Hurry up and wait

After five years, what's another month? Statscan says the data on all Canadian magazines, due out April 26, will now be published May 26. Reason given: delays in checking and translating the data.

All your distribution eggs in one basket

The 81 unionized workers who have struck ProLogix Distribution Services have proven the old adage that it is dangerous to put all your eggs in one basket. ProLogix is the heavy lifting part of the magazine distribution system in central Canada. And, according to Mastheadonline, Teamsters Canada Local Union 419 president Tom Fraser says his members rejected the company’s contract offer on April

A whole different kind of cover story

If there was ever any question about the place of Glow in the panoply of real magazines, the book published by Shopper's Drug Mart out of Rogers Media pretty much answers with its current contest to have consumers select the cover image for the magazine.The controlled magazine, which is not sold by subscription but is for sale on select newsstands, has essentially sold its cover image to one of

Bullish on China

Here, thanks to a report on the Magazine Publishers of America (MPA) website, is some useful intelligence for any Canadian publishers who might want to launch into the China market.Jeff Sprafkin, CEO Media Pacific Limited, who has twenty years media experience in China, told a recent MPA Breakfast Forum he expects between 30% and 50% growth in ad spend for major magazine categories. there

Kid stuff

There's a new kid's book on the block and it looks like fun. Aimed at 7 - 11 year olds, and published by Canada's National History Society, Kayak: Canada's History Magazine for Kids is short on ads (not the idea, mind you) but long on corny kids' comedy and the most soft-pedalled sort of instruction. [Click on the headline to go to the Kayak website.]CNHS also publishes a history magazine for

Ten points of IQ

No comment necessary:From an article by Iain Thomson, vnunet.com 22 Apr 2005 Researchers at the University of London Institute of Psychiatry have found that the constant distractions of email and texting are more harmful to performance than cannabis. Those distracted by incoming email, phone calls and text messages saw a 10-point fall in their IQ, more than twice that found in studies of the

Garbage in, garbage out

Unquestioning use of the data from the Federation of the International Periodical Press (FIPP) may lead to a good deal of misunderstanding. The current issue of World Magazine Trends states, for instance, that Canada has 1,000 consumer magazines and no business/trade magazines. In fact, Statscan data shows that there are more than 2,000 titles, of which about 600 are trades. So how seriously can

When the page has something to teach

A new study by Starch and CNET Networks about effective online ads has found that they work best when they most resemble good print advertising. The study is based on surveys of participants in the CNet Network sites and Gamespot.com, largely made up of young male gamers, so it doesn't necessarily represent the views of the general internet user. Participants were asked to view several ads on a

Is it such a chore?

Well, Ken Whyte grudgingly wrote an Editor's column in Maclean's this week (a month since assuming the chair) and then threw in a paragraph saying not to get used to it.NOTE: This is the first editorial I've written since my appointment to Maclean's several weeks ago. I don't expect to use this column regularly. I hold publishing as well as editing duties at the magazine, and my schedule, as

Weird & wonderful search tool

YaGoohoo!gle started as a joke, but now is a really useful web search tool. Type in a search term and it displays both Yahoo and Google windows side by side. You'll be surprised how different the results are.

Whatcha got to lose?

Stuart Morrison, the President of CLB Media, is an iconoclast with a taste for controversial pronouncements about the industry and a decidedly conservative take on things like government support and other sacred cows. Now he's stuck his finger in the eye of his colleagues in the business-to-business press by volunteering (without being asked) to pay for a survey of salaries by a third-party

Money matters

It has been about 5 years since the U.S.-based Independent Press Association (IPA), which has some Canadian members, began making loans available to member magazines. So far, it says, it has loaned out $1 million. Typically the money is used to finance direct mail circulation-building campaigns and come with an interest rate of 7% and a 24 month term. There are also emergency bridging loans

More, better, higher, vitamin-enriched

"The mood is light, airy and refreshing. The tone is chatty, friendly and familiar."So says Chatelaine of its repositioning under new Editor Kim Pittaway, being launched with next month's issue. The Rogers release goes on..."Likened to an intimate relationship between girlfriends, Chatelaine's positioning is "woman to woman". And with this desire to connect more powerfully with Canadian women

