Over in the July 2017 issue of Narrow Gauge World, you'll find a report on the recent 7mm Narrow Gauge show at Burton-on-Trent.
There's a selection of photos - properly shot and stacked versions as opposed to the compact camera stuff on the blog. When someone else is paying for me to go, the least I can do is to keep the best shots for them!
I appreciate this can be a contentious point of view, at least it was on Facebook this week when there were a couple of grumpy people unhappy that I hadn't put the recent build of an N Brass kit on the blog for free, rather put it in a magazine they would have to pay for. Sorry chaps, writing for magazines is my job. If I give everything away then I don't have an income to fund the stuff I do give away!
That's one problem with being generous, there are some people who always want more.
ReplyDeleteI remember one charity I worked with putting out a job description for a 12.5 hour week (the maximum here that they don't have to pay for healthcare and pensions) and the person writing it then created a job description that would fill at least 38 hours. When I pointed this out they said "we expect them to work the rest voluntarily"
I wonder what these people would say if we asked them to do their job on the same basis.
Being far from your magazine circulation and unable to pay the subscriptions anyway, I'm grateful for the free stuff coming my way. I try and put something back on my own blog as much as I can.
Fair comment, both of you.
ReplyDeleteAnyway Phil, these days, your job doesn't just involve writing for magazines.
You also edit them - so you're even more keen to hold onto the "good stuff". That way, it's available for the magazines - and people can get this quality content if they pay for it.
This keeps magazines in business - and you (plus some people in Lincolnshire) in employment. I understand this equation - and I've got no problem with it.
No problem, that is, except that I'm looking for a full set of plans (plus loads of other detailed info) for some obscure prototype that was scrapped before my parents were born. I'm looking for all this stuff online - and I expect to find it, gratis. In other words:
"I want it all - I want it all - and I want it NOW!!!"
Well, quite apart from the fact that I generally listen to classical music, I've never had any time for the "gimme now" mentality.
There's no such thing as a free meal, unless somebody else goes hungry - and I have no wish to go hungry. I also don't wish to visit this on anyone else - so the "something for nothing" brigade need to look elsewhere for their freebies.
In fact, I'd prefer it if they were to look nowhere at all - but that's a personal opinion.
My feeling about print work is that it should be better than the free stuff. The NGW photos are properly stacked but each took time to process. Snaps on the blog often don't get that.
ReplyDeleteArticles should be clear and flow. My blog posts tend to the random sometimes but (hopefully) are worth what you've paid to read them. As far as things I edit go, I'm certainly going to talk to bloggers and people on social media for articles. I'll want these to be more than a random collection of words, but the payoff is that they will be paid for their efforts.
Now I know there are plenty of people who prize free over quality. That's their choice, but I have a feeling that the web is gradually evolving and ways to charge for worthwhile content are gradually evolving.