Taking the long view with PMB

Comparing the just-released (2005) Print Measurement Bureau readership data for English magazines with the years since the switch to Recent Reading provides some interesting items: The median readers-per-copy figure for all participating English magazines is 5.3. It was 5.7 in 2002, 5.9 in 2003. Toronto Life still has a respectably large audience, but since 2002 has seen total readership

Steady as she goes?

Ken Whyte, the new Editor/Publisher of Maclean's, had an easy time of it this morning on The Current on CBC, as Anna Maria Tremonti lobbed softballs and he batted them to the bleachers (block that metaphor). Mostly, the interview was a retrospective about Alberta Report, Saturday Night, the National Post and Conrad Black with only a couple of questions about what happens now.He said essentially

Past glories

Who wins what is always interesting. The American National Magazine Awards now offers access to a searchable database of past winners. Go to magazine.org and click on the American Society of Magazine Editors tab (ASME).

The cultural literary heavyweights

Sometimes a weird factoid emerges while you were looking for something else. But if evidence were needed that Toronto is, indeed, the centre of the universe when it comes to literary and cultural publishing in this country, consider the following table. It lists the top 10 Ontario recipients of combined money from the Canada and Ontario Arts Council in 2003 (the last complete year available).

Onwards and upwards with magazines

Some people outside the magazine industry seem surprised and puzzled by the number of launches in the March issue of Masthead magazine and its Tally 2004 cover story. It detailed 124 new magazines of all types and styles, consumer and trade.The generally accepted myths of the marketplace are that magazines don't make money, that magazines and print generally are sunset industries, that young

Paper chases profit

While the various mills and paper-makers have long lamented that magazine paper prices were depressed, publishers and printers could have been forgiven for hoping that condition would continue for years. However it seems the combined effects of shutting down capacity, higher energy prices and the growing hunger for finished pulp and paper from China and India has finally done its work. Publishers

The race for the Ellies

U.S. NATIONAL MAGAZINE AWARDS FINALISTS ANNOUNCED The American Society of Magazine Editors today announced the finalists for this year's U.S. National Magazine Awards. (The U.S. awards are given to magazines, rather than to individual writers, photographers and illustrators and the prize is an "Ellie" sculpture by Alexander Calder. Canadian awards nominations from the National Magazine

Strong showing by Toronto Life

The whole is greater than the sum of parts when it comes to the new Toronto Life. Despite the quibble about the logo (see below), looking at the entire April issue is a real pleasure.Carol Moskot has always shown commendable restraint and an elegant sensibility in typography. This is clearly so here with the two typefaces used, Farnham for the body and some display and Grange for other display.

Internal needs

Magazines are getting pretty good at taking advantage of interns on the editorial side -- some taking more (unpaid) advantage than others -- but there is apparently a paucity of places for young, up-and-hopefuls on the art side.Barbara Solowan, the Art Director of Canadian Art and MoneySense magazines, urged participants in the CMPA's Professional Publishing Program in Niagara on the Lake to

Toronto Life, the universe and everything

Toronto Life's new look, at least the cover, was unveiled today in mastheadonline, the web page of the magazine industry trade book. We can see how they wanted to keep some of the Ken Rodmell's '70s look, but that means that the new 'all on one line' logo looks, um, very '70s.It will allow for better use of the cover, including full bleed images and dropouts. The James Chatto cover story on Where

My, what a long way you've come

Travel buffs and fans of the peripatetic Ian Wright have had an opportunity in the last few days to hear him talk about his travels in a series of lectures across the country, culminating in a big splash at Convocation Hall at U of T on Friday 18th. The lecture tour is being presented by Outpost magazine, a little title that has steadily grown over the past 8 - 9 years by understanding the

Guess what I'm thinking

A recent memorandum from newly arrived Maclean's Publisher and Editor Ken Whyte to all staff:Hello Everyone - As I mentioned on meeting most of you a couple of weeks ago, I'd like your input on how we can continue to improve Maclean's. Please send me your thoughts on any or all aspects of the content and operations of the magazine. I am committed to maintaining the title, the weekly publishing

Waiting for Whyte

That sound you hear is the skittish murmuring on the editorial floor of Maclean's as the staff at the Rogers "campus" await with hushed expectancy the Monday 14th official first day of Ken Whyte as Publisher and Editor.Whyte's been dropping in and out, having discreet meetings with individuals. But nobody knows if he'll hit the ground running or take a measured and cautious approach once he

CMPA bares its teeth

The Canadian Magazine Publishers Association (CMPA) has always been known as an efficient member-service organization, meeting the needs of its large membership, made up mostly of small- to medium-sized magazines. It was also an effective, but behind-the-scenes, lobbying organization on important matters such issues as postal, trade and goverment funding.What it has not been known for is acting

The haze on the digital frontier

Digital publishing is like nation building, something that is always talked about in vague, general, feel-good terms. The proliferation of web pages, e-letters and e-bulletins by both consumer and trade publishers seems predicated on the belief that these things will pay for themselves imminently or eventually and, for now, are a cost of doing business in the modern wired world. Be there or be

Big assistance for big publishers

The recent conference in Ottawa hosted by the Canadian Magazine Publishers Association and Magazines du Quebec, called Creating Canada, had a number of objectives, apparently: among them to get the post office to be more reasonable; if necessary to get the federal government to pressure Canada Post to be more reasonable; and to safeguard and (perhaps) to enhance the current federal postal

Blooming puzzling

If you want to witness the peculiar pricing and economics of the Canadian newsstand spring is a good time to look at gardening books.On a typical news rack, you will find U.S. titles Horticulture and Fine Gardening selling for C$7.99. Right next to it you will find Canadian Gardening and Gardening Life, both published in Canada, selling for $4.95. That's a $3.04 cent difference; the U.S. books

Dated data

It will be in April when Statscan finally gets around to publishing data about the Canadian periodical industry through 2003. The industry has been relying on 1998-99 data since it was released March 18, 2002. A lot has happened in 7 years.(That 1998-99 data left something to be desired because, for some reason, Statscan 'found' about 500 titles that it hadn't found in 1996-97, thus making

Rabble, the next chapter

Rabble.ca has always had an admirable spunk and a pithy approach to the news. While not a magazine in the traditional sense, it has marked "magazine" qualities (noble, steadfast and true) and it's worth noting the passage this site is going through. After four years depending on sponsors like Alternatives and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Rabble is now a non-profit corporation,

Ask and ye may be given

It's always assumed that if small magazine publishers are good at anything, it is taking maximum advantage of support programs for which they are eligible. But is that the case?Taking just one program, in one province, which is the home to many literary and cultural magazines, here is the record of grants given out by the Compass mentorship and technical assistance program of the Ontario Arts

New look coming for Toronto Life

Magazine people are itching to see the "major" redesign that Toronto Life will launch with its April issue, the first in more than a decade. Look for a new logotype with echoes of the present one, a different cover architecture, a shuffling of elements inside and some surprises. The redesign is being driven by Editor John Macfarlane and the new Art Director, Carol Moskot (who helped with the