Dogs in Canada supports "Pet Idol" website

We suppose it had to come. A retail marketing firm in Brampton has launched a Pet Idol website, with promotional support from Dogs in Canada magazine, among other sponsors. Readers can vote online in various categories like "smallest", "most colourful" and "best-dressed" (I'm not making this up, you know) and the pet with the most votes gets a prize pack for $250. No singing is involved. "We

Milne and Tremblay join board of BPA Worldwide

John Milne, the senior vice president of business and professional publishing at Rogers Publishing Ltd. and Francine Tremblay, senior vice president of consumer publications at Transcontinental Media Inc., Montreal, Quebec have been elected to the board of media auditor BPA Worldwide for three-year terms. BPA Worldwide is the parent company that absorbed the Canadian Circulations Audit Bureau (

Ken Whyte to speak up for Conrad Black in Chicago trial

Ken Whyte, the publisher and editor of Maclean's, is up on the stand in Chicago next week was on the stand as a character witness in the criminal trial of tattered tycoon Conrad Black yesterday.Black's defence team made the surprising announcement that it would take only a day (actually, two half-days) of testimony to rebut about 11 days of prosecution witnesses. Lord Black himself will remain

Canada Wide Media's Granville magazine launch was done on a shoestring

Canada Wide Media Ltd. managed to launch its quarterly city glossy Granville last week on a shoestring. According to a story in the Vancouver Sun by Malcolm Parry (aside: Parry was editor of Vancouver magazine back in the '80s) the startup costs were a mere $130,000 and the first issue had $78,000 worth of ads in 72 pages. Canada Wide president Peter Legge says that the second issue should sell

Graphic design industry surveys industry about salaries and billing practices

The Association of Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario (RGD)– in association with the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada, the Société des designers graphiques du Québec and various industry sponsors – is currently conducting a national survey of graphic design salaries and billing practices, according to a story in Design Edge Canada magazine.The Association is asking art directors,

Jim Sutherland to get outstanding lifetime achievement award at WMAs

Jim Sutherland, until recently the editor of Western Living magazine, is being honoured at the forthcoming Western Magazine Awards for outstanding lifetime achievement. The awards are being presented at a gala event Friday, June 22nd, 2007 at the Renaissance Vancouver Hotel Harbourside in Vancouver. It is the culmination of the two-day Magazines West professional development conference,

Da-dee-dee-dum, da-dee-dee-dee...

'Tis the season for weddings and Wedding Bells magazine, the gargantuan title from St. Joseph Media has released the results of an online survey that summarizes the trends."Tying the knot used to involve a trip to the altar and a simple reception, but low-cost affairs are increasingly a thing of the past," says Alison McGill, Editor-in-Chief, Weddingbells. "Our readers have told us they expect to

Name my magazine, please

York International, a division of York University is holding a competition to give a name to a new online magazine about post-secondary international education in Canada."Unique in Canada, the magazine will act as an open space for dialogue, discussion and debate on the practices and policies, challenges and opportunities for internationalization at the postsecondary level in Canada", says a

$15 million gift to Ryerson business faculty; becomes Ted Rogers School of Management

Ted Rogers, whose cable, phone and magazine publishing empire is well known, has -- with his wife Loretta -- given $15 million to Ryerson University which, in turn, has named its brand spanking new business school the Ted Rogers School of Management. The school is on Dundas Street in Toronto, between Yonge and Bay Streets.The majority of the gift will be used to establish 52 new undergraduate and

Quote, unquote: "well-knownness"

"Rather than actually being co-operative, or transparent or responsive, they're instead measured solely by whether or not they are seen that way. It ultimately (is) an outfit to enhance their celebrity, and to solely make themselves more well-known for their well-knownness."-- Janelle Hutchinson, who presented on her master's thesis topic at the 2007 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences

Life after the academy; University Affairs to offer podcast interviews

Sabine Hikel is a writer and academic who has been running podcast interviews with academics who have gone outside the ivy walls and are reinventing themselves. Now some of the inmates within the ivy walls will have easier access to these and future interviews asit has been announced that Hikel's "Leaving Academia" podcast is moving to University Affairs magazine's website. UA is developing an

Less may be more for magazines

Just catching up with a story from a couple of weeks ago in the Christian Science Monitor about the (U.S.) magazine industry. In it, the writer Randy Dotinga points out that Time magazine is actively shucking subscribers in order to get a higher quality, more profitable and attractive audience. The neighbourhood newspaper may disappear soon, he says, but magazines may have more resilience. In

