Train mags

[LilLoaf]

s it just me or does anyone else think that train mags are getting really expencive.

I bought the magazine back in 1996 £2.40 now its gone up to £3.10.

Todays railways is worse £3.70 now.

Is it going to come to a point where people are paying £4 for a magazine.

If you like me and buy a few differant magazines say rail ever 2 weeks and the Todays Railways (the 2 best ones in my opinion although the rail magazine is starting to dissapoint me) but any way those 2 magazines, the rail ever 2 weeks and the Todays railways monthly thats £118 per year.

Now multiply that buy the thousends of people that buy the magazines. The company's that produce them must be making a huge profit.

I know that staff who work for the company have to be paid but come on.

Thats way to expencive !!!!!

 

[Mojo]

It's not just railway magazines, many 'specialist' publications are rather expensive.

But the price example you quoted where a £2.40 mag in 1996 now costs £3.10, in real terms is actually 14p cheaper based on 2007 prices (source: Bank of England).

 

[P156KWJ]

yeah you have to remember that... well... prices do just go up!

 

[nath9425]

The word Inflation comes to mind.

I mean that's like you getting paid the wages/or pensions that were around in 1997 - Now!

I'm sure you would be furious.

 

[Aureol]

The word Inflation comes to mind.

I mean that's like you getting paid the wages/or pensions that were around in 1997 - Now!

I'm sure you would be furious.

Definately, especially seeing as the National Minimum Wage in 1996 was a staggering £1.70 for an age group, I believe 18 - 21 year olds.

 

[EE Type 3]

I find you get your moneys worth with Rail Express, Railway Magazine, and Railways Illustrated.

 

[Nym]

I don't pay for any railway magazines, if I'm working in a quiet shop that stocks them I can get though Rail, Modern Railways, Todays Railway, Railway Magazine, New Scientist, Economist, AXM, GT and a few others before it comes round to having my break, and when I was working nights, we used to just 'borrow' them for the duration of the break lol

 

[37427]

Don't bother buying any, I just look at the pictures and news in RailTalk magazine now...

http://www.railtalkmagazine.co.uk/

 

[Matt Taylor]

It could be worse, in the good old days when Rail magazine was less pretentious and called itself Rail Enthusiast it cost me about 80p when I first started getting it.



Matt

 

[Royston Vasey]

I bought the magazine back in 1996 £2.40 now its gone up to £3.10.

Not sure which magazine you're talking about here (Rail?) This is compound annual growth of just over 2% per year, which is below inflation.

 

[LilLoaf]

Well i would say that if we started our own train mag on here using everyones skills put together, photograghy, website building, railway infomation we could set our own train mag up on a dedicated website. Have different sections for differant parts of the railway. It can be viewed via a website.

 

[P156KWJ]

That's what RailTalk's like - one of the best mags I've read, and I pay a whopping 0p for it

 

[Mojo]

Well i would say that if we started our own train mag on here using everyones skills put together, photograghy, website building, railway infomation we could set our own train mag up on a dedicated website. Have different sections for differant parts of the railway. It can be viewed via a website.

As others have said, Railtalk Magazine meets this criteria. You can opt-in to join the Railtalk Contributors group through the 'Group Memberships' option in your RailUK User CP.

 

[LilLoaf]

cheers mojo, i only visited the website , might do that actually,

 

[Spaceflower]

It could be worse, in the good old days when Rail magazine was less pretentious

Yes I agree, though I still buy it. Perhaps I like being antagonized?

 

[djw1981]

cheers mojo, i only visited the website , might do that actually,

If you plan on writing for a magazine, please sort out capitalisation, and SPG!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
You also have to remember that if a magazine employs say 10 full time staff, that is a wages bill of at least £300,000, plus their employer NI and pension contributions. There is also the cost of offices, and employee travel to rail locations plus the expenses of producing a magazine (printing, distribution, photo credits). I'd guess no change out of £600,000.

Yes advertising will offset a chunk of this, but with a limited readership, the cost of magazines goes up.

For comparison, even some large circulation magazines, such as FHM, GQ etc have similar monthly costs and much more advertising. So it seems that around £3-4 per issue is the 'going rate' that the market will stand.

 

[Oracle]

I can tell you that the costs to magazine publishers keep going up and up. However, the big problem is one of circulation: so many mags just don't get out there into the newsagents say that would sell them. Blame distributors! Also, although Smiths may sell, they want such tough conditions that it can cost more than they hand over for sales! In the end I suggest buy a sub. as you often get two months' free.

I too remember RAIL ENTHUSIAST which I think was quarterly at first, then bi-monthly, monthly, now fortnightly. After it became RAIL I asked the then Ed, I think Howard Johnson, to include the early diesels such as the Fell diesel-mechanical, and lo and behold they appeared! My one and only photo that they published, on the penultimate page, was never even acknowledged though!

I gather though that Hornby Magazine sells very well, and after it came out was expanding circulation month on month.