Martha wore her best ankle bracelet

From MediaDigestMartha Stewart, New Yorker Take National Mag AwardsMARTHA STEWART, WHO IS STILL serving a house arrest sentence as part of her felony conviction last year, accepted her first two National Magazine awards on Wednesday during a ceremony at New York's Waldorf Astoria Ballroom. Stewart, who is allows 48 hours out of her home each week for work, accepted awards for Martha Stewart

Valuable and useful archive

The University of Alberta maintains a digital collection of vintage Canadian magazines published between 1873 and 1977. The images are generally very good and a useful tool for magazine mavens of all types. http://www.crcstudio.arts.ualberta.ca/canadianmagazines/A 1946 issue of Canadian Home Journal from thedigital collection maintained at the University of Alberta.

Future watch

From the Sunday New York Times magazine April 10, 2005. In an article principally about the cooperation of Neilsen and Arbitron in tracking what people watch on television and hear on radio, the following:"In addition, (Ron) Kolessar (Arbitron's chief engineer) told me, his bosses recently asked him to experiment with adding Global Positioning System capability to the P.P.M. (portable people

Shameless Plug II

What's the benefit of doing this sort of thing unless, occasionally, you manage to plug something that matters to you? The first iteration of a new course called So You Want to Start a Magazine? debuted on April 2 and 3 at Ryerson University, and appeared to be very successful. The target audience for this course are people who are actively considering or imminently going to start a magazine and

Buck a word; why there are no old freelancers

It seems that a few years ago, most larger books got up to the $1 a word threshold for freelance writing and simply stalled. Many smaller and regional books never even got close and have paid the same 30 cents a word they've paid for years. Or $100 for a feature, believe it or not. They appear not to have noticed that the Consumer Price Index was not repealed and that Canadian cities have become

Another year, another two issues

If the Ryerson Review of Journalism didn't exist, we'd have to invent it. It comes out on the world's most peculiar schedule -- two issues in quick succession in April and May -- but that's because it is, after all, a teaching exercise. Nevertheless, it's doing stories about the magazine world that aren't done very much by mainstream media. And all this despite being under threat of closure

Pay no attention to those men behind the curtains

While the Gomery inquiry is the top-rated show in Quebec, it is curious that this week's cover story in L’actualité is "The U.S. in Ruins". Perhaps that crashing sound, the Quebec Liberal party in flames and disarray, is not as newsy as we thought?

What they buy, not what they read?

Here's a thought-provoking idea for traditional magazine publishers:In the traditional publishing business, the mission is to deliver compelling content that holds and cradles the attention of their reader. However, this publishing goal is now counterproductive because advertisers will continue to reward publishers not on their ability to hold their readers attention, but rather on the rate in

Fresh new data -- get it while it lasts

Coming April 26, we are assured, is the 2003-04 data on the magazine industry from Statistics Canada. It's been almost 5 years since the industry had a look at such stats. (We've been using '98-'99 data.) That's the good news.The bad news is that it is all but certain that this is the last "census" (complete questionnaire for every known title) and that Statscan is going henceforth to do "stats

Credibility for sale

The Audit Bureau of Circulations and the Print Measurement Bureau have announced a program that puts a public price on their logos. For $3,500 they will grant the use of their trademarks on research conducted by third parties on behalf of Canadian magazines. It is designed to provide credibility to magazines who can't afford to belong to PMB (minimum $15,000 to $20,000) and, of course, to capture

Les numeros

The French language PMB results for 2005 hold their own kind of interest. Once again, the top 10 magazines in terms of efficiency -- as measured by their readers-per-copy figures -- are predominantly smaller, specialized books : Circ RPC Le Lundi 43 18.2 Dernière Heure 37 17.1 Rénovation Bricolage 40 16.4 Les Idées de ma maison 66

Dese and dem and Dose

With a thud, the new "daily magazine", Dose, has landed. And it underwhelms. The publication manages to be busy, but strangely empty, bright and colourful, but somehow dull, new but already feeling tired.Where you might expect a premier issue to be setting the standard for the vibrant daily to come, particularly after a runup of months, instead there is a blizzard of staff-written non sequiters.