Deeper discounts on subs

Rogers Magazine Service is a division of Rogers Media and every once in a while, it teams up with the Bank of Montreal MasterCard division and makes a special offer on magazine subscriptions -- its own, and others, including U.S. titles from the giants like Hearst, Rodale, Conde Nast and Meredith Corporation. The latest just arrived in the mail with the credit card bill.It's interesting to see

Buy three, give one free

An interesting variant on volume discounting: A magazine in the U.S. called DiversityInc. gives advertisers one, free "pro bono" ad in support of the cause of their choice for every three regular ads they buy on the rate card. Here's a longer story about it from Media Daily News.

When stories are interview-free

Simon Houpt, the New York columnist for the Globe and Mail, writes today (subscription req'd) about the ethics of the "write around", wherein a magazine does a story without an interview being granted by the central subject. Are magazines under some sort of obligation to disclose this? Provided the information is correct and the story a good and entertaining read, what beyond that is the magazine

Organizing freelancers? Maybe. Maybe not

If you haven't had the opportunity to see it, there is some interesting analysis in Julie Crysler's article "Unite the Write?" in the November-December issue of This Magazine. It explores the implications of and impediments to the unionizing of freelance writers. The movement surfaced in August.

The Canadian Utne nominees

It's an honour just to be nominated, they say (and in this case, it's true). There are a number of Canadian titles among the finalists in the Utne magazine Independent Press Awards. These aren't applied for, but selected, from among the 1,300 odd titles that are scanned every year by the magazine's staff. As a result, an Utne nomination is highly prized. The winners in each category will be

Geez keeps the faith

A new quarterly magazine, one with North American ambitions, is due out from its Winnipeg base on December 5. It's called Geez and it promises to anneal political activism to discussions about religion and belief.It sold its first 200 subscriptions by offering them at half price (sorry that offer ended once they reached 200) and it costs $25 a year for 4 issues. Cover price is $7.The magazine's

And that would be a good thing

Martha Stewart Omnimedia is to launch a new magazine this spring called Blueprint, for 30-something first-time homeowners. This, according to Advertising Age.

Election-time, you think?

The Department of Canadian Heritage has announced a major injection of cash ($306.5 million over three years) that will double the appropriation for the Canada Council for the Arts. In addition, there is increased support for some significant major performing arts organizations such as the National Arts Centre.

In-flight mags taking off in U.S.

Based on an admittedly self-serving source, one of the U.S.'s major in-flight magazine publishers, Media Post reports that this sector is strengthening and about to pass the US$1 billion mark in advertising sales. (As a comparison, ad sales for Canada's leading in-flight, enRoute, is about $8 million a year.)

Auditor wonders about impacts of Heritage decisions

The Office of the Auditor General yesterday released a report that included a review of the activities of the Department of Canadian Heritage. Most of the emphasis was placed upon governance and accountability issues related to the Canadian Television Fund which Heritage administers.Perhaps of particular interest (but no surprise) to the magazine industry, the report referred to the fact that

The Walrus wins charitable status

The Walrus Foundation, according to a report in today's Globe and Mail has been granted charitable status. This clears the way for it to receive transfers of much-needed cash from the private family Chawkers Foundation. Publisher Ken Alexander is due congratulations for a) his perseverance and b) his faith. Presumably, he will be able to recover some of the reported $2 million in personal assets

Freelancers, unite

Mastheadonline has an update on the creation of the Canadian Freelancer Union, which will apparently hit its stride next year. You can read it here (subscription required*).*If you're interested in Canadian magazines, it's no hardship to become a subscriber to Canada's only magazine trade magazine and/or its website. Fair disclosure: with its November/December issue, I have begun a small column

Magazines we like -- Backbone

In a world of failed and faltering tech magazines, Backbone seems to have found its mojo. The 6-times-a-year magazine, published out of North Vancouver by Publimedia Communications Inc., reaches most of its readers through controlled distribution in the Globe and Mail. (The total circ, according to its December 2004 latest CCAB audit, is 123,000, of which 104,000 approximately are controlled (

Thinking better about crossing the line

Rance Crain, the Editor in Chief of Advertising Age, has an interesting column apologizing for a recent gaffe. The magazine sold an ad page that was a phony Ad Age front page, with headlines that talked about the advertiser in a design that looked a lot like the magazine. Even though the "advertisement" slug was at the top, Crain says, the ad stepped over the invisible and increasingly blurry

