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

[Rossford Yard]

Not quite related, but years ago at the National show I was having a hot dog at the eating area and Hal Carstens sat next to me.  Nicest guy on earth and very open.  I don't buy RMC as much any more, mostly because I will never care for craftsman type articles.  My few interactions with the Kalmbach staff at Nationals have always been pleasant, too.  (Hal was the biggest gem, by far, though)

I guess my point is, in light of calls to lock this thread, is that I agree we over play the N scale bias.  According to MR surveys, their readers are overwhelming HO, like 70% to 16% in N (and they have devoted separate magazines to O scale).  It just makes sense that they devote most of their magazine to their core readers. 

Interesting dynamics, though.  In the go go 90's, the hobby is growing and there is room for magazines for every scale.  In the goo goo economy of the 2000's many mags bit the dust. Some more may follow, mostly because the print business is dying, and maybe the hobby is dying, too.  It will be interesting to see what direction the hobby press goes.  Those that remain, might have to go back to more general interest (i.e., multi scale)  Or, the specialty pubs will need to save money by being all e magazines.

It does seem hard, after being exposed to N scale specialty mags to go back to the HO Centric MR, at least for some.  BTW, I still find lots to like in MR, and am renewing my subscription just after typing this, since I got the message my sub is up, so I am not complaining.  Just retrospectively looking at how we got to this point.

[Coxy]

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.

Kalbert, I think you are inferring a different reason for my original post. I am interested in reading more N scale articles in MR so I'm using this thread to try to understand reasons that impact that. I don't have any interest to get published in MR or any other mag at this point. Limitations of time would direct me to layout construction, not authoring.

For those who are interested in publishing in the model railroading press, this thread certainly has some good advice and helpful observations.

I'll leave commenting on "real railroaders" to someone more foolish than I! (Oh Cr*p! Should that read "more foolish than me"? Hope the grammar police aren't watching! )

As a general comment, IMHO model railroading is much more enjoyable when we all dial back the seriousness factor a few notches, especially on the web. It always amazes me in a hobby as small and declining as ours, that folks are willing to go to the mat to make their point, often over pretty trivial stuff!

Cheers,
Steven

[bbussey]

You were right the first time — it's "more foolish than I (am)".

And yes, regarding grammer proofing in an essay, that's the editor's job.

And yes, the MR audience is predominantly HO scale.  While it would be nice to see more N content above the more basic articles usually featured, MR's lack of coverage hasn't bothered me ever since N Scale Magazine was launched in 1988.  NSM and NSR more than fill the void in MR's N scale coverage.

[bill pearce]

"Sometimes in a rush to share my work in progress here I use iPhone grabs and post them online.  I would never do that for a magazine.

And relating photographic diligence to modeling skill is even more condescending."

Dave,

I would think from what I have seen, you have more pride in your work  than to make these statements. And many of the "Oh, I'm just grabbing on for a post" shots have such thin DOF that they are hardly recognizable.

And to another's post about what editors do, they shouldn't be expected to work with text from those that can't remember the difference between their, they're and there, or your and you're.

Bill

[kalbert]

Sorry, your're correct. I did kind of read to far into the original post. Some of the comments that followed kind of lead me astray to what you were initially getting at. I do agree, I'd like to see more N scale in Model Railroader, but not if it's patronizing. I love the stunning photography of any scale and enjoy reading articles on unusual techniques in any scale and would think including more of any scale just to represent it wouldn't improve anything.

And to another's post about what deitors do, they shouldn't be expected to work with text from those that can't remember the difference between their, they're and there, or your and you're.

Uh, that's exactly what editors do. They look for grammatical errors, consistency in tense, point of view, chronology, and punctuation. The best authors in the world make mistakes, write themselves into corners, and forget page to page what exactly the point of the whole article was supposed to be. Editors are supposed to proof read and make adjustments as necessary. No, you can't send them complete crap, it has to be written well enough for the editors to understand what you're getting at, and the less mistakes you make the easier their job is, but their job is to find those mistakes and correct them.

[rogergperkins]

One of the main points and motivation for publishing n-scale articles in MR instead of N-SCALE or NSR is that it offers one of the opportunities for the ratio of N to HO to change by exposing those "HOer" to n-scale in their own media back yard. 

[bbussey]

I would think from what I have seen, you have more pride in your work  than to make these statements. And many of the "Oh, I'm just grabbing on for a post" shots have such thin DOF that they are hardly recognizable.

"DOF?"  I'm assuming you are referring to "depth of field," but you didn't establish that previously in this essay (thread).  Just as there should be no pronoun used without a noun to establish context preceding it.  You also have an extra space in the middle of the first sentence of this paragraph, and you do not have two spaces following the period.  In fact, none of the sentences in any of your posts in this thread have two spaces following.

Ridiculous?  Yes.  But it shows how ridiculous your argument is in juxtaposing thread posts content with magazine article content.

[DKS]

"Sometimes in a rush to share my work in progress here I use iPhone grabs and post them online.  I would never do that for a magazine.

And relating photographic diligence to modeling skill is even more condescending."

Dave,

I would think from what I have seen, you have more pride in your work  than to make these statements. And many of the "Oh, I'm just grabbing on for a post" shots have such thin DOF that they are hardly recognizable.

And to another's post about what editors do, they shouldn't be expected to work with text from those that can't remember the difference between their, they're and there, or your and you're.

Bill

I honestly do not know why you waste your time here on Railwire. Clearly we have nothing of value to offer; our writing is collectively first-grade level, and our photography apparently so awful as to be unrecognizable. Perhaps us poor schlubs should just be left alone to wallow in our mediocrity.

[kalbert]

Just to stir the grammar pot a little more, double spacing after a period is no longer required in a few writing formats to save some trees and disk space. 

[peteski]

Maybe Bill can give us more details about the articles he had published in MR Mag. I would like to see his professional writing style and photographic skills.  Or, does anybody have access to the MR Mag. on CDs to search the contents for Bill's articles?

[John]

This is becoming personal .. too bad .