Nigel Dickson to present at MagNet in place of Chris Buck

Nigel Dickson, a superlative Toronto-based photographer with an international portfolio, has replaced Chris Buck as international speaker at MagNet. (Buck, a Canadian who has built a career and a reputation in New York, cancelled because of a work conflict.) Dickson has done (and will show) groundbreaking editorial work (Rolling Stone, Esquire, Toronto Life, Regardies, Fortune, Fast Company and

Portal strategies become increasingly important to all magazines

Since there can be no doubt that most magazines want to have as robust a web presence as they can afford, for multi-title publishers there seem to be a choice of ways to go: standalone websites for each title, styled and presented with its own voice or image; and portals, which gather together different titles and present their information and archives in a consistent way. Magazine companies are

Quote, unquote

Magazines connect intellectually and emotionally with an educated and thinking reading public. Those are the people who can change a direction for an institution or a company or a neighbourhood or a region.-- Neville Gilfoy, forthcoming recipient of the outstanding achievement award of the National Magazine Awards, quoted in a profile in the Chronicle-Herald (Halifax).

Andrew Mitrovica honoured for investigative journalism in The Walrus

Andrew Mitrovica was the winner in the magazine category of the Canadian Association of Journalists' annual awards for investigative journalism. It was for his article "Hear No Evil, Write No Lies", in The Walrus, published in the December/January 2007 issue. It explored the media's role in the Maher Arar case and particularly its complicity in allowing anonymous sources to smear Arar.The award

Luc Besson Angel-A Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews writer/director Luc Besson and star Rie Rasmussen about Angel-A

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LIT 12 LAUNCH PARTY!

At last, LIT 12 has arrived! Our official launch party is next month, and all are invited to celebrate with us, not to mention enjoy our stellar line-up of readers, all of whom contributed amazing work to this issue.

LIT 12 LAUNCH PARTY AND CELEBRATION!

Wednesday, June 13th from 6-10 PM
Wollman Hall @ The New School
66 West 12th Street, NYC, 10011

Featuring readings by...

STEPHANIE ANDERSON
ED PARK
REBECCA WOLFF
ISHMAEL BEAH
SAMPSON STARKWEATHER

Live DJ! Food and drinks! Literary excitement!

Reader bios:

Stephanie Anderson's work has appeared or is forthcoming in American Letters & Commentary, Boston Review, Denver Quarterly, DIAGRAM, LIT, Painted Bride Quarterly, and Typo, and her chapbook, In the Particular Particular, won the 2006 DIAGRAM/New Michigan Press Chapbook Contest. She lives in Manhattan and teaches in Harlem and East New York.

Ed Park is a founding editor of The Believer. His short fiction has appeared in Columbia, Crowd, and the anthology Trampoline, edited by Kelly Link. His first novel, Personal Days, will be published next year by Random House.

Rebecca Wolff is the editor and publisher of Fence and Fence Books. Her own books are Manderley and Figment; she is at work on a novel, The Beginners.

Ishmael Beah is the author of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, published by Sarah Crichton Books, an imprint of Farrar, Straus & Giroux. He now lives in Brooklyn.

Sampson Starkweather was born in Pittsboro, North Carolina. He works as an editor of science textbooks. His poems are published or forthcoming in jubilat, Poetry Daily, Absent, New York Quarterly, Sink Review, Gargoyle, Redivider, Ashville Poetry Review, Lumina; and were nominated for a 2006 Pushcart Prize. He lives in the woods alone.


LIT 12 is now available! Featuring poetry and prose by...

Stephanie Anderson * Ralph Angel * John Ashbery * Sarah Bartlett * Edward Bartók-Baratta * Ishmael Beah * Francis Benteaux * Dan Boehl * Jessica Breheny * Shira Dentz * Julie Doxsee * Elisa Gabbert * John Gallaher * Daniel George * Dobby Gibson * Noah Eli Gordon * Kurt Haenicke * James Haug * Matthew Henriksen * Donald Illich * Joy Katz * Erica Kaufman * Mark Lawlor * Alex Lemon * Federico García Lorca * Joseph Massey * Clay Matthews * Kristi Maxwell * Kristin McGonigle * Joyelle McSweeney * Sharon Mesmer * Stephen Paul Miller * Gina Myers * Amanda Nadelberg * Carol Novack * Ed Park * Andrew Michael Roberts * Minal K. Singh * Sampson Starkweather * Mathias Svalina * Jen Tynes * Susan Wheeler * Joshua Marie Wilkinson * Dustin Williamson * Allyssa Wolf * Rebecca Wolff

Art by...

