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Could you (and others here) list topics they would like to read about?
I've written about 15 articles for EW over the last 3 years, and have
had little feedback from readers (apart from the odd student wanting
help with their project)
Perhaps they are a)too boring b)too irrelevant c)too incomprehensible
I'd just like to know!!
Feedback, a dose of whingeing, even a mild rant. A pleasure!
It'd be easier though, if you givuzz summat to go at
Had a quick rummage through a few issues but couldn't spot a "Ted" or an
"Edward" (ah-ha an alias?, audio themes?). A title or two would help focus.
I can only speak for myself but I know it's difficult to list what's liable
to catch my attention in a magazine. E.g. nowadays I've little interest in
any audio subject but ... an article turned up by Doug' Self on
analogue-switching that I found really thought provoking. Capacitor quality,
held zilch interest until Cyril started going on about it. I'd no feeling
for sampling method until Ian Hickman wrote up his experience avalanching a
transistor.
I think it isn't the subject headings or topics that make or break a
magazine, it's the obvious knowledge, love of their subjects and level of
detail that some authors can introduce.
Writing style is of no consequence. I'm perfectly happy with pigdin English,
as long as the content is there, (newsgroups and the WWW can be a good
example of this).
As a kid, WW was beyond me but odd bits were of interest so I bought it. The
Reithian perspective still holds true and any new kids on the block should
expect to be able to do the same. But ... times have changed and Kryten
rightly notes that few people are now in a position to follow the subject.
Hence a lack of motivation for authors to promulgate their enthusiasms
amongst a wide readership. Last person out be sure to turn off the lights.
For me, a big no-no, is any magazine article designed to provide an
'overview' of some technical product or process or technique. Unfortunately
there seems more and more of this type of article turning up in the (pay
for) magazines.
Overviews are the easy bit and are not enough. Anyone can pitch the plot of
a new film or novel, the clever bit is putting it all together.
Yeah, great, OK, tell me about the USB2 setup but be sure to also tell me
all the exact, nitty-gritty hardware and software details, sufficient to
allow me to make use of it as engineer, rather than as consumer of
here-today-gone-tomorrow commercial pre-designed product and software. If it
takes 6 months to do so, then don't even bother trying. Just give me a
single paragaph taster. Instead, tell me in a few pages, some interesting
things about diodes and transistors and oscillators and op-amps and
resistors and stuff.
The radio amateurs have similar problems with commercial kit killing their
raison d'etre. A number of them adopted a QRP construction ethos. Maybe we
can do the same.
I'm pretty much repeating Kryten's comments but I've seen a number of mag's
go down over the past few years and all for these same reasons.
They seem to change EW editors every five minutes. What's sorely missing
from the mag' is some kind of continuity, like a monthly or even occasional,
Alastair Cooke style, Letter-from-the-trenches.
Maybe you can step onto the crease?.
regards
john
