model cars mag subscription?

[lowriderphil]

So, I signed up for one online on August 9th, my card was charged on September 3rd, I was just wondering when I could expect my first issue in the mail?

Phil

[John Pol]

I would also like to get this magazine how do I bye getting a year of it.

John Pol

[mikemodeler]

So, I signed up for one online on August 9th, my card was charged on September 3rd, I was just wondering when I could expect my first issue in the mail?

Phil

Funny thing isn't it? (it really isn't ) The August/September magazine should be here soon, of course I heard that back in late August when I sent my check in for my renewal.

Maybe Gregg can update us on the status as he is the last step before it goes to print.

PS- the Mustang looks nice!

[crazyjim]

No it's not funny, Mike. It's October 19, 2010 and the September issue should have been delivered, in pristine condition, to my door several weeks ago. The November 2010 issue of Readers' Digest wes delivered yesterday. I don't know if any RD employees own a Mustang.

[krow]

I guess I don't really get too hung up about it all. The logistics of putting a magazine together with a skeleton/nearly non-existent and voluntary staff and putting it together in a really nice package are something I cannot wrap my head around. A very professional looking output makes the result look easy. It is not, the support network that other magazines have is not there (and if it were, Model Cars wouldn't exist, since it isn't a big magazine). Newsweek had to go begging for an owner not too long ago, and if you haven't been to a good sized bookstore lately, check out what has been happening to automotive titles: They're dropping like flies, because people with unrealistic expectations about making money in publishing are shuttering them. I can wait for Model Cars, I'd rather have something well assembled and professional and relevant to my hobby arriving late than never.

[my80malibu]

I was told, it would take 2 months before I would see my first issue. After subscribing but it was actually less. Now when is the next one gonna show up?

[Gregg]

I guess I don't really get too hung up about it all. The logistics of putting a magazine together with a skeleton/nearly non-existent and voluntary staff and putting it together in a really nice package are something I cannot wrap my head around. A very professional looking output makes the result look easy. It is not, the support network that other magazines have is not there (and if it were, Model Cars wouldn't exist, since it isn't a big magazine). Newsweek had to go begging for an owner not too long ago, and if you haven't been to a good sized bookstore lately, check out what has been happening to automotive titles: They're dropping like flies, because people with unrealistic expectations about making money in publishing are shuttering them. I can wait for Model Cars, I'd rather have something well assembled and professional and relevant to my hobby arriving late than never.

Ken, THANK YOU!!!!!

You are my new best friend...

[Gregg]

I was told, it would take 2 months before I would see my first issue. After subscribing but it was actually less. Now when is the next one gonna show up?

Gabe, don't make me fly, I mean hobble, over there an' hit yah!

It usually takes six to eight weeks to receive the first issue (whenever that will be)

And with three double issues per year (Feb/March, May/June, and Aug/Sept), sometimes the timing of things gets in the way.

Plus, with dimwit (moi) laid up now, the schedule is once again all askew.

I know it should be easy to put together an issue, but the back end of it is what takes the longest (pardon the unintentional pun/reference).

I have to get all the ads in order, make sure they are correct, contact the advertisers (both of them) (sorry, bad joke, there's three of them) (enough of the parenthesis) (I Know).... where was I????

So, yes, it's Gregg's lame old excuses again, and again, and again.

But who else do you know that has published a magazine independently for over ten years now, on a shoe-string budget, with only a hand full (Harry's tall, he fits in one hand) of people doing the production/design work, and given the logistics of where everyone is, it's amazing that this thing gets done at all!

Ask Harry, he has had to wait almost half a year sometimes for his peanuts.....wait, that would be one peanut....

So, is there hope?

Yes, of course.

I have everything set up at home where I can work all day laying down on a tempur-pedic adjustable bed, with a swing-away monitor, wireless keyboards and mouses (mices?) and almost everything I need to get the last 99% of the mag finished, and I should be able to be productive, I hope. If I go back in for number Six, then things will have to be reconsidered then.

I hope that answers the questions brought up, with a Thank you to Phil for signing up online.

You should receive the newest issue very soon, and then we are once a month until Feb/March, which should be out ahead of time.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

[Gregg]

I would also like to get this magazine how do I bye getting a year of it.

John Pol

John, you can call the Denver office and ask for Sherri, she handles all the subscriptions and back orders.

Here's my question for you, John, and everyone else.

How would you feel about getting one year of Model Cars digitally/online?

If you are for that, what would be your price point?

I have a new vendor lined up for the digital versions of the magazine.

DON"T GO SCREAMING AND CRYING EVERYONE!!!!

I am not GOING digital.

I am creating a digital version of the printed magazine.

I really don't understand why I see and hear so many people screaming, crying, and often times yelling that a digital version of the magazine means the end of things as they know it.