Emily Farranto * Pamela Lawton

Plus a SPECIAL FEATURE on THE NEW SCHOOL'S ASHBERY FESTIVAL
Featuring an interview with JOHN ASHBERY by Marit MacArthur and critical writing by...

Kacper Bartczak * William Burgos * Roger Gilbert * Daniel Kane * David Kermani * John Koethe * Micaela Morrissette * Dara Wier

Secure your copy by SUBSCRIBING to LIT! Send a check or money order made out to LIT to the address below:

LIT
The New School
Writing Program, Room 514
66 West 12th Street
New York, NY 10011

Single Issue: $8

1-year subscription (2 issues): $14
Save 13% off the cover price!

2-year subscription (4 issues): $25
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Enthusiast titles generate highest U.S. readership

According to a story in Folio:, audience figures from Mediamark Research Inc. show that special interest and enthusiast titles in the U.S. far outstrip larger and more established titles in readers-per-copy. They have astonishing RPCs, more than double what the highest figure is in Canada's Print Measurement Bureau results. The figures MRI produces are based on published ABC and BPA publishers'

Older, but better, audiences

Over the past 5 years (2002 to 2007), the median age of readers of a whole range of U.S. magazines has crept up two years from 39.8 to 41.8, according to Mediamark Research Inc. Apparently this is not just because of the the creep in age of the general population -- which only went up 1.3 years. This, from a story in MediaDaily News.

Checkerspot trolls for story ideas

It's not often you see a magazine send out a release inviting story ideas for its next issue,particularly with a week's lead time. That's the case with the newly launched Checkerspot magazine from the Canadian Wildlife Federation, whose editors are asking writers for story ideas by June 1 for their fall/winter 2007 issue. The magazine was launched in May and is published twice a year and here's

Marie-Helene Proulx wins Jean-Paré prize

Marie-Helene Proulx has been awarded the prize for journalist of the year at the 9th annual Concours des Grands Prix 2007 organized by Magazines du Quebec. The prize and the $3,000 that goes with it recognizes her for the quality of her writing and the originality and relevance of the topics she chose. The prize itself is named after the longtime editor and publisher of L’actualité magazine.The

Ontario Out of Doors merges fishing show with Sportsmen's Show

For 15 years, Ontario Out of Doors magazine has run a Spring Fishing Show; now, it has decided to collaborate and merge that show with the Canadian National Sportsmen's Shows, effective in 2008. Sporting and angling enthusiasts will still be able to shop for gear and boats and check out fishing destinations, but as part of the wider sportsman's show."At Ontario OUT OF DOORS we are always looking

The virtual magazine for the actual Atlantic farmer

DvL Publishing Inc. of Liverpool, Nova Scotia, is taking the plunge into web-only publishing by launching a new magazine entirely online. A story in mastheadonline (sub req'd) says publisher and editor Dirk Van Loon and his business manager wife Anne, are launching AtlanticFarmer.com. But for the daunting costs of paper and postage, it might have been a print publication called Atlantic Farmer,

Rogers consolidates consumer marketing; Latini out

There is a major shakeup at Rogers Media in consumer marketing. The reorganisation has left veteran Marisa Latini out of a job. She has been with the consumer marketing group, with particular responsibility for the women's service magazines, for seven years.All Toronto-based titles will now be directed by Libby Nixon as Group Consumer Marketing Director effective June 12th. All Montreal-based

The volunteers who make this industry hum

The volunteers who make this industry run are being honoured at MagNet, Canada's Magazine Conference. Already announced is that Terry Sellwood has been named Volunteer of the Year and will receive his honour at a Magazines Canada luncheon on June 14 during the conference. In addition, there are regional volunteer award winners who will be feted at a champagne reception later that day. They are (

Sassy was not just a book for girls, ya know

We turn now to a quirky piece in the Huffington Post, where Toronto writer Mike Attenborough reviews a book about the late Sassy Magazine (folded in 1996) and talks about how he used to read it avidly when he was an editor at the Gazette, the student newspaper of the University of Western Ontario. (Of course there was the obligatory shot about Mike writing from his "igloo" in Canada!)The book in

The curious absence of the online magazine rate card

Why the reluctance by magazines to publish online rate cards? While it wasn't exhaustive, a quick review of the websites of various consumer magazines shows that many don't post a rate card for buttons, banners and the like on their sites, with the kinds of frequency discounts and size premiums that are commonplace in print. If you enquire about such a grid, there is a curious reluctance to

Once Q&A and Live Performance

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews writer-director John Carney and musican-actor Glenn Hansard about their new film Once and then musician-actress Marketa Irglova joins them for a live musical performance!

