magazineworld2011 by Humber College

mag.world 2011

www.magworldonline.com

WHAT KEEPS MAGAZINES ALIVE? THE MAKINGS OF A GOOD APP. TWITTER.

TRANSLATING FROM PRINT TO WEB. BRANDED MAGS. DIRECT TARGET MARKETING. TEEN MAGS. QR CODES.

PICTURES VS WORDS. ONLINE AD SPACE.

mag.world 2011

TOM KITUKU

AMY WEINSTEIN

MAGAZINES CANADA

AMY WEINSTEIN

41 KARI PRITCHARD

WENDY MACH

EDITOR’S NOTE & MASTHEAD

Please Choose This Book by Its Cover Hannah Vanderkooy

The One Man Show Jacquie Schifano

DIGITAL DIALOGUE

Just Don’t Forget to Breathe Justin Irwin

Brands in Your Backyard Tyler Davie Tech Beats the Cheque Daniel Green

Developing the Right APProach Danielle Perry

Navigating the Mobile Sea Vicky Siemon

PROFILE

Marketing to the Spirited Lifestyle David Sutherland

ODDS & ENDS Silence is Worthless Alex Consiglio

Saying More... With Less Wendy Mach

Scents & Cent-sibility Tom Kituku

BUSINESS/TECHNOLOGY

CULTURE Tales, Trails and Trees Elaine Anselmi

The Stock Market Clash Amy Weinstein

The Window to the Words Alexander Leach

The Kids Are All Right Michael Gregory

Page For Sale, Inquire Within Radha Tailor

Scan-Handlers Welcome Matt Leroux

A Little Birdie Told Me... Kelly Hall

Battle for the Byline Catherine Divaris

What It Takes Kari Pritchard

BEYOND THE PAGES A sneak peek online

mag.world 2011

AMY WEINSTEIN

Editor’s Note & Masthead There’s been enough talk of print as a dying industry to conjure up images of pulled-printer-plugs and disheveled writers wielding ‘will write for food’ signs. But, perhaps it’s all a tad dramatic. No one would argue that there hasn’t been change in the industry, but is print really headed the way of dinosaurs and Dodo birds? My grandfather’s stack of, albeit dust collecting, National Geographics that date back to the publication’s earlier years bear witness that there remains a certain nostalgia for the printed page, and furthermore, what’s on that page. Kari Pritchard takes a look at some of the start-ups of 2010 in her article What It Takes. A few took off running while others stumbled behind. What challenges and responses are successfully keeping stories on pages? In many ways success is the product of constant improvement and innovation. These days innovation comes primarily in the form of shiny digital devices as well as glossy pages. Danielle Perry and Tyler Davie show us that from Smartphones to tablets and websites to social media, putting the magazine out there now means translation to a new device with a new app nearly every day. But accepting change doesn’t guarantee the top spot on the magazine rack or the highest traffic website. It is still the foundation of a magazine, the mission and ‘the raison d’etre’ that keeps them in business. In the end, it’s the reasons behind the stories that keep readers reading. Whether on the web or in print, words are here to stay.

Elaine Anselmi Editor-in-Chief 4

mag.world 2011

mag.world Masthead Editor-in-Chief Executive Editor Managing Editor: Words Asst. Managing Editor: Words Managing Editor: Production Asst. Managing Editor: Production Managing Editor: Online Asst. Managing Editor: Online Assignment Editor Assignment Editor

Elaine Anselmi Michael Gregory Fabien Alexis Jacquie Schifano Hannah Vanderkooy Daniel Green Alex Consiglio David Sutherland Jacquie Schifano Daniel Green

Section Editors Tyler Davie Justin Irwin Danielle Perry Kari Pritchard Research Staff Fabien Alexis Tyler Davie Matt Leroux Wendy Mach Copy Chief Jacquie Schifano Copy Editors Tom Kituku Amy Weinstein Art Director Asst. Art Director Asst. Art Director Online Art Director Asst. Online Art Director

Radha Tailor Kelly Hall Catherine Divaris Vicky Siemon Elizabeth Caven

Photo Editor Alexander Leach Photographers Sarah Cresswell Tom Kituku Wendy Mach Amy Weinstein Faculty Advisors Terri Arnott Lara King Anne Zbitnew

Humber Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning School of Media Studies & Information Technology 205 Humber College Boulevard Toronto, Ontario, Canada M9W 5L7 416.675.6622 ext. 4518 www.magworldonline.com

THE ONE MAN SHOW

Bill Douglas is a creative genius. From his Bobcaygeon home comes the graphic editorial masterpiece, Coupe Magazine. Coupe has been defying magazine conventions since its conception in 1999. The madman or virtuoso, Douglas takes us inside the one man show that is

Coupe.

mag.world 2011

Profile By Jacquie Schifano

kind of having fun with it. I was always really surprised if it was well received,” says Douglas. “When I started the magazine I wasn’t sure if anyone was going to Chris Chambers, the retail accounts manager at Magazines Canada, take notice,” says Bill Douglas. “I didn’t have some master plan.” has been working with Bill Douglas and Coupe for the past five years. It is Standing at the front door of his home in Bobcaygeon, Ontario his job to sell Coupe to stores that carry a sometimes article-less magazine Douglas looks every bit like the Toronto urbanite turned farm owner like Coupe. he is. At over six-feet tall, Douglas leans casually against the doorframe “Distribution is not an exact science, but I can usually figure out where looking across his property dressed in a faded blue plaid shirt and jeans. it will work and where it won’t work,” he says. “The design magazine His laid-back attitude seems to match his new rural atmosphere, and if buyers are always out there.” your gaze stopped at Douglas’ shocking blue eyes, it’d be easy to assume For Douglas, Coupe is not really a design magazine. It is more of that all ties to his hipster Toronto past were behind him. But then your a “personal magazine with design aspects”. His favourites are issue 3 eyes travel upwards and come to a rest on the feathered fedora. This and issue 18. Issue 18 contains a discussion about the state of personal one item of clothing ties country-Douglas to designer-Douglas and remagazines and the magazine industry between Douglas, Neil Feineman establishes the artist in his new rural setting. (the original editor of RayGun), and British magazine guru Jeremy Leslie. In 1999, Coupe was created in Douglas’ Toronto based studio, The Issue 3 is a visual bombardment of images hinting at beauty, fashion Bang, as a kind of pet project. Starting small, Coupe served as a new outlet and other Western ideals. As always Douglas’ images are thought for Douglas to express himself creatively. provoking and convey with more than words the concepts percolating The magazine at its inception was unlike anything else out there. inside that fedora. It is a collaborative issue in which Douglas manipulates Douglas used it to present material and images not often associated with the materials of his contributors to make the issue. A mélange of the magazine world. Douglas carefully masters every aspect of every photography, images and short text boxes, this issue of Coupe would be page. From the words used, to the typography, the page layout and the right at home on the walls of a gallery. printing, Douglas is in charge of everything. Each issue has a theme “I feel that the magazine has more in common with writing music or that is explored using words and images to create absorbing and thought creating an album than traditional publishing,” says Douglas. “We just provoking pages. A lot of the time, these pages seem more at home released our 22nd issue. That’s nothing in the magazine world.” hanging on the walls of an art gallery than in their magazine bindings. The notion that creating Coupe is equal to producing an album helps “On some level it was probably a reaction to what was out there or to put the effort to produce each issue into perspective. If the magazine what wasn’t out there at the time. I didn’t think there was a need out there is the album then Douglas is the songwriter, musician, producer, manager, for a strange little art magazine in Canada. I thought for years that the record label, promoter and roadie all rolled into one. magazine was an attempt to infiltrate the magazine racks and I was just Coupe is generally run on a skeleton staff, a point that Douglas is very aware of. It is usually just himself with assistance from his wife. Douglas balks at the idea of having a large staff. He says that maintaining a large masthead is one of the reasons so many magazines are struggling to stay afloat. Though some issues of the magazine are highly collaborative, others truly are just a one man show, a burden that Douglas prefers. Coupe generally puts out two issues a year, but Douglas is not committed to maintaining this quota. In the beginning, he tried to keep Coupe coming out as a quarterly publication but found that this system did not work for him. It simply was not “jiving” with his schedule. Now, in order to maintain the quality and depth he prefers, Douglas has cast off all pressures to publish. The annual awards issue is confirmed, but he is not worried about maintaining a quota for issues published. “Magazines Canada is not only about profit but about supporting Canadian magazines,” says Chambers. “He’s the only guy doing this kind of thing in Canada.” “In my mind Coupe is a hipper, sexier Applied Arts magazine.” Chambers knows that there will always be an audience for Douglas’ office, the brain of Coupe, is full of the strange and unusual. / WENDY MACH

mag.world 2011

Bill Douglas stands in the future home of Coupe: his barn. / WENDY MACH

and in some issues there are next to none or none but for the most part it’s a necessary evil in the magazine world.” As Coupe now begins settling into its new home in Bobcaygeon, Bill Douglas stares out at the barn that over the next year will be converted into his new workspace. When asked if he believes that Coupe really is breaking magazine convention, he hesitates before responding. “I’ve never given much thought to breaking conventions. Coupe sort of just did what it did, or does what it does, with not really a lot of regard for convention,” he finally replies. Whether it’s breaking conventions or not, Coupe is a compelling read which approaches the concept of a magazine in an awesome yet comprehensive way. Though he dislikes the term, Douglas would approve of Chris Chambers’ praise of his work: “Coupe is a sexy, innovative, design mag. It’s a graphic designer’s wet dream.” MW

WENDY MACH

a magazine like Coupe, so he is not too worried about Douglas’ erratic publication schedule. “Some magazines, if they’re only published once a year, some people will forget all about them. It is a good selling magazine; I would like to have him put out five or six a year, but as long as he keeps putting out some of them I’d be happy,” he says. It usually takes around six months for each issue of Coupe to be made – a process that is evident in the quality of the magazine. There are no traditional ‘articles’ in this mag. There are no service pieces or exposés. The crux of each issue is presented in images with the assistance of text – but this does not mean that Douglas abhors text. The best selling issue of Coupe, issue 15, is dedicated to Bill Douglas’ favourite typefaces found on old signs in and around Toronto’s east end. The magazine is printed on a higher quality and larger paper than traditional magazines. Douglas also likes to switch the type and size of paper depending on the issue. This accounts partly for the higher cost of Coupe, a cost entirely financed by Douglas. “It’s a labour of love,” he says. “I never had a loan or a grant. If you want to do something you find a way.” When the magazine started to get costly, Douglas introduced his design competition, which allowed the magazine to carry on while at the same time gave voice or at least a soapbox for a lot of prospective designers and contributors. The yearly awards issue showcases a majority of the winning submissions. Coupe’s continued existence hinges on this design competition, which began with an outpouring of admirers wanting to contribute to Coupe. Traditionally some magazines sell ad space to pay for production, but this is the one aspect of the one man production team that Douglas is not a master of. “I can do a lot of things, but I can’t sell ad space to save my life,” he says. “In a perfect world I’d rather not have any ads in the mag

mag.world 2011

Profile

JUST DON’T FORGET TO

By Justin Irwin

breathe

Before you leap off a cliff – breathe. Before you dive into icy waters -- breathe. As you enter the sixth day of an adventure race -- just keep breathing. That’s the philosophy behind Breathe, an adventure sports publication that four times a year follows the professional and amateur rock climber, windsurfer, or hang-glider battling against the limits of their own endurance. But, the most prominent sport featured in this six-year-old mag is the adventure race, a combination of trail running, mountain biking, and orienteering. These races can last more than a week. Joel Perrella, the editor-in-chief, of the King City, Ontariobased magazine, says the mag has to keep pace in its own race – by appealing to this niche of select athletes. “We want to be the source for adventure, endurance, and lifestyle news,” says Perrella. His is a magazine that is “branding for the future of adventure and endurance sports.” The magazine, he says, grew from his hobby. “I was doing my degree at the University of Toronto, in medical sciences actually, and had a big passion for writing,” says Perrella. “I was working for the (Varsity) newspaper and wrote for a couple other publications, and saw it as a jumping point. It was either do it now or never.” When Breathe started it was an Alternative Sports magazine featuring stories about snowboarding and surfing. “I still surf and snowboard, but adventure racing is now big for me,” says Perrella. “I’ve done the endurance races like the three day race.” Perrella says his love for off the radar sports drove him to start the magazine but he recognized early on that his passion would have to evolve. “We soon realized that the market was saturated with magazines that are nailing it” in that niche, says Perrella. With his new adventure sport focus, he recognizes, “it is a very small and humble market and we’re running (Breathe) the same way.” Since the market is small the magazine has to rely on the growth of the sport through bigger and bigger events. “It all comes down to events,” says Perrella. “The events take the brunt of it.” Breathe magazine both appeals to and welcomes advertisers that are environmentally responsible, have recently sponsored an event, and are in the adventure sports equipment world. “The advertisers we’re looking for are the guys who are trying to get into the adventure racing and endurance sports and they’ve got new products that they want to showcase to a core audience,” says Perrella. One major hurdle is that adventure sports aren’t seen on television, largely because they’re really tough to cover. “You

