Hello All: What publication will be full fledged monthly?? Do we want it ? Is the market there to make it affordable to keep the level of quality? I would personally like to see it, but I have to leave the first two questions up to the powers that be. Kind Regards to All Steve[?]
It is a known fact that O gaugers go into hibernation in the summer, only to be stirred by the first falling leaves of autumn. Thus, the 9 month subscription. (The one or two summer issues are for insomniacs.) [:D]
Only the model railroad magazines can answer this question. If it is financially viable then you see a monthly magazine, if it is not then you see 6 or 7 issues per year. It’
s a rather simple formula, price and demand.
It’s only financially viable if the advertisers support a montlhy issue, and chances are, given the uncertainties of today’s market, that this would not be the case.
It’s important to remember that advertising is what pays the bills for a general circulation publication; not subscriber fees. It’s important to have as large a subscriber/reader base as possible because a publication’s circulation, in large measure, determines the rates that can be charged to advertisers (the larger the circulation; the more that can be charged because the “reach” is broader), but subscriber fees alone don’t come anywhere near to paying the bills.
Toy trains are a somewhat seasonal hobby–not for everyone, of course, but for enough people so it lessens the impact–and potential reach–of summer month advertising. The advertisers know this, and they’re not likely to place ads on a monthly basis if they feel some of those ads are not going to receive the attention they might get in the pre-holiday, holiday, and immediate post-holiday months.
So even though it would be nice, from the readers’ perspective, to have a monthly magazine to look forward to, the economics of publishing in this small niche pretty much close the door on that option. It is, after all, a business!
Seasonal, not for me. I sure would love to see 12 monthly issues of CTT. I love it when I go to the mail box and one is there. [:D] Bet Bob will have to get in on this one.
Concurring with Alan, all you have to do is look at the mags. when you go to the train store, during the summer months there are usually a few that are a couple of issues old while during the fall/winter they frequently sell out. Especially as Christmas nears and the Christmas tree railroaders pull their sets out of the attic and find repairs, or a few extra lengths of track, are needed resulting in their once a year visit to the store.
GOod one Dr. John!
Except for most of us diehards on the forum.
Sure, if you ask us devoted train guys, I think most of us would love to see the extra issues. But Allan hit the nail right on the head. Even with the current number of issues, we’ve all noticed Lionel advertisements have been absent recently.
Without substantial growth in the hobby, I doubt any of the advertisers could justify spending more money on monthly advertisements unless they were making a lot more money. And then there is the seasonal aspect too. You may notice that there is an increase in the “sale” advertisements during the late spring and summer issues. Sales may reduce inventory for a dealer, but don’t necessarily make more profits: sales just help cover/prevent losses. And outside of the bigest mailorder businesses who are distributors, the wholesale margins in this business are not that high.
We readers are buying the magazines for the articles and then the ads. The articles help sell the magazines, but it is the advertising revenue that pays the bills. Like Allan said, I don’t see it happening either.
I’m thankful we have the extra issues that we have now.
What would make sense to me anyways, is to have a special issue (like the ones Kalmbach does on layouts) to introduce folks to the 3-rail train hobby put out in the early Fall months. Magazines have a wider distribution than do books (since I know there are books on this very topic). A special issue with articles on saving money, building that first layout and reviews of new train products, with an emphasis on beginner level products might be in order. Especially if the magazine could have a shelf life of a couple months. But again, the answer to this is the same as above: can the extra advertising dollars be brought in to justify such an issue?
I’de certainly love to see 12 issues a year. At least I’de feel better about paying almost 40 bucks for subscription fees…
However, I’de just as soon see it stay at 9 issues, because we all know darn well that if the amount of issues get raised, then so will the subscription price, and the price is too high now as it is…
Yes, and I find that interesting, because of the high number of new products Lionel plans to release during the summer months.
Jim
While we have the staff to do 12 issues a year, and I know that we could find the stories, I don’t believe the economics would be there.
Allan is spot on when he mentions advertisers - with the marketplace being as fragile as it is (even moving upward) I don’t believe retailers could support either CTT or OGR 12 times a year. There would also have to be a pretty significant hike in the subscription price to cover the additional magazines. I don’t think most guys would want, say, a $15 a year hike in their sub rate.
I’d also add that the product departments are the most popular of our regular departments and right now, I don’t think the manufacturers are cranking out enough to sustain the quantity of reviews/news photos we’d need for three more issues a year.
I know that I absolutely hate to run “provided” images in Product News, because the same pics are in catalogs, fliers, ads, and of course, OGR. Seeing the same photo in multiple places spells less value for the reader. That’s why I’m such a bug about us doing the photography in house. I’m sure we’d end up having to do less in house, more “canned” photographs. again, leading to reader displeasure.
While it makes us (or the guys at OGR) feel good that people want to read us every month, the numbers just aren’t there.
Unless of course there was a law passed by Congress mandating everyone have electric trains in their house. Then the good times would roll …
Don’t we WISH every household had electric trains! I was going to add that that would take care of the excess inventory, but then I thought about how much demand there is for automobiles and yet a typical dealer has hundreds of new vehicles on their lots. I do wonder though, during the peak years in the mid-50’s, what percentage of American households had electric trains? Does anybody on the forum have those numbers? It had to be huge compared to today.
Joel