[Ruffnut Thorston]

Hi all.

After another wasted trip to our "local" WH Smith in town, I am asking the ultimate question...

When is the Yearbook going to be in the shops?

No one in Smiths knew, and it seems that I am unable to order one from them.

Now, I do not want to miss out, but at this rate I will have spent more than the £5.00 voucher in transport fees!

Regards

Sarah

 

[Ruffnut Thorston]

Thanks for the tip!

I have just done the same!

Amazon 1 WHS 0

Amazon say it was published 6 November, so there you go!

 

[Ruffnut Thorston]

QUOTE (rb277170 @ 24 Nov 2008, 20:25) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Plenty of them in WH Smiths up in Scotland!

Remember the Hornby Mag has a £5 voucher in inside cover for money off.

Russell

That voucher is only usable at WH Smith's High Street Stores. And £5.00 from RRP of £16.99 is still a hefty £11.99!

Amazons most expensive price is £11.89 with free (if not exactly Express) delivery. So, as "they" say in the USof A, "Do The Math!"

(The "Bye Traders" are usually even cheaper!

)

Regards

Sarah

 

[Ruffnut Thorston]

QUOTE (black 5 man @ 27 Nov 2008, 09:56) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>SNIP>
The HM Yearbook has been produced by Ian Allan Books Dept, has a case bound cover (hardback) and is sold through W H Smith book department, rather than on the magazine shelves. It is also available through other book retailers and model shops.

SNIP>
This is why readers haven't been able to find it at their local branch, for which I apologise for the obvious inconvenience.

SNIP>
As for the content, a fair proportion is recycled and repackaged, but we have used different pictures for the five key layouts - those we wanted to use in the mag, but didn't have room for. There is new material too, and most of the material has been updated rather than being a straight repeat. It still makes a very smart and readable book in my view.

As for price, this is always dodgy with books. Amazon have it cheaper as do W H Smith on-line (post free in their case) and understandably some traders aren't happy about the price it can be had elsewhere. But at the end of the day, I always prefer to browse a book first rather than buy it blindly, something book retailers do have the advantage on, although I know some people will browse first and then go and order it on line. But there is nothing we can do about Amazon and Co.

Hope this explains things.

Black 5 Man

You say that it is to be sold through WHS' Book Department. Our "local" branch in Chester didn't seem to know this!
The WHS Book people (Who said they couldn't order me a copy.) sent me back down to the Magazine Department. They also said that they couldn't order me a copy. The best they could do was put a note in their department diary, to give me a phone call when the "book" came in. (NOT very helpful.)

(Yes, I know, this is the fault of WHS, not IA or HM people.

)

I didn't want to buy from "other" retailers because of the £5.00 voucher...

(I didn't look!)

Thanks for the explanation and apology. Accepted...

I decided to buy the book as soon as I saw the promotion in the magazine. As others have said elsewhere, HM is the ONLY magazine I tend to buy WITHOUT looking through it first! I have yet to be disapointed.

In fact, as I had purchased my copy of HM in Crewe (WHS in fact!), I went to Chester WHS on the way home, but there was no sign of it upstairs or downstairs, and the place was far too busy to ask anyone. So I went about a week later...

So, I am buying this book as a super dooper hardback version of the magazine. I am pretty sure that I will not be disapointed...

(I hope ) I DO normally check MOST books, but sometimes the only option is the net!

I'll have to let you know how I get on....

 

[Ruffnut Thorston]

Well, sadly it seems my experience is rather typical.

But at least I am not alone...

 

[Ruffnut Thorston]

Well, here it goes.

I have had a good look through/ read of most of the book now.

First thought is that the price IS too high.

Reasons.

It seems that though the photos may be different, the text in the layout features remains virtually the same. (I haven't actually put the two side by side, life is too short...).

There is a LOT of space given over to "how to start" type articles. I would have thought most potential "yearbook" readers would have got past this stage from the magazine? I actually thought that it may have been a better idea to actually publish a seperate "How To Start" "Bookazine" (as a big softback is known.). (Maybe a voucher offer in Train Sets?)

The "Top Ten" layout plans is again a re-packaging of old material (some of the illustrations have "escaped" to another article by the way!.) Not very useful if you have been folllowing the mag. At this point my other idea came up. A "Hornby Magazine Review" bookazine. This would have the HR Readers favourites as voted for, the Review of the reviews of the year, a comlete list of trackplans as well as "top ten" or whatever, and maybe an index for the mag for the year?

This is what could "replace" the yearbook.

The How to build plastic and card kits items suffered from lack of space, especially the Card modelling in one page. (Contents List has wrong page for this.) I actually had to check the page numbers, as I was sure some pages were missing!

The same can be said of the Model Road Vehicle segment. Not very much detailing going on either.

The wagon and loco weathering again were good items, but too squeezed.

I think that there could be mileage in a bookazine, or even a real book covering this "next step" in detailing, weathering and more realistic modelling (I know there are already some, but none (I believe) aimed at the HR market segment, or covering step by step like these articles tried.)

The "Balance of Power" item would fit in here.

Conclusions.

Well, the book tries to be all things to all men, I think. It does not have the space, so nothing is done very well.
Typically, I would start reading, and run out of words far too soon, wanting more.

What is there is very promising, but, in some parts lacked cohesion.

This book may appeal to some people, and some will be disapointed, I cannot say what YOU may find.

So, I strongly suggest that you "preview" the book to see if YOU find it value for the price you are asked to pay.

I have tried to be positive here. The quality is good as usual for HR. It is the quantity and the price that lets it down in my opinion. Maybe that "Hardback" was a mistake?

 

[Ruffnut Thorston]

QUOTE (Bigdog @ 11 Dec 2008, 13:35) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Thanks Sarah for this breakdown of the book. >SNIP
Brian in Sunny Phuket

Hi. I'm glad somebody found it useful.

 

[Ruffnut Thorston]

Actually, your branch of WHS must have been one of the "Lucky Ones" to receive some copies of the HMYB. Chester branch has never phoned me to say that they have received any. And I still haven't seen any anywhere else!

 

[Ruffnut Thorston]

Actually, I think the Book dept thought it was a magazine dept item. They DID say that I couldn't order a copy.
The Magazine dept wouldn't (couldn't?) reserve a copy (Though I bet they reserve magazines?). They just put a note in their Diary to 'phone me when (If?) they came in. Then I would have to go and get a copy while stocks lasted!

Not a surprise then, that I bought a copy on Amazon!

Thanks for the kind offer anyway!