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blowlamp	01/01/2011 18:47:22
1885 forum posts 111 photos	David. I've submitted a couple of articles within the last six months, but I don't have any idea if they were suitable for publication. How long should we leave it before either chasing it up, or giving up any hope of becoming published, as I'm forever mindful of how busy you must be? Also, do you tend to get in touch with the author before sending it to press? Martin.
wotsit	01/01/2011 19:03:18
188 forum posts 1 photos	Magpie (Derek) partly beat me to the punch - I would like to see some kind of ideas forum in ME, (not only machines) but I guess this forum has taken the place of a published ideas page. IMO it is not easy to pursue creative ideas in the electronic forum, as things so often seem to go off topic. I'm afraid I don't take MEW (not interested in making tools, only using tools to make models), so I would also like to see ME revert to its content of some years ago, when it contained a much more varied mix of material than is now the case. Unfortunately, I suppose we all know that profit rules all, and the publishers can (probably) make more money from spreading subject matter over two magazines. I still can't help thinking (and some of David C's posts seem to confirm it), that submitted material is spread very thinly when it is split between two magazines. No personal NY resolutions - I never stick to them anyway - expediency rules! KeithW
David Clark 1	01/01/2011 20:45:07
3357 forum posts 112 photos 10 articles	Hi Martin Email me with what articles you have sent and last name. regards david
David Clark 1	01/01/2011 20:57:29
3357 forum posts 112 photos 10 articles	Hi There Material is not distributed thinly. I am not short of articles but do have some duplication and a lot of Myford articles and if I don't keep requesting articles I will run out. Unusual or interesting articles go to the front of the queue while some of the other articles get left behind a bit. Also, over the Exhibition and Christmas period I have to select articles with few drawings as the office staff tend to take holidays in December to use them or lose them. We have to do five magazines in less than four weeks. We are now editing in advance of requirements so we can just select articles and put them straight into the magazines. I also have a contributors budget to work to and have to try and keep the contributor cost to below a certain limit. The limit has gone up for 2011 which means I can run extra locomotive design articles which atract higher rates than standard articles. This does not affect MEW as all articles are paid at a flat rate. regards David
David Clark 1	01/01/2011 21:01:24
3357 forum posts 112 photos 10 articles	Hi Keith I think that other than tools, the content of Model Engineer is very varied. regards david
John Olsen	01/01/2011 21:41:19
1294 forum posts 108 photos 1 articles	Hi David, All my articles have been sent by snail mail. I'll message you with a list of waht you should have and of what might be coming soon. regards John
Peter G. Shaw	02/01/2011 14:27:53
1531 forum posts 44 photos	Hi David, Building on what I, and others have said about non-acknowledgement etc, here is a list of the submissions I have made about which I have queries: DOL Starter repair Sent Aug 07 by email; acknowledged Aug 07. Repeated Jul 10 by CD. Parting off tool Sent Mar 10 by email; no acknowledgement. Repeated Jul 10 by CD. Wax Plate usage Sent Jun 10 by email; no acknowledgement. Repeated Jul 10 by CD. Filing Rest Sent Jul 10 by CD; no acknowledgment. In or around May-Jul 10, I received a copy of the Contributors Guidelines. As a result of this, I realised that none of the first three items met the guidlines, so I rejigged all three as necessary, and re-submitted along with the last item, all on CD in July 2010. I have had no acknowledgement of it's receipt. This, may be that although there was a covering letter enclosed along with name, address and 'phone number, I omitted to provide an email address, although, as I doubt very much that you will have another contributor with the eaxct same name, it would have been possible to find my email address from other communications. I have also sent an article on using a cycle computer for speed measurement. This was in Nov 08, was acknowledged, but nothing else. As someone else has said, not knowing if they are of use, or if not suitable and not knowing why, does not incentivise one to go to the trouble of photographing items in course of whatever and then writing it all up, especially when setting up for photography can take an inordinate length of time. I fully accept that, for example, the DOL Starter repair may well be a one-off, and that for people without the necessary skills it could even be classed as dangerous (but not when completed) and therefore not suitable, but I would like to know. Similarly, the cycle computer device may well be duplication, but again, if it is to be rejected for that reason, then again I would like to know. I think it is important to realise that lack of acknowledgement plus lack of feedback (for articles) will cause people to stop bothering and you will then be in an even worse situation. Regards, Peter G. Shaw
peter walton	02/01/2011 15:29:07
84 forum posts	Big problem I have in saying what I would like to see in MEW is that is that I do not know what I do not know! if you see what i mean. I think I am quite savey about most things until I try do something I havent done before and realise there a knowledge void!! Like the other day I was engraving some dog coller labels in the cnc mill and was suddenly confronted with the 'how do I hold them'. Some time later I had a simple fixture constructed to hold a tag, took longer than the engraving! Articles on the construction of jigs would be useful if more than one item was to be produced a jig could be the answer afterall necessity is the mother of invention so they say!! Another problem I have come accross but not seen a true answer to is cupping caused in part by overly zealos use of the vice on the mill. Peter
Engine Builder	02/01/2011 15:44:54
267 forum posts	Let me share my experience of submiting articles. January 2009 sent 2 articles by email. I recieved acknowlegement that they would be published. I waited about 6 months and enquired about progress. DC told me he couldn't find the articles. Later he said he had located them. I waited another 6 months and enquired again. I was again told the articles couldn't be found. I offered to send them again but only if they would be published in a reasonable time ( as I had an offer from another magazine) They were then published a few issues later. Total time from being sent to publication about 18 months. But it doesn't finish there...payment is expected 30 days after publication so I checked my bank account 6 weeks later and no payment had been made. I chased this up and was told payment had been made. Further enquires proved that payment had been made but into someone elses account, not mine! Error was corrected and money showed up in my account. By now part 2 of the article had been published, guess what, no money was payed by the due date .I had to chase it again. After these problems the third installment went without any problems but is it worth the hassel? I have offered to do a write up on the engine that is my avatar and have been told it's suitable but ater the previous episode I am finding it hard to get enthusiastic about it David
