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[jaymac]

Also this Tug  https://www.youtube.com/user/vthgmbh

[DaveM]

The problem with subscribing to a non-native publication - quite apart from any language consideration - is that the goods and adverts would be skewed towards that publication's home country and may even be unobtainable in the reader's own country. Also be aware that after 31 December the cost of importing modelling goods from the EU into the UK will increase because of the reimposition of Customs Duties.
As/when/if 'Model Boats' recommences publication I shall publicly admit that I was 100% wrong about its demise and I'll raise a glass in celebration!
DaveM

[TheLongBuild]

Ok, so the Mag is not currently not being produced, However surely to retain interest for when it comes back !!, they should be using their Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest accounts, all when you go to them are hardly updated Facebook  last post 14th April, Twitter 2017 !!! ( As far as I can tell) .. Pinterest no idea but pics look old.


These are all free to use so why are they not being used . Not sure what their other sites, forums are like for the other publications.

[phil_parker]

Ok, so the Mag is not currently not being produced, However surely to retain interest for when it comes back !!, they should be using their Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest accounts, all when you go to them are hardly updated Facebook  last post 14th April, Twitter 2017 !!! ( As far as I can tell) .. Pinterest no idea but pics look old.


These are all free to use so why are they not being used . Not sure what their other sites, forums are like for the other publications.

Free to use in money terms, but not in time. Trust me, I'm doing far more digital stuff than pre-lockdown and the mags I work for are still publishing. It's easy to put a full day or more a week into the social media.

The main issue with this is that the editor is freelance so not being paid. A small outfit like MyTimeMedia doesn't have a load of people sitting around to do the social media. Magazines like this are run on a frayed shoestring!

[roycv]

Hi this magazine is produced on a shoestring until an editor takes over no doubt he / she will do all these things.  I suspect there is not the expertise from the publishers to do this.  They do the marketing and profit and loss a/c.  Distribution is their main concern.
The old steam engine has to be stoked up and get boiler pressure up before we see any progress.
Best regards and I am just as concerned about the magazine continuing as you are.
Just read the previous post and now you have it from a professional.

Roy
 

[TheLongBuild]

Free to use in money terms, but not in time. Trust me, I'm doing far more digital stuff than pre-lockdown and the mags I work for are still publishing. It's easy to put a full day or more a week into the social media.

The main issue with this is that the editor is freelance so not being paid. A small outfit like MyTimeMedia doesn't have a load of people sitting around to do the social media. Magazines like this are run on a frayed shoestring!

If they did a bit more advertising using Social Media they might not be on such a frayed shoestring !! Simple Marketing...

[phil_parker]

If they did a bit more advertising using Social Media they might not be on such a frayed shoestring !! Simple Marketing...

There speaks someone who doesn't know just how little money anyone gets from on-line advertising. Model boating isn't going to attract the massive (millions) of view required to derive a significant income, and you are selling space to a very small pool of advertisers, most of whom are tiny companies with limited budgets for publicity. If it was as easy as you think, then everyone would be doing it, but they aren't and there is a reason for that.

[roycv]

Hi well said Phl, I'll scrap my reply!
Roy

[roycv]

Hi Phil it would be nice if Model Boats was doing something like World of Railways (BRM magazine), but without an editor nothing happens. The last time(?) Model Boats changed hands the very thriving forum was abandoned.
I do understand we are small fry compared with the model railway modellers and there several magazines.
It's whatever floats your boat always been attracted to water, just the way it is!
Roy
 

[TheLongBuild]

There speaks someone who doesn't know just how little money anyone gets from on-line advertising. Model boating isn't going to attract the massive (millions) of view required to derive a significant income, and you are selling space to a very small pool of advertisers, most of whom are tiny companies with limited budgets for publicity. If it was as easy as you think, then everyone would be doing it, but they aren't and there is a reason for that.

Actually I know quite a bit about it, I was also not referring to advertising to get money but advertise the Magazine more on their own FB, Twitter accounts to entice people to buy the mag in the first place..

[phil_parker]

Actually I know quite a bit about it, I was also not referring to advertising to get money but advertising the Magazine more on their own FB, Twitter accounts to entice people to buy the mag in the first place..

Really? They can shout on social media all they like, it doesn't affect the fact that model boating is a minority interest that is never going to sell the sort of numbers that you can carry on without news stand sales. Even Bauer media, a massive company compared to MTM, is offloading titles, every single one of which will be selling more than MB could even in the publishers wildest dreams. Even with the benefit of big name advertisers with proper budgets, they can't all be made to pay.

However, you are the expert so I suggest you offer your services to the publishers.

[Colin Bishop]

Phil has the right of it, social media are disproportionately expensive to service in terms of the hard benefits in a situation like this.

As I said earlier, there are efforts being made to restart the magazine which look quite hopeful at the moment. Remember there are a lot of subscribers who have already paid for issues which have been suspended so the available resources are being focussed on getting the magazine up and running rather than being frittered away on social media.

I know people enjoy speculating on what should or should not be done but the view is very different on the inside for those running the business and I don't think many people really appreciate this. I got an insight myself when editing the Special Issues some years ago and the financial situation has become very much tighter since then. Magazines like Model Boats need to be financially viable and in the present situation social media are peripheral to this as they don't bring in hard cash. They absorb time and money that can be better spent in other ways.

I suggest we all just wait and see for a bit longer when there should be some definite news. But of course anyone is free to set up a new magazine if they think they can do a better job and make lots of money...