mag.world 2011

Breathe magazine follows the B-team in adventure races / LUIS MOREIRA

Profile have to really guess where the racers are going to be. Usually you don’t says Snyder. know where anyone is unless you follow a group straight from the He covers mountain bike races in his native Indiana, in places like checkpoint,” says Perrella. French Lick (Larry Bird’s backyard) but he most enjoys the trek out to In Australia the sport “is huge,” he says. Canada has, “really strong the desert. growth right now, and the United States is growing with their adventure He has to show up for events a day ahead to get to know his races.” surroundings. “The unique thing about adventure races is they don’t Just because adventure races are taking place all around the world in give the map out up front – they want to keep it secret from racers,” exotic locations doesn’t mean the racer isn’t consistently online. says Snyder. Breathe has developed its online URL www.breathemag.ca and smart The co-ordinators don’t want to release the information for racers phone app which feature extra material concerning the athletes and to plan so Snyder often scouts the course a day or so before to check events. out where good shots can be taken during the race. Snyder draws from The magazine has recently launched a sports network app that an experience he just had in Utah looking for locations around the keeps up to date information on races they’re covering. “The adventure Colorado River. “You try to figure out where the sun is going to be, racers are very tech savvy. Which is funny because they’re always in the whether you’re getting good lighting and angles or a good transition outdoors,” says Perrella. area,” says Snyder. That’s also where Perrella found most of his writers. “The editorial When Snyder began his career in photography he spent a year and a team was formed by people I met at the events and races,” says Perrella, half figuring out what he was going to shoot and whether it suited him. whose current editorial team is scattered throughout Canada and the “Personality in photography is a big deal. The fun loving guy U.S. personality is a big thing in photography,” says Snyder. “I met one of the photographers, Luis Moreira, up in Yellowknife, “You truly have to go out and shoot things you’re passionate about,” N.W.T.” he says. “Yeah, I’ve done weddings, but I’m not passionate about it.” He is now Breathe magazine’s He focuses not only on the art director. Great photography shop talk that goes along with inspires much of Breathe with selling his photos but also in the sprawling action shots of athletes field and on the athlete. “I want in diverse terrains on the cover to capture those raw moments,” and throughout. says Snyder. He will often use a “The photography we feature long lens because a lot of racers is unique,” says Moreira about are shy so he wants to stay far the appeal of Breathe on the away to “capture that candid newsstands and online. As well moment of the struggle they’re as adventure racing, the variety going through not only physically, of sports covered by Breathe, from but mentally.” para-gliding to trail running, Obviously Snyder takes the allow a slew of long to medium backdrop behind the rider into shots that feature the athlete and account while looking for a the outdoors. The best photo, good photo opportunity. “In the Breathe magazine writes to the adventure-sport racer. / LUIS MOREIRA according to Moreira “is about Mojave desert, there is gorgeous capturing a moment in time when scenery,” says Snyder. “It’s the athletes are facing their most difficult circumstances.” beautiful and majestic but on the other hand it is also very dangerous.” Over the last three years Moreira has gotten to know the adventure In order to show this beauty and danger Snyder uses wide-angle athlete through the lens. Although he does a little adventure racing shots to catch the racers in that environment. himself, he says what drives these athletes is “the search for a sense of And these environments vary widely as The “B” Team covers all purity. A lot of these people enjoy the physical activity and pushing sorts of events. themselves beyond what they could do in a 5 km trail run… They love “We get them to cover adventure racing, orienteering, adventure the sleep deprivation and pushing their physical and mental barriers.” running, which is an extension of orienteering, mountain bike racing,” It’s that man against nature that Moreira looks for he explains. “I Perrella says. “We always try to cover the endurance sports, not the like to get an overall sense. If I look at maps and speak to the race short ones.” director they have the most experience. I try to find where the most “We have to keep track of the editorial team. They’re always getting demanding areas are. A lot of luck is involved.” in these nooks and crannies to find the racers,” said Perrella. The magazine relies on being an ‘eye-catcher’ on the newsstand And maybe that’s what is holding the sport’s media presence because it competes with traditional sports magazines. back. With races lasting up to a week, they won’t get the TV deals of The price of the print magazine is only $4.99 on the shelves but professional sports. Maybe these types of sports translate better to the Perrella has hired an online editorial team. The site keeps up-to-date page. information on several adventure races around the world to make sure “What the hell makes a runner wanna do a 100 km run, like readers keep active between quarterly issues. Backwater out in California?” Perrella muses. The site follows the blogs and photos of what Perrella dubbed “They all come back with ‘ya know, it’s something I’ve never done ‘The “B” Team, a group of racers that showcase different sports from before, it brings me to places you will never see.’” Canada and the U.S. and travel around the world to cover events. “You’re really in the back country. It’s adventure travel.” William Snyder is a member of The “B” Team. He hails from It’s also an adventure for this hardcore cadre of writers and readers Indiana and enjoys hitting the trails for a long day and cooling down and Breathe’s editor is in top racing form. with a Belgian ale. He got involved with the magazine through meeting “I read this Far Side comic once, it was this comic of the 100-metre Perrella at an event in the Mojave Desert. “I went up to Utah last dash,” said Perrella. “One frame showed all the guys running. The next October, to photograph for the race nationals and got connected with frame showed the photographer in front of them running.” Breathe magazine through Paul Angel, the co-ordinator of the event,” “That’s kind of what I think of us.” MW

mag.world 2011

AMY WEINSTEIN

Profile

MARKETING TO THE SPIRITED LIFESTYLE

The LCBO and the Beer Store aim to quench the public’s thirst for magazines By David Sutherland Whether you’re into full-bodied reds, well-aged single malts or a case of bargain beer, in Ontario, the makers and the gatekeepers of the beverages of choice want to make sure you enjoy what’s going down. The LCBO and The Beer Store compete for people’s alcohol dollars and eyes with glossy lifestyle magazines aimed at making you feel good about the drinks you’re downing. And, while alcohol is definitely on the menu, the tone and taste of these corporate mags couldn’t be farther apart. Chill, the official magazine of the Beer Store, pulls no punches as to what it’s all about. The magazine’s January issue features articles about boating, the Super Bowl and special effects in action movies. Although it’s produced for the Beer Store, it’s not all about beer, and Chill is very much a lifestyle magazine. Allison Kelly, managing editor at Chill says the magazine is about kicking back and enjoying life. “We cover everything from sports to food to travel and cars,” Kelly says. “We do target males, however, a lot of our stuff is female friendly as well. I think more and more we’re finding that women are reading our magazine.” Chill currently publishes seven issues per year and has been in circulation since 2003 and the content is a mix of staff-generated features and a small amount of freelance writing. “Before every issue comes out we have a creative vision meeting,” Kelly says. “We have ideas from freelancers, but I’d say the majority of information we come up with ourselves at these meetings. The production department and the editorial department all get together and we raise a bunch of ideas and talk about how they fit into a particular issue of Chill.” While Chill is exclusively available at the Beer Store, Kelly maintains the magazine is about entertainment and lifestyle, and not just Beer Store products. “We’re not a marketing tool for the Beer Store, we’re available through the Beer Store but we’re not owned by the Beer Store. That’s the difference between us and Food and Drink – Food and Drink is owned by LCBO,” Kelly says. At Food and Drink the target market is clearly men and women who enjoy gourmet foods and high-end spirits. For example, the spring issue offers tips on what whisky to pair with oyster-spinach gratins and crispy bacon.

The LCBO publishes six issues a year centered on seasonal themes. The biggest publication is the holiday edition that coincides with the lucrative December liquor sales period, and the LCBO marketing department is involved with the operation of the magazine to ensure the appropriate products are featured at the right time of year. LCBO spokesperson Chris Layton was up front about the fact that Food and Drink is purposely designed to promote the LCBO’s products. “Food and Drink is a marketing vehicle for the LCBO,” says Layton. “Our primary aim is to reach the home entertainer.” Layton says Food and Drink was established to cross-promote and correlate with other promotional material that the LCBO publishes, like the glossy flyers and inserts placed in weekend newspapers. “These [advertisements] are largely paid for by our suppliers, but it is a way to also to get our product information out. Food and Drink is part of a larger integrated marketing program,” he says. When it comes to competition from other food and lifestyle magazines, the LCBO is not concerned and Food and Drink has no rival because of its distribution model. “Food and Drink is not designed to compete with other magazines. We don’t have any newsstand presence. It is only available in LCBO stores,” Layton says. Layton says the LCBO prints 500,000 copies of each issue of Food and Drink in English, and another 20,000 in French. The Print Measurement Bureau estimates that over two million people read Food and Drink and the magazine uses high-quality paper stock for their ads, which pay for the magazine’s production. “The magazine now is basically funded completely through advertising. There is no actual cost to the LCBO. When we first launched it, maybe for the first 20 years there was some cost to us, but it generates sales, obviously, because it promotes the products we sell. We’re now at a point with it that advertising pays for the magazine,” says Layton. Layton also pointed out although Food and Drink is a free publication with no competition, the magazine provides job opportunities for people in the magazine business. “In the production of the magazine we’re actually creating jobs with a lot of Canadian suppliers, whether it be writers, photographers or through the production process and the printing of the magazine. It is definitely a job creating enterprise,” he says.

When it comes to competition from other food and lifestyle magazines, the LCBO is not concerned and Food and Drink has no rival...

mag.world 2011

Odds & Ends

SILENCE IS WORTHLESS Low wages and government disincentives are making it harder for investigative writers to keep those in power accountable By Alex Consiglio He says not to bother taping the interview, he’ll just end up being a “minor character,” if in the article at all. “If you get down here early,” he says, “you should stop by Nicholas Hoare – the best bookstore in Toronto.” Inside the shop, brass-plated, antique ladders lean against lengths of bookshelves and the wavy, wooden floors creak; the smell of pine and paper more like a library than the hostile, big-box stores of today’s corporate monoliths. So it’s not surprising David Hayes, a career freelance writer of 30 years, says this is his favourite bookstore. In a Starbucks next door, he fingers through the notes about investigative journalism he wrote with a Sharpie on crisp printer-paper. He stops, sighs, and puts the papers down. “My girlfriend’s been working on a big piece for almost a year now,” he says, “for This Magazine. And what can they afford to pay her? A few hundred dollars.” He looks down at his coffee. “She works another job and somehow finds time for feature articles, but not all writers can.” Derek Finkle, founder of the Canadian Writers Group of which Hayes is a member, says “investigative journalism for magazines is the worst paying type of work you can get.” He just doesn’t see independent writers – who produce the majority of content – getting out what they put in.

HARPER ILLUSTRATION: LILIANA MONTEIRO

mag.world 2011

Odds & Ends “It’s the most labourintensive, and when broken down to the amount you’ll earn per hour, it’s minimal if not embarrassing,” he says, estimating pay ranges anywhere between ten cents to over a dollar per word, and unfortunately, it’s usually near the former for investigative pieces featured in smaller magazines. Investigative writers aren’t supposed to be embarrassed; they’re supposed to embarrass their subjects, and when it comes to holding government accountable, they must shame those responsible for public policy into displaying some transparency and doing what’s right for people, says the author of Investigative Reporting in Canada, Maxine Ruvinsky. But doing so has become increasingly difficult over the last five years as low pay underlies discouraging government policy. Prime Minister Stephen Ruvinsky in her office at Thomspon Rivers University in B.C. Harper has clamped down she is the chair of the School of Journalism. on and shut off avenues of PHOTO CREDIT: LINDA KOMORI information, making it harder to develop in-depth reports. The information process to make investigations into Conservatives’ now defunct copyright reforms the government easier for writers. in Bill C-32 have been labelled as a step “It’s an absolute scandal – we fight and backwards by freelancers. And if they do take fight and fight for it, but we don’t get access on a project, writers can’t guarantee sources to information here,” she says, her disdain 100 per cent anonymity unless willing to face caused by what many journalists receive after looming libel lawsuits and possible jail time. placing freedom-of-information requests – a Alone and with limited resources, it’s completely blacked-out report. simply too much for a freelance writer or “If this were to happen in the States, there even a small magazine to handle. But united would be an outcry because the public is more under a foundation, where more resources can aggressive, and we need to be too.” be expended to navigate or fight government “Magazines are suffering because we policy, writers and magazines can team up and have the capital behind them to go muckraking. Such an initiative is under way at the Canadian Centre for Investigative Reporting (CCIR), an independent, not-for-profit investigative reporting news organization. Bilbo Poynter, its founder and executive director, estimates its latest project will cost around $25,000 by the time it’s done – an amount freelancers and magazines can’t afford. Maxine Ruvinsky “There’s been a bit of haemorrhaging of resources over the last few years and never have had the appropriate policies in this publications haven’t had a budget to put toward country,” she says. “If you want to be a writer, investigations,” says Poynter. “Magazines artist or anything creative, you have to fight especially don’t come up with the money your way through – and writers have made needed for in-depth investigations – and so entirely too many concessions already.” are able to produce some pretty incredible Mary Welch, the president of the Canadian reporting considering.” Association of Journalists (CAJ), belts her Ruvinsky, who’s part of CCIR’s advisory opinion on access-to-information through the board, agrees, but wants to see more. Her voice phone, like Ruvinsky, out of sheer frustration. comes from atop a soapbox, her sarcasm always “It’s almost laughably frustrating dealing trying to point out an obvious, one example of with the Harper government on access-towhich is reforming Canada’s broken access-toinformation,” she says. “You wait months and

“If you want to be a writer, artist or anything creative, you have to fight your way through.”

months, and months, and you get back completely useless crap.” In January, Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault told the Canadian Press “only about 16 per cent of the 35,000 requests filed last year (under the Conservatives) resulted in the full disclosure of information, compared with 40 per cent a decade ago (under the Liberals).” Welch says newspapers like the Winnipeg Free Press, where she works as its public policy reporter, can’t afford useless information requests so independent writers working alone surely can’t dedicate the proper resources. Even if they can, they risk missing deadlines because the 30-day response time is almost never met. The president of the Canadian Media Lawyers Association (CMLA), Fred Kozak, has heard this sentiment over and over again since Harper’s Conservatives came into power, ironically, on a 2006 election platform to revamp where and strengthen Canada’s Access to Information Act. That promise went unfulfilled, Hayes points out while back in line for another coffee. “I read a CBC report in January that said requests have declined almost 25 per cent,” he says of David McKie’s analysis showing journalists’ use of the system has declined by 23 per cent from 2008 to 2010. “Information requests to government agencies are often thwarted under the guise of privacy,” says Kozak. “But the fact is the reason for the denial has nothing to do with privacy at all.” Kozak thinks governments are inherently suspicious and fight hard to protect and ultimately omit as much information as possible to avoid embarrassment, discredit or having to change something – a writer’s ultimate goal, of course. But Poynter says shoddy access-toinformation laws aren’t the end-all for investigative journalism. “People with lived experience are the best sources of information,” he says, something a journalist can always find, regardless of the government’s control over information. Right now, Ruvinsky says freelancers need to be aware the government is also trying to control their work. The Conservative government was “passing a copyright law that makes it next to impossible for writers to make a living,” says Ruvinsky, who saw Bill C-32 and its proposed reforms to the Copyright Act as a step in the wrong direction even though she feels “copyright law

mag.world 2011

Odds & Ends

CHRISTOPHER WAHL

has always been a horror for writers.” The Bill proposed a host of exemptions for educational and digital reproductions of writers’ works, eliminating potential secondary revenue streams from an article they were probably already underpaid to produce. There was backlash from the creative community – petitions, joint statements, dire warnings of a crumbling culture – but investigative writers will probably continue writing because their pride doesn’t overshadow their sense of social justice. Luckily for cash-strapped writers, the Bill died in late March after a non-confidence motion forced the Harper government into an election. “Freelancers are just so passionate about projects that they take on articles for severely insufficient money than it would deserve, almost in every instance,” says Poynter. But writers’ humility isn’t enough; they need the public’s support, both financially and in solidarity through a common sense of justice because sources willing to undermine those in power are crucial to any investigation’s success. The problem is, in the dicey world of

Derek Finkle, founder of the Canadian Writers’ Group

investigative reporting, sources often want anonymity, comfort writers can only offer with certainty if willing to go to jail. But before it even comes to that, writers can lose sources because not all are willing to risk summons to testify in court. “A shield law would go a long way to providing certainty,” says Kozak, CMLA president. It may happen rarely, but judges can force journalists to reveal their sources as witnesses in libel cases or be held in contempt

of court. Kozak says shield laws alone aren’t enough to help writers because subjects of investigations use strategic lawsuits to discourage public discourse about their business, a scare tactic some refer to as libel chill and what Anti-Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation (Anti-SLAPP) legislation seeks to prevent. SLAPP lawsuits exploit the economic situation of writers by bringing, or threatening to bring them to court for defamation – an expense they can’t afford, especially if they lose. Plaintiffs know this and use the courts as a way to discourage writers from covering topics they’d rather leave buried. “There are a lot of things reporters know in their notebooks but could never get past lawyers,” says Welch, president of the CAJ. “The law tends to lie on the side of the libelled.” The relatively new responsible communication (or journalism) defence was supposed to be the solution. It would appease worried writers and publishers who fear expensive libel lawsuits because they should easily be able to prove their story covered both sides and was in the public’s interest. “The responsible journalism defence is a good idea in principle,” says Jeffrey Dvorkin, executive director for the Organization of News Ombudsmen and a former CBC journalist. “But in practice it will result in less investigative journalism, not more.” In order to use it, writers will have to expend even more resources to ensure they cover every angle of a story, yet another reason for them or publishers to say “if we can’t satisfy the courts, then don’t do the story,” says Dvorkin. Of course, in theory, a well-written report should cover both sides anyway, but in reality an investig ative piece works hard to expose transgressions, Derek Finkle not justify them.

The problem is, in the dicey world of investigative reporting, sources often want anonymity, comfort writers can only offer with certainty if willing to go to jail.

“Investigative journalism for magazines is the worst paying type of work you can get.”

mag.world 2011

pitches to an editor I know, I’ll gladly inform the editor I’ll be working with the student.” It’s an approach similar to what CCIR is trying to do – make connections and work together, only on a much smaller scale. To be fully functional, Poynter says CCIR needs at least $150,000 in its general investigative fund and it’s on the way thanks to individual donations and grants from other foundations. For Poynter, it’s an excuse to speak of writers’ doubt in, or fear of the law; investigative journalism’s main problem is simply underfunding. But with Poynter’s attitude and CCIR’s hopeful capital behind them, writers and magazines won’t fear expensive libel lawsuits and they’ll have more resources to dedicate towards tricky-to-navigate media and access-toinformation laws. Maybe more importantly, CCIR’s model not only helps writers, but publishers too. When a publication teams up with CCIR, “the front-end resources and research are covered by the centre,” says Poynter, leaving the writers’ pay as the only expense for publishers. This means more opportunities for writers to do investigations, says Poynter, because publications will be more inclined to take on projects. It’s an important encouragement, he says, because “most of what we learn comes from some type of in-depth report,” like the Meech Lake Accord, Ipperwash shootings or the Liberal Sponsorship Scandal. “I guess I could also mention our latest report,” he says, referring to the $25,000 piece produced for the Montreal Gazette “about the flood of Afghan heroin into parts of the world as a result of the war, specifically its impact on Canada and its Forces.” He co-authored the piece with Alex Roslin, CCIR’s president, and says “large and modest individual donations and grants from the Douglas Coldwell Foundation ($5,000) and the McLean Foundation ($3,000)” towards CCIR’s general investigative fund helped make it possible. It’s a sign the public will support grassroots initiatives, that they know humble writers like Hayes aren’t “minor characters” – they’re officers of accountability who can organize and work together to keep investigations alive and hold the government accountable. It’s the old adage, strength in numbers, Ruvinsky says of CCIR, and what’s needed to wage war. “I think it’s time for all journalists to get together and start grassroots, local initiatives that will fight the supposed powers that be – usually idiots with fancy job titles,” says Ruvinsky.

On top of freelancing, Hayes also teaches advanced magazine writing at Ryerson University’s Chang School of Continuing Education in Toronto. “If a student has potential,” he says, his fingertips resting atop his mug of coffee, “is willing to work as a team and

SAYING MORE

with less

By Wendy Mach

Whether it’s Charlie Sheen’s infamous misconduct, the Stanley Cup playoffs or Justin Bieber, social networking and entertainment websites are typing a mile a minute. The online world is constantly evolving and has played a hand in the way we read, how we read and what we read. “It is a different school of thought,” says Jennifer Goldberg, web editor for Best Health. “Writers have to target their readerships, online or print and publish content accordingly. The way people write for the web is different than writing in print.” With the growing use of keyword searches, readers and writers are reconsidering management of online presence. Keywords will include names, projects and other information essential to an article. Trending is when a word or phrase is used to discuss a specific topic. Trending allows readers to use this information to search out stories. Trending is important for online writers and readers because it helps with search engine optimization – making sure all search engines show your website first. Online writers are attracting more readers by using trends and keywords to deliver the maximum number of hits to their site. “It is about using different tools, analytical tools,” says Jen McDonnell, online editor for dose.ca, a leading online entertainment website. A Canadian online resource, BeNoted, which specializes in search engine optimization shows that 75 per cent of users turn to a search engine to look for content and more than 50 per cent of them will use a search engine every day. The BeNoted site also suggests that 50 per cent of users will not go past the first page of results, making the top spot in search results imperative. Online writers can take advantage of a search engine by strategically placing key words and trending words in the title, within the first few lines and throughout the content of the piece, says Goldberg. “What are people searching for and how are they searching for it? Keywords depend on what you are writing about,” says McDonnell. For example, the most recent project Gwyneth Paltrow was involved in was a movie called Country Strong. To optimize searches and hits to your site, a headline, “Gwyneth Paltrow is Country Strong” is more effective than “Gwyneth Paltrow goes for the twang,” sayys McDonnell. The first title includes both her name and project while the second title only mentions her name and not the project she is involved in. “Know what the audience is looking for,” says McDonnell. The popular social networking site, Twitter, offers users a sidebar of what is currently trending worldwide or in a specific country. Twitter combines a hashtag, which is the # sign and the trend word together for Twitter users to find what others may be tweeting about on

Odds & Ends that specific topic. For example, the popular Charlie Sheen “winning” phrase would be seen as #winning and tweets such as, “Leafs defeat the Flyers. #winning.” or “Got out of doing house work by faking broken finger. #winning.” By clicking on the hashtag of winning, you can see what other tweeters are tweeting about. For online writers, hashtags are beneficial because articles can be promoted to a host of twitter users that would be otherwise unlikely to navigate to that page. Major search engines such as Google or Yahoo! offer users a means to track the trends and keywords used hourly or daily. Google Trends offers a real time snapshot of trending titles, keywords or phrases, which allows online writers to tweak blogs and articles accordingly. If a certain keyword or phrase is trending high, meaning online users are typing in those specific words to search, online writers can alter content to include those hot words in the title and first few sentences. It allows you to do something better, says McDonnell. In the end, it’s about what people are reading. And having a keen awareness of how they’re reading it. “We are always checking for trends and new stories. What stories are currently hot on your site or what stories are hot on other sites. We are always adjusting our online content.” Feedback provided by the online readers can promote dialogue and response between readers and writers and subsequently help publications guide the print magazine accordingly. It can help build the story around what is popular and most talked about. “The story can go online, grow and receive the audience’s input and immediacy. for the audience to carry the story Jennifer Goldberg Itforallows you. What is most valuable and what you (as a writer and publisher) should be printing,” says McDonnell. “The website should be leading print copy.” Even so, the online world still has to be written and it still needs to be established, says Goldberg. “The rules and regulations are still unclear.”

“ The way people write

for the web is different than writing in print.”

mag.world 2011

RADHA TAILOR

Scents & Cent-sibility

Odds & Ends

One of the most successful forms of perfume and cologne advertisement are the scented inserts that appear in many magazines.

mag.world 2011

Admit it. Whether you like scent strips in magazines or not, you have at least had a sniff once or twice. It all started back in 1983, in the May issue of Vogue magazine, when an untested marketing strategy revolutionized how fragrances were advertised. A scent strip to market a boutique-exclusive women’s scent known as Giorgio Beverly Hills was tucked in between pages. No one knew this ground-breaking strategy would shape fragrance advertising for the next three decades. The scent strip was a hit. Women responded, flooding Giorgio with orders. It was no longer business as usual for magazine advertisements. James Berard from Scentisphere, a company that specializes in scent marketing, says much has changed over the years. “More was better in the 1980s. The marketing people wanted the strongest scent strip possible back then. The Calvin Klein scents were particularly strong: Obsession, Escape, and Eternity.” Berard says strong scent was the beginning of the love-hate relationship between readers of magazines and scent strips. “This created a negative impression and stigmatized the scent strip because of the heavy smell which still exists today despite the new technology to prevent leaking and a strong smell,” says Berard. He explains how the strip works. “Scent strip is a generic term which usually refers to the application of gelatin-based encapsulated ‘slurry’ that is applied to two pieces of paper. So when the paper is pulled apart the gelatin encapsulation is broken and the fragrance oil is released.” A scent strip can therefore take various forms, from a basic fold-over flap to a perforated “zip strip” format. As long as the dried slurry is applied between two pieces of paper there is a scent strip. They have, however, improved in quality since 1983. “The technology has changed for the better. There are more controls in place, there are higher standards to duplicate results, and there are stringent quality control procedures in place from the time the oil comes through the door to the time the scent strip is ready to be inserted in a magazine,” says Berard

WENDY MACH

By Tom Kituku

Manufacturers consider various factors from color, viscosity, density, and olfactory elements to particle size, anti-oxidants, and paper to produce a more exacting end product or magazine insert, says Berard. Sue Phillips, a fragrance expert and president of Scenterprises, says there are 85 million users of perfumes. The scent strip remains the most effective way of not only advertising but also sampling the product. “It is the most inexpensive way of slipping the fragrance into the reader’s hands. The cost per thousand (CPM) is very effective for the fragrance houses,” Phillips says. The CPM is a method of evaluating media efficiency based on how much it costs to reach a thousand people. Advertising in the fragrance industry is based on “focus groups” and they determine the marketing direction of the fragrance, says Phillips. A focus group is made up of individuals who belong to the target market for the product. It could be young working-class women, business executives or sportsmen and women. The reality is that some readers are allergic to scents and magazines try their best to accommodate them even though they are a small number. Some readers have complained of allergies, forcing some magazines to have two editions, one with scent strips and one without. Joan Gardiner from Toronto Life magazine says, “readers who want scent-stripfree magazines can subscribe because the ones on newsstands all have scent strips. Besides, we are not a fashion magazine. We have one or two scent strips each year.” At Sharp magazine, “we try to accommodate all our readers. We stock promotional copies to Air Canada Maple Lounge at Pearson Airport that have no scent strips. We had one scent strip in the spring of 2010. It was an Old Spice scent strip,” says John McGrouan, one of the publishers. A spokesperson for St. Joseph Media, publishers of Fashion magazine, says readers who are allergic to scents should subscribe to scent-strip free magazines. “Scent strips are merely a scent delivery product, so any reference to ‘allergies’ is related to the fragrance used in the scent strips,” says Berard. “All these fragrance oils comply with exacting standards. All of the ingredients used in fragrance oils have been tested and deemed safe by organizations such as the International Fragrance Organization and the Research Institute for Fragrance Materials.” Berard says that fragrance oils are in so many products we use day to day that someone who exhibits allergies to a scent strip must in theory have the same allergic response to fabric softeners,

deodorants, dish detergents, soaps, and body lotions that are used every day. Phillips observes that all scent strips these days almost smell the same. “Because the fragrance industry is so competitive, advertisers targeting one particular group of consumers follow the same trends and fragrances start to smell the same.” “The human nose can detect and differentiate 350,000 smells. It’s just that we shouldn’t smell them at the same time because you get anosmia – nose fatigue,” says Phillips. The number of scent strips in a magazine has also become controversial. “The more scent strips in a magazine the more revenue for the magazine but the confusion factor just goes on for the consumer,” says Phillips. “Some magazines have nine to ten scent strips in their big issues of April and September.” Berard says there should be a limit to how many scent strips can be put into a magazine. “Some powerful marketers have tried to do this by implying they will not advertise with those magazines but it has not worked.” GQ magazine has by far the most scent strips of any men’s magazine. “We sometimes have eight scent strips in one issue. Our busiest months are June because of Father’s Day and December because of the holidays,” says Brendan Coolidge Monaghan, advertising director at GQ. “We don’t have any limits as such. If the advertisers are willing to pay for the scent strips, we will put them in our magazine.” GQ boasts a strong circulation of up to 7 million readers says Monaghan. “Scent strips are here to stay,” he affirms. “We charge $140,000 per page for a fragrance with no scent strip and up to $200,000 per page for fragrance with a scent strip,” says Monaghan. Sue Phillips “The online format is different. We charge up to $50,000 for an online fragrance advertisement. This depends on the placement of the ad and how it is integrated online.” It will cost $12,000 to $16,000 per page for a fragrance ad with a scent strip in Fashion magazine and $10,000 to $13,000 for a fragrance ad without a scent strip, stated a spokesperson for Fashion, while over at Sharp magazine it will cost $14,000, McGrouan says. “Today’s scent strips are more costly because the industry has become more exacting,” says Berard. “The task has been passed on to the suppliers, so they in turn have to meet higher standards of reproducibility and that does not come without costs.” Whatever you think of scent strips, they still remain the most inexpensive way of allowing the consumer to sample the fragrance. Until there is a more economical, more effective alternative, which Berard calls “the holy grail,” scent strips are here to stay.

“The human nose can detect and

Peel Open Here mag.world 2011

TOM KITUKU

differentiate 350,000 smells. It’s just that we shouldn’t smell them at the same time because you get onosmia—nose fatigue.”

TALES, TRAILS and TREES

Writers trek the Canadian landscape to tell stories that bring Canada home to Canadians By Elaine Anselmi I’ve never been to Haida Gwaii. I’ve never heard a wolf call and understood its plight. But hidden in those estranged and looming forests, and calling from the mouths of carnivorous canines are stories, pictures and adventures. Through words on glossy pages, we can push through an island’s dense rainforests and interpret a foreign language. We can spend a night in a nudist camp without the confidence of an exhibitionist. And we can uncover the challenges of water conservation without the tools of a scientist. But, most of all, we can see and hear the stories of our country that give it character, familiarity and importance. Our big backyard is an ever-present theme in Canadian magazines. It is important, it is relevant, and it doesn’t end with stories on pages. Behind every story is a reason for it to be told, and furthermore a reason to be understood. Through images, anecdotes and information, magazines remind readers of the necessity for a national environmental conscience. “There’s certainly an appreciation and celebration of who we are and what we have,” says Dan Rubinstein, managing editor of Canadian Geographic. While not strictly speaking an environmental magazine, Canadian Geographic has a “deep environmental thread running through it,” says Rubinstein. Its founder, the Royal Canadian Geographical Society is dedicated to informing Canadians of both our natural and cultural heritage. The Society achieves its mandate ‘to make Canada better known to Canadians and the world,’ through the provision of research grants, funding of expeditions and education through lectures and the involvement of youth. “One of the Society’s main prongs is education; geographic literacy and learning,” says Rubinstein. This has been carried out through several outlets, but mainly through the publication of Canadian Geographic. Like the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, a

provincial conservation organization, Ontario Nature, saw the benefit in developing a publication. The organization was founded in 1931 as the Federation of Ontario Naturalists. After many decades and several name changes, the resulting magazine was first Seasons and now, ON Nature – a conspicuous facet of the also renamed organization Ontario Nature. The original 28 members fought for the conservation of wildlife through reserves and the organization is still the owner and defender of 22 nature reserves across Ontario. The magazine’s most recent name change and face-lift followed Victoria Foote’s move into the editor’s chair in 2003. Seasons was not wholly representative of the strong environmental message of the publication and was often filed on racks with consumer and gardening magazines, says Foote. This was not where Ontario Nature saw itself in the industry, she explains. “I don’t think it was ever the organization’s intention to get into the magazine industry,” says Foote. Ontario Nature’s initial publication was more of a newsletter than a magazine. It was “text heavy and laborious,” says Foote. But “as the organization grew and evolved it became a more user friendly publication.” This ‘user-friendly’ quality allows readers to engage in the issues presented by magazines, rather than being deterred by scientific jargon and unsolvable problems. “I think journalists play an important role in making certain stories more digestible,” says Foote. “They are a sort of bridge between the average person and the specialist.” Seeing a need for such a liaison, a Trent University professor and student composed the first issue of Alternatives Journal. They

Culture “wanted to take the information from the high ivory tower,” says Marcia Ruby, production co-ordinator for the past 23 years with Alternatives. Journals often address narrow disciplines that allow and even encourage jargon and advanced scientific writing, explains Ruby, but “you need to remove the jargon so that the disciplines can talk to each other.” This is a very important aspect of how Alternatives operates and how it is used. “The environment touches everything,” says Ruby, making such a border-crossing discussion necessary, and enabling the magazine to cover issues from a broad spectrum. “We are for social justice and ecological justice,” says Ruby. Often cited in scholarly articles and in texts within university courses, Alternatives is known for its high level of environmental information. Such a position goes hand in hand with advocacy and involvement beyond the pages of Alternatives. It is the official journal of the Environmental Studies Association of Canada, on which Alternatives’ staffer Ruby is also a board member. Alternatives is about looking forward to what can be done. “It’s not that we don’t look back, of course we have to, that’s where the lessons are,” says Ruby. But, by seeing what has happened, Alternatives’ mandate promotes a positive change for what will happen next, says Ruby. Hence the slogan, ‘environmental ideas and action,’ the magazine calls on environmental stewardship and the interest and concern promoted by all of these magazines. In a partnership with water conservationists the Lake Ontario Waterkeepers, Alternatives subscribers receive a free membership to the Waterkeepers’ Swim Drink Fish; an online music club of collaborative musicians, activists and members with an interest in water conservation. In looking at new ideas for the environmental movement, Alternatives brings these ideas to its readers to take action. “If they know and understand environmental issues they’ll be more apt to get involved,” says Ruby. Action and motivation are two concepts not lost on the readers of Explore magazine. With a mission to inform and entertain, the magazine travels to the remote corners of the country and beyond. “I’ve been lucky enough to do some travelling,” says editor James Little, but a lot of the time, “I sit here at my desk very jealous of the writers.” While the noted adventures of Explore’s writers are certainly something to be envied, Little has had the opportunity to see parts of the country that would turn many green. From an overhead view of glaciers in the Yukon, to Newfoundland’s Gros Morne National Park, Little is well aware of Canada’s many natural gems. Every aspect of mutual respect for nature is brought to the pages of Explore, and it goes hand in hand with an ever-present concern for environmental impact. With published articles on the development of the oil sands and global warming’s effect on icebergs, Explore magazine informs its readers of things that matter to their outdoor lifestyles. Like Canadian Geographic, it is not decidedly environmental, but environmentally conscious and certainly interested. Both the writer and the readers “like the outdoors and they want it to remain as unspoiled as it can,” says Little. Such concern was noted in 2005 when Explore became the first glossy magazine in North America to print on Ancient Forest Friendly, Forest Stewardship Council-certified paper. “It’s a part of what we’re in keeping with,” says Little. As well as making a statement with its pages, Explore also put a call out to o u t d o o r leaders in Canada. In celebration of its 30th year of

“Historically birding and the plight of birds have always been pertinent to Ontario Nature, everyone’s got a thing!” says VIctoria Foote / ELAINE ANSELMI

circulation, Explore magazine has compiled a list, from nominations, of Canada’s top 30 under 30, adventurers, athletes, green leaders, innovators and volunteers. These young entrepeneurs and explorers will be featured in the magazine this fall, says Little. People are, after all, the beginning of change and movement. Such change is a constant in most industries, and certainly the magazine industry. The way people read and what they’re reading about is in constant flux. While technology, culture and other factors come into play, there are certain facets of the industry that are stable. “If you look back over the decades there’s been remarkable consistency,” says Rubinstein of Canadian Geographic’s ability to maintain its stated objective. ON Nature’s position has been similarly stubborn. “I do not pretend that it’s from a dispassionate point of view,” says Foote. The magazine is “supposed to be the public face for a conservation organization.” ON Nature magazine’s quarterly issues explore the natural environment and look in-depth into environmental issues. Articles that appear in the magazine are from the opinion and view of the organization and it is from that position that environmental consciousness is transmitted. Now in the 40th year of circulation, past issues of Alternatives Journal chronicle the movement of Canadian environmentalism. The progress and the pitfalls that have shaped the movement are catalogued in the pages. To celebrate the journal’s anniversary, a digital time capsule of past issues is being released; a look back, at looking ahead. Creating a cross-country tour through words and pictures and promoting commentary on our people and place are not new ideas. But to many readers, they are. With increasing popularity and translation to audiences these magazines provide stories that interest Canadians in the evolution of their country. And, perhaps in doing so, will involve them in the future of positive change. There are corners of this country that – not for lack of interest – I will never see. While I cannot draw a map in my mind of some of the most remote places in Canada, someone else can. Someone can tell us what we’re missing, and furthermore what – without interest and action – we will miss completely.

Explore became the first glossy magazine in North America to print on Ancient Forest Friendly, Forest Stewardship Council-certified paper.

Culture

THE STOCK MARKET CLASH

when it comes to budget.” In the world of iPhones and Canon Rebels anyone can be a photographer. As a result, the artistic aspect of the imagery we are bombarded with on a daily basis tends to be left on the backburner, Zbitnew points out. Companies like Print + Motion, founded by photographer Ron Baxter Smith, are bringing art back to stock photography in a very real way. Laskin says the Print + Motion website offers a model that deals with some of the issues that arise for photographers. “Our site is different because it is done by top photographers around the world,” says Laskin. “Because it was started by a photographer, the main concern was that the artist who took the photograph would also benefit from the sale as much as the business.” Print + Motion is a rights managed stock site, meaning it sells all photos under a very limited license, and the buyer has exclusive rights to the photo within the time specified in the agreement. This means clients will have exclusive rights to an image for as long as they want, if they are willing to pay. The photographer receives 50 per cent of the profit from its sale, compared to figures as low as 5 per cent for large stock agencies like Getty images, says Laskin. Mixing art with the business of stock photography has lead to some very lofty sales, especially compared to larger stock sites that simply charge a monthly flat rate. “The highest price we have licensed a photo for is $24,000, and they came back the next year and paid another $12,000,” says Laskin, who studied photography at Ryerson University, although she never practiced the art professionally. The photo became increasingly expensive, based on what it would have cost the company to shoot the photo themselves. In this case, the photo featured dozens of people at the Great Wall of China, which Laskin explains would cost tens of thousands of dollars to shoot. It would be nearly impossible to close down the site and take the photo, and there is a responsibility to pay every actor used in the shot. Further, the client wanted to ensure that no one else could ever use the photo, which also caused the price to skyrocket. Connolly Holmes, on the other hand, uses stock to ensure consistency in terms of budget. “If you have a membership to stock photography you have the option of buying into a fixed plan where you know exactly what you are spending on a monthly and yearly basis.” With cost as the underlying theme, the two models continue to diverge. “I think people will come back to wanting something more than what Getty has to offer,” Laskin quickly replies when asked about the future of stock photography. “I think hopefully people will get taste again, and they will care again.”

As magazines turn to stock photos, photographers are left capping their lenses. By Amy Weinstein When asked to produce a photo of a donkey in the snow on the top of a hill, Teri Laskin, managing director of Print + Motion, says it could cost tens of thousands of dollars. Add in another factor: it’s June. Flying a crew to a place with the optimal climate, hiring a photographer and shutting down a location quickly adds up. Art directors are faced with the challenge of meeting sometimes impossible demands. The bottom line? “A client will get a stock photo if they cannot afford to hire a photographer to shoot it themselves,” says Laskin. Magazines such as Today’s Parent and trade publications such as Ottawa Business Journal, purchase stock images rather than hire photographers. This saves time, energy, and most importantly, money. But, where a publication saves big, photographers who have traditionally made money by selling photos to magazines lose that income. Anne Zbitnew is a Toronto-based photographer who has worked at Canadian Living, Chatelaine, and Today’s Parent, and was eager to share her experience as a magazine photographer during the digital takeover. “I lost a lot of work and income and jobs from what I was doing,” says Zbitnew, pausing to carefully select her words. “And it’s not because I wasn’t doing a good job, it was because it was cheaper to do stock photography. People felt, I think, they could use less quality and less interesting imagery for way less money, and that was their bottom line.” Tanya Connolly Holmes is the creative director at Great River Media Inc, where she is the art director for Ottawa at Home and Ottawa Business Journal magazines. She embraces stock photography, and suggests cost is the main reason publications choose stock over original work. “Stock photography can be a lifesaver at times,” says Connolly Holmes in a phone call from her Ottawa office. “The actual cost of hiring a photographer and co-ordinating certain events to make the photo happen is not only timely and costly, it can really (influence) the larger picture

mag.world 2011

With an active career in photography for m for photography to reinforce an article, bo

magazines and galleries, Anne Zbitnew understands the need th stock and specific. / AMY WEINSTEIN

Culture

THE WINDOW TO THE WORDS

A look at the importance of illustrations and photographs and the people behind them. By Alexander Leach Chances are the photograph just next to this paragraph is the only reason someone will read this article. It catches the eye, draws readers in, and prompts them to consider whether or not the story behind the photo is accurate or not. This opening paragraph, bridging to the meat of the article, may never be read if the photo is uninteresting or unsuitable. Let’s waste no more time on introductions. “What they see is what they believe,” says Vai Yu Law as she sits sipping coffee in a Second Cup at Yonge and Wood Street on a grey winter day. A purple purse lies on the table between us, amid the newspapers and the recorder. Out of it comes a notebook where she’s written down some answers and ideas for me before the interview; she’s written more than I have before we’ve even started. When I mention this, she laughs. Law spent two years in South Korea, where she shot for an expat magazine called WorknPlay, taking photographs of local events for articles. She decided to focus on photography full time about eight months ago, after 16 years of photographing couples and places around Toronto. “There are a lot of festivals going on in Korea, and I take as many photos as they want.” she says. “I just send them what they ask for. Sometimes they ask my opinion, and they often take the ones I pick.” As a photographer, her first look is at the article’s images, but it’s an emphasis she sees in many magazines and in everyday life. “We’re all visual beings. Everything is just images, images; we just live in a mediated world,” she says. In magazines, she says the photos appeal to our visual nature, and define how we read the article. “It starts off just being the photograph. Then I read the first three paragraphs, and then I’m done.” she laughs. “Some people are busy, they just look.” Law says she reads an article from the photo first, using the caption to learn more about the context. “A small percentage of people actually read the articles,” she suggests casually. “To get me to stop, it’d have to be a great picture… I still want to read the texts, but (usually) just the caption. You still want to be definitely sure that it is what it actually represents.” While Law wants to verify the image, she also expects the text to reflect it, based on what she has seen. “The text justifies the picture, especially with an image you’re unsure of,” she says. “You look at the photograph and make your own story, but you aren’t sure so you read on. When you look at the images you immediately make judgments. People assume it’s the truth; they’re assured that it’s truth but there’s uncertainty.” To demonstrate photography’s effect, she uses an example from the Toronto Star for the day, of a ragged woman looking pensive. She asks me what I notice first about the article, and I quickly say “the

mag.world 2011

Culture

Law ponders the appeal and effect of photography as a tool to draw in the reader. / SARAH CRESSWELL

mag.world 2011

portfolio including the CBC and several magazines. She currently teaches, and does some work for the Toronto-based Gallery 44. “The photo editor has to make a choice as to which photo reflects the article.” Zbitnew says the photo-editor must know the audience, picking images appropriate for that group, and must also engage the reader. “If there’s a picture that’s funny or interesting, we’re going to look at that.” The increasing visual focus has made good images all the more popular. “More and more, people rely on a picture to set the tone,” says Zbitnew. As long as the pictures can catch the eye and draw a person in, viewers will become readers and push deeper into the jungle of typefaces. MW

AMY WEINSTEIN

pictures.” She agrees; the picture reveals something we then verify with the caption, and if that piques interest we move to the headline and article. The same is true of magazines. “I think photos add more oomph,” she explains. “You can tell a story, you can say where it happened, when it happened, but when you add an image, it makes it all come together.” A magazine’s photographs, for all their importance, still need an article to support. Toronto Life’s art director, Jessica Rose, selects the photos brought in to support articles so that they can illustrate the city they’re revealing. “The art director is in charge of the whole feel of the magazine,” Rose says. She has been working in this position at Toronto Life since the spring of 2008, laying out the framework of the urban magazine. “Pretty much on every page is an opportunity to view the city.” In capturing this, she looks for striking images, that catch the reader’s attention and draw attention to Toronto’s points of interest. “Generally we want an image to be really stupendous,” she says. Rose also works with a photoeditor, whose job is to take the pictures and prepare them for best placement on the page. “We try to find the best photo for the editorial,” she says, but the photo-editor arranges it to its best effect. “A photo-editor’s job is to think of the impact of what the article says, and get a photo of it,” says Anne Zbitnew, professor of photography at Humber College, with an extensive

PHOTGRAPHY: AMY WEINSTEIN / PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: MICHAEL GREGORY

The kids are all righT Canadian cultural magazines for adolescents are thriving despite funding setbacks from government sources By Michael Gregory For a few weeks every four months Shannon Hurst’s house looks like the sorting room at the local Canada Post office. A few thousand magazines lie in piles across the floor, each marked with a postal code from cities big and small across Canada. She takes breaks now and then, either checking on the kids or working on her next column which she writes for Interior – the local newspaper in Smithers, British Columbia. Once all the magazines are sorted she’ll make the drive through South Hazelton to a road near the banks of the Skeena River where you’ll find the only post office in town. It’s here on the roads of a small B.C. interior town two hours east of the Alaskan border that Shannon came up with the idea for Spirit of the North magazine. Spirit of the North, along with the Claremont Review, SAY Magazine, and Shameless, are a handful of those labelled within the industry as “cultural”, and directed toward adolescent readers. They share a deep passion for

Canada and its people’s stories – hoping to share them all. Still, all the ideas in the world cannot save a group of magazines frantically affected by a backwards government funding model. Terence Young was there in the beginning of the Claremont Review, at its birthplace at Claremont High School in Victoria, B.C. in 1991. The review is now Canada’s only literary magazine for young adults, with all submissions coming from the same age range. “We started because at the time I was teaching creative writing and there was such great work coming out of the class,” says Young. “A few of the teachers got together and decided the best way to get it into the community was through a small publication.” The Claremont Review, celebrating its 20th year, is a semi-annual review distributed across North America promoting youth writing. Fifteen years ago Leslie Lounsbury was working for the Provincial Department of Education when she recognized there was something

mag.world 2011

magazines may appear to be endless. However, funding is a problem echoed over and over again by these publications trying to reach and educate the youth of today. SAY Magazine hears the call for more content all the time. “Can you do more, can you not publish it more, and more often?” says Lounsbury. “My family owns this magazine, so we have to sell in order to pay our bills; if we can sell more we’ll do it more often.” To Lounsbury the issue becomes more about lack of funding from the government. They lost funding from the Canadian Council for the Arts a few years back, and the Manitoba government only recently created a grant for magazines within the province. SAY has been a recipient of that grant for the past three years. The funding from Ottawa’s Canadian Magazine Fund, through Canadian Heritage has also barely delivered. “We’re supported, but you couldn’t run a magazine on it – it’s kind of like the icing on the cake if you get it,” says Lounsbury. The Claremont Review also faces financial stress. The review had funding cut from the federal government in 2009, after Ottawa changed

“I’d love to hire a youth aboriginal to write about issues in Canada in high schools, or young photographers to go out and film assignments.”

Shannon Hurst

Supplies clutter the floor as the girls design. / AMY WEINSTEIN

missing for Aboriginal youth. The Métis mother of six spent the next seven years planning a business model for a successful magazine which she eventually named SAY. “When I first got involved I was horrified there was nothing for Aboriginal youth,” says Lounsbury. “I wanted to reach Aboriginal youth, and I did some research into magazines for the best way to go.” Now, almost nine years later, this family-run publication out of rural Manitoba is the largest of its kind in the world. Sheila Sampath was a graphic designer before joining Toronto-based Shameless magazine in 2004. Now she’s editorial director and art director for this one-of-a-kind feminist magazine for young women. Last year, with a change of staff that saw Sampath promoted, the new staff recognized a need to define what Shameless meant to them. “Before we were just an alternative magazine, and then over the past few years we started to see a need for something that was anti-racism, anti-oppressive and trans-inclusive,” says Sampath. “When we wrote the mandate last year it was to more define the magazine in terms of what it could be and what it was moving (towards.) Up until that point we just knew we were not YM, or Tiger Beat. “ Shameless’ thrice yearly publication finds there are few topics it’s not willing to discuss, so long as the politics and respect are right in the end. The opportunity for these, and more, adolescent Canadian cultural

mag.world 2011

its funding requirements, essentially isolating many of the country’s literary magazines. Now they receive support from an online used books distributor, Abebooks.com, and a Canada Council for the Arts grant. “Canada Council almost cut our funding a few years back,” says Young. “They wanted a more modern looking cover from the one we had at the time, so we had to go back and come up with a new idea.” Young credits Abebooks for its support of creative youth writing in the country. The most recent project is sponsoring Claremont’s annual writing contest, which has a top prize of $500. “Each submission to the contest receives a free annual subscription to Claremont,” says Young. Still, for all Young and his team of editors are doing to promote creative writing throughout the country, they remain a group of teachers by day. They are volunteers, in it because of their own dedication to promote those youth like the ones they teach every day. Shannon Hurst at Spirit of the North remembers receiving a big green binder in the mail, full of potential grants and funding from the government. Ironically enough, she had to pay close to $800 for this administrative gem which provided little help. “I’m lucky to have found four grants that applied to us out of the thousands that are in there,” says Hurst. “As a woman in business I’m having a heck of a time finding grants for women in business.” Spirit of the North, which considers Canadian Geographic to be its closest competitor, certainly hasn’t received funding because of its content. “Here we are, we’re a magazine trying to inspire Canadians to love their country and travel in their country,” says Hurst. ” I’d love to hire a youth aboriginal to write about issues in Canada in high schools, or young photographers to go out and film assignments, but I have no money to hire people, and have been working free for two years.” Instead, a backwards system made starting a magazine next to impossible. Even to secure advertising in the magazine Hurst needed something tangible first that ad executives could look at, something not so easy in the publishing business. “We had to sell advertising in advance which is excruciating to do – to buy an ad in a magazine that hasn’t been published,” says Hurst. Hurst says the going rate for graphic designers is not cheap, and she was able to cut costs by hiring a new graduate out of the prestigious Emily

Culture

Hannah, Lucy, and Alessia brainstorm ideas for what they’d like to see in a Canadian magazine using photography, art, and even an iPad. / AMY WEINSTEIN

Carr University of Art and Design, in Vancouver, B.C. “She’s great, she young, she’s fresh with new ideas, and she’s building one heck of a resume building a magazine,” says Hurst. The nature of the Canadian magazine industry has smaller publications trying even harder to make themselves known. To these magazines, it means civic action outside the pages directly with their readers. Shameless has plans to reach out directly to readers and pull their opinions back into the pages of how the magazine is shaped. Sampath explains that she’d like

“In the future we’d like to organize a post-mortem committee of youth.“

Sheila Sampath

to see youth evaluating each issue as it passes. “In the future we’d like to organize a post-mortem committee of youth,“ says Sampath. The oncoming digital age of magazines, may present the best opportunity. Shameless just launched a new website with an all-important blog to encourage an ongoing fresh discussion on issues. Back down in Victoria, Terrence Young wishes he and all the editors alike could do more to promote Claremont. They always succumb to the same difficulty of being full-time teachers trying to run a successful literary magazine on the side. Claremont had negotiated a successful contract a few years back with B.C. Ferries to have the magazine on ferries across the province. The

contract was eventually taken by a bigger publisher, who could promise more in the end. The bigger dog won the fight. However, the magazine’s partnership with Abebooks has been successful at attracting young writers from around the world. Submissions have stretched across North America, and even abroad: reassurance that this small Canadian publication is having a big impact. Young wishes, however, that the magazine could do more to promote itself. The dream would be a small travelling tour to other Canadian schools to meet with potential new subscribers. “We’d really like to go across the country and visit all the schools to promote writing, and introduce people to Claremont who may not have heard of it before,” says Young. “At this point, it’s just not possible.” Shannon Hurst at Spirit of the North has taken to visuals of her own, encouraging readers’ submissions for photography. Her latest issue promoted a photo contest for which she says many pictures were received from young photographers – with a special section of the contest open for children under 12 and teenagers. “There’s very young creative people out there – some of the best photography was from these kids which is great,” says Hurst. “One was a cottage country lake shot from Ontario, another really neat one of people canoeing, and some great landscape shots with rainbows.” With Hurst’s encouragement a $500 bursary in the magazine’s name is now given out to an outstanding student at the local high school. In this small community it’s anything but a promotional stunt. Instead, it’s an example of the genuine commitment the editors have for what they do. In Hazleton, the 5000 magazines just dropped off are destined for Ontario, Sweden, Dubai, and many places in between. Now it’s back down the road home, to cook up dinner, put the kids to bed, and spend some time working on the website. MW

mag.world 2011

Culture

PLEASE CHOOSE THIS MAGAZINE BY ITS... By Hannah Vanderkooy

The award-winning cover at the 2009 National Magazine Awards features just the tip of Julie Dickson’s head with words filling the rest of the page reading: “The most powerful woman in Canadian banking is so… Canadian. She didn’t want us to say that she saved the Canadian banking system. Or that she’s a saviour of any kind. Or that, when she speaks, bank CEOs across the land take notes. Okay we won’t.” The words “woman” and “saviour” are bigger and bolder. Dickson gave Report on Business art director Domenic Macri a tough order when she would not allow her photograph to be used for the cover. “She agreed to be interviewed and photographed for the article on the condition she wasn’t put on the cover,” says Macri. “But we had to sell the story because it was an important one. It came down to the words, and that’s what made it.” For an industry so focused on words, the visuals on the cover – through the combination of words and images are what get consumers inside the magazine to read the articles. It’s important for the marriage between the image and Fonts, colours, photos and cover the words to be balanced. “We try HANNAH VANDERKOOY endlessly to make the words and the pictures work. If the pictures don’t work, we have to make the words stronger,” says Macri. Not all magazines have to worry about newsstand appeal, but those that do have the added challenge of grabbing a reader’s attention and taking them beyond the cover. Art director Erik Mohr has worked on a variety of magazines, in both paid and unpaid circulation categories. He recently worked as acting art director for Fashion, one of Canada’s leading fashion magazines that competes on the newsstands with Elle, Flare, and LouLou. Mohr uses the three-second rule when designing a cover. “If somebody’s eyeballs are only going to land on that cover for three seconds, will they pick it up?” As a former and upcoming judge for the National Magazine Awards

mag.world 2011

lines all play a role in getting potential readers inside a magazine. /

Mohr takes the type of magazine, and its genre into consideration when judging the covers. “A photo magazine will have the luxury of having no cover lines,” he says. “Whereas a newsmagazine is jam-packed with cover lines. You are looking at how those cover lines attract a reader.” When it comes to selling a magazine, the cover lines are just as important as the images. “You have to sell lines that are clear and straight forward, that aren’t confusing or trying to be clever or cute,” says Scott Bullock, owner of a circulation consultant agency, Circ3. The cover lines need to entice the consumer to not only look at the magazine but also look in it. Mohr says the consumer has to be able to read and understand everything that is presented on the magazine cover.

Digital Dialogue For those in the know, the paid circulation in combined newsstand and subscription sales attests to the real winners in cover design. “People have already voted for what covers work when they buy it on the newsstand,” says Bullock. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, Chatelaine and Canadian Living are neck and neck in paid circulation as Canada’s women’s magazines and top the list for highest amount of paid circulation in consumer magazines. Not only does the cover have to sell the magazine, it has to do so while effectively portraying what the magazine has to offer. “The key component is how it communicates the idea of the magazine,” says Mohr. “So whether the magazine is targeting a younger audience, an older audience, an active audience – the cover has to communicate the brand of the magazine, it has to communicate the content.” Mohr says that successful magazines do so through a combination of colour, typography, and images. “I think the cover sells the magazine,” says Mohr. Despite people going to the internet for content, the cover still gives the initial reaction and communicates the content of the magazine while luring in the reader, he says.

Not all magazines have to worry about newsstand appeal, but those that do have the added challenge of grabbing a reader’s attention. Bullock agrees that the internet is no competition for magazines. He says magazines are embracing visual possibilities with the trend to do special issue productions, using focused content and higher quality paper along with sleek designs to create a product that people would keep on their coffee table for years. “The medium is a visual one and it’s always been what has separated us from newspapers. We have high definition visual production,” says Bullock. “They are gorgeous to touch and beautiful to handle.” The winner for Newsstand Magazine Cover of the Year for 2009 has the shine and shimmer that attracts consumers to buy the magazine. The Flare cover features Canadian model Daria Werbowy wearing a blue sequined dress that reflects off the shiny confetti and mirror in the background. It’s an irresistible combination that compels the hand to reach over, pick it up and put it on the sales counter beside the milk and bread. MW

BRANDS IN YOUR BACKYARD Mobile is seen as a lucrative new way to connect with audiences. But, there’s more to it than just an app. By Tyler Davie

Like the challenge of establishing an online presence, the movement of Canadian magazines to mobile platforms is a portal to fast-changing reader expectations, experiences, and possibilities. “We’ve gone from a monologue to dialogue,” says Steve Maich, executive editor of Maclean’s. “People want to use your stuff, mash it up, create something new.” Maich says that magazine content is no longer static, and that the audience is not sitting and passionately absorbing the printed page, as their lifestyles have changed. Readers expect a deeper degree of interaction and Maich feels they can be engaged more deeply through digital devices they already use. But there are many devices with a vast variety of features, and the word “app” has just as many definitions. It could mean a fullfeatured program with additional content and interactivity, a version of a magazine’s website designed for the small screens of browserequipped phones, or a constantly updated list of links to a magazine’s content. Putting out an app in a magazine’s desired timeframe may require some external help. Polar Mobile is a company that helps magazines and other media launch apps and distribute content across all widely used mobile devices, with 200 clients in 10 countries. Among these are Time Magazine, The Hockey News, Maclean’s, and Canadian Living. “A lot of publishers embrace the concept of mobile, but not a real strategy,” says Kunal Gupta, CEO of Polar Mobile. “Being on the iPhone isn’t a strategy.” Being on a single platform is not enough. Publication in the mobile age has changed even beyond the degree of interaction between publishers and readers, as ways of accumulating

Brands and advertisements are part of our daily lives. / TYLER DAVIE

revenue have changed. Gupta says that in order to maximize success, publishers need to design products that keep in mind the relationship between reach and revenue. “There’s no monetized download,” Gupta says, explaining that page views and downloads are not adequate in tracking the activities of a user these days. He says that a publisher’s reach should be as far as possible, ideally every mobile device (which Polar can enable). Gupta says publishers need to keep track of user habits, and Polar becomes a partner in this endeavour.

...Moving to mobile is not so much of a risk as an opportunity, but the attitude changes from publisher to publisher. “We spend a lot of time telling them to work with their advertisers on this,” says Gupta. “Advertisers are buying sponsorships in companies.” Instead advertisers should pay attention to what users are doing with apps and work with publishers on advertisements that capitalize on a publisher’s audience reach. Gupta says that moving to mobile is not so much of a risk as an opportunity, but the attitude changes from publisher to publisher. Maich agrees, saying that members of the editorial, art, and production teams drove the development, and that the iPad lent itself to building an engaging, elegant version of

mag.world 2011

Digital Dialogue Maclean’s. He says editor-in-chief Kenneth Whyte made the project a sizes of the images of content and advertising, hopefully leading to better priority to take advantage of the best of online. In order to get it done in co-ordination between content producers and advertisers. the desired time frame, the magazine partnered with Built By the Factory “What’s exciting is a publisher can jump to where the content is in New York. Maclean’s staff provided all of the content and ideas for how available everywhere,” Gupta says. Shifting from cell phones to plexiglass they wanted to use the iPad, and Built by the Factory made these ideas panels on the sides of buildings, publishers will need to extend their reality. Many issues of the magazine were provided so that its design and reach to any device with a screen and connectivity. A publisher need only framework could be properly understood, and Maclean’s tested and revised figure out ways for interacting with users and finding ways to deliver their Built by the Factory’s work through each step of the process. brands into the lives of readers. The next challenge is to adapt this interactive and multimedia version “It’s not a risk, it’s an opportunity.” of the magazine for more devices, and Maich says Maclean’s content can be done on any platform. Canadian Living’s mobile experience has been more difficult. “We weren’t prepared,” says Catherine Gray, online content director for Transcontinental. “Right now it’s essentially just an RSS feed and we’re not quite happy.” Gray says the market was in its infancy when the feed was launched two years ago, and so, the feed only works with smartphones. Transcontinental has spent more time and money as Polar expands compatibility to more devices. She says the next steps might be an iPad app or mobile website. Because of the condensed nature of the mobile forum, Gupta says that publishers have to reconsider the emphasis of their brand, the core of what their magazine is about. He says users are coming to Maclean’s, Canadian Living, and The Hockey News because they expect certain content and experiences. With regards to apps that have not been successful, Gupta says the over-engineering of some publishers was an obstacle. “It costs too much, it doesn’t run well, advertisers don’t jump in,” says Gupta. “They’ve tried to do too much with it, and have deviated from their brand.” Canadian Living knows their brand. “A big focus for us is food,” says Gray, citing Canadian Living’s test kitchen as an example. “Our goal with an app would allow a search for all recipes in our archives.” Gupta says that by staying true to their brand, publishers can apply their content to any medium, creating an inventory to provide a vehicle for their advertising clients. He says mobile advertising guidelines produced by the Mobile Marketing Association are encouraging more consistent templates for the medium. These include recommendations for the Decisions are blurred by the influence of brands. / PHOTO ILLUSTRATION ALEXANDER LEACH MW

mag.world 2011

AMY WEINSTEIN

Digital Dialogue

TECH BEATS THE CHEQUE What will it take for the magazine business to catch up with technology? By Daniel Green

It is common for technology to move faster than industry, as we have witnessed throughout history. Mobile media appears to be the latest stage in communication technology and, as many experts say, its full potential is yet to be tapped. From a business standpoint, the magazine industry is still only figuring out how to fully capitalize on the opportunities offered by such mobile gizmos as digital tablets and smartphones. Greg Goralski, professor of interactive media at Humber College in Toronto says the magazines which are willing to fully embrace the format’s potential are the only ones that will reap the economic rewards. Goralski says that Toronto is a world class environment for digital “app” development, and that many magazines are eager to utilize the new format. However, not every magazine is fully exploring the capabilities digital apps have to offer, such as high-resolution video and interactive 3-D graphics. Several magazines, he says, are more or less releasing the static versions from their print or online formats and trying to sell them as mobile apps. Goralski cites Wired as one of a handful of mostly American magazines to experiment with the new media and reap the economic reward for doing so. Wired was able to sell almost 80,000 copies in its first two weeks on the app store, nearly surpassing its print version in sales. It appears the amount of work put into the app has paid off. “An average issue of Wired’s mobile app will take up 400Mb of space, whereas a really loaded website will be about one ‘meg,’” he says. The difference is explained by the way each format is distributed. Apps are downloaded and then stored on a device for an indefinite amount of time, while online mags are viewed from a web browser and are thus subject to limitations from bandwidth. Commercially speaking, there is a greater difference between formats in the way revenue is generated. Ceri Marsh of The Kit, an online digital magazine, discussed the drawbacks she experiences as a strictly online digital magazine, with no pay-per-view app. Since online magazines are free on the web, they can only rely on revenue from advertisements, which Marsh says is minimal compared to print. “There’s no comparison, it’s a big problem,” she says.

Marsh says advertisers are willing to pay $15,000 for a one page advert to reach 200,000 people in print, whereas the online going price is only $30 for the same audience exposure. Therefore her website must rack up about 100 million hits before it would generate the same revenue as a print ad reaching 200,000 people. This, she says, makes digital difficult from a financial standpoint. “If there’s no money behind something, it’s kind of a dead end,” she says. Fortunately, mobile apps, just like online digital magazines, are relatively cheap to start up, but more importantly, they’re able to generate revenue much more readily, Goralski says. “The biggest shift is with the app store business model,” he says. “Anyone could release content with twitter blogs and websites, but the app store now allows us to monetize it.” To download mobile apps, users are required to pay a fee (Wired charges about $5US) from a host “app store” to view the content. This ultimately makes mobile apps less dependent on advertising revenue than online mags are. However, as Goralski mentions, users only appear to be willing to pay when the app gives them something worth shelling out for. This puts the onus on the content and software creators to make something audiences want. Doing so might even result in more commercial success in the future Goralski says. Apps allow viewers to be more interactive with advertisements he says. Some even allow viewers to play with 3-D models of products such cars. This technology is quite new Greg Goralski as and there is little data on how effective they are with consumers. Thus, time will tell whether or not advertisements in mobile apps will fetch as much or more per view as the print counterpart, he says. Val Maloney, former editor of Masthead, thinks it will be a while before the industry really embraces the potential of mobile app advertising. “There’s a lot of potential for it, but there’s only so much you can do before ad firms get on board,”says Maloney. She says that ad firms appear to be slow to react to app adverts because of low device ownership. Naturally, advertisers want to spent money creating ads that are going to reach a mass audience. Unfortunately Maloney says, not enough people have tablets or smart phones to justify major investments. Goralski, however, remains positive that mobile device ownership will soon increase. “Every time a developer creates a new app, it adds to the value of the device,” he says.

“Every time a developer creates a new app, it adds value to the device.”

mag.world 2011

AMY WEINSTEIN

Digital Dialogue

DEVELOPING THE RIGHT APPROACH 30

mag.world 2011

Digital Dialogue By Danielle Perry The average magazine weighs about 0.375 pounds. It would not be uncommon for a reader to accumulate a few hundred magazines over the course of their lives. Consider if they only owned 200. That stack of paper now weighs over 75 pounds. Say they owned 350, now it’s over 130 pounds of paper, which most often ends up languishing in the back of a closet or decomposing in a landfill. This environmental and space-consuming inconvenience has begun to be alleviated by the recent explosion of applications – commonly referred to as apps. A common term for users of Apple, RIM and Android compatible devices— an app is a self-contained program that is downloadable to the aforementioned products, allowing users unfettered access once saved to their personal gadget. The future of magazines may not necessarily lie within glossy pages, but on screened devices. “We really believe that (digital magazines) may be the salvation of the industry,” states Mark Silverman, chief operating officer of Scroll Motion – an app which acts as a search engine to access digital publications. “The best example of that would be a publisher with a list of back titles that have been sitting dormant for years, and could find a way to re-purpose and offer it for sale again,” he explains. “We really think it’s actually going to help the [publishing] industry while it is in a state of turmoil.” Silverman emphasizes the importance of providing the reader with a different, more optimized experience than they would get with the hardcopy version of a magazine. With added functionalities that aren’t possible to create on paper, the ideal app will provide the reader with information in a unique way. “The user experience has to be more than just showing the picture of a digital page,” he says. “The experience is interactive. Often there are games, surveys, and some have the ability to record your own voice. These enhancements are to make the experience more productive.” As a multitude of publications toy with options and await proof that it could be a successful endeavor, Silverman admits it could take some time before there is any amassed and sustainable profit. “The cost of the app varies by functionality,” he says. “If you look at our most complex and enhanced magazine apps with all kinds of video and other enhancements like visual footnoting – that costs considerably more,” he says, explaining that the more interactive features an app has, the more it will cost publishers – and in turn, cost readers. Prices for different versions of a magazine are currently depending on what publishers choose to price them at. For example, Maclean’s is charging $2.99 CA per issue of their iPad edition, which includes special features like animated videos, connections to social networks and enhanced navigation for viewing articles. For digital copies without any enhanced features, they offer a subscription for 24 issues at $22.00, working out to be 92 cents per issue. For print subscriptions, they offer a deal of 52 hardcopy issues for $44.95, which works out to 86 cents per issue. Though stats and numbers are difficult to pinpoint at this stage, Silverman is confident that this so-called rebirth of the magazine will pay

off down the road. ‘There’s no industry standard yet,” he says, explaining the fact that this is still a work in progress. “It will take the market a while for publishers to get a return on that investment, but in the meantime they’re getting extremely high visibility with these enhanced apps.” Other companies directly involved with sales and marketing of digital magazines are also optimistic, but admit that only time can provide results. Zinio is a company whose app acts as a search engine for readers to find a variety of content – comparable to a newsstand, but a digital version. Jeanniey Mullen, chief marketing officer of Zinio, says making readers aware of just what app services exist is the first step in an arduous process. “You have to explain to them why it’s different, then you have to get them to pay money for it, and then you have to get them to start reading it. And that’s a lot of steps,” she says. Mullen predicts that once people become used to the idea of this new format, readership will expand quickly. “I think three years ago the forecast was that only one to three per cent of magazine subscribers were reading digitally – and I think that’s closer to seven to 10 per cent right now,” she says. “I think whatever we see now is going to be significantly different at the same time next year.” Like Silverman, Mullen also thinks that magazine apps will open doors for readers and publishers alike. “People are seeing a rebirth of interest. It’s definitely a time of a lot of activity and great news,” says. Mark Silverman sheWhile only a handful of magazines have currently developed an app with enhanced features, others are becoming aware that this is where they should direct their focus. David Averbach, web editorial director of iPhone Life Magazine, acknowledges that while there will always be a nostalgic feel for print, this is an industry in the midst of drastic change. His magazine exists in both traditional and app form – though in rudimentary PDF fashion. “There is something great about having a tangible magazine that you can hold in your hands and flip through — I don’t think that it will ever go away,” says Averbach. “But in the industry right now — iPads and all tablets, that’s where we’re heading. That’s where our attention is.” Averbach says distribution is easier with an app since there is no printing or mailing. Adding that that the results are much more promising for those who create content specifically for these devices. “Some people really take the time to make it specifically for the iPhone or for the iPad, and I think when they do that it really makes a big difference,” he says, explaining the importance of creating something fresh, interesting and easy to navigate. “It’s all about usability.” Averbach is confident that the digital evolution of magazines proposes opportunities for publishers and readers to connect, or re-connect in some cases. That connection is integral to the survival of the industry, and the seeds of which are being sown right now. “It’s not the future – it’s happened. It’s already changed.”

“We really believe that

[digital magazines] may be the salvation of the industry.”

mag.world 2011

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY HANNAH VANDERKOOY

AMY WEINSTEIN

Navigating the Mobile Sea By Vicky Siemon

VICKY SIEMON

Digital is the new wave rolling in, and those not embracing the new technology will be swept out to sea by the undertow. But, innovative thinkers never dock their ideas at the marina, they’re always searching the seas for newer, better, and faster designs. Technology is always changing, and as a result, so is the world.

mag.world 2011

“Content is borderless, you can go anywhere in the world. It is a great opportunity to reach markets that have been difficult to reach with a print product,” says Joyce Byrne, associate publisher of Alberta Venture magazine. Marketing is now being expanded to include smartphones to build customer relationships. Direct marketing has taken a new slant, and so has publishing. “The recession has played a role in going digital and in going mobile,” says Calvin Sribniak-Jones, marketing manager at Broadplay Inc. “Print is expensive and it’s mostly just used to create awareness.” Mobile marketing allows the client to respond and get more involved with the product and service. That’s why many companies have switched over to digital to market their brand. Jim Higginson, marketing professor at Guelph-Humber University and Humber College says “smartphones are a new way of communicating with individuals, which is what direct marketing is all about.” For publishers and magazines to keep up with this trend to digitize content for phones and tablets, they have to research to find what suits their magazine and their readers. “Broadplay uses a 360-degree mobile marketing plan, integrating many methods of media to get a response,” says Sribniak-Jones. He is responsible for product and vertical development, creation of strategic marketing collateral, corporate business development and competitive analysis. “The biggest change from traditional marketing to mobile is the response,” he says. “The response rate numbers speak for themselves, SMS (short message services) are read on average 98 per cent of the time compared to e-mail, which is 10 per cent of the time.” Publishers are aware of the intimate relationships people have with their phones and are responding with a backhanded volley; welcoming the consumer side with something distinctive and easy to respond to in the game of digital thinking. As Byrne says, “you really have to understand your audience, how do they want to receive your product?” If SMS marketing methods are successful, maybe consumers want to read content on their phones or portable tools on their way to work, or while in the waiting room, or waiting in line. Society today is all about access to information, and how easily it can be retrieved. The easier it can be retrieved, the more appealing it is to the digeballs of today’s consumer. Mygazines is a web-based platform that allows companies to distribute their content, enhance, protect and control its availability, even measure, track, analyze and connect to the consumer. “Going digital saves costs because it is a new revenue stream, whereas sticking to print limits you to one stream of revenue,” says Randy Frisch, chief marketing officer of Mygazines. Comscore Reports’ 2010 Digital Year in Review reports a growth of online users of 1 per cent of those between the ages of 35 and 54 and a 12 per cent increase of those aged 55 and above. Canadians spent 58 per cent more time online compared to 2009, and Canada’s online engagement topped other prominent markets like China, Germany and the United States. In the U.S, there was an increase of 60 per cent in smartphone usage in 2010. Polar Mobile is another platform company. Brittany McNena, spokesperson for Polar Mobile says they use SMART software, which is a platform that provides a template-based solution to enable apps to be built cross-device: iPhone, BlackBerry and Android. Mygazines offers a digital publishing solution by making content accessible. Frisch says many of their clients are traditional niche publishers that range from Redpoint, which produces the WestJet magazine, Up, to Randall Reilly that has over 50 publications including Equipment World, Overdrive and Parts and Service. Mygazines promises accessibility and that is exactly what

Digital Dialogue

“Going digital saves costs because it is a new revenue stream, whereas sticking to print limits you to one stream of revenue,” says Randy Frisch, CMO of Mygazines. / COURTESY

makes this platform company different. Their use of web app browsers allows all smartphones to connect to the URL and view content. “We believe that publishers are very capable, we make our platform accessible for publishers so they can use the link when they upload content, they have the option to choose which platform they want to do,” Frisch explains. Web browser apps give publishers a link that they can put in so many different places, on Twitter, Facebook, or on their own webpage, giving the consumers a variety of options. “There are so many ways to get content today, and it all starts with a search engine,” Frisch says. It is the app that is the talk of the town these days, but not everyone has access to these apps on their BlackBerry smartphones compared to other devices. The publisher has a decision to make: which platform to use and how many apps to create. This all depends on cold hard cash that the company is willing to put into creating these apps. Frisch explains how stand-alone apps can easily cost $10,000 to build, plus the maintenance of keeping them updated, so it is important to know what the options are. The operating system has to be continuously updated and that also comes at a price. The issue here is that it is not likely that small publishing companies are going to be able to hand out this kind of money as it could quickly eat away at their bank account. According to Byrnes, associate publisher of Alberta Venture magazine, “the fixed costs are the fixed costs. To edit, design, take photographs, the difference is that your print and production costs on a monthly basis, to mail, and the slice the distributors take, all add to the cost on the print side. The digital side is cheaper in terms of distribution, but there are those people who still want to read print over digital.”

To go digital or not go digital, that is the question many publishers are asking their account managers. But, ultimately there are two perspectives, the publisher’s and the reader’s says Byrnes. The question could seem like a no-brainer: have both, so readers have a variety of options. But as Byrnes says, it is important to know your audience. “If you have a large audience and you don’t have the budget to meet them all in print, digital is a great option,” says Byrnes. Digital Newsstand by Magazines Canada offers an effective compromise. “If you’re a magazine publisher, it is a great advantage to be in a group because we can publish our magazines digitally without having to make the investment ourselves of developing a stand-alone app or piece,” explains Byrnes. She says they their content to a host party who Joyce Byrne send delivers the story but they have direct communication with their readers and they direct them to where they want to go to purchase the magazine in the format they wish. Frisch says Mygazines also offers a different option with their web browser, “you’ll see that it looks like an app and feels like an app, like pinch to zoom and toolbar functions that you would expect on an app, but it is on a web browser. “ He says it’s important to “make content device agnostic, meaning, it doesn’t matter the device, the content is going to be available there.” Their objective is to make content available across all platforms, making information retrieval that much more convenient and a lot less limiting. “The key is that your content is available for any device, desktop computer, phone etc,” Frisch advises. This makes it easier to get hold of and creates a borderless way getting your content out there.

“You really have to understand your audience, how do they want to receive your product?”

mag.world 2011

Business/Technology

PAGE FOR SALE Inquire Within When it comes to being number one – to leading the pack – magazines have always known what their audience wants. What they want to see, what they want to read, and even what they want to buy. And, when it comes to making sure their readers get what they need from online, magazines again come first. The digital age provides an interactive magazine experience; flash streams, videos, colour, buttons and galleries. The Canadian Media Director’s Council (CMDC) Media Digest 2010-2011 says magazines are “number one in throwing consumers to websites, number one in motivating web searches, and number one in increasing brand favourability, a positive shift in brand attitudes.” But that doesn’t mean it is easy. “We’re in the middle of an enormous period of experimentation, and no one business model has emerged as a successful model. It’s just a huge amount of experimentation from the publisher’s view and advertisers and figuring out where advertisers are going,” says Doug Bennet, publisher of Masthead, an online publication featuring trends, changes, profiles and daily headlines of the Canadian magazine industry. A 2009 report by Statistics Canada in the CMDC Media Digest says the net advertising volume of general magazines had gone down 14.7 per cent compared to advertising volume in 2008. That’s no surprise to those in the industry. Since 2000, the advertising revenue had increased from $514 million to $590 million in 2009. It is the same across the board for all media, except the internet which was the only medium to see a significant increase in advertising volume over the 2000 to 2010 period: from $98 million net ad volume in 2000 to nearly $1.8 billion in 2009.