David Clark 1	02/01/2011 16:02:48
3357 forum posts 112 photos 10 articles	Hi There I have on occaision had email problems. I have had to forward lots of emails to myself which loses the header display in the mailbox. Some emails have gone missing although they are there in my name rather than contributor. Payment is not my fault. I request payment to be made and it should be. I ask someone to be paid by name. If they pay it to the wrong account, I don't know this until I receive a complaint. Very few payments go missing. Maybe one or perhaps two a year have to be chased up. regards David
Ian Abbott	02/01/2011 16:09:25
279 forum posts 21 photos	I think that the problem where articles are "lost" and such, is not with David, but is inherent in a system where everything is uploaded to a server at head office. Anyone used to this kind of arrangement knows the frustration of trying to keep track of things when a large number of people have access and minor glitches can create havoc. This is endemic in an organization such as MyHobbyStore, where a relatively small staff try to run many magazines. Unfortunately, that's life in the magazine publishing business, dominated by people like Morton (sp?) Media and the pressure of advertising revenue dictating the amount of content. Ian
David Clark 1	02/01/2011 17:43:05
3357 forum posts 112 photos 10 articles	Hi Ian No, the loss is with me. I live in a small two bedroom house and articles are packed in plastic boxes and a filing cabinet. I go through articles regularly to select for the magazine. Omly in the last couple of months have we been uploading to the server. What I have not done is put a received date on them. Perhaps this should be done however, haveing worked almost 7 days a week for about 10 hours a day, often more, time has been against me. regards david
Speedy Builder5	02/01/2011 19:51:21
2878 forum posts 248 photos	In the 'Old Days' tooling was included in Model Engineer - now we have to pay a separate subscription. I for one would like to see the odd MEW article in ME - perhaps MEW readers would like to see the odd ME article. Would it be possible for both camps to be allowed to access the digital subscriber archives of both ME and MEW - surely the publishers could be a little more generous in this ? Also, being an overseas subscriber, we are excluded from all competitions, But why are we excluded, as I am sure that if we won, we would be prepared to pay the additional cost of postage. Subscription offers etc. - there are no benefits for loyalty of overseas subscribers. We do accept that because our mail lags behind domestic mail, that often small ad offers have gone long before we open our post, so perhaps be a little more charitable with your future offers.
wotsit	02/01/2011 20:09:39
188 forum posts 1 photos	Hi, David, We will have to agree to disagree about the range of maerial in ME - a quick look at any of the MEs from the 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's will show a much wider range of subjects than todays issues - of course, in those days ME was almost the only magazine which dealt with engineering issues in all fields (and sometimes not only model engineering), Unfortunately (IMO) since then, disciplines such as aircraft, boats, cars, some electronics, tools and other subjects have been spun off into their own magazines, which leaves a narrower field to ME. As JasonB comments in this thread - 'it would be nice to see some road steam...'. (Martin Wallis' write-ups excepted). I also seem to remember (maybe before your time, David), a discussion about no longer printing articles on model weapons, apparently due to worries about Health and Safety, although there does seem to be the possibilty of getting something about Dougie Swanns Rail Gun - a very nice piece of work. I realise that my tastes may not correspond to other readers - like everyone else, I have my per hates - but I miss the wide ranging content of earlier years, and the cross-fertilisation of ideas this encouraged - I for one will never part with my old copies of ME. Regards, KeithW
David Clark 1	02/01/2011 20:30:37
3357 forum posts 112 photos 10 articles	Hi Robert Apparently if we put a competition into a magazine sold in the US and it is out of date we can get a hefty fine. That is why they are not open to overseas readers. regards David
David Clark 1	02/01/2011 20:32:06
3357 forum posts 112 photos 10 articles	Hi Keith I do try to keep ME content varied. We have had cars and aeroplanes, boats as well. No electronics but that is deliberate. regards David
Eric Cox	03/01/2011 10:52:50
557 forum posts 38 photos	What would I like to see in ME? , Anything, just ensure that the articles and drawings are complete and error free. ME now has a new assistant/sub/deputy editor so there really is no excuse.
Chris Trice	03/01/2011 11:10:27
1376 forum posts 10 photos	.... Assuming the article is reproduced accurately and the author hasn't included errors. The only way to be sure is for the editor to build the subject and that's not going to happen. I like the idea of an ideas thread or a jig/fixture thread. Sometimes seeing how someone has set something up can inspire further thinking when it comes to solving a different set up.
Steve Purves	03/01/2011 11:45:14
28 forum posts 14 photos	I too have sent articles with no response/publication, It appeared time critical when I was writing it but then had no feedback! I have an idea for a series of articles which I have already started but don't know whether to continue. Regards Steve
KWIL	03/01/2011 12:04:37
3681 forum posts 70 photos	I seem to spend a lot of my time making jigs and fixtures for various jobs, but the thought of publishing them has not occured to me. The problem as I see it, is that these are specific to a particular job, no amount of description would generate sufficient interest in Readers IF they are not going to do that particular job. Perhaps the Editor could consider printing a single photograph with a one liner description under a heading of "How did he do that then?" It wouild be up to the Reader to consider if that was of any interest/training for them. By the way Chris as regards error free, when I used to review Contracts, I could pick out a typo or other error in a flash, reviewing something you have written yourself is much more difficult, you read what you want to see, not what you have.

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