To me, it's a plus.

It is not replacing the magazine.

It's offering another version/option of it.

Your thoughts and opinions?

Phil, sorry for hijacking your thread.

[davyou5]

A Digital Version? Hmmm.... I'd probably go for 10.00 or 20.00 a month. But I really don't need the Magazine as I am inspired by many here. .

[peter31a]

I'm sorry Gregg but I'm with Lee on this one - would rather a late hard copy than an on time online one. Now I know you said it won't affect the print version but I personally wouldn't pay for an online mag when there is so much free stuff out on the web. And I can't help feeling that in short order the forum would somehow end up tied into the online mag. Something in the order of you can see the basics for free but if you want to see everything you have to subscribe.... something like another place we know...

Sorry for being an old curmudgeon this Sunday morning but when I hear this type of stuff, I see a slippery slope not something positive.

I would like to emphasize this is my view only and does not reflect what Gregg actually posted. And Phil I'm sorry we're hijacking your thread as well. Maybe Gregg can move this to a seperate thread, eh Big Kahuna?

Peter

by the by Mouses, Mices, Meeces?

[MikeMc]

I'm sorry Gregg but I'm with Lee on this one - would rather a late hard copy than an on time online one. Now I know you said it won't affect the print version but I personally wouldn't pay for an online mag when there is so much free stuff out on the web. And I can't help feeling that in short order the forum would somehow end up tied into the online mag. Something in the order of you can see the basics for free but if you want to see everything you have to subscribe.... something like another place we know...

Sorry for being an old curmudgeon this Sunday morning but when I hear this type of stuff, I see a slippery slope not something positive.

I would like to emphasize this is my view only and does not reflect what Gregg actually posted. And Phil I'm sorry we're hijacking your thread as well. Maybe Gregg can move this to a seperate thread, eh Big Kahuna?

Peter

by the by Mouses, Mices, Meeces?

I agree...Gregg, send a couple of issues out....if I like it I'll send a check .....sometime..........OH IT DOESN"T WORK THAT WAY

MICE is correct unless it is Trackballs.......

[The Creative Explorer]

I'd rather have a hard-copy for sure, but for me being on the other side of the pond, a digital version is for sure an option.

10-20 a month is somewhat unrealistic, if it would be 20, it would cost 240 a year, a bit much for digital. Then the hard-copy is always the best choice.

I think to keep a digital version interesting, it only can beat a hard copy on one thing; price. So it should be competetive against a hard copy. I would say 20-30 dollars a year for a digital subscription seems to me realistic.

The big advantage of the digital version is that after the inital costs, it basically doesn't have any running costs per single magazine.

If you have 5-10 subscribers it is unrealistic, but when it starts to run, it for sure can be an extra bit of cahs-flow and be profitable.

[Harry P.]

A Digital Version? Hmmm.... I'd probably go for 10.00 or 20.00 a month.

You mean $10-20 a year, don't you?

[Harry P.]

What Gregg's talking about is NOT switching from paper to digital, but offering a digital version (at a reduced per year subscription cost vs. the paper magazine) for anyone who prefers to get the magazine that way.

The paper magazine isn't going away... we're talking about adding a digital version.

[Gregg]

I would rather have a late hard copy than a on time digital copy any day.

Lee, I do take this a sarcastic comment, and one that I don't appreciate.

If there were to be a digital one, it would have to be done AFTER the printed one.

Just the way things work in the process of printing.

Now, those in the "biz" don't try and correct me on this.

This is how it works for us.

I go off the pre-press final PDF's, not what I send them.

[Nova-ss]

I would be ok with Dig. copy.I recieve many other mags this way and it just fine to me.I have to drive to SLC in order to recieve this mag....so online would be great.Thanks Gregg...............Chris

[crazyjim]

I don't think I've ever seen a digital magazine. Would the digital version be the same as the hard copy version? If you had a hard copy subscription, why would you want a digital version?

BY the way, if I understand one of Gregg's replies, it sounds as if he hurt something and is recovering. If so, hope you're doing well and get better soon (really, I mean it).

Edited October 24, 2010 by crazyjim

[mikemodeler]

Better get thicker skin Gregg. You have to admit, your magazine is consistantly late, and it is a sore spot with many of us, it's just some of us are more vocal and dont kiss butt when we have a opionion. I know of NO other publication late like this. We are a patient bunch here, but sometimes we just tire of it. Most other customers wiould go elsewhere if this happened on a regular basis.

As a long time subscriber, I agree with Lee. I struggled to renew and my reward is a mag that is nearly 3 months late.

Sorry to hear about the back problems but a simple post telling us sooner would have eliminated this post.