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Rogers mags to test alternative delivery

Rogers Media is to launch a pilot project for alternative delivery of some of its magazines by using independent newspaper contractors (the shadowy people who drive around our streets in the dark of night making sure the Globe and Mail gets tossed into the juniper bush, just out of reach.) Brian Master has been engaged as project manager, reporting to Michael Fox, Senior Vice-President

The Wendell Baker Story Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews screenwriter, co-director, star Luke Wilson about The Wendell Baker Story

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Can Source be a supplier and a competitor, too?

Much muttering in the U.S. magazine business about Source Interlink's purchase of the enthusiast division of Primedia (see previous post). According to a story in Folio:, among the questions being asked is how can a major distributor impartially deal with its clients when it is one of their competitors? Part of the muttering is caused by the recent exclusive deal that Source Interlink cut with

Study says young adults read more, not fewer, magazines

Readership of consumer magazines Total 19-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+ # Titles Read Last 6 mos. 17 18.3 18.9 17.2 16.7 17 14 Index 100 108 112 101 98 100 82 # Specific issues 29.3 30.9 33.3 29.2 28.3 29.7 25 Index 100 105 113 99 96 101 85 The table above is as published by

American Heritage suspends publication

A venerable U.S. history magazine that was one of the few magazines that appeared originally in hardcovers (the other was Horizon), American Heritage -- owned by Forbes Inc., publishers of Forbes magazine -- has been suspended. According to a story in the New York Times, the magazine has been for sale since January and the June-July issue is "on hold" pending some resolution. American Heritage's

A list for a better-looking website

Clagnut.com has come up with a Top 10 list for web typography, which you may want to consider for your own magazine's website. Like all lists, it is arguable (see particularly #7 about the much-derided Arial face). The list is also part of a package in Design Edge Canada on webography.

Boomers not so loyal to brands as once thought

Recent research is debunking one of the long-held beliefs of marketers about brand preferences and brand loyalty, particularly among so-called "baby boomers". A story in MediaDaily News by Eric Sass points out that boomers are less brand-loyal than preceding generations, according to a study to a study released this week by market-research firm Focalyst, a joint venture between AARP and the

Moskot to design new New York magazine called Jewish Living

Toronto Life art director Carol Moskot and her husband, advertising creative director Dan Zimerman, are moving to New York City to launch a new bimonthly lifestyle magazine called Jewish Living. According to a story in Design Edge Canada, Moskot says:“Imagine if you took Martha Stewart Living, Oprah, Real Simple and looked at it through the lens of the (female) North American Jewish community. It

Newsstand Awards finalists announced

The 6th annual Canadian Newsstand Awards finalists have been announced. 34 titles will compete for top spot in five categories and the overall Best Newsstand Cover of the Year.Who wins will be announced June 5 during Magazines University at the Old Mill in Toronto. In addition, the Newsstand Marketer of the Year will be announced, recognizing an invididual who demonstrated passion and innovation

Industry treats transparency with a yawn

A couple of years ago (October 2005) we posted an item about well-known market consultant and researcher Rebecca McPheters of McPheters and Co. and her plans to launch readership.com. It was to be a more transparent and complex means of measuring the readership of publications. At the time,our comment was that it would be interesting to see whether publishers and media buying agencies would

Effem Foods lands on Mars

One of the bigger packaged goods, snackfoods and pet care advertisers, important to magazines and the women's service category particularly, is changing its brand. Effem Inc. is now being rechristened Mars Canada Inc. It is, of course, named after its highest profile product, the candy bar Mars and after its American parent, Mars, Incorporated (one of the world's largest, privately held companies

Terry Sellwood named Volunteer of the Year

Terry Sellwood, the General Manager of Quarto Communications (publishers of Cottage Life and Explore magazines) is to be honoured as 2006 Magazines Canada's Volunteer of the Year.The award is made annually to one individual whose outstanding volunteer contributions have had a national impact on the Canadian consumer magazine industry.[UPDATE: interviewed by Mastheadonline. (sub req'd), Sellwood

