More magazine launch said a good example of focussing on boomers

More magazine in Canada, the franchise title for women over 40, published by Transcontinental Media in partnership with Meredith Corporation, was given as a standout example of the power of marketing to baby boomers in an article in the Saturday Financial Post section of the National Post.Lina Ko, a partner in National Public Relations and its aptly named Baby Boomer Marketing Division says: "I

Toronto zine library now has a takeout option

An unsual collection of zines in Toronto is now set up as a regular circulating library. According to a story on Torontoist, The Toronto Zine Library tucked away in the rehearsal hall of The Tranzac, has more than 1,000 zines (and counting, donations are encouraged).These range from from semi-popular stuff like Montreal's Fish Piss to more obscure personal zines about, like, octopuses. Or

UK children's title Anorak to come into Canada

The Canadian children's magazine market gets a little more competitive with the expansion into Canada of an independent British magazine called Anorak. According to a story in Media Guardian, Anorak bills itself as "the happy mag for kids", has signed an international export deal to be available in 22 countries, including Canada, Ireland, France, Spain, Morocco, Australia, the US, Hong Kong and

Why Esquire editor is still editing a magazine

Well, that's one reason for redesign and innovation. Or three. As reported in Folio: online, David Granger, the editor of Esquire, told a magazine crowd in New York that he started to make major changes in the magazine because of a personal watershed.Esquire editor David Granger loves magazines. But he doesn’t always love them. “F*ck, I’m still editing a magazine,” Granger told the crowd at New

Wallpaper* goes monthly

Wallpaper*, the international magazine launched in 1996 by Canadian expat Tyler Brulé , bought by Time Inc. and now published by giant conglomerate IPC, is increasing its frequency to 12 issues a year.According to a story in Media Guardian , the magazine has been riding the crest of an advertising boom (up 42% from January to September, compared with the same period a year ago) and now

USA Hockey to be sold on Canadian newsstands

Colorado-based USA Hockey Magazine is to be available on Canadian newsstands starting in October. It claims to be the world's most widely circulated hockey publication, with an audited 418,000. (Transcon's The Hockey News, which has an audited paid circulation in North America of 89,000, claims an average 225,000 readership for each of its 41 annual issues.)USA Hockey Magazine has been around

Redwood launches custom pub Zoom-Zoom for Mazda

Redwood Custom Communications has partnered with Mazda on a global customer magazine called Zoom-Zoom (named after the tagline of the ubiquitous Mazda television ads).Its first issue launched this week in five languages and in eight countries — Canada, the UK, U.S., Germany Spain, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Global circulation is more than 1.5 million, including 327,000 copies in Canada.

Fashion magazine celebrates 30 in style

Fashion magazine is turning 30 and is making a party of it. The St. Joseph title has created a special part of its website to a look back at 30 years of covers and to reminiscences by former editor John MacKay, photographer George Whiteside and fashion writers David Livingston and Susie Sheffman.The magazine, now edited by Ceri Marsh, started as a line extension of Toronto Life and gradually took

BCAMP demurs

Silence continues to emanate from the tiny headquarters of the British Columbia Association of Magazine Publishers in the tower of the historic Sun Building in Vancouver, where as reported in an earlier post, the air has been rank with unpleasantness. Nine months or more have passed since the eruption of a “labour dispute” that has yet to be named or discussed before the membership, or even

Canada's peasant vision; why Maclean's gets away with making fun of George Bush

Know your critic, the saying goes, but it is hilarious to witness what passes for informed commentary about Canada. I have been watching the blogosphere for comments about the Maclean's cover showing George Bush as a clone of Saddam Hussein. I have learned several things:1. No one can spell MacClean's, McLean's, MacLean's.2. Most commenters had never heard about the magazine, despite its

Quote, unquote: Will work for severance

"The problem with the job, is that you are taking it for the severance package."-- bon mot from an anonymous source who tells Keith Kelly of the New York Post why Wenner Media's Men's Journal is having such a hard time getting somebody to take the $300,000 editor's job. One of the job requirements is dealing with Jann Wenner (founder of Rolling Stone, giant of journalism etc.).

Former magazine editor lets it out: he thinks blogging is better than print

Rick Spence, a consultant and blogger who I'll always think of as a magazine guy (editor and publisher of Profit and later editor of U of T magazine and still columnizes in print) runs a blog called Canadian Entrepreneur. I just caught up with a post in which he says that blogging is better than print and giving 12 reasons why.I figure that the difference between blogging and print (or TV, radio,

Magazines are key influencers in online purchasing, study says

Magazines are leaders in influencing online purchasing, according to a study reported recently in the U.K. The study, released by the Periodical Publishers Association during Magazine Week in the UK involved interviews with 3,045 adults aged 16-64, with the fieldwork done throughout August by the research firm BMRB. The survey found that 70 per cent of online searches were prompted by offline

Canadian Living beefs up its website

Transcontinental Media has this week beefed up its CanadianLiving.com and has positioned it as a "relaunch", though the site has been pretty robust and present for some time. One of the criticisms had been that the old CL site was slow to be updated and was light on reader interraction.Now, it has a couple of new blogs (Canadian Living's Online Food Editor, Christine Picheca does a blog called

Naomi Klein gets her ego stroked at the NYPL

Seizing on the admittedly flimsy excuse of Naomi Klein having, at one time, been the editor of This Magazine, we present Gawker's account of Klein at the New York Public Library on Monday night, promoting her new book The Shock Doctrine, in front of a sympathetic crowd.How could anyone even vaguely familiar with Naomi's credentials or latest book's thesis not know that last night's event would be

Masthead offers a $10 discount for its 20th anniversary

Masthead magazine, the industry's trade publication, is offering its print subscription free for a limited time to mark its 20th anniversary. If you buy a Mastheadonline subscription for the regular price of $49.95, the offer says, you receive the 6-times-a-year magazine free. Normal pricing is $59.95 for the combination of print and online, so the offer effectively means a $10 discount. For more

PWAC looking to boost its membership

The Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC) is on a recruiting drive. Vice-president Tanya Gulliver has sent a message to a Toronto freelancer's list making the pitch.PWAC is growing and changing. Prior to our renewal we had over 600 professional, associate and student members. We changed our name a couple years ago from "Periodical" to "Professional", and combined the work of our great

Saddam/Bush Maclean's cover continues to cause flurry south of the border

Right- and left-wing bloggers and some mainstream media outlets have swung their gaze north because Maclean's played dressup with George Bush and made him look like Saddam Hussein. The current cover story by Patrick Graham continues to cause talk, which was undoubtedly what was intended. In a story on CBC.ca, Rogers Media spokesman Suneel Khanna said blandly that there haven't been any complaints

Advertising people, feh, say most Americans

Americans take a dim view of the advertising profession. Stop the presses.According to a study of public perceptions done by the advertising agency J. Walter Thompson on behalf of AdWeek.com, as reported in DM News, only 14 percent of those surveyed say their fellow Americans respect ad people. The top three most respected are military personnel (79 percent), physicians (75 percent) and teachers

At last, a magazine for needy self-made millionaires

Vancouver must have arrived, since Millionaire Blueprints, a magazine for the almost insufferably affluent, is distributing 20,000 copies in selected neighbourhoods on the left coast. The magazine, published by an Arlington, Texas company, is distributed in the choicest neighbourhoods in about 20 major markets, according to a story in Media in Canada. In Vancouver this apparently means Yaletown,

The Hollywood Canadian clout index

Canadian Business magazine loves lists and publishes them regularly. Its annual Rich List, for instance, is followed with avidity by people who care how much money other people have (we suspect a majority).This week, the magazine publishes its 3rd annual ranking of Canadian celebrities in Hollywood, most of whom rarely set foot in this country, mind you. The top 5 of the list of 15 available in

So THAT'S what happened to my copy!

Neil Morton, the editor at 2: The Magazine for Couples, shares with his readers in the magazine's fall issue the following e-mail he received from a star-struck letter carrier. It may be confirmation of your suspicions when a magazine sub arrives a little late or a little dog-eared:hi!i have been forgetting to write to you folks and tell you how stoked i am to see your magazine arrive in the mail

An attack of Laphamism

One person's backscratching is another person's homage, I suppose. Whatever, the editor of The Walrus, Ken Alexander, writes in the magazine's October 2007 issue a column about the forthcoming publication of Lapham's Quarterly. This is the retirement project of longtime Harper's magazine editor Lewis Lapham.In praising its prospectus Alexander, consciously or unconsciously, takes on Lapham's

Folio: editor says joining print to online makes both better

Tony Silber, the editor of Folio: magazine, has posted some interesting reflections about the magazine industry's obsession with online media.Even in my market, where we cover the magazine industry, the growth of advertising online is so significant that it will rival the size of the monthly print magazine in the not-too-distant-future.That obsession, then, is not all that surprising. In fact, I

Foreign publishers get a free ride in Ontario blue box levy

A few years back the Ontario government started taxing magazines over a certain size to offset 50% of their contribution to the costs of the Blue Box recycling program. The Waste Diversion Act (2002) levied a per-kilogram charge on magazines, catalogues, phone books and other printed matter.Stewardship Ontario, as the government euphemistically dubbed the program, required publishers resident in

Three Redwood titles nominated for Ozzies

Redwood Custom Communications has had three of its customer magazine titles nominated for the Folio:Ozzie Awards; winners will be announced September 23 at a gala event on the eve of the annual New York Folio: show. The three nominations (out of 3,000 entries) are forFamily Outlook, Spring 2007, Best Design New Magazine, Custom publication and Best Redesign, Custom publicationFood & Family,

Little magazines we like: Nova Scotia Policy Review

A stylish, almost retro, new quarterly magazine is being published in Bridgetown, a small town in the midst of the beautiful Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia. The Nova Scotia Policy Review eschews advertising and comes in an unusual format, 10" wide by 8" deep, beautifully typeset in Caslon in a careful, restrained design. Clearly somebody who loves type lives here and we suspect it is Rachel

Former Osprey chief exec Michael Sifton now to run Sun Media Corporation

With the absorption of Osprey Media, its newspaper and magazines, into the maw of Quebecor Media Inc., Michael Sifton was at loose ends, we suppose. Not any more; he has been named President and Chief Executive Officer of Quebecor's Sun Media Corporation. As such, he will be running Canada's largest newspaper publishing company.With the inclusion of the 20 Osprey dailies and 38 community papers,

Premier can't have it both ways, says Catholic Insight editor

Plunging headfirst into the Ontario election campaign, the editor of Catholic Insight, magazine has condemned Premier Dalton McGuinty for "scandalizing" a group of students by saying he could separate his personal Catholicism from his public life. McGuinty told a group of students at a Markham Catholic high school that his "private" faith doesn't determine his positions on public policy."There is

Parsing 30 years of Cosmopolitan

We always thought every issue of Cosmopolitan was the same issue; same models, same cleavage, same clothes, same relationship and sex advice. But, apparently, the magazine has evolved over the past 30 years, at least according to some scorekeeping from an article in Jezebel.com. Smokes and liquor are out; but perfume is a perennial. See for yourself. And check out their take on the differences in

UK readers said to be buying 72% more magazines now than 10 years ago

Magazine readers in the United Kingdom now spend 72 per cent more on magazines than they did 10 years ago, according to a new survey, reported in UK Press Gazette.20 million magazines are sold every week, or 28 magazines every second and UK consumers spend £2bn a year on purchasing magazines with 23 per cent spending more than £10 a month on titles. Three quarters of the population regularly buy

Quote, unquote: The Economist says the top of the market is bigger than many think

“You turn on your television anywhere now, you get so much pap that what I think people want is substance. We're going to make them think. There's no great theme behind it. We just follow the things we think are interesting. ... It is a part of the market that not everybody is in. But we've found the top of the market is bigger than other people thought.”-- Economist Editor-in-chief John

New York Times demolishes its "pay wall", gives its content away free

The rumour was published here previously; today the New York Times threw in the towel on trying to charge premium prices for online access to its content. According to a story in Folio:, the Times dropped its paid online subscription program TimesSelect "effectively admitting its two-year attempt to charge its Web site users to access premium content and archives had failed."TimesSelect has been

GQ celebrates its 50th with 10 (!) split-run covers of "style icons"

Oh, wow, it must be nice to have a big budget. GQ, the stylish men's magazine from Conde Nast, is celebrating its 50th anniversary by publishing 10 (count 'em) 10 split-run covers showing "style icons" from 5 decades. This according to the lead story in minOnline.Before GQ launched in 1957 (then as the Apparel Arts supplement to Esquire), the typical man dressed, à la the

Transcon launches ad network for blogs in Québec

Transcontinental Media, the newspaper, magazine and new media arm of Transcontinental Inc., is launching a local ad network in Québec that will allow advertising on 20 of what are said to be the most influential Québec-based blogs, according to an item on Montreal Tech Watch. The network will launch on Friday.The idea grew out of Yulbiz, a local event started by Michel Leblanc and Phillipe

John Macfarlane stepping down as Editor at Toronto Life; Sarah Fulford to succeed him

John Macfarlane, the editor of Toronto Life, will be stepping down at the end of 2007. He will be succeeded by Senior Editor Sarah Fulford, an eight year veteran of the magazine. The announcement was made today, an indication of some orderly succession planning at St. Joseph Media.Macfarlane, 65 (shown at left), has actually been editor of the magazine twice and can rightly, and without hyperbole

Workshops to address governance for small magazines

People who run small magazines know that often being successful is the result of a strong, resilient board and management, sharing a common vision; they also know how hard that is to achieve. Magazines Canada is trying to provide some help with a workshop on small magazines and governance best practices to be held in Montreal and Halifax.Judy Wolfe of Consulting Matrix will present the workshops,

Canadian single copy sales said to be 13% of total North American market

Recent figures from Coast to Coast Distribution suggests that Canadian share of the North American single copy magazine market is about 13%. This is a number that has, to our knowledge, not been published before (and may be surprisingly higher than expected).In a letter sent to publishers, Coast to Coast Distribution Services President and CEO Glenn Morgan says that sales were essentially flat in

Article wins Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award

At Word on the Street in Vancouver, John Vigna, a Vancouver freelance writer will be presented with the 2007 Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award. The award is made to freelance writers in B.C. or Alberta who have a contract to write an article or a book. Greber, a respected freelancer and musician, who died at the young age of 5o in 2000. This, according to an item on the Professional Writers

Pantone gets new owners

The ubiquitous Pantone colour swatches relied upon by magazine art directors and designers will still be around, but under new ownership, according to a story carried in DesignEdge Canada. X-Rite, a company from Grand Rapids Michigan that provides technology to measure, formulate and match colours, has agreed to purchase Carlstadt, N.J.-based Pantone Inc. for US$180 million. The deal is expected

Publisher of The Beaver and Kayak honours outstanding high school history teachers

Publishing magazines is a pretty important part of what Canada's National History Society does (The Beaver and Kayak), but it also operates two high profile award programs, one of them for outstanding Canadian high school history teachers. The prestige of the awards doubtless rebounds to the magazines' advantage. The 25 finalists for the 2007 Governor General's Awards for Excellence in Teaching

Consumer magazine ad spending in U.S. up 6.9%

Consumer magazines ad sales in the U.S. are up 6.9% for the first 6 months of 2007, compared with the same 6 months a year earlier. B-to-B magazines are down 7.20%. All magazine media are up 4.60%. These figures from TNS Media Intelligence. Share by medium National TV 32.8% Magazines 20.0%Newspapers 17.8%Local TV 10.8%Internet 7.6%

Word on the Street, where magazines come out to meet the public

In most places in Canada, the end of September has a crisp feel of autumn about it, which is ideal for Word on the Street (though Toronto can sometimes surprise with a heat wave). And this annual celebration of the written word (now in its 18th year) seems to have become an important part of marketing consumer magazines in this country -- both selling subs and single copies and raising brand

Quote, unquote: "big, luscious expression"

"You can't get big, luscious pictures like these on the Internet. Magazines, like books, allow us to slow down and get off the computer. They aren't going away any time soon. And we need to provide a forum for this traditional type of expression."-- Dan Rubinstein, editor of the just-launched Unlimited business magazine, quoted in an interview in the Edmonton Journal.

The Sopranos Pre-Emmy Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews co-writer Matthew Weiner about writing the emmy nominated Sopranos episode "Kennedy & Heidi"

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The Office Pre-Emmy Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews writer/showrunner Greg Daniels about his emmy nominated episode of The Office

Not Currently Available

The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews co-writer Don Payne and director Tim Story about Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Not Currently Available

Desjardins says he's leaving Transcon on a high note

Luc Desjardins, the CEO of Transcontinental Inc., told analysts during a conference call yesterday that he is leaving the company on a high note. "I am 55 and I completed the mandate I was hired for. The company is in good shape and in solid position for the future."Desjardins will step down in February, handing over to François Olivier, president of printing products and

Chair of PR industry association slams Marketing magazine for ignoring it

The chair of the Canadian Council of Public Relations Firms (CCPRF) has written a highly critical letter to Marketing magazine about its perceived failure to adequately cover the public relations field; and has published the letter itself when Marketing apparently didn't do so.Marketing is a biweekly trade title published by Rogers Publishing Limited and which positions itself as Canada's only

LIT 12 & 13 Now Available

LIT 13

Featuring poetry and prose by...

Kristin Abraham * Jennifer Frost Banks * Bridgette Bates * Aaron Belz * Jessica Bozek * Stephanie Brown * Mairéad Byrne * CAConrad * Caroline Conway * Wende Crow * James Cummins * Erinne Dobson * Noah Falck * Edwin Frank * Mary Gaitskill * Drew Gardner * Adam Golaski * Paul Hoover * Caitlin Horrocks * MC Hyland * Brian Kloppenberg * Joshua Land * Debra Liese * Dora Malech * Destanie McAllister * Jennifer Merrifield * Eugenio Montejo * Frank Montesonti * Carley Moore * Kirk Nesset * Matthew Pennock * David Pollock * Jessica Reed * Andrew Sage * Maureen Seaton * Kristine Snodgrass * Jason Stumpf * Terese Svoboda * Jackson Taylor * Urban Waite * Rob Walsh * Amanda Rachelle Warren * Derek White

Art by...

Brett Baker * Jeffre Dene

Plus a SPECIAL FEATURE on DETOUR, Edgar Ulmer’s 1945 PRC Film Noir
Curated by ROBERT POLITO and featuring critical writing, reactions, and interviews by...

A.J. Albany * John Ashbery * Arianné Ulmer Cipes * Kent Jones * Guy Maddin * Greil Marcus * Geoffrey O’Brien * Robert Polito




LIT 12

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


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LIT's Current Masthead

Peter Bogart Johnson & Nicole Steinberg, Editors
Graeme Bezanson, Poetry Editor
Scott Dahlie & Emily Taylor, Prose Editors
Yvonne Garrett, Associate Prose Editor
Mark Bibbins, Shanna Compton, Justin Marks & Kathleen Ossip, Editors at Large
David Lehman, Robert Polito & Jackson Taylor, Faculty Advisors


P.S. We're now accepting submissions and will be until December, when we take a holiday break. See our earlier post for submission guidelines.

Pattison Group offloads share of 24 Hours in Vancouver

Vancouver's edition of the magapaper 24 Hours is now wholly in Sun Media hands, as billboard/distribution/car sales mogul Jimmy Pattison has quietly sold out his share to his newspaper partners. This, according to a story in the Vancouver Province.Glen Clark, Jim Pattison Group executive vice-president and former B.C. premier, said the Pattison Group was proud of the paper but it didn't hold

Former Flare publisher David Hamilton named publisher of Hello! Canada

David Hamilton, after a 9-month hiatus following his departure from a long tenure as Publisher of Flare magazine, has been named publisher of Hello! Canada magazine by Rogers Publishing Limited. He starts officially next week. "We are very happy that David will be leading the Hello! Canada team in the role of Publisher," said Marc Blondeau, Senior-Vice President, Consumer Publishing, Rogers

Robertson decision explained, more or less

There's an interesting and entertaining (not to mention thought-provoking) essay in the current Literary Review of Canada (LRC) by Toronto freelancer Christopher Moore, parsing and pondering the recent Supreme Court of Canada decision in the class action case of Robertson vs. Thomson et al. Freelancer Heather Robertson launched the case more than a decade ago, seeking compensation for inclusion

Naked Eye uses film fest as re-launch pad

The relaunch of a magazine may pale by comparison with the red-carpet shenanigans at the Toronto International Film festival, but according to a recent story in Media in Canada, the Montreal-based magazine Naked Eye chose the popular festival as a relaunching pad.The pop culture mag for men and women 18-35, Naked Eye Magazine (www.nakedeyemag.com), is relaunching during the Toronto International

Quote, unquote: why freelancers need professional help getting rates up

Forcing big media outfits like Rogers & Transcon & CanWest and Torstar to pay more to freelancers seems an impossible task to most writers I know. Of course, writing a densely-researched, skilfully nuanced 3,000 word feature is impossible for most people who aren’t professional journalists. My point is, that’s what professional union people do for a living and if musicians & actors can be

Company to launch this fall

Women in business in the Golden Horseshoe of southern Ontario will soon see a new magazine aimed at them. Company, which is to debut this fall is the creation of Company of Women, a 370 member service organization that offers various programs and services including such things as monthly dinners in Oakville and Toronto, breakfast meetings in Burlington and Mississauga, golf and theatre outings,

Getting the message heard; PWAC runs media release seminar

For magazine editors who receive a blizzard of incomplete, incompetent and just plain boring press releases every week, it's good to know that somebody is trying to improve the situation. The Periodical Writers Association of Canada is presenting a half-day course on media release writing in Toronto on Tuesday, October 9, taught by veteran freelancers and PWAC association member Paul Lima. "

What have we been saying? What we need is one, big organization

More than two years ago, right here, we posted an item in which we made what we thought was a pretty persuasive case for one, big magazine organization. In light of the fact that the Canadian Society of Magazine Editors (CSME) is cautiously, and internally, discussing an alliance of some kind with Magazines Canada (see the mastheadonline story -- sub req'd), we thought we'd reprint the item here.

"The North has arrived", says urban lifestyle title Urbanology

Mainstream magazines sometimes don't seem to have the audacity to shout "look at me! look at my latest issue!" . Making statements isn't our usual way.But Urbanology magazine's fall issue isn't afraid to make a strong statement about itself and urban music generally, with its first Canadian cover subjects celebrating “The North Has Arrived.” While most urban music magazines are understandably

Tony Cioffi becomes President and CEO of Reader's Digest Canada

Antonio (Tony) Cioffi has been named named President and CEO of Reader's Digest Canada. Cioffi has been with Reader's Digest since 1998, in various roles, including Controller, Vice-President Finance and Chief Financial Officer(CFO), CFO and Senior VP Operations and CFO and Senior VP Operations andInformation Technology.A chartered accountant, Cioffi worked for the consulting and accounting firm

Friendly Faces & Folks at the LIT 13 Launch Party, September 7, 2007

All photos by Nicole Steinberg.












Graeme Bezanson, LIT 13 Poetry Editor


Caroline Conway


Danielle Winterton, LIT 13 Prose Editor


Adam Golaski


CAConrad


Terese Svoboda


Robert Polito


Geoffrey O'Brien


Will Edmiston & Peter Bogart Johnson, LIT 13 Co-Editor



Thanks to all for a memorable evening! LIT 13 contributors: if you missed the festivities, worry not! Your copies will be in the mail soon.

Canadian Food Safety magazine purchased by MediaEDGE

Controlling interest in Canadian Food Safety Magazine has been purchased by MediaEDGE Communications of Toronto.The quarterly trade magazine serves the Canadian food safety industry -- suppliers, growers, packers, foodservice, hospitality, food processing, warehousing and distribution, retail, packaging and equipment manufacturers, healthcare, government regulators, auditors and inspectors,

Canada Council publishes responses to its strategic plan review

The Canada Council has been undertaking a strategic planning consultation across the country, with conversations with key stakeholders and groups, including representatives of the magazine industry and freelance writers.There was also an online survey in which respondents were asked to comment on a wide range of issues. The results of this phase of the consultation -- which may be of significant

Elle Canada to produce promotional supplement for TV model show

Elle Canada magazine will be publishing a 16-page promotional supplement in its November issue as part of its official partnership with the Slice network's show Project Runway Canada, according to a story in Media in Canada. Slice is owned by Alliance Atlantis.Elle Canada and the Fashion Design Council of Canada are both promotional partners for the show, which premiers in October.It was

Bag-less, but mag-less too: the ominous "clutter-free" grocery checkout

The typical front checkout is non-existent at this store. They have opened it up just like the rest of the store. There are no candy bars, no magazines...just the checkout!-- from an item in the blog My Eyes Glaze Over, rhapsodizing about a new-concept Loblaws Superstore in Milton, Ontario.A press release issued by Loblaws at the end of August was headlined by the fact that this pioneering Milton

Canadian Magazines blog adds job board

[Promotional message] You may have noticed that Canadian Magazines now has a job board. It's the little blue box (facsimile seen below) and which resides in the sidebar area over there on the right. It's intended to link up people who are looking to fill jobs in Canadian magazines (editors, writers, art directors, designers, management, ad sales, production, circulation, distribution and so on)

3:10 To Yuma Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews co-writers Michael Brandt and Derek Haas about 3:10 To Yuma

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Shoot 'Em Up Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews writer-director Michael Davis about Shoot 'Em Up!

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Shoot 'Em Up Introduction Animatic

Shoot 'Em Up - Introduction Animatic - Written, Directed and Drawn by Michael Davis

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Shoot 'Em Up Rooftop Animatic

Shoot 'Em Up - Rooftop Animatic - Written, Directed and Drawn by Michael Davis

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Shoot 'Em Up The Oil Slick Animatic

Shoot 'Em Up - The Oil Slick Animatic - Written, Directed and Drawn by Michael Davis

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Shoot 'Em Up The Warehouse Animatic

Shoot 'Em Up - The Warehouse Animatic - Written, Directed and Drawn by Michael Davis

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Shoot 'Em Up Car Animatic

Shoot 'Em Up - Car Animatic - Written, Directed and Drawn by Michael Davis

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Shoot 'Em Up Loft Animatic

Shoot 'Em Up - Loft Animatic - Written, Directed and Drawn by Michael Davis

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The Hunting Party Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews writer-director Richard Shepard about The Hunting Party

Not Currently Available

Atlantic Canada teen magazine launching

A new quarterly magazine is being launched in Nova Scotia that is "teen-tested, teen-written and teen-approved". Teens have contributed short stories, poems and articles and have helped with its design. Judging by one test version, readers can expect a bit more than the beauty and dating tips that make up the bulk of teen magazines.Teens Now Talk (TNT, get it?) is to come out in print form in

Niedzviecki is library writer (and reader) in residence

Hal Niedzviecki, the co-founder of Broken Pencil, the magazine about zines, is writer-in-residence at the Toronto Public Libraries until the end of December, according to an item in the Shoestring blog for small magazines from Magazines Canada.Niedzviecki will read manuscripts and works in progress and, by appointment, talk to people about their manuscripts.In addition to co-founding Broken

Plunge into the Briarpatch as its publisher

Briarpatch is a progressive magazine with a sense of humour and a passion for social justice. Rather a nice place to be the publisher. The magazine is looking for one and you can find out more about that here. It's based in Regina and the long wish-list of skills and interests could be daunting, but not for the right person. You'll not get rich, but you could have some fun.

Chocolat magazine to melt away; Rogers announces closure

[This post has been updated]Rogers Publishing is killing Chocolat magazine, the end of a controversial cooperative venture with Canada Post, launched just last year. The staff of the English, French and online components of the magazine have been informed. Significant layoffs are expected, though some staffers will be absorbed in other titles. The last issue, October, will be distributed

Canadian Living and House & Home best Canadian newsstand performers

Coast to Coast Distribution Services has released a list of 2,700 magazines' newsstand sales in units and gross retail dollars in Canada. It was done with data from The NewsGroup, Newswest, Metro News, Benjamin News and MediaLogix. It represents data on about 96% of all single copies sold in this country.The top 10 titles are all American and the number one is, natch, People magazine, with 6.4

Listen, learn and keep it to yourself: Nonfiction #2

The next edition of Nonfiction is taking place Wednesday, September 19 at the Drake Hotel Underground, 115o Queen Street West, Toronto, 9 p.m. (entry: $5.30). It's "a place for journalists of all kinds to tell stories that never made it to the public: stories killed by editors, blocked by producers, or self-censored by journalists themselves. These are the stories usually told privately,

Spacing magazine expands its reach, launches Montréal blog

Spacing, the three times a year champion of public space, the urban environment and public affairs -- a magazine that punches well above its weight -- is expanding.Having started in Toronto with a print magazine, augmented by a daily blog Spacing Wire and its election-time blog Spacing Votes, the magazine's publishers have launched a Montreal edition online. No plans to start a print version

Dose hangs in there, online

Fifteen months ago, Dose, CanWest's improbable "daily magazine", was folded to be reincarnated as an online "youth" component of CanWest Media's offerings. At the time the paper version folded, its companion online site was reported to have about 160,000 unique visitors a month. According to current CanWest media information, the Dose.ca site has increased its audience, sans paper or street

Quote, unquote: Reactive media habits

This summer is the first time I really felt the seismic shifts that are taking place in the media. I felt it because having lived through most of the year on the Internet, I was thrilled to return to the pace and texture of a well-edited magazine. While the Internet provides instant access to the world in a strange way, it doesn’t really come alive until you ask it something. It needs you to be

These things add up, you know: tallying the price tag for U.S. fashion mags

The blog Jezebel deployed two of its interns to plow through the September issues of fashion "ladymag" magazines published out of the U.S. and tally up what the price tag was for the "expensive shit" that was contained therein. Their best guess is as follows:Most Shameless September Ladymag: Elle. Total Shit: $73,566,063 Runners-Up:Glamour. Total Shit: $1,511,568Vogue . Total Shit:

Canada Type introduces "personal licenses" for commercial fonts

Toronto-based type company Canada Type is introducing "personal licenses" for their fonts that make them available for non-commercial use at 20 to 35% off the cost of a commercial license."We'd like great design and conscious typography to be natural for everyone, so this is certainly a step in the right direction."said co-founder Patrick Griffin.Personal license customers may use Canada Type

Business 2.0 closing

Time Inc. is closing down Business 2.0, a monthly magazine about the "new economy" and will absorb part of its San Francisco-based staff into Fortune magazine. Since the magazine was founded in 1999, it has lost about US$110 million. Time Warner (as it was) bought the-then biweekly title in 2001 for US$68 million from the British company that started it and merged it with its struggling startup e

Just when you thought ads would pay for your web strategy...

Well THAT should cheese off the publishers who are trying to finance their web inititatives with paid advertising. One of the up-and-coming browsers, Firefox, has launched an add-on that, once activated, deletes advertisements from websites. This, according to a story in the New York Times. (The irony of having to click past an ad on the NYT website to get to the story was not lost on me. )

Iceberg-wrangling article takes veterans on a voyage of exploration in Legion magazine

The Legion magazine has for several years run a continuing series called Celebrating Canada which is a counterpoint to the usual line of military history and veterans' affairs. "Believing that too often we take too much for granted in Canada, Legion magazine's editors created this series to explore the nature of this grand land. From people to places, from business to industry, we chronicle

Not so fast, the quarrel over PAP with UPS may not be over, says law firm

An article published by the blue-chip law firm Blake, Cassels and Graydon LLP suggests that the sigh of relief about the decision in the court case involving United Parcel Service and Canada Post may be premature.You may recall an item here in June reporting that UPS had initiated a trade challenge before a North American Free Trade Agreement tribunal in January 2000, claiming not less than US$

Hello! crests 180,000 circulation a month; average 45,000 a week

[This post has been updated.]Rogers Media's Canadian franchise of Hello! magazine has topped 180,000 in its monthly circulation guarantee to advertisers, the company said in a release. When launched in August 2006, the magazine had 100,000. The figures are based on sworn publisher's statements (the magazine has applied for Audit Bureau of Circulations membership).[UPDATE] A friend suggests that

Tina Brown named to Magazine Editors Hall of Fame

Tina Brown, who cut a major swath through New York magazines with Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and Talk, is being named to the Magazine Editors Hall of Fame by the American Society of Magazine Editors. The award will be made in January but was announced today, according to a story in the New York Post. The result is all sorts of chatter that, following her tour promoting her book about Diana,

Modern Dog answers the question "Do I look like my dog?"

Modern Dog magazine asked Stanley Coren, the noted dog behaviour expert, to write an article in its Fall 2007 issue about whether people look like their dogs. Apparently, the answer is yes."Actually, there are scientific explanations for why people might have a preference for dogs that look something like themselves, " says Coren. "The data is quite clear that, at least when dealing

Finding your big break in the back of a Wal-Mart store near you

[This story has been updated]You may have been able to go through the whole summer without noticing, but young women across Canada have submitted themselves to a process launched by Vervegirl magazine, in collaboration with Wal-Mart stores and a couple of major beauty sponsors for the chance to be featured as a "new faces model" in the magazine's upcoming holiday issue.The whole thing is a