Colin

[TheLongBuild]

A bit of self promotion on their own sites could not do any harm, the fact that the Twitter account was last posted to was 2017 says it all really. Even if it is only the latest issue is out etc, much like they did do on FB and the forum.
If MB did go down I doubt there would be another publication set up as MMI showed and Mb are showing their appears not to be enough interest as had been said the boating hobby seems to be at the bottom of the hobbies. 

[DaveM]

If MB did go down I doubt there would be another publication set up. As MMI showed and MB are showing there appears not to be enough interest. As had been said, the boating hobby seems to be at the bottom of the hobbies.

Ah! The penny has dropped at last! To you this is a magazine, while to the owner it's just another business - and I imagine he has several. If self-promotion was The Answer then the Obvious Questions are a) To what end? and b) By whom? In the absence of profit, 'self-promotion' requires staff who work for little or nothing or an owner who is a gambler/philanthropist. I suspect a lack of both here, but I sincerely wish the magazine good fortune and I really do hope to see it back in some form or another.
DaveM

[Taranis]

I wonder, just a thought. Have you ever considered breaking with convention and rather than delivering under the pressure of monthly deadlines that you consider special editions bi monthly's or whatever you feel like when you have enough content? Social media and email then being all important for sales.
I don't normally subscribe but in the current climate if I was alerted to a special issue or extra ordinary publication I'd be strongly inclined to purchase and perhaps pre order whatever the next release might be for whenever it appears and so on there after.


Intended to be constructive and not criticism

[Colin Bishop]

Andy, thanks for the thought but that approach is a bit too much hand to mouth. If you have certain fixed costs than you need to have a pretty reliable base income to cover them. The lifeblood of magazines is subscriptions plus a hefty dollop of newstrade. The latter needs a decent print run to put the publication on as many shelves as possible. It is all a delicate financial balancing act for what is now a niche publication. Online access is becoming increasingly popular, particularly in the current situation but much of the readership of Model Boats is of an age where hardcopy is preferred. A very large proportion of the readership is not actually on social media or frequents forums believe it or not!

Just buying issues as and when you you find there is something of particular interest to you simply doesn't cut the mustard commercially. The basis of a subscription is that while the content of individual issues may be of variable interest to you the overall content during the course of a year will offset any disappointment with individual issues and that has always been the case. People who buy just the occasional issue because it looks interesting in the newsagent don't contribute much to the financial security of a magazine.

I subscribe to several magazines and during the current situation I have also taken out a newspaper subscription as I don't want to catch something nasty in the newsagent at my age. Sometimes I find the content very good, sometimes it is a bit so so and other times there might not be much of interest but overall it is OK as far as I am concerned.

A bit closer to home I don't find a lot of the posts on Mayhem particularly interesting but others I do like and each year I'm happy to to make a small donation which covers both. If people cherry pick too much then the resources they value can become unviable. You need to take a balanced view on these things rather than just your own specific interests otherwise there is a danger of losing the stuff that you value.

Colin

[Taranis]

Thanks for the comprehensive explanation 

[Colin Bishop]

That's OK, it's fine to ask the question. I found it all quite an eye opener when I got involved with editing the Special Issues. You just don't realise some of the complexities when you are simply a customer. As is so often the case, things are never as simple as you assume. There is so much going on behind the scenes that the average punter is simply unaware of.

Colin

[Buccaneer]

A big thank you from me as well Colin for laying out the situation. I can appreciate the overall sales requirement. Much information is available on line but one part I shall miss is the adverts from the smaller traders whom you didn't realise you needed until you are short of some specialist fittings.
John

[tr7v8]

Not sure where any magazine is going these days, I have Flyer & Pilot on sub & get Magazines such as Porsche, LAA & EAA as part of my membership. But I dip in & out of subbing.
One offs are rarer these days as we have no WH Smiths in Chatham & haven't had for 3 years or so. So no random purchases.
Just found this on the web, it's 2011 & only the 500 audited ones but the numbers are scary. Even mags I thought that would be popular are in tiny numbers & I can only assume that it's got worse in the 9 years since.
https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/mag-abcs-breakdown-of-circulation-for-all-500-titles/

[Colin Bishop]

Now you know why Model Boats is produced by an Editor and a half time designer... (both freelance)

Colin

[jaymac]

Re Modellwerft  in English I did ask and they said  alas they could not.

[tr7v8]

I have in the past bought Voie Libre which is a French model rail magazine. The French one I struggle with but a few years ago they started an English language version. It is quarterly & around £8-9 a copy.
https://trains.lrpresse.com/CT-152-voie-libre.aspx
I have also noticed whilst travelling abroad a lot of UK magazines in local languages, maybe with modern technology this is easier?

[Colin Bishop]

I have also noticed whilst travelling abroad a lot of UK magazines in local languages, maybe with modern technology this is easier?

Not small circulation ones like Model Boats though, you can't just run the text through Google translate and expect a decent result and if, for example, you were to translate English into German which tends to have longer words, the text would no longer fit in the allocated space and would need to be re edited by a English/German speaker or the page layout redesigned with smaller photos. It's all possible of course but no way within the sort of budget that Model Boats and similar magazines have.

Colin

[Charlie]

Maybe if the frequency was reduced from monthly to say 4 or 6 editions per year, the overall quality of each edition could improve? I used to be a subscriber but gave up eventually.