Quote, unquote

"There's no point sneering at the customer magazines because what the consumer titles are producing is "kitten heels are in and here are a lot of bags" – that's not great journalism. I'm not going to miss any of that."Lori Miles, the former editor of the London Evening News and most recently deputy editorial director of News International's magazine division, explaining to the U.K. Press Gazette

Source Interlink, a major U.S. distributor buys Primedia titles

Source Interlink, one of the biggest magazine distributors in the United States, has purchased the enthusiast group from Primedia in what industry observers describe as "a stunning development". The effect is to transform a supplier into a major player in media, virtually overnight. (The equivalent would have been if Disticor or Coast-to-Coast in Canada has suddenly acquired the consumer

Western Standard launches a new "awards" program -- The Globies

The Western Standard has launched a not-altogether-tongue-in-cheek awards program called The Globies, designed to allow readers to vote on their perceptions about bias, or lack of it, in news stories. The site allows readers to click on a 10-point range of choices from "balanced" to "biased" on various highlighted news stories; and to submit their own examples clipped from the nation's papers and

International Reading Association invades Toronto

A major event in the literacy world is the annual conference of the International Reading Association, this year being held in Toronto (Monday 14th through Thursday 17th at the Metro Convention Centre). There is a lineup of inspiring speakers and workshops too long to list here, but which can be found at the association's conference website. Canadian non-members can attend for C$230 a day or C

Atlantic magazines win gold in Halifax

Awards for the best journalism in Atlantic Canada were presented Saturday night in 25 categories, including magazines, at the Atlantic Journalism Awards in Halifax. Winners (and finalists) in the magazine categories were:Atlantic Magazine ArticleGold: Barry Boyce, Shambhala Sun (Halifax) Who Does God Vote For?(Finalists were Trevor J. Adams / Andrew Danson, East Coast Living (Halifax) The

Constance Rooke wins award for lifetime achievement

Constance Rooke, president of PEN Canada, co-founder of the Eden Mills Writers Festival and former editor of The Malahat Review, has been given a lifetime achievement award in education by the Guelph YMCA-YWCA as a woman of distinction. Here is the citation:Admired as a coach and mentor, Constance Rooke leads, influences and encourages hundreds of women with her boundless energy, courage and

Independent Visions Within The Studio System Pt.1 Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews Steve Faber, Josh Olson, Stephen Susco and Dan Waters at the 2007 Silver Lake Film Festival about their experiences working both inside and outside of the studio system

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Torstar rumoured to be looking at Osprey Media

Speculation is increasing that Osprey Media Income Fund, which has been struggling to maintain enough profits to continue paying distributions to its fund holders, may be sold to Torstar.A story in the Globe and Mail suggests a possible deal whereby Torstar would buy and keep (or fold) various dailies and weeklies that overlap with or fit with its own dominance in south central Ontario. The

Five, seven, five for spring

Maisonneuve magazine ran a contest for readers to write a "spring" haiku. The winners are in. And here is one of them:the daffodils dancelike girls drunk on bottled beershimmying freely (Scott Lucero)

Newspapers are starting to "get it" when it comes to retaining circ and using the web

Newspapers are getting a handle on the new world of circulation and becoming more savvy about serving and building audiences online, according to a biennial study from the Newspaper Association of America (NAA). The NAA represents more than 2,000 newspapers in Canada and the U.S. The stsudy was released by the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) in tandem with the spring release of FAS-FAX

Benefit costs driving magazine postal increases

Canada Post's margins from delivering a typical magazine have slid about 4% in the past year, mostly the result of an astonishing 10% increase in costs, according to an analysis prepared by Michael J. Fox, Senior Vice-president of Circulation and Development at Rogers Media.It’s disappointing to see the 2006 margin setback because we fear Ottawa-based CPC will pursue more rate increases rather

U.S. City and Regional Magazine Assoc. award winners

The City and Regional Magazine Association (CMRA) made its annual awards at its convention in Denver, Colorado. CRMA has only two Canadian members (Okanagan Life and Vancouver magazines), neither of which placed.

