http://www.mastheadonline.ca/rss/news.php MastheadOnline RSS en-us Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:35:58 EDT Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:35:58 EDT http://www.mastheadonline.ca info@mastheadonline.ca webmaster@northisland.ca http://www.mastheadonline.ca/news/2008/20080905657.shtml Fri, 5 Sep 2008 10:31:45 EST  Bruce Richards After 27 years in the publishing business, CARDonline publisher Bruce Richards retired this month. According to a note accompanying a recent CARD e-newsletter, Richards began his career at Maclean Hunter with the Financial Post in 1981. He became CARD’s national sales manager in 1990 and led the launch of CARDonline in 1995. Last year, Richards was appointed associate publisher of sister Rogers Publishing-property Marketing Magazine and assisted in the magazine’s website relaunch earlier this year. http://www.mastheadonline.ca/news/2008/20080904834.shtml Thu, 4 Sep 2008 10:16:30 EST If you’re interested in selling more advertising (and what magazine isn’t?), but don't have the budget/time to do the necessary prospecting, you may want to consider an opportunity provided by Humber College: This fall semester, second-year Humber students in the Professional Selling course (part of the Advertising - Media Sales program) are expected to gain real-world experience by doing ad prospecting for a professional media company, including magazine publishers. http://www.mastheadonline.ca/news/2008/20080904588.shtml Thu, 4 Sep 2008 10:18:12 EST Recent surprise cuts to federal arts and culture programs—including the Canada Magazine Fund—are prompting artists and cultural workers to band together to defeat the Harper government in the expected election. A new group cheekily calling itself the “Department of Culture” launched last night in Toronto with just such a goal, and is calling on writers, graphic designers, performers, artists and other sympathetic souls to help. http://www.mastheadonline.ca/news/2008/20080903742.shtml M.U. Wed, 3 Sep 2008 10:29:56 EST According to Hello! associate publisher Peter Willson, a major breakthrough for the magazine came in July 2007, when the cover price was lowered from $4.95 to $2.99. The price has since been raised to $3.49. [Editor's note: A version of this story, posted yesterday, contained incorrect calculations with regards to percentage gains/losses. Coast to Coast has since corrected these errors. We apologize for the confusion.] With gross newsstand revenues over $6.4 million in 2007, Hello! Canada catapulted to the top Canadian position on the Canadian Newsstand BoxScore, a ranking of newsstand sales for all magazines sold in Canada, compiled annually by Coast to Coast Newsstand Services Partnership. Climbing from 42nd to 12th place, Hello! surpassed Canadian Living as the top Canuck seller. The Rogers Publishing-owned celebrity weekly increased revenues by 209.9% and grew its unit sales by 313.6% in 2007. http://www.mastheadonline.ca/news/2008/20080903701.shtml Iqra Azhar And Marco Ursi Wed, 3 Sep 2008 10:32:40 EST A virtual flyer promoting the upcoming virtual campus fair, hosted by Maclean's. With its Guide to Canadian Universities, Best Professional Schools guide, annual university student issue and OnCampus website, Maclean’s pretty much owns the higher education category in Canada. On Oct. 22, the venerable newsweekly will build on this strength by hosting its first-ever virtual campus fair. Like a traditional campus fair, prospective university and college students will have the opportunity to listen to speakers, visit booths, speak with representatives from various campuses and collect information packages. Unlike a traditional campus fair, the Maclean’s OnCampus Virtual Fair will take place entirely on the Web. http://www.mastheadonline.ca/news/2008/20080902851.shtml Tue, 2 Sep 2008 01:02:08 EST Derek Finkle Freelance writers have long been complaining about the $1-a-word standard pay rate that has remained flat for over three decades now. Derek Finkle, the former editor of Toro magazine, revealed in a mass e-mail sent out this afternoon that he plans to launch a new literary agency for freelance writers, in order  "to correct these long-standing problems in an expedient manner by being actively engaged in the negotiation of fees and rights for all stories, blogs, and columns written by those freelancers in its roster." http://www.mastheadonline.ca/news/2008/20080828874.shtml Iqra Azhar Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:23:54 EST An alternative to video games for kids in the Peel region surrounding Toronto. When Sharon Foster moved back to Canada from Florida last year, she was surprised to find that no one had established a magazine for kids in the Peel region surrounding Toronto, a void she had previously filled in 1995 when she started Kidstuff for 6-to-12 year olds in Mississauga and Brampton. Upon her return, Foster, along with sales manager Cathy Healy, set about creating Kidzine, an activity magazine for the same young audience, set to premiere next month with a circulation of 20,000. http://www.mastheadonline.ca/news/2008/20080828626.shtml Iqra Azhar Thu, 28 Aug 2008 10:35:21 EST The New Quarterly teamed up with Canadian Notes and Queries to produce this special project, celebrating the work of writers excluded from last year's Penguin anthology of Canadian writing. When Daniel Wells, editor of Canadian Notes and Queries, walked into his local bookstore last October and picked up the latest copy of The Penguin Book of Canadian Short Stories, an anthology featuring the “best Canadian literature,” he was not impressed. Turning to the back, he noticed many of his favourite Canadian short-story writers left out. Looking to showcase those authors he believes were unfairly omitted, Wells approached fellow editor Kim Jernigan of The New Quarterly. Together, they conceived of The Salon Des Refusés, meaning The Assembly of the Rejected, a special joint project that was promoted with a launch party last week at the Gladstone Hotel Ballroom in Toronto. http://www.mastheadonline.ca/news/2008/20080827689.shtml M.U. Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:35:15 EST Lack of advertising has forced the publisher Marshall Stevenson to suspend production indefinitely. He says he's planning another magazine down the road. Production of a monthly magazine servicing the communities north of McKnight Blvd. in Calgary has been suspended indefinitely. "It's ironic that this month we had some great advertisers lined up (Chev/GM dealership, Safeway, Co-op Grocery, Good Life Fitness and more)," publisher Marshall Stevenson, who launched North of McKnight Community Connection in February, said via e-mail, " but the buy in just wasn't there from the advertisers for the long term we needed." http://www.mastheadonline.ca/news/2008/20080826642.shtml Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:34:58 EST [This post has been updated with a correction.] A couple of changes to report at Edmonton-based Venture Publishing. First, Peter Robertson is the new director of marketing for the company. Robertson has done marketing jobs in a wide range of industries  including oil and gas, manufacturing and information technology and has taught at MacEwan, NAIT, Athabasca  University and the University of Alberta. http://www.mastheadonline.ca/news/2008/20080825622.shtml Mon, 25 Aug 2008 10:34:54 EST   Ivor Shapiro (right) with his partner Louise Paul at the launch party last week. Despite the proliferation of journalism courses and programs at North American universities over the last 40 years or so, no textbook existed on the subject of feature writing. A new book, edited by Ryerson University associate professor Ivor Shapiro and published by Edmond Montgomery Publications, has now filled that void. Launched last week at the Duke of York pub in Toronto, The Bigger Picture: Elements of Feature Writing has service-y contributions on the art and practicalities of feature writing from ten veteran reporters and teachers, including Philip Preville, David Hayes, Sue Ferguson and Susan McClelland. Feature stories from the likes of Malcolm Gladwell, Stephanie Nolen, Katrina Onstad and John Vaillant are also included. http://www.mastheadonline.ca/news/2008/20080821641.shtml Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:27:18 EST The Alberta Magazine Publishers Association co-hosted a design event last week at the Uppercase Gallery in Calgary. Anh Chu, AMPA's communications and program assistant, sent us some photos from the event, which are posted after the break. If you have a magazine-related event coming up and would like your photos posted here, please send them to mursi@masthead.ca. http://www.mastheadonline.ca/news/2008/20080820868.shtml Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:42:07 EST As part of the federal Conservative government’s plan to cut $44.8 million in spending on arts and culture, $500,000 will be cut from the Canada Magazine Fund’s budget next year, according to reports in the Globe and Mail and the Canadian Magazines blog. The Support for Industry Development, worth about $2.5 million this year, will likely bear the brunt of the hit. http://www.mastheadonline.ca/news/2008/20080820674.shtml Iqra Azhar Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:25:50 EST A new bioenergy magazine from Annex Publishing & Printing. During a world bioenergy conference in Sweden this past May, publisher Scott Jamieson of Annex Publishing & Printing conceived the idea for Canadian Biomass, a quarterly magazine for Canadian forest industry professionals that covers the emerging bioenergy market and energy industry. The 32-page debut issue came out this month; the next one will appear in December. “Bioenergy is a huge part of their mix in Scandinavia. They are like 20 years ahead of us. When I saw the amount of information available to people in the industry, it was clear that we had that void here.” http://www.mastheadonline.ca/news/2008/20080819630.shtml Iqra Azhar Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:23:53 EST A French edition premieres in March 2009. A Toronto-based guide for pregnant women that was first launched in Dec. 2005 will be expanding into French Canada in March 2009. About 40,000 copies of Oh Baby! Quebec will be freely distributed at over 30 Sears Canada locations, at pediatricians’ and doctors’ offices, maternity stores, toy stores and at baby shows and events, according to publisher Nick Eliades. The French version is being created due to demand from Sears shoppers, website visitors and a perceived need for more parenting magazines in Quebec. Although Oh Baby! was originally intended to be a national magazine, Sears locations in Quebec would not distribute the English version. “We decided that now is the time to do it,” says Eliades. “English speaking Canada has so many magazines whereas Quebec doesn’t have many avenues to reach parents.”