Special Edition SCR

[Guest]

There are far more products

There are far more products and vendors out there now than there were 10 years ago for R/C submariners. It's never been better in that respect.

Rather than bang on about the reduction in membership, the question that needs to be addressed is why so few of what is still a very large organisation make a contribution beyond paying their membership dues each annum.

[kazzer]

Re: Special Edition SCR

It is my intention to create a special edition SCR geared tword drawing new membership to the sub committee.

All I need to know is who would be interested in assisting me in this venture and what vendors are interested in having a place in this issue.

Kevin

Exactly how do you intend to get this publication out? Are you going to mass mail it? Spam? Who to? Where is it going to be sold, or is it just given away?
Lets see a business plan here.

The more I think about the actual logistics of this idea, the more it seems doomed to failure (sorry Kevin).

I think we have a perfectly good magazine, that is PITIFULLY marketed! It ain't broke, folks! Lets go back to that and market the SCR properly. Has anyone contacted the magazine sales organisations to see how they would handle such a publication?

[Guest]

Here in the UK, the

Here in the UK, the model submarine community was very active in the early to mid nineties. This was during a period of economic recession which we didn't move out of until the late nineties, after which time things began to quieten down.

Modelmaking is a flexible pastime. You can throw money at it, or you can get by on very modest amounts of cash. Most other hobbies and interests require considerably more cash.

[Rogue Sub]

This Special edition is aimed

This Special edition is aimed at being a teaser. I want to include some part 1 artices and show people the "mission statement" of the SC. It should include all aspects of the SC as stated before. It will be freeware. DL from the internet. It is also planned to send the digital copies to sub ron members to burn copies for distribution to people who are interested in sub. I am also considering burning the cds and printing the labels for distribution.

This is not an attempt to raise money. No business plan is necessary.

The logistics do not seem very difficult to me. If we don't argue ourselves into oblivion and actually commit to it.

Kevin

[kazzer]

This Special edition is aimed

This Special edition is aimed at being a teaser. I want to include some part 1 artices and show people the "mission statement" of the SC. It should include all aspects of the SC as stated before. It will be freeware. DL from the internet. It is also planned to send the digital copies to sub ron members to burn copies for distribution to people who are interested in sub. I am also considering burning the cds and printing the labels for distribution.

This is not an attempt to raise money. No business plan is necessary.

Kevin

No business plan? Therefore doomed to failure. If you are going to distribute them, then you need a business plan. Distribution costs money, something you can therefore calculate as to its effectiveness. This idea of having members burn copies is fuzzy. Who is actually going to do this and how are they going to know who to send these to, and why should they spend their cash to do this? And how many will get out there doing all this? A dozen or two?

Nah! You need more of a plan, especially if you want my cash as an advertiser.

[Rogue Sub]

I never asked for your

I never asked for your cash. I wasnt asking for anyone's cash. There isnt going to be any advertising in this except for the SC. I was merely curious if vendors wanted to be listed as a refrence for sub related materials. The call is your on that one. I am not going to include an web sites unless specifically asked.

Kevin

[kazzer]

I never asked for your

I never asked for your cash. I wasnt asking for anyone's cash. There isnt going to be any advertising in this except for the SC. I was merely curious if vendors wanted to be listed as a refrence for sub related materials. The call is your on that one. I am not going to include an web sites unless specifically asked.

Kevin

Sorry Kev, but I can't see the point in all this. There will be a few people rushing around, doing a bit of work, but with no real end result. Lets get back to marketing the SCR.

[raalst]

Kevin, you can use any

Kevin, you can use any articles I wrote, if that's any use.

they seem to be quite R/C tech though. And you might want to
have them grammatically checked.

[Rogue Sub]

Well I guess thats why

Well I guess thats why its my pet project. i am doing it either way, Dont worry it wont effect you you in any way. It will all be volunteer wok.
Thanks Raalst I will let you know. I like techno stuff.

[kazzer]

Oh, and for all I

Oh, and for all I know hobbies seem quite pointless in general. waste of money and time, really Very Happy

Ron. Kevin said -

It is my intention to create a special edition SCR geared tword drawing new membership to the sub committee.

Kevin

The idea here is to draw in new members. So there is a point to this. Lets keep focused here. If you are trying to draw in new members, I'll bet this will not be very successful, sorry.

