Originally Posted by John Korling:
Yes Allan, but wouldn't it be prudent to go after the story and not necessarily wait for the story to come to you? At least that's what they teach in journalism classes.
I don't agree with many of Harry Doyle's opinions he has posted in the past, but his earlier post (constructive feedback) is 100% spot-on. I myself was contacted by CTT asking if I would be interested in having my layout in their magazine based on some pictures I posted on this forum ...
Well, it could just be that they need to go farming for articles (and with four in-house editors and an editorial assistant they have the personnel available to do that). To date, I haven't had to do a whole lot of searching because there are plenty of very fine hobbyists out there who submit their ideas and articles to me on a regular basis and who nicely and graciously supplement the contacts I initiate on my own. Some are participants or even lurkers on this forum. Others have no involvement with online discussion forums but are familiar with the magazine and like the way we present our content.
The simple truth of the matter is that a majority of our features do come from people whose work I have seen here or elsewhere, supplemented by leads and submissions I receive from others (including hobby shop owners who may steer me to a customer with a layout worth considering).
I'm working on our October issue now. The cover feature for that issue came from a fellow who is a somewhat regular participant here--you'll recognize the name when you see it. I saw a sampling of his work here and contacted the man, first by e-mail and then by phone. I subsequently worked with him to develop the article and the photos. That's the way it often works.
Several other features in that issue also are also done by forum members (most all here know SIRT), and a couple were done by folks who have never participated here or anywhere else that I am aware of. Ditto for select features that will appear in our December and January issues and which are already "works in progress" or fully complete.
My goal with the magazine is to provide a good editorial mix; to present the material on a timely basis when possible; and to give the individual's work the best exposure I possibly can so readers can appreciate his or her efforts and perhaps learn something new that that might be applied to the reader's own modeling.
But like every editor of every publication, I prefer to work closely with those who support our efforts, in print and online; who are willing to work with me) I edit every article in the magazine; and whose egos are not larger than their layouts. That being the case, there will always be some otherwise worthy layouts or articles that probably won't appear in the pages of OGR until after I decide to spend more time playing with trains than editing a magazine. For now, though, I thoroughly enjoy what I'm doing and I hope that enthusiasm is evident on our pages in every issue.