may be the magazine with the highest circulation, but it's not the first or second one I reach for.

And no, you can't use one's writing style in forum and blog posts as an example of what he/she would submit as an essay to a magazine for publication.

[unittrain]

I know there are plenty of mediocre HO layouts and I also am not saying that N scalers have crappy layouts their are a decent number of outstanding N scale layouts as seen on this forum, and also there are a lot of people that don't have layouts but choose instead to do outstanding models of locomotives, structures and rolling stock and weathering that push N to the top rivaling any scale. But scales like N and Z require more skill in many areas than larger scales, do to the fact that a lot of items are not produced that we need or need improved upon that require a lot of ingenuity in electronics, casting, design ect. Even the  fine etched brass kits we have require a lot of dexterity and patience to assemble but when accomplished achieves outstanding results, so not to sound like an arrogant N scaler I think it takes more skill and innovation to achieve the superior results seen on this forum and elsewhere we often have to think more to achieve prototypical results. Every so often I see HO modeling that makes me sometimes think I would like to switch scales so I look  for N scale inspiration to get me back to realizing what can be done in this scale. I don't usually buy MR or Craftsman but when I skim it at the store I often see very detailed HO that captures the image of the prototype very well and usually when N is featured nothing is weathered and rolling stock is riding high ect I'm not saying this is the case ALL THE TIME (I've seen layouts from people on this forum that are outstanding) but often is! I might be wrong but I never see the fine TrainCat models or BLMA and ESM rolling stock on the layouts or any of the other fine products available to us. Again I don't purchase these two magazines so hence only skim an issue here and there. But the HO is almost always weathered and well detailed I don't think the full potential of N scale is shown as often as it could be and this is probably do to less submission of material and I would definitely be guilty of that because I hardly photograph my work let alone write about it which I really want to start doing But I emphasize this is just my 2 cents worth of opinion on this subject from what I seem to observe when skimming MR or Craftsman if I were a beginner looking to choose a scale and wanted to achieve really authentic modeling and only looked at those 2 magazines I would choose HO unless it happened to be an issue which featured the fine modeling seen on this forum.  But to wrap it up I feel that it is a numbers thing as to content represented in those publications due to the fact that N and Z have less people modeling in them and then when you take those people and further divide them based on the prototypical fidelity that those magazines look for the numbers shrink even more and due to the fact that N has publications that are dedicated to that scale most N scalers will focus on submitting to those magazines even further reducing the numbers.  So please don't take this the wrong way I'm only stating an opinion on my own scant data so my linear regression line may be off a bit

[mark dance]

My personal experience with MRP and RMC has been very good.  I don't identify myself as primarily an N scale modeler and so try to write articles in a generic fashion on generioc problems so perhaps that has sometihng to do with it?  Also my favorite magazines aren't N scale-specific  - RMC for the proto coverage, MRP for the creativity, Dispatcher's Office for operations, and NG&SL Gazette for pure craftsmanship and the occasional article on Maine 2-footers - so I try and write for them if I can.

I also don't write for the money so prompt payment isn't an issue...I am more interested in promoting in main stream MR'ing magazines what can be accomplished with N scale and that it as an "operator's" scale.  I think some of the things we are trying with the C&W tackle generic problems in an innovative manner regardless of scale.

My personal experience as to working with the main stream mags has been positive.  The editing quality at MRP (Koester and Jim Kelly in my case) and production quality were first rate.  I was also pleasantly surprised with RMC’s editing and graphics quality although the printing was a clear step below Kalmbach owing partially to the lower quality paper but also just production fidelity at their print shop (I have a printing technology background).   Then follow the more specialty magazines from a quality of interaction and result POV. 

In the case of MRP, Dispatcher's Office, and RMC they have actively solicited articles and mention the "lack of N scale" in what they receive...especially MRP/GMR.  I have a couple of two-part articles in the hopper which will hopefully be published through these channels in the next year...so I will hopefully have more to add in 12 months!

Anyway that’s my $0.02…

md

[alhoop]

You'd think, but it can be tricky. Many moons ago a model railroading magazine published an article on how to build a simple AC-to-DC power supply. Really basic stuff: on-off switch, fuse, transformer, bridge rectifier, filter capacitor. Except... the on-off switch was shown connected to the neutral side of the AC supply, instead of the hot side. This is a safety no-no because that means everything in the box is always "hot" when plugged in. Now, here's the clincher: the author was a certified electronics engineer with a masters degree. I wrote a letter to the magazine to alert them to this little faux pas, but the publisher intercepted my letter and replied that I was a mean man just trying to hurt the author's feelings.

David: Perhaps the guy had no practical experience, ie a professional student. I have been in electronics since soon after the aliens gave us the transistor and two of the best engineers I worked with did not have EE degrees. Neither did Jim Williams and he taught at MIT. A degree is a measure of ones  sticktoitiveness.

Al

[Scottl]

Lock this thread before it is too late.  Maybe it is already... 

[kalbert]

"How easy is it to get an N scale article published in Model Railroader Mag?"

No harder than it is to get any other article published. You will need to write coherently, editors can adjust your writing to fit their form, but they cannot convert a three page sentence into an article. You need exceptional photography, this might require you to hire a photographer. MR is a very photo oriented mag, and are well known for it. Your article must fit the theme they are working with for an upcoming issue. Often their issues revolve around a common theme, so yours may sit on the shelf until they feel it fits, space wise, content wise, or other wise. You should not expect them to publish your 5 part series or contract you for a column for your debut. If you're writing just for the money or to see your name in lights chances are your article lacks passion and creativity and will be passed on.

Being the topic of this thread included a dig at MR perhaps you should consider submitting to a magazine you have more respect for or you think you would have a better chance of being published in.

Remember, real model railroaders bitch and complain about how much better they are than MR. That's how you know you've made your mark in the hobby.