Which direction?

Arrears or ahead?

The March issue is released Feb 15 or the March issue released Mar 15?

Issue release is mid-month

Feb issue is planned to be released Feb 15th. Issue content closure now becomes Feb 1, then two weeks to issue release.

March issue will be released March 15th, and so on. Always mid-month for the issue cover month.

Each issue will include all the prior month's hobby releases and any hot convention news since those tend to fall early in a month. Adding a new photo-caption two-page spread to an otherwise finished issue from a just concluded convention will be a quick and easy add.

As long as we have a good reason for releasing mid-month, then matching the issue to the release month seems to create a lot less confusion than the March issue coming out Feb 15. Releasing issues before the actual month is necessary when you have shipping lead times and such -- but it's also really confusing. 

With our digital format, why not release the issue when it's most convenient as to getting all the content we want the issue to have? After the news guys made their pitch to move issue release to the 15th and started outlining the advantages, it makes a lot of sense. Mid-month is actually far more useful for getting the most up-to-date hobby news.

Same month

February will be Feb 15, March will be March 15. 

So we're not losing an issue out of the year.

@JoeF

You said:

But if you guys are at the convention in the beginning of said month manning a booth, you can't be working on the magazine? Either having to rush the entire edition or delay it? Or am I seeing that wrong?

Depends on who goes to the convention..

A lot of the time it will be me, Les and JF (ad guys). I can do what I do for the magazine pretty much from anywhere. 

Sounds good

Sounds good to me.

Bet you’ll still have people posting the “where’s the Feb issue” threads on Feb 1 just like they do now though 

Doesn’t matter

Doesn’t matter. It still takes four weeks total to do two magazines per month no matter when it is released and no matter what events we attend.

What the release date change does do is realign the issue to outside world events so it can have a better, more recent mix of hobby news. Otherwise late January releases or early Feb conventions will be in the March issue. That’s hardly the instant notification that’s possible if we shift the issue release to mid-month.

And if you think about it, what says the FEB issue MUST be released Feb 1st? If Feb 15 has advantages, that’s just as valid of a release date. The only real requirement is that the Feb issue come out sometime in Feb.

And it’s still essentially 30 days between issues, that doesn’t change.

Feb in Feb?

Isn't it better to look like a fresher product  and issue the Feb mag in Jan?  Say on Jan 15 issue the Feb mag? or maybe look at MRR mag issue date and scoop them by a day or two :> ) ...DaveB

Wrong cover dates are confusing

Wrong cover dates can just be confusing. Which makes more sense: to have the Feb issue actually release on the cover month or to have the Feb issue come out in Jan?

Imagine we release the July issue in mid June. The convention happens in early July and gets reported now in the AUG issue released Jul 15.

Or we release July issue July 15 and the early July convention gets reported in the July issue and every June release is in the July issue. See how much cleaner that is?

The only difference is our issue content deadline and our production schedule slips by two weeks to allow for the outside world events to have happened and get reported ASAP.

Wrong cover dates can just be confusing.

It's marketing Joe :> )  Folks would rather buy a 1957 chevy in Aug of 1956 than Aug of 1957. They think they are getting a fresher product . Of course they might also be getting early run bugs but that's not the sales dept's concern.......DaveB

date ahead or behind

People have been kind of conditioned to expect issues to be available before their cover date.

But either way it doesn’t seem like it should be confusing - the main page of the MRH web site is all about the current issue.  It seems like it should be pretty clear what’s current regardless of cover date.

Getting used to it

Jan 15 release?

today is the 13th so you better get hopping...DaveB

I'm for releasing a magazine in the month on the cover

I'd much rather get the February issue sometime in February.  Given intimate knowledge of all the fun things needed to finalize a document's layout before pushing it out the door, I have no gripe with the magazine coming out on the 15th instead of the 1st.  One thing I really don't like is getting the March issue of a magazine the first week of January.  Then I'm always wondering if my renewal is going to have to be sent in during the previous November, or October, or whenever.  It's also a pain to try and figure out when to go to the bookstore for a magazine I'm not subscribed to; does the bookstore put the March issue out in January or February?.  That actually drives me away from anything other than impulse buying, and I don't go shopping without a specific purpose these days, so there hasn't been an impulse buy of anything in a year now (except maybe a frozen pizza with everything instead of just pepperoni while at the supermarket).  Hanging out at the mall and wandering through the shops just isn't a behavior pattern I've indulged in since last January, and isn't likely to resume for at least another year.

As far as automobile makers and all the rest pumping out their 2022 models in the summer of 2021 - who cares, except it makes buying a 2021 model in summer cheaper because the hive mind somehow perceives the newly manufactured 2021 model being rolled off the transporter at the dealer on that day as being a year old since 2022 models were announced at 8AM that same morning.  Same thing with TV's, toasters, tires, and computer processors.

If it takes until the 15th to get all the news and links set up, that's fine.  If it takes until the 20th, that's still fine.  By the time the next month rolls around and I go back to re-read an issue, the exact date it first came out is pretty much irrelevant anyway.

