OK, maybe this time I'll actually compose the message before I hit send!
First, some business: The Fall, 2012 issue of the 1:64 Modeling Guide (Volume
12, Number 4) is now available on the website (www.1-64ModelingGuide.com), as
are the other issues that make up Volume 12. Also, the "printer-friendly"
(portrait) electronic version of the Fall, 2008 issue (Volume 10, Number 1 is
also available online.
Second: Thanks to everyone who supported the magazine and for the kind comments
I've received. I am gradually getting to responding to each person
individually.
There have been a lot of good points made, but I have a couple to make from the
publisher's perspective.
1) I did manage to grow the subscription base by over 30% from the prior owner.
Unfortunately, it needed to go up more like 130% ! At the end of the day,
though, the simple fact is the brand "1:64 Modeling Guide" was too badly
damaged to recover. My mistake was not listening to Dick Karnes and a couple
of others and changing the name (retiring the brand) early on. Re-styling and
improving the product (and I think I did improve the product considerably) were
not enough, as is often the case in business when a brand goes in the tank.
2) Changing to an e-zine was NOT a mistake. If there was a mistake with this
decision, it was not doing it a year earlier (a couple of readers tried to make
that case to me as well). I simply could not give my customers a full-color,
quality publication on a regular basis given the number of subscriber and
advertising revenue coming in. Those who make the point about generational
differences are absolutely correct. More about that below. I did actually
emulate "Model Railroad Hobbyist" as far as format was concerned, but using
their business model wouldn't have worked for an S scale publication. It
relies on all of its revenue from paid advertising.
3) Speaking of advertisers, there simply wasn't enough of them. If I got the
same level of support from advertisers that the prior owner did, things may
have turned out a little differently. I did some comparisons. Very
interesting, to say the least. Ed L's point about advertisers was interesting.
I heard more than once: "But if I advertise my product(s) more people will
want it." Well, duh!! Isn't that the whole point of being in BUSINESS?!? I
realize that most hobby businesses are not full-time affairs and may be
off-shoots of other enterprises, but still...
4) More on generations: If indeed all one needs to do to sell their products is
send out a notice here or there on the Internet or work their own mailing list,
or go to a couple of trains shows, then doesn't that tell us that maybe we have
too much of a "closed society"--if I may put it that way. I often thought that
the "This product is not intended for persons under 14 years of age" notices on
S Helper and other boxes was a misprint. It should read "This product is not
intended for persons under 70 years of age!" Aging population plus negative
population growth equals extinction. So, I am always happy to see S scale in
the national model railroad press because we need to get more modelers
interested in S scale sooner. This is what I think MTH will focus a lot of
their attention on, by the way. Too bad some of what I've seen on this group
and elsewhere didn't make it my way. The magazine would have been even better!
So, my take is I did a pretty good job in my very first-ever stint editing and
publishing a magazine. Sure, some issues were better than others, but consider
this: except for a proofreader or two, I was the only editorial and business
person listed on the masthead. Compare that to "Model Railroad Hobbyist",
"Narrow Gauge & Short Line Gazette", "S Gaugian", etc. Even the prior owner
had 2 people working on the publication and business!
Sorry for the long post, but I just wanted to make a few points of my own to
try to put things in perspective for us. Officially, only the name "1:64
Modeling Guide" magazine is finished. While there is the possibility of a new
magazine, I have to say the comments are pushing me toward the "no" column. I
think the universe of S scalers is large enough, but the actual numbers don't
lie. Meanwhile, I will be pursuing other publishing projects of interest to S
scalers as well as all model railroaders. New products will still be coming
out from RLN Publishing.
Thanks for reading.
Bob Nalbone
President,
RLN Publishing
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