Nuts & Volts Articles

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I got an email from the chief editor of Nuts and Volts magazine the
other day. He liked some of the circuits I had posted on my Discover
Circuits website and suggested that I publish some of them in their
magazine. Of course, they want a detailed circuit description of the
project, a schematic, a detailed material list, photos of the packaged
device and printed circuit board artwork. They pay only $100 per page
with a maximum of $450. Why would anyone spend a week or two putting
together such a circuit for only a few hundred bucks? No wonder the
magazine seldom has anything interesting in print. Other than vanity,
seeing your name in print, I don't see the point. Has anyone really
gotten any consulting work from publishing such articles? In all the
circuits I have published in EDN and Electronic Design, I have yet to
get anything.

David A. Johnson, P.E. --- Consulting Engineer
http://www.djandassoc.com
Home of http://www.discovercircuits.com A collection of over 9,000
schematics.

 

[Gary Peek]

I got an email from the chief editor of Nuts and Volts magazine the
other day. He liked some of the circuits I had posted on my Discover
Circuits website and suggested that I publish some of them in their
magazine. Of course, they want a detailed circuit description of the
project, a schematic, a detailed material list, photos of the packaged
device and printed circuit board artwork. They pay only $100 per page
with a maximum of $450. Why would anyone spend a week or two putting
together such a circuit for only a few hundred bucks? No wonder the
magazine seldom has anything interesting in print. Other than vanity,
seeing your name in print, I don't see the point. Has anyone really
gotten any consulting work from publishing such articles? In all the
circuits I have published in EDN and Electronic Design, I have yet to
get anything.

David A. Johnson, P.E. --- Consulting Engineer

David,

First of all I really like Discover Circuits.

I don't see how writing an article for any magazine is very profitable
as far as money goes, but writing one now and then is not such a bad
idea. Perhaps writing about a circuit that you have already done the
design work for. Then all you need is the article and some photos,
(assuming the schematic and parts list is pretty much done).

I had my article about Watchdog Timers in the October 2004 Nuts & Volts,
and it resulted in at least a little bit of exposure. They used the
picture of the watchdog circuit explained in the article connected to
our RC51 relay controller.

But I don't consider myself a consultant. My company's product sales
might get a boost, but I don't suppose I'll ever get much custom design
work from it. But who knows.

The frustrating part of writing for magazines is wondering if and when
they will use it. The first one I wrote for N&V was published 4 months
after submitting it, so I submitted the watchdog article. I had forgotten
about it, and then, _one year later_ it appeared.

Gary Peek
Industrologic, Inc.
www.industrologic.com

 

[Tim Wescott]

I got an email from the chief editor of Nuts and Volts magazine the
other day. He liked some of the circuits I had posted on my Discover
Circuits website and suggested that I publish some of them in their
magazine. Of course, they want a detailed circuit description of the
project, a schematic, a detailed material list, photos of the packaged
device and printed circuit board artwork. They pay only $100 per page
with a maximum of $450. Why would anyone spend a week or two putting
together such a circuit for only a few hundred bucks? No wonder the
magazine seldom has anything interesting in print. Other than vanity,
seeing your name in print, I don't see the point. Has anyone really
gotten any consulting work from publishing such articles? In all the
circuits I have published in EDN and Electronic Design, I have yet to
get anything.

I have gotten leads from articles published in Embedded Systems
magazine, but I have an identifiable, useful expertise (control systems).

I think having published articles lends weight to your name even if it
doesn't produce work directly. Example:

Project Manager : "We need an outside expert. I've found this guy in
Oregon named Wescott who I think can do the work".

VP : "Oregon? I thought all they had there was unemployed leftist
lumberjacks. I don't need some commie in a plaid shirt working on our
product".

Project Manager : "Well this guy knows what he's doing -- look, he has
these articles published".

VP : "Ooh! Words in print on glossy paper! Yea, this guy _must_ be
competent".

At least that's how I hope it works...

 

[Tim Shoppa]

They pay only $100 per page
with a maximum of

$450. Why would anyone spend a week or two putting
together such a circuit for only a few hundred bucks?

Most academic journals charge the author who is publishing... after
getting through the refereeing process.

Admittedly, Nuts&Volts isn't an academic journal.

All that said, most folks writing in either medium aren't doing it for
that money. You will note that "Radio-Electronics" and "Popular
Electronics" construction articles of the 70's, 80's, and 90's (while
the magazines existed) were largely promotional vehicles for selling
kits.

Tim.

 

[tlbs]

Since you are getting nothing for your published work, now, I would
think that ANYthing would be a "bonus".

I wouldn't want to do it for a "living", though.

Tom Pounds

BTW: I really appreciate your contributions to Discover circuits, and
Electronic Design (I don't get EDN).

 

[Rich Grise]

I got an email from the chief editor of Nuts and Volts magazine the
other day. He liked some of the circuits I had posted on my Discover
Circuits website and suggested that I publish some of them in their
magazine. Of course, they want a detailed circuit description of the
project, a schematic, a detailed material list, photos of the packaged
device and printed circuit board artwork. They pay only $100 per page
with a maximum of $450. Why would anyone spend a week or two putting
together such a circuit for only a few hundred bucks? No wonder the
magazine seldom has anything interesting in print. Other than vanity,
seeing your name in print, I don't see the point. Has anyone really
gotten any consulting work from publishing such articles? In all the
circuits I have published in EDN and Electronic Design, I have yet to
get anything.

I've seen my name in print, and like, you show it around and everybody's
like, "whoopee-doo", but it's ephemeral. Like Ahnold says about steroids,
"With drugs, it's temporary."

I kinda prefer this medium anyway:
http://www.google.com.au/search?q="Rich+Grise"

Cheers!
Rich