Janet N.

Exactly

Exactly.

With this change, the July issue will now have ALL the June releases (that’s what you’d like to see) and some quick shots of the early July big hobby event also in July.

Nice, neat, and tidy. No guessing which month to look in for recent hobby news. Especially if you’re flipping back through recent months issues.

Release date

Whether the issue is Feb released on Jan 15 or January, released on Jan 15, the article content will be the same.

I can only think of two things that will be impacted.  The first is human nature since virtually every other commercial magazine to which I have subscribed issues magazines in advance (Feb on Jan 15).  Subscribers used to that will have to adapt.

The other is advertising  for monthly specials will be more complicated.  If Walthers wants to have a Valentine's Day sale during the month of February, they would have had to get it in the January issue for people to know about in on Feb 1,  because if they wait to to put a February sale in the the February issue the month will be half over by the time people know about the sale.  Then that could create a dilemma for the advertisers, do they have to advertise in two issues for one sale?  If I, as a reader, read that Walthers has a sale in February in the January issue, but the February issue there is no mention of the sale, is the sale still on?  But that's between Joe and the advertisers.  They may think the more timely release of new products is more valuable or nobody that has a monthly sale advertises in MRH.

Frankly I think that consistency is more important, if MRH is due out on the 15th and RE is due out on the 16th, then hitting the 15th and 16th EVERY month is more important.  The date on the cover is just a way to order the issues.

Other forums use "sticky" that stays at the top of the forum

perpetually.  The announcement could be placed at the top of the first page, and stay at the top of the first page of every section of the forum.  Once posted, lock it so that the announcement moves to the top of each new page in each section of the forum, but no one is allowed to continue to post to it.

Consistency is the key

If you ask me (yes, I know you didn’t but here’s my 2c anyway) whether the Feb issue comes out on the 15th of January or the 15th of February is not the main concern. The important thing is that it consistently comes out on the advertised date. People will get used to the new schedule, as long as they can rely on it. The 15th should be the 15th, not the 20th or the 10th.

I know 2020 was an exceptional year (in all the worst ways) but I struggle to recall an issue of RE that came out on the expected date. And this is the source of frustration and angst among your loyal readership. This is not meant to be a Joe bashing: MRH and RE are excellent publications and obviously take a huge amount of work. I guess it’s a testament to the quality of the magazines that we get so anxious when our email inbox doesn’t have an announcement on the day we expect it.

I hope this realignment makes the process cleaner and easier for all concerned. Regardless, I eagerly look forward to every issue. 

Continual Product Announcement as a Forum Item

I would suggest a continuous product announcement section of the forum separate from the usual posts.  Many product releases are not timed to the monthly cycle and if you don't know about a product you may loose your chance to order or make a reservation.  Often by the time of a review or even a monthly listing of announcements  you can no longer order/buy the product. 

I hate to point out the UK RMWEB forums again as an example but they have a whole section of their online forum with separate subtopics for each major manufacturer or importer. I get a set of daily notifications of messages from their North American Products topic section and it usually contains the product announcements in time to reserve a product with my LHS or directly from the manufacturer. This includes the Moloco, Tangent, Atlas, Athearn type announcements.  There is a Small Suppliers and Manufacturers section in the main products section for the one person type of suppliers to announce products and vacations when they won't be answering mail or shipping.

The product stream is  the lifeblood of the hobby these days and the most important news to many of us. 

No, please post!

No, don't apologize -- please post any and all ideas here. You may be interested to know that I routinely look at the UK hobby magazines for ideas on how to present content. I have no problem getting inspired by good ideas from anywhere.

So please keep bringing these ideas forward ... with the new forum coming, we can more easily look at adopting new practices!

Great Idea

Joe,

This is a great idea!

Issue Release Date

What you're proposing, is a great idea. Having the additional time to add information, that you don't receive until after the cut-off date, makes sense to me. I have never been a fan of magazine/publication release dates that are for the following month. After the first month it doesn't make a difference anyway. Glenn

This is also not bashing Joe,

This is also not bashing Joe, the magazine or anyone else. There have been so many things that have come up over the past year and longer with the issue and the date of arrival that I just look for it when I check the forums and see a comment on one of the articles. I read it when it gets here. When the last book in the series of track rolling stock and locomotives gets here I will read it.

I only subscribe to 2 magazines now and running extra is one. The other one is my BMW motorcycle owners group and it is not as good as MRH for content.

Congratulate the MRH team on a job well done

Just wanted to congratulate the MRH team on a job well done. I was reading yesterday's MRH email "don't miss the January issue", and did notice the clear section "NEW: As of Feb, release now mid-month." with a banner bringing me here. I have to say, anything that makes the MRH team's life easier just benefits us all; both the decision made here and the explanation are logical. Suffice to say, the warning was efficient and well received!

Also congrats to whoever spends time doing these emails. I love them. They always highlight interesting forum topics.