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