A question of perception and value

From Digital Journal.com:Video may have killed the radio star, but the Internet hasn’t yet killed the paperback hero according to a new study by the Canadian Internet Project (CIP).While many believe the growth of the Internet will eventually relegate hard-copy media to the recycling bin, it turns out Internet users put more value on traditional sources of media than non-users do.The study says

We trust he is going first class

Anthony Wilson-Smith, the previous editor of Maclean's, started his new job today as Special Advisor to Moya Greene, President and Chief Executive Officer of Canada Post.

Are those crocodile tears at newspapers?

An Associated Press story by Seth Sutel dissects the laments and hand-wringing of the U.S. newspaper industry and finds that newspapers are still very (some, very, very) profitable, though revenues are faltering. Hence job cuts and trimming newspaper sizes to try and retain those fat profits as long as possible and buy time to figure out how to get equivalent profits from the internet.

Quote, unquote

I don't have kids yet, but when I do, according to Cookie, if I have enough money, it's going to be a fashionable experience in which I will remain a size six.So says Rachel Lehmann-Haupt in her Magazine Rack review (free sign up required) of the just-launched Cookie magazine in Media Post (see earlier item about this magazine).

Mags on TV: when the magic doesn't work

Coup de Pouce (the French arm of Transcontinental's Canadian Living magazine) has found that the crossover to television can be fraught, according to a recent article in Marketing magazine. Writer Danny Kucharsky contrasted Coup de Pouce's lagging performance in its second venture onto the small screen with the success of such magazine shows branded by Canadian House & Home and Clin d'oeil.

Crash Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews co-writer Bobby Moresco and co-writer/director Paul Haggis.

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Innocence abroad?

On October 31, Liza Frulla, the Minister of Canadian Heritage announced $4.8 million in funding to the Association for the Export of Canadian Books (AECB). The purpose? To help Canadian publishers penetrate international markets by providing $3.9 million in direct assistance for marketing of books, marketing of rights and hiring expertise.The minister noted that books represent 21 % of Canadian

Masthead weighs in

Mastheadonline reports today on the Maclean's party celebrating its 100th, noting that only Ted Rogers and Ken Whyte actually mentioned the magazine during the highly scripted event.

I'm on another line, trying to get dinner

Recipe hounds have yet another way to morph ingredients into meals, courtesy of Chatelaine. They can sign onto a free wireless service that will send a suggested recipe and list of ingredients to their cell phones. No advertising yet, but wait for it. The story was carried in Media in Canada.

Right, n. Not left

This is off topic sinceI can't claim it has anything to do with Canadian magazines, but it's fun, so indulge me. The Editor-in-Chief of The Nation (and, now, its Publisher, too) has compiled the Dictionary of Republicanisms. Here are some of the hundreds of tongue-in-cheek (or knife-in-the-back) definitions, sent in by The Nation's loyal readers. Dick Cheney, n. The greater of two evils [

Grand it's not

It is a truth universally acknowledged that newspapers always think that they can publish magazines. And they're usually wrong, in the process giving a bad name to magazines. They think that newspaper editors can morph painlessly into magazine editors; they think the same old, superficial approach of the newspaper can suffice as long as it's printed and bound expensively.Grand is a terrific name

Gimme shelter...or golf

An analysis by Oxbridge Communications of the past 10 years of listings in its National Directory of U.S. magazines says that there has been a profound shift away from magazines about religion, alternative sexual lifestyles, ethnic cultures, and business--and significantly more magazines about matrimony, the home, golf, and pets. Stating the obvious, the report says that publishers also appear to

Our flop is not part of our particularization

Beleaguered TV Guide in the U.S. has closed its barely-six-month-old Inside TV magazine. That's actually not news, since this has been widely speculated about recently. Inside TV’s last issue will be on newsstands Nov. 17. Gemstar-TV Guide expects it will cost from $2 million to $5 million just to shut it down.Thanks to a friend in the business for pointing out this example of the kinds of

