> an N-scaler I frequently see in my commute to work
> was telling me how much he liked your milk train article in the new
> Model Railroader. Clever way to promote S Scale!
> Norman
Promotion of S scale is one of my major areas of interest. Part of that
general effort is to use the main stream magazines to the fullest extent
possible. There are some very simple tactics to use that really do work.
Simply put, here is what is needed:
1. A topic of interest to those in all scales.
2. Good photographs.
The first is easy. Just think of something you'd like to convey to model
railroaders at large. There are thousands of topics to choose from. Pick
the one that interests you the most. Most everyone is knowledgeable about
something.
The second is a little bit more difficult -- but only a little bit. Getting
good photographs is easier than you might imagine. Call up Bob Werre and
talk with him. Great photos are available if you can send the model to him
to be set up in his studio. Maybe Roy Inman would help. Or, talk to
someone in your local camera club. The photos in my milk train article were
taken by a college student majoring in photography at a local junior
college. He now has an interesting magazine article to list on his resume'
when the time comes. If you cannot take good photos yourself, ask someone
else to do it for you. With the new era of digital photography, it is now
possible to use Photoshop to improve marginal images. It really is not that
hard if one is serious about doing some work. It does take more effort than
writing another email.
Interestingly, it is not necessary to be a competent writer. Magazines have
editors who can clean up spelling and grammatical errors. Having a good
topic and good photos are the key. Just write something that is
comprehendible and don't sweat the details.
The things NOT to do for a mainstream magazine is to write an article that
appeals only to S guys. Thus, converting AF to scale is not a good choice.
Or superdetailing some S product. Or discussing all the varieties of S
couplers and track. Etc. Mainstream mags cater to the HO and N crowd
(understandably) and the article must appeal to them with interesting
content. But with S scale photos and captions.
S-only magazines are great places for AF conversion articles and S coupler
comparisons and new S product reviews since only S guys will be interested
in those. My theory is that new folks coming into S will most likely read
non-S magazines before making the switch. But I have no idea if that theory
is correct. So I cannot call it a fact.
Cheers...Ed L.
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