Circulator Darlene Storey jumps from Transcon to St. Joseph

Darlene Storey, the group director of consumer marketing for Transcontinental Media for almost 8 years (and 10 years before that at Telemedia before it was taken over by Transcon) is leaving to become Vice-President of Consumer Marketing at St. Joseph Media.For the past several months, St. Joseph has had Jon Spencer of Abacus Circulation pinch-hitting and handling circulation matters while a

Canada Council seeks input on 3-year strategic plan

The Canada Council is asking the literary and arts community to help it define its future and, specifically, its strategic plan for 2008-11. It will be holding consultations over the next two months and is inviting individual input through its web site. Information will be posted on its website starting March 14. “Our objective is not to abandon well-respected programs that have gained the

The Battle of Little Big Talk

"The Googles of the world, they are the Custer of the modern world. We are the Sioux nation. They will lose this war if they go to war." -- Time Warner Inc.Chief Executive Richard Parsons,explaining that so-called "old media" are being underestimated.

Without added value, it's a waste of time and money

David Gilbertson, chief executive of Informa, a major presenter of consumer and trade shows, told delegates at the British Magazines and Business Media 2007 conference recently that traditional publishers "talk a good act" when it comes to integrated publishing strategies but don't always deliver.He said that online culture had exposed and changed behaviour enormously. Respected infomation

Write-Aid benefit to be held May 24

The cause is just, the venue somewhat baroque and the price reasonable, plus the music is by 3-Chord Johnny, the house band of the magazine industry (John Macfarlane, David Hayes, David Macfarlane etc.) It's all in support of Write-Aid, to raise funds for the defence of Derek Finkle (late, editor of Toro) in his fight against a subpoena ordering him to turn over the research materials for his

Breaks for small mags at MagNet

Small magazines who are members of Magazines Canada are being alerted that there are bursaries available to them to attend MagNet, the industry conference being held June 13 to 15 in Toronto.A release from Magazines Canada says there is assistance available for titles with less than 50,000 circulation to get up to 50% of tuition or travel costs covered! Further information can be obtained from

TVA group eyes magazine expansion in rest of Canada

TVA Group, the largest and perhaps the most important magazine publisher in Quebec, part of Quebecor Media, will continue to be an aggressive acquisitor, but will be looking across the rest of Canada for magazine acquisitions, its chief executive officer Pierre Dion said Friday. He told the company's annual meeting on Friday:"We have reached a certain maturity in Quebec with high penetration in

Time magazine archives available back to 1923

Time magazine now has opened up its archives going back to 1923; you can find covers and stories for every issue in fully searchable form. The links are so sophisticated that you can follow a story week to week. (The cover shown is from 1978).

The meter better be running every issue or else, no ads

I suppose we should feel blessed that the dreaded "rate base" is not an idea that has taken hold in Canada. U.S. publishers, particularly those with high levels of single copy sales, are bedevilled by having to guarantee to advertisers that a certain threshold is reached in paid sales. So far, advertisers have been content to have an "average" over several issues. But now, according to a story in

Is there still enough room for writing about reading?

A recent post on Quillblog, the daily postings from the trade magazine Quill & Quire points out that the much-talked-about contraction of book review sections and book reviewers in newspapers may simply result from a shift in the way that people talk, and write, about books. Certainly there are more books being published and retailed now than ever before. What's hard to figure out is whether

Waitress Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews co-star Cheryl Hines and Producer Michael Roiff about Waitress

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Maclean's "skanks" cover a big bestseller

Maclean's magazine had one of its best single copy sales of recent years with the startling cover image and line "Why do we dress our daughters like skanks?". According to a story in mastheadonline (sub req'd), publisher Ken Whyte says the Jan. 1 issue could wind up selling more than 20,000 copies. Not only is this more than the entire draw of the magazine used to be (about 18,000; it's now more

Quote, unquote

There are media properties that mark cultural moments and ones that go on to become good businesses, but one cold reality about mass media is that what draws purists and early adopters is often not what equals boffo box office.-- Jon Fine in Business Week, writing about Sassy magazine and a book just published about it by Kara Jesella and Marisa Meltzer: How Sassy Changed My Life. Fine writes an

Quebec chain selling skin books upsets Florida fundamentalists

One of the prices that Quebec convenience store chain (and major magazine retailer) Alimentation Couche-Tard may not have factored in when it bought 90 stores in the U.S. southeast, including Florida, was that it was now operating in the ambit of the religious fundamentalists.The chain is facing a boycott from the Florida Family Association, a right-wing Christian group which claims that C-T is "

