Tony Koester is a reader. He sends me emails every so often commenting on something in the magazine. He calls reading MRH "researching the competition" ... (wink)

But are you really in competition or in a symbiotic relationship with what he and Kalmbach publish? I don't see it as competition because what you publish and what they publish support each other. I wish they would realize it because that is why I subscribe to Model Railroader, Model Railroad Planning, Railroad Model Craftsman, NMRA Magazine, N-Scale and N-Scale Railroading and a few other railroad themed newsletters. I don't really see it as an us versus them thing and never really have.

Irv

Remember there are two major aspects to our business model - producing quality free content for model railroaders to help them reach their model railroading goals - and selling that audience to hobby vendors who are trying to eek out a living by making products modelers want and need.

Now if an advertiser who advertises with Model Railroader, Railroad Model Craftsman, or Model Railroad News decides to drop their advertising and move to Model Railroad Hobbyist, then we are competition. Or if a modeler decides to drop their subscription to the paper magazines and move to us because we're free and have most of the content they think they need, then we're competition.

However, most readers want multiple sources, and so they - like you, Irv, will simply add MRH to their (now monthly) model railroading reading list. I know I never have gone "single source" in my pursuit of model railroading how-to information. If MRH was being done by someone else and I was just a regular model railroader, I'd never drop any of the paper magazines just because MRH was now on the scene.

As we grow, we are, however, going to become more serious competition for advertising dollars, especially if we can keep our ad rates lower than the others. The key is the cost of each set of reader eyeballs. If the per-reader cost for MRH is noticeably lower than the others - and if our circulation growth is strong and stable, then all we need to do is keep cranking out quality model railroading content on time like we promise and I believe the rest will take care of itself.

As to Tony's remark about "researching the competition", he's being a bit tongue-in-cheek. In his heart of hearts, he's a passionate model railroader like the rest of us, and any "party lines" don't really matter much. That's what he's really trying to say, regardless of what the "suits" back at corporate might think.

I forget about the suits at corporate. They obviously don't like anything that doesn't have corporate K for Kalmbach brand. And they don't believe that anything without the K isn't worth anything. How high and mighty of them.  Of course they deserve whatever comes out of this unless they hire lawyers who try to copyright the words Model, Railroader and lots of related terms. But it seems that is the way other companies make money even it does no one any good but the lawyers.

Irv

"I forget about the suits at corporate. They obviously don't like anything that doesn't have corporate K for Kalmbach brand. And they don't believe that anything without the K isn't worth anything. How high and mighty of them."

I've recently rejoined the model railroad scene after a very long absence, so I'm not up to speed on Kalmbach corporate practices. I've seen Irv's sentiments about Kalmbach voiced elswhere, by others. What's the story on this? Why is Kalmbach perceived as the "Dark Side"? Just because they are big? And so what if they send out promotional emails?

Thanks,

Al

not to go down the road of "what's wrong with Kalmbach" - it usually ends in borderline flaming.  Some feel that Kalmbach is overly protective of their market share and do less than ideal things to hold onto it, while some view them as simply a business trying to make money as best they can. 

Skiloff, if you are not in politics, you should be!

Yes, confirmed during convo with Tony at the PSR meet in San Diego, he reads MRH.

But I guess the same goes for any of the MRH columnists reading MR or RMC?

I just wrote MR a comment to the Servo article they published, commenting about Duncan's company, and article in MRH.

I find much of the stuff they print to be interesting - I'm not all that advanced a model railroader.

The only person who can't still learn something... is dead.

It has nothing to do with the companies except my wife used to complain about both their marketing practices.  thirdty years ago they were the only magazines that I had ever subscribed to that sent monthly ads tyring to get me to renew my subscriptions even if I had renewed for 3 years within the previous 3 months.  Other magazines wait until two or three months before the subscription runs out to remind me of the need to renew.  My wife does not mind my model railroading hobby, but she hated what she felt was a predatory attempt to extort more money from a subscriber.  She was over joyed when I announced that I was dropping both subscriptions.

I dropped the subscriptions because the national magazines are in my opinion in an impossible situation.  I model mostly Santa Fe in Southern Ca.  I may do a little with the SP in So Cal if something interests me.  If a magazine doesn't have articles that pertain to my prototypes or to So Cal, it doesn't hold any interest for me.  An article telling me how to model New England, Milwaukee, or Missouri, doesn't really help my modelling interests.  The same is true of articles on how to model a Reading Diesel or any other Eastern railroad.  My magazines subscriptions now consist of the Warbonnet from the Santa Fe Modelers and Historical Society because it is all Santa Fe content, the NMRA magazine because it is a very reasonably priced cost above the NMRA membership that I consider an essential for myself, and MRH because it is free and online.  

I just wish the rest of the magazine publishing industry would switch over to Joe's business model, not because I want everything to be free, but because I would like to eliminate all paper magazines from my life.