[Rogue Sub]

Do you have a better

Do you have a better way? That is feasible achievable without a large investment of money? Please let me know I would love to hear it.

[kazzer]

Do you have a better

Do you have a better way? That is feasible achievable without a large investment of money? Please let me know I would love to hear it.

Maybe. How much does the SCR cost to print, per copy?
How many do we actually SELL at the current price per year?

[Guest]

I know nothing about magazine

I know nothing about magazine distribution, but I imagine it must be quite involved.

Don't know who are the main modelling press distributors are in the U.S. Here in the UK, Traplet and Magicalia are the big players, and their publications are generally available from larger outlets like W.H Smith, Martins and John Menzies, with many Model Shops also stocking some publications.

If the Sub Committee looked to team up with one of those, the first question they may ask is how such a publication of the report will adversely affect sales of their existing publications. The second would likely be, what's in it for us and is it worth our while.

For my part, I consider the biggest hindrance to R/C subs becoming mainstream is a shortage of suitable bodies of water to operate them in.

Swimming pools or spring fed lakes represent the best venues, with clear deep water, but not everyone is blessed with access to such facilities.

[tom dougherty]

You said it, Gork.
Pete, it's

You said it, Gork.

Pete, it's Gort, not Gork. Never mispronounce the name of a giant robot with a laser beam eye. It's dangerous for your health.

Rather than bang on about the reduction in membership, the question that needs to be addressed is why so few of what is still a very large organisation make a contribution beyond paying their membership dues each annum.

Do you have some sort of problem with staying focused on the topic at hand? The objective was to put together a special edition of the SCR for recruitment purposes. The reason to "bang on about the reduction in membership" is because it costs money to run this organization, and the dues are a large component of that support. I was amazed that we could hold out for so many years without raising dues; a testament to various officers who did their best for us. But, economics caught up, as it always will. More members give us more flexibility with the magazine because there is simply more money with which to work.

The question of member contributions is a legitimate one, but that is a totally different subject. The topic here is about increasing membership.

I think we have a perfectly good magazine, that is PITIFULLY marketed! It ain't broke, folks! Lets go back to that and market the SCR properly. Has anyone contacted the magazine sales organisations to see how they would handle such a publication?

Yeah that idea was explored a while back. The simple fact is that there aren't enough people interested in the admittedly narrow topic of submarine modeling to support a major publisher like Kalmbach picking up the magazine. Even magazines such as "Scale Modeler" have tanked, and those are general subject model magazines. The other aspect is you will probably have to give up all control of the magazine to a professional publishing staff. Things may change in a way you might not particularly like, as they will take it into a direction to maximize readership and profits. Those detailed technical articles might get dumbed down by some assistant editor who doesn't know jack about fiberglass, a WTC or bearings. No, I think we've got to do this ourselves.

I think the Officers would be willing to hear any marketing suggestions for the magazine; I think it would be great to get a wider distribution for the SCR. One idea might be to see if Squadron, which carries a lot of smaller magazines in their monthly catalogs, might give us a shot.

As for the question on how the Special SCR edition would be distributed, I believe the intent was to place the pdf file right on the SubCommittee main web site page. A visitor pushes the button and gets some sample articles from the magazine, along with a message urging them to join, if they like what they see. Pretty straightforward and inexpensive. Our current membership should work to direct potential recruits to the web site and the sample issue.

So, anyhow, that's it from me on this topic. I'm emailing Kevin and will get to work on the Special Edition with him. Give Kevin a break; he just stepped in as Membership Chair and he is trying to do something positive. Maybe it won't be a huge success as a recruitment tool as some have said, but it is worth a try. One of the submariners I know has a great sig line which applies here]Nothing Will Ever Be Accomplished If All Obstacles Must First Be Overcome! [/b]

[kazzer]

I think we have a

I think we have a perfectly good magazine, that is PITIFULLY marketed! It ain't broke, folks! Lets go back to that and market the SCR properly. Has anyone contacted the magazine sales organisations to see how they would handle such a publication?

Yeah that idea was explored a while back. ]

Hmm! By Whom? And what were the results? Its about time we had some data published here, facts and figures. We can't make sensible business marketing decisions on wishy washy information.

I ask again, what does the SCR cost to print, per copy, and how many have we actually sold at the published price? Are you all too embarrassed to publish this?