Rep fret about conference choice

It was probably inevitable that criticism would break into the open about there being two magazine industry conferences in Toronto within a 10-day period this June. From the estimable (but slightly cranky) Reptile (an anonymous ad rep) comes a more-or-less tongue-in-cheek advance "scorecard" of the two events. Reptile like the Mags U shield logo, hates MagNet's reverse type, etc. etc. In a very

New mag online and in print for political art

ArtThreat is a new, hybrid magazine (quarterly online, twice a year in print) that features political art. It is published by überculture , a Montreal-based non-profit collective "committed to reclaiming culture by supporting independent, political art and challenging corporations that endanger free expression." It is edited by Rob Maguire, a freelance photographer and researcher. The

Bill Shields leaving Masthead magazine

Bill Shields, whose provocative questioning and hard, hard work has helped make Masthead magazine what it is today, is leaving as editor of the industry's trade magazine, effective tomorrow. He will have completed his tour by editing the May-June issue that subscribers will see later this month. (Fair disclosure: I am paid to write the Good Question column in the magazine). He's been with North

Publishers of The Hockey News and TVGuide.ca out at Transcontinental

A major shakeup at Transcontinental Media as Gerald McGroarty, the publisher of The Hockey News and Pamela Masters, the publisher of TVGuide.ca, have both left the company. It is part of a wider management restructuring at Canada's largest consumer magazine publisher.McGroarty is a 20 year media veteran who came to The Hockey News in 2002 from CHUM Radio, The Score Television Network and

Mr. Magazine on why print has a future

Mark Glaser writes a blog for PBS called Media Shift and currently he has a long Q & A with Samir Husni (right), self-styled "Mr. Magazine", the chair of the department of journalism at the University of Mississippi.Husni, who tracks the starts and stops of magazines and is never short of an opinion, unloads a lot of them, particularly on where the business is going and how and why magazines can

Absolut discontinues iconic magazine ad campaign

It is a sad day for magazines. Absolut Vodka is, after 25 years and 1,500 print ads, ending its international "bottle" campaign, according to a story carried in the Globe and Mail. The liquor brand was well-known for customizing its ads to match the sensibilities of the audiences to whom it was being delivered and it was well-known for not having the usual ad agency bias against small, niche

Oh. my. God. (a lesson for us all)

From the great republic to the south, a lesson for all of us who let backups slide (of course this will NEVER happen to us).But remember that Murphy's Law ("anything that can go wrong, will") has a corollary ("if there is a choice of things to go wrong, the worst will always happen")From the blog Tech Crunch:The June issue of Business 2.0 magazine was inadvertently deleted from the editorial

Don't leave it 'til the last minute -- OMDC Magazine Fund apps due June 21

A reminder, should anyone need one, that Ontario magazines have until June 21 to apply for this year's round of the Ontario Media Development Corporation's Magazine Fund. Applicants can receive up to $25,000 for projects that meet the guidelines for the fund. Application information and guidelines are available on the OMDC website.

Quote, unquote: the Globe and Mail's "grubby" redesign

The Globe redesign’s a bit of a mess – what happens when designers are given too much latitude, I’d say…Generally, it’s much too fussy: too many rules, the type is too cramped and everything is crammed in – would be better if the stories were well written but, as usual, the Globe writing style is more verbose than elegant (unlike, say, The Guardian which has marvelous, quirky, writers).I think

U.S. National Magazine Awards: New York big winner

The "Ellies" (named after the Elephant stabile crafted as a trophy by sculptor Alexander Calder) were awarded yesterday. The U.S. National Magazine Awards winners were sometimes surprising. The New Yorker was shut out. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists won for General Excellence under 100,000 circulation and New York magazine was the winner in multiple cateogories, including general

"Non-measured" media get P & G nod

When Procter and Gamble, one of the world's biggest consumer marketers, gets a cold, the magazine industry gets pneumonia. So that slight chill you may have felt yesterday was when it was announced that P & G said it was going to increase its spending on marketing, but not necessarily in "measured media" (one of which is magazines). A story in Advertising Age says that the company's priority is

In search of the baddest Canadian

The Beaver magazine is perhaps better known for telling celebratory stories about Canada's past, leavened with some reporting on occasional scandalous behaviour. But now the magazine is going out of its way to highlight the worst this country has to offer. Publisher Deborah Morrison, who is also President of Canada's National History Society, told the Winnipeg Sun:"History is not just about the