It was quite a party

Maclean's celebrated its 100th anniversary with a gala party at the Toronto Centre for the Performing Arts on Tuesday evening. There were about 500 seats crowded onto the stage, half filled with current and former Maclean's staffers and executives; about half filled by the most eclectic collection of Canadian muckety-mucks imaginable, a miscellancy of political, business, legal and showbiz

Two more gone at St. Joseph's

More changes at St. Joseph's. Bill Wolch, a senior sales guy and a longtime associate of former St. Joe's President Greg MacNeil, has been laid off. He handled Toronto sales for The Look, the fashion extension of MacNeil's pet project Elm Street that has, so far, outlasted its parent (closed a couple of years ago). And, in a somewhat more surprising move, the longtime assistant to Toronto Life

Celebrity sells

It augurs well for the recently launched Weekly Scoop (out of Torstar) that celebrity titles are soaring in newsstand sales south of the border, according to a story in Media Daily News.

The new Maclean's

The only people Maclean's has to please are a) its current readers, b) its potential new readers and c) the national agencies and advertisers. The only way we'll know if it has achieved liftoff with a), b) and c) is when hard, objective results come in the form of audited circulation numbers and ad page counts. It's redesign (the way it reads and the way it looks) released to the public yesterday

Sneak peek of the week

The indefatigable James Adams of the Globe and Mail today gives readers a sneak preview (in words, not pictures) of the revamped Maclean's which is being unveiled tomorrow at a gala that marks the magazine's 100th anniversary. Adams confirms that there will be 52 pages of editorial rather than 44 in each issue. Plus more, smaller, photographs. Also a rejigged front section that is a review of the

It had to come, unfortunately

It had to come to this. Fairchild Publications, a unit of Conde Nast and the publishers of, among other titles, Women's Wear Daily, Jane, Details and Modern Bride is launching next week a magazine called Cookie which celebrates "the joys of parenthood", but is apparently a lifestyle magazine for parents, featuring goods designed for their children. Sort of Lucky and Cargo for kids, all rolled

Legend Of Zorro Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews co-writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.

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New math at Maclean's

Mastheadonline notes today that in one of his rare columns in the magazine, Maclean's Publisher Ken Whyte this week promises that the new, redesigned magazine will have, at minimum, 50% more stories and 5o% more text PLUS more photographs.Are there going to be more pages, which presupposes more ads? If so, where are all those ads coming from?If not, and the magazine continues to have roughly 45 -

Weekend magazines dwindling

A specialized sub-set of the magazine world is the weekend supplement to newspapers -- more common in U.S. papers than in Canada, but reminiscent of the long-gone Canadian and Weekend in Canadian papers. Those were said to be killed not only by demographic change and cost, but also by the end of the tobacco advertising that were their anchor.Now, even longtime Sunday papers in the U.S. are going

Peering across the digital divide

Joe Mandese, the editor of Media Post, writes in today's Media Digest Daily that not only are subscribers getting used to the idea of digital magazines but those who do subscribe that way are spending considerably less time with the print versions of those magazines.According to a study sponsored by BPA Worldwide, one of the major audit firms, the percentage of digital subscribers who also read

Trendwatch south of the border

For those who gauge the Canadian magazine industry by U.S. trends, it is interesting that in the month of October, U.S. magazines measured by the Publishers Information Bureau were down 2.1%, the third monthly decline in a row. But there were standout increases, too. This information from a more detailed report in Media Daily News.If there was ever evidence for short memories, the stunning

A prize worth winning

It should not be mistaken; The Walrus, even with its financial difficulties, strives to live up to its ambitions and stated mission. Consider the prize being offered for its 2006 writing contents for Canadian poets and writers. The entry fee is nominal, the benefits of winning quite exotic and alluring. This, from the website places for writers:The Walrus Magazine, together with Summer Literary

The B special

Doubtless there will be others, better acquainted and informed, who will eulogize Beland Honderich, who just passed at the age of 86. He was known, during his long tenure as Publisher of the Toronto Star as "B" or, unflatteringly, "the Beast" although no one doubted his power and his commitment to making The Star the best newspaper in Canada. His natural taciturnity was overlaid with restraint

Where shall I go to donate tonight?