[george 53]

Fella's, This year in Sylvania, (the NNL's) i was REALLY lookin forward to seein Gregg again, ALONG with some other freinds. Well I DID manage to hook up with Anthony Rios and Santiago Hernandez.and Steve Zimmerman. When I asked Tony about why Gregg wasn't there, he told me that his back was REALLY messed up at the time he saw him in Cali, and that he didn't think he could handle the flight from Howarya back to the mainland. I'm one of the guys who stay with the mag out of sheer loyalty. Yeah, I get tired of it being late, who wouldn't? BUT, I UNDERSTAND why it's late, and that helps keep things in perspective. When the coach is sick, the players are at a loss too. There's really not alot we CAN do about it, but understand that putting out a mag is ALOT harder than it looks. We enjoy the END product, without really realizing just what has to happen for us TO get it. This IS the way it IS. Can't keep blamein folks for bein hurt, but just understand what HE has to go thru just to get it out! Give the Big Kahuna a break, i KNOW if he could change things, he would. Starting with the accident that got him hurt. But just like HE can't do anything about it, neither can we. It's a GREAT mag, I KNOW alot of the contributors, caz their HERE too, and it just FEELS like a homier type mag than SA. Back i the day, Gary Schmits ORIGINAL SAE wouldve been a GREAT companion to MCM, over that SA rag i get now, but, that's NOT the way it is. THIS is, so we just gotta deal with it, as frustrated as it may be for some of us. Put yourself in Gregg's shoes. (or flip-flops) and maybe you'd see things in a different light. I'm just glad to GET another model car magazine caz there's only these two that I can think of that cater to us plastic guys. If there ARE others I sure as heck don't know about them. But then they won't be run by a guy I consider a freind. We just gotta butch up an deal with it like grown-ups, and understand Gregg's predicament. This is JUST MY opinion, but I believe it to be right. Hope i didn't offend ANYONE. If I did, then I appologize in advance.

Edited October 25, 2010 by george 53

[High octane]

Gabe, don't make me fly, I mean hobble, over there an' hit yah!

It usually takes six to eight weeks to receive the first issue (whenever that will be)

And with three double issues per year (Feb/March, May/June, and Aug/Sept), sometimes the timing of things gets in the way.

Plus, with dimwit (moi) laid up now, the schedule is once again all askew.

I know it should be easy to put together an issue, but the back end of it is what takes the longest (pardon the unintentional pun/reference).

I have to get all the ads in order, make sure they are correct, contact the advertisers (both of them) (sorry, bad joke, there's three of them) (enough of the parenthesis) (I Know).... where was I????

So, yes, it's Gregg's lame old excuses again, and again, and again.

But who else do you know that has published a magazine independently for over ten years now, on a shoe-string budget, with only a hand full (Harry's tall, he fits in one hand) of people doing the production/design work, and given the logistics of where everyone is, it's amazing that this thing gets done at all!

Ask Harry, he has had to wait almost half a year sometimes for his peanuts.....wait, that would be one peanut....

So, is there hope?

Yes, of course.

I have everything set up at home where I can work all day laying down on a tempur-pedic adjustable bed, with a swing-away monitor, wireless keyboards and mouses (mices?) and almost everything I need to get the last 99% of the mag finished, and I should be able to be productive, I hope. If I go back in for number Six, then things will have to be reconsidered then.

I hope that answers the questions brought up, with a Thank you to Phil for signing up online.

You should receive the newest issue very soon, and then we are once a month until Feb/March, which should be out ahead of time.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Gregg,

Seems to me that you would be the one to ask this question as I have wondered about it for quite some time and it is NOT just related to Model Cars Magazine. Back in the 60's it would take 6 to 8 weeks for the first issue of a new subscription to arrive at the subscribers house. You mean to tell me that in this world of sending men to the moon and all the computers we're using, that nothing has changed over the last 50 years?

[crazyjim]

George, it seems like a lot of grief could have been spared if Gregg would have just posted that he's in severe pain and is having a difficult time getting #152 out in a timely fashion.

[george 53]

Yeah, Jim, it probably would've. But he didn't and since we're used to it being late, whats the difference? I just think that we could be a little more understanding of his predicament. Like I said, this is just my opinion, I'm NOT tryin to start any kind of B/S, just stating a point. I just hope you guys understand it.

[RodneyBad]

And don't forget that good things come to those who wait.

I'd love to have my mag right now but this also gives me a chance to reread over

the older one and catch something I missed before.

I just figured Gregg was late cause he was too busy doing hotlaps around the island.

Yes, I do realize there is no highway that goes around the island directly.

why is that??

Get better Gregg..

[Harry P.]

Yes, I do realize there is no highway that goes around the island directly.

why is that??

Better question: Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii???