Founder says he'll put an "American Spring" in Salon.com's step

David Talbot
Salon.com, which can reasonably claim to have been the very first standalone online magazine is undergoing a complete relaunch under the direction of the man who started it.
Former editor in chief and online news pioneer David Talbot returns at CEO, six years after he left, and says that the money-losing site (said to have lost $15 million in the three years ending 2010) is going

The pursuit of accuracy in your online publishing

Craig Silverman, the Montreal-based publisher of the blog Regret The Error, managing editor for PBS MediaShift and a frequent user of social media such as Twitter, has published (in his column for the Columbia Journalism Review) 8 simple rules for doing accurate journalism online. It's preparation for a workshop he's giving next week at the Online News Association. One of his rules for accuracy

Canadian Family redesigns and relaunches its parenting website

CanadianFamily.ca
Canadian Family magazine (St Joseph Media) has rebuilt its website CanadianFamily.ca to reflect changes they have seen in online parenting information sites since the site was launched in 2006. One of the most obvious improvements was sections tabbed by age and stage so visitors can quickly find information most relevant to their situation.The centerpiece is the new

Sweetspot founder to launch online retail site

The woman who started Sweetspot.ca is about to launch a new venture, an online retailer and shopping destination called Dealuxe. According to a story in Marketing magazine, Joanne Track has hired the Toronto media agency Blammo to create a campaign that will start April 4, preceeding Dealuxe's official lauch May 2.A self-described “start-up junkie” who launched Sweetspot.ca in 2004 (the site was

Publisher says Canada Periodical Fund unfair to online-only magazines

The editor and publisher of CMG Online, an online-only motorcycle magazine is mounting a Facebook, lobbying and letter-writing campaign to get the provisions of the Canada Periodical Fund changed. Rob Harris's beef is that the funding earmarked for online development will go disproportionately to print magazines to create online sites that compete with web publications like his. He acknowledges

New online design, travel and food magazine Dabble launching

On Monday, a new online magazine called Dabble,focussing on interior design, travel and food, is to launch. Editor-in-chief is Kimberley Seldon who is also the design editor for Chatelaine magazine. According to a story in the Calgary Herald, the nature of online publishing means the magazine has plenty of room to cover everything lavishly. Dabble can run 10 full-sized home, interior, food or

Transcon online sub deal not quite as good as it looks at first

On its face, it looks like a great deal. Transcontinental Media is using couponer Toronto Deals Blog to offer a one-year subscription to Style at Home for $11 and for the Hockey News at $23. But the fine print in the "one-day only" deal is that, while you nominally save 56% off the newsstand price, you'll have to pay $5.95 for shipping, handling and applicable taxes on Style and $7.95 for Hockey

Are magazine apps being met with a yawn by advertisers?

Magazines that have invested heavily in online apps are finding that the payoff is smaller than their investment now and may continue to be for years to come.Those publishers who have taken the plunge and hired staff and put money into upfront and development costs are finding that their investments are being met at worst with a yawn by advertisers and at best lukewarm ad interest, according to a

British online literary magazine Five Dials launches a push-button edition in Quebec

Julie Doucet illustration from the issue
The British online literary magazine Five Dials is launching an edition in Quebec tomorrow. A posting on The Walrus's blog about the event includes a Q & A with the editor, Craig Taylor, a Canadian. An archive of back issues of the magazine are freely available online.“On the 20th of November we’ll be launching a special Quebec-themed edition of the

Rogers's Sweetspot.ca spawns DailySqueeze, a health and fitness site

For "healthy, hip women"
Sweetspot.ca, the Rogers Publishing online lifestyle site for fashion, food, decor and motherhood is spinning off a new site called DailySqueeze.ca, for "healthy, hip women". In doing so it is going straight at other online health and fitness sites such as BestHealth.ca BestHealthmag.ca from Reader's Digest. "DailySqueeze.ca will be Canada’s one-stop destination for the

ZoomerMedia strikes online sales and marketing alliance with similar U.S. firm

The publisher of Zoomer magazine has entered into a symbiotic marketing agreement with a comparable U.S.company to handle sales of online properties and cross-border business.
According to a story in Marketing, ZoomerMedia has struck a deal with Navigate Boomer Media that may substantially benefit ZoomerMedia's eight online properties, including 50Plus.com; apparently the combined traffic to the

Transcontinental Media launches digital ad rep house; partners with Demand Media

Transcontinental Media has announced the launch of a digital rep house, partnering with several North American online publishers to sell advertisers. In a press release it said that it has now entered into a two-year agreement with Demand Media so that the display advertising for Demand Media websites in Canada becomes part of the ad inventory marketed by Transcon. Including Transcon's own,

Digital Newsstand has 153 magazines signed up and sold 2,138 subs in first 9 months

Some nine months since Magazines Canada partnered with Zinio to launch the Digital Newsstand, we were curious about how the program for its members is going and what kind of results it was achieving. Here's where things stood as of June 16:153 titles have signed up to participate in the program with 117 magazines live on the site
Almost all are selling both single copies and subscriptions; a

Rabble.ca again taps its community for support

Rabble.ca, the online news site with a magazine sensibility, is holding its annual membership drive to help build audience and pay for providing progressive stories to it. As it points out, it receives no government support, has no parent company, no endowment and survives on community support for their 100% free site. We particularly like their wacky banner for the campaign that says "If you

Brunico discontinues print edition of Playback magazine

[This post has been updated.] Playback magazine, a fortnightly trade publication for Canada’s production, broadcasting & interactive media industries, is discontinuing its print edition and switching to a wholly online operation; it had previously had a companion website and a daily e-letter to subscribers as well as the print magazine. According to the publication's media kit, circulation of the

Getting small- and medium-sized magazine on to tablet and other e-devices

As things get sorted in the wake of the launch of the iPad, smaller and medium-sized magazines must be wondering how they are going to be able to make their content available on the new device in some affordable way. Larger publishing organizations of the likes of Rogers and Transcontinental have the means to do this, if they wish, which they undoubtedly do. But there is a real opportunity here

More to love: how magazines and online complement each other

Magazines Canada has prepared a slide presentation about how magazine print and online advertising can work together. The presentation, compiled from a variety of sources and which can be downloaded as a PowerPoint presentation, elaborates and ilustrates the following 10 points which magazine publishers can and should consider incorporating as part of their own pitches to advertising clients:

MoneySense relaunches personal finance website with sponsor support

MoneySense magazine has re-launched its website with the help of the sponsorship of TD Canada Trust, according to a press release. The revamped site will include new blogs by senior editors Bryan Borzykowski and Rob Gerlsbeck as well as a variety of information on personal finance.

Big 5 U.S. mag companies partner in digital publishing venture: potential 145 million readers

Recent talk about a digital newsstand involving the biggest magazine players in the U.S. has taken an action turn. Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith (NYSE: MDP), News Corp (NYSE: NWS). and Time Inc. have announced that they are now equity partners in a new digital publishing venture. This has variously been described, including as a "Hulu for magazines"According to a story in paidContent.org,
They

What if Rupert Murdoch is right about Google?

For a man who doesn't use e-mail, or a computer, media magnate Rupert Murdoch sure gets a lot of attention paid to his musings and pronouncements about the online world. This week's statement that he is considering removing his Wall Street Journal, Barron's and other publications from Google, is no different. According to a post by blogger Sean Blanda, we should consider whether Murdoch may be