This is an idea that more urban magazines might emulate -- Vancouver magazine's Social Datebook, which can be found on their website. It's a listing of philanthropic and fundraising events around the lower mainland. I don't know whether people pick fundraisers at random upon which to bestow their generosity. But the idea that a city magazine rounds up and formats the information seems a very nice

National Post in freefall

Nestled down among the paragraphs reporting on the latest, dismal, results for newspaper circulation, is the stunning fact that the National Post lost 14% of its base in one year according to the latest six-monthly report from the Audit Bureau of Circulations. That is, the people who pay 50% of full price or more for the paper from Monday to Friday (as opposed to the freebies and near-freebies

Not in our magazine, you don't

Just now catching up to this story, best reported by this item from the website of CBC New Brunswick, about the Irving interests in New Brunswick yanking the magazine Here off the trucks last month because it contained a cover image of a baby being breastfed.The editor, Miriam Christensen, (who had apparently indicated she was about to quit) was fired and an innocuous cartoon replaced the image

Discretion, what discretion?

"I am now 100% certain that The Walrus's future is secured," says Publisher Ken Alexander, according to Antonia Zerbisias's blog for the Toronto Star. Madame Z, as she archly calls herself, interprets this as meaning that Alexander has a commitment from Ottawa that his the Walrus Foundation will be granted desperately needed charitable status, previously denied. But, as one astute observer noted,

Options may make fetching wallpaper

Apparently Maclean's supremo Ken Whyte believed assurances from Hollinger executives that options he held to buy stock were safe, even after he was fired as National Post's Editor in Chief and the whole edifice was crashing around Conrad Black's ears. The Globe today reports that, last June, Whyte sued Hollinger International Inc. in New York to try and recover the $680,000 he says these options

A new template turns one

Warrior magazine celebrates its first anniversary Sunday with a DJ-driven party in Montreal. Warrior (despite a name that conjures up aboriginal manhood) is a 5,000 controlled circ cultural magazine published by Média Guerrier. Besides congratulating them on their first birthday, we can do no better job of describing the magazine than they do themselves:Warrior supersedes the inherently

Who will watch the watchers?

At first, with the stylized maple leaf, I thought it was a promotion for the new Maclean's design, particularly since the ad was on the Maclean's website. But no, it's for a new service called Canada's National Cybertipline (cybertip.ca), whereby you can turn people in for crimes against...we're not sure. Look at the website and draw your own conclusions.The service (?) sprang from Child Find

We're still here, really

The Toronto Star today published the results of a national poll that would seem to confirm what many people in the traditional media think, or desperately wish to think: that far from displacing traditional media like newspapers and magazines, online users actually use them more than those who have so far eluded the internet.

Bye bye back page

The Globe today reports this tidbit, in the midst of a James Adams article about the relaunch gala coming up for Maclean's: the back page column, a staple of the magazine for years, is moving inside as part of the radical new design to be unveiled at the Garth Drabinsky (who dat?) extravaganza on November 15. Paul Wells may have hinted at something to this effect in his blog the other day: Le

Club Sub?

Here's a new wrinkle: a "rewards" system for readers who bring new subscribers. The well-known self-help book Chicken Soup for the Soul in July spawned a new 6-time, 150,000 circ. magazine called...Chicken Soup for the Soul. This according to an item in MediaPost.The publishers, Modern Media LLC, has launched a "rewards program" that gives "shopping points" that can be redeemed from a "

Cosy for the holidays

The Media In Canada headline is certainly provocative: Microsoft gets between the sheets with Chatelaine. The article describes how a "branded section"called the Holiday Helpbook is being co-produced by the Rogers title and the online Microsoft Home magazine, included in the magazine's December issue and promoted on Chatelaine's website. Here's how the publication will look.

Where the boys aren't

A column in the November 7 issue of Business Week explores what is apparently a major or developing trend; the erosion of men's interest in print magazines. Research at Time Inc. indicates that women's interest holds up (6 of the top 10 A list magazines recently picked by Advertising Age are women's service titles) but men's involvement with magazines is eroding. Partly it is attributed to men's

Only kidding; as you were

An earlier post reported that Britain's Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was seriously considering breaking the monopoly of magazine distribution. Now, it appears from an article in the Guardian, vigorous lobbying by the magazine industry has convinced the agency to reverse course, or at least soften the impact. (For those who think it is at least unseemly for media companies to campaign against open