Advertisers are also spending on smartphone and tablet platforms. Global media services group ZenithOptimedia forecasts more ad-dollars will be spent on advertising on communicative devices rather than internet advertising. What’s less conspicuous is how much of online ad-spend relates to online magazines. Gary Garland, executive director of advertising services of Magazines Canada, says that because magazines are only considered print, current statistics relating to online advertising volumes encompass everything on the internet, including digital magazines. Nonetheless, advertising dollars are still key to revenue and the publishing of any magazine. It’s no surprise that magazines with higher advertising revenues survived the recession, says Bennet. Magazines Canada’s “Put Magazines to Work” report, released in 2010 says there were 1276 magazine titles in 2009, down from 1282

“We’re in the middle of an enormous period of experimentation and no one business model has emerged as a successful model.”

mag.world 2011

Doug Bennet

in 2008. The statistics, compiled by the Print Management Bureau, a leading producer of print and non-print media data, shows that there were approximately 1.04 to 1.06 million readers between 2007 and 2010. Umbrella organization Magazines Canada launched an initiative in November to attract advertisers and advertising agencies to invest in magazines. Garland said the initiative was meant to be compelling and engage a variety of audiences. “The first reason is to create awareness of

t h e medium, to remind people of magazine advertising – it’s there and it works,” says Garland. “And it really brings me to the second reason – to remind advertisers and their agencies that magazines do engage their consumer or their business audience, and they connect with these communities in very powerful ways and they create success for the advertisers.” Magazines Canada launched three campaigns – two for consumer magazines and one for business. The first consumer campaign is a die-cut insert in the magazine that looks like a torn out page. It is meant for advertisers to realize consumers tear out advertisements for future use. “(Consumers) want to know what (the advertisement) says, they want to follow up, they want to go

MAGAZINES CANADA

By Radha Tailor

Business/Technology

to a store and see what it looks like,” says Garland. The second consumer campaign allows magazines to choose from 12 layouts and customize the message to match the personality of the magazine and directly target the readership. The ad begins with “dear Magazine Reader” and ends with “we’re sorry we’re so engaging.” This ad was aimed at demonstrating the popularity of magazines to advertisers and consumers. “We’ve tried to create ads that can be used across a variety of editorial genres. But that’s one reason why we’re very much encouraging (magazines) to write their own that fits specifically their reader and their successes,” says Garland.

The trade publication campaign is about integrating the boardroom into daily life. The advertisements portray situations like consumers reading the latest updates from trade publications while taking a bath or getting ready for bed. “It’s really all about saying ‘wherever you go, wherever you are, you can bring your business with you and stay up to date and informed with what’s going on,” says Garland. David Brown, managing editor of Marketing Magazine, has a firm understanding of the need to bring more advertising dollars to magazines. Marketing Magazine provides industry news about advertising, marketing and media. The publication featured the Magazines Canada campaign in its November issue. “Magazine publishers have to be more innovative in things they try to do. They’ll try different formats, combine with online type things as well, so magazine publishers have to come up with new ideas to attract advertising dollars,” says Brown. The Maclean’s September 27, 2010 “Rethink Issue” is easily recognizable as a way publishers have pushed boundaries. This issue was printed landscape while the binding remained on the vertical spine. It was produced to challenge readers’ perceptions and take a critical look at shapeshifters and ideas changing the world. On the cover was Bill Gates speaking about public education, soon after he stepped down from Microsoft to work on the Bill Gates Foundation. Advertisements in this layout were changed as well. Some ads were printed as banners across pages, and Maclean’s and GM, a major advertiser in this issue, used QR codes for some advertisements. With a click of a button from a smartphone, readers were instantly sent to digital advertisements relating to the magazine content. This issue showed a seamless integration between print, digital and smartphone advertising. Today’s Parent partnered with Kraft Canada to create advertising. The two companies paired to make a tumble cover that read “Everyday Made Easy” for the October 2010 issue. Both covers used similar fonts and style of photography; however, the tumble cover was made as a cover for a special contents section. Within the section were 12 pages of Kraft-sponsored information and coupons, targeting families with children beginning a new school year. The two companies worked together to ensure the sponsored content matched the layout and the feel of the magazine.

Media innovation is turning into an essential part of publishing. Integration of the internet and social media with publications is more popular among advertisers, says Brown. The “Put Magazines to Work” report shows that for $1 spent on magazine advertising, there is an output return of investment of $2.71. At nearly three times the wager, magazine advertisements are no gamble. But what differs between print and digital advertisements is that online advertisements have interactive visuals, allowing for further innovation than print, a static image on a page. According to Brown, the print advertisement must be able to engage, look good, have an attention-grabbing headline and enlighten a reader within 90 seconds of viewing. “Magazines are working harder for advertising dollars and advertisers can ask for more,” says Brown. Because ad dollars are moving online, Brown adds that magazines should introduce online, mobile and social media components to expand the advertising domain. Online advertising also encompasses searchengine, website and email advertising. Social media could often be considered a monetaryfree medium because it’s an online strategy, according to Bennet. He also says advertisers and agencies are stretching advertising dollars between traditional media, such as magazines, newspapers, television and radio, as well as mobile advertising, experiential media, billboards and display boards. The creation of the tablet has posed problems to advertisers as coding and dimensions change according to the tablet hardware. This means advertisers need to reformat ads for each platform. Furthermore, Bennet says readers are still adjusting to the tablet experience and slower download times, which are turning readers back to print magazines. But despite challenges for advertisers and readers, the new electronics also have many benefits. Tablets allow for augmented reality, video streaming and animation. For this reason, new magazines are often choosing to produce online publications only, says Bennet. The needs versus the wants have changed in the industry, making ad-displaying magazines more dependent on layouts, contracts, and creative content. An increase in magazine advertising also means a push towards custom content and an influential voice. The magazine industry may be leaving a recession, but the advertising dollars are focused upon online platforms. “We are on the cusp of another internet revolution with the tablets,” says Bennet who made mention of reading that the invention of the internet could be compared to the discovery of fire in terms of its effect on human civilization. “And I tend to agree. We’re living through it right now in broad historical terms.” MW

mag.world 2011

Business/Technology

Scan-Handlers Welcome By Matt Leroux

People are slowly becoming accustomed to seeing a new image in their day-today lives. Almost everywhere they look they can see a glyph that looks like a square, blurry, pixelated barcode. They are popping up on everything: advertisements in buses and subway cars, take-out menus, gift certificates, museum displays, product packaging and even on newspaper and magazine pages. While many are mystified by the glyphs, some people clearly understand what they are. They’ll pull out their cellphone, walk up to an advertising poster, or hold it over the page of whatever they are reading and take a picture. The mysterious “glyphs” are a type of barcode, or tag, called Mobile Action Codes (MACs) that can be scanned by anyone with a smartphone and free scanning software. When scanned, the tag directs the user’s web browser to an encoded URL, essentially allowing any object to be linked to the internet. 36

mag.world 2011

Business/Technology For the print industry, MACs present an interesting opportunity. Dan Smigrod, CEO of GREAT! an Atlanta based promotion agency and tagging guru is blunt. He says by using the technology “newspapers and magazines can delay the demise of their print editions.” This touted potential is why some publishers are slowly starting to use MACs to direct readership to mobile-web content, offer new experiences to advertisers, and add supplemental information to print articles. A study of the use of tags in American magazines, conducted by Nellymoser Inc, a Boston based, mobile-computing company, found that 41.5 per cent of tags printed in the top 100 selling magazines in the United States were linked to editorial pieces. “It’s mostly expansions on what is written about. How to become the largest at the gym, how to pick a dress, how to cook a meal, how to do your hair,” says Roger Matus, the coauthor of the study and Nellymoser’s executive vice-president. “There might be some things like shopping guides and how to build things too.” While Matus’ findings tout the value of MACs to consumer magazines, Smigrod points to the potential usefulness of tags in news magazines to supplement stories and provide constant updates. “The editorial side can take you to a mobilized RSS feed of breaking news. They can present readers with an opportunity to scan a code, there is a chance they’ll get video shot by a rep in the field or associated video to help the reader visualize the story,” says Smigrod. As with other new technologies, there is currently a mobile tagging format war being fought to establish an industry standard. While numerous formats exist, the most prominent are the open-source Quick Response or QR code and the corporate supported Microsoft Tag. Both formats work very similarly but according to Matus have their own pros and cons depending on the needs of the magazine. According to the Nellymoser study, Microsoft Tags are the leading tag format in magazines, accounting for 82 per cent of all tags published from September to October 2010. QR codes were a distant second place, being used 14 per cent of the time. Matus and Smigrod both say one of the reasons for the split comes down to the ability of users of corporately supported software to better understand the audience that is scanning the codes. They are able to acquire details like the number of scans, the number of unique scanners and where they’re scanning, something not available from a free format like QR codes. While Microsoft Tags and QR codes are busy battling for the top, new technologies are constantly being developed that are ready to take over the dominant position in the tagging game. One of those new technologies is a high-tech watermark that would serve as the tag instead of an obstructive square barcode. “Instead of a particular tag or shape there is going to be an image blended into

something else that a computer would recognize that the eye wouldn’t,” says Matus. “It would be part of the page.” Despite the deeply held beliefs of those in the mobile computing industry, Canada’s magazine publishers aren’t adapting to tagging quickly, and signs indicate that publishers aren’t buying the technology’s hype. “I think if anything it’s a good gimmick,” says Tom Gierasimczuk, editor in chief of Marketing magazine. “If your readership or audience asks for it it’s something you should offer. But, a lot of this stuff has been done just for the sake of doing it since Esquire did it.” In its December 2009, advertising heavy, ‘augmented reality’ issue, Esquire’s cover featured Robert Downey Jr. and a tag that readers could hold in front of their webcams to gain access to special video content. The level of co-operation between the publisher and the advertiser on the Esquire project led Gierasimczuk to suggest that the real value in mobile tagging is for advertisers. “There’s bucks in it. The Esquire thing they were able to partner with a pretty significant advertiser and the whole thing paid for,” he says. “It’s another kind of Tom Gierasimczuk was relationship touch point for magazine and media to provide another platform for an advertiser.” Advertising accounts for the majority of scanned tags in the Nellymoser study, 59 per cent of those scanned directed readers to commercial content rather than editorial, and according to Smigrod, magazines have a financial motivation in filling their pages with scannable ads. “Magazines can use them to attract advertisers. It provides a valueadded experience for advertisers and they can charge a premium.” Gierasimczuk, also explains that not all magazines have a readership heavy enough with smartphone users to justify the use of QR codes. “You really have to explore this stuff before you roll it out and be able to provide a pretty significant post mortem on the campaign after it’s done.” An analysis of global mobile data market by Cisco Systems suggests that Canadian publishers know their readership and have held off on tagging because smartphones don’t have the same market share in Canada that they do south of the border. According to the data in Cisco’s report, smartphones account for only 34 per cent of all mobile phones in Canada, a number that is not only 3 per cent lower than the rate in the U.S. but is also predicted to grow at a slower rate. Cisco’s numbers predict that smartphones will consume more than 50 per cent of the mobile phone market in the U.S. sometime in 2012, while in Canada it will take until 2014. When more than half of the phones in Canada become capable of viewing mobile tags we may see further expansion of this technology, but until that happens it appears Canadian magazine publishers are in no rush to join this game of tag.

“Magazines can use them to attract

advertisers, it provides a valueadded experience for advertisers and they can charge a premium.”

COURTESY

“It’s mostly expansions on what is written about. How to become the largest at the gym, how to pick a dress, how to cook a meal, how to do your hair.” Roger Matus mag.world 2011

Business/Technology

A LITTLE BIRDIE TOLD ME... T

T? E E W

TWEE

T! CHRIS WALLACE

. T E WE

Magazines don’t only say it with words, but also with tweets. By Kelly Hall

The alarm on my smart phone wakes me up. Before pressing snooze I check Twitter: I find out what the weather’s going to be like, check delays on the highway, and peek at last night’s news. With all that business out of the way I find out Toronto’s top 10 cheapest restaurants for lunch, what to cook for dinner, what television shows to watch at night, and what my friends are up to today. After scrolling through Twitter for two minutes I press snooze and fall back asleep Twitter makes it easy to stay connected with what is happening in the world with direct news updates as they happen.

mag.world 2011

Business/Technology Magazines have picked up on this new trend to lengthen and strengthen their reach to readers. Of the top 25 circulated Canadian magazines, 16 are prone to tweet. “You have to have a Twitter account these days,” says Matthew Fox, editor at Toronto Life magazine. “If you don’t, then your publication is out of touch.”

“We engage with our readers which is a good thing because it brings us close to them by using Twitter to respond to them.”

Facebook with the link attached. Web services such as TwitterFeed.com can automatically post an RSS feed into any Twitter post and Facebook has a similar option, which “alerts readers of the stories as they go up,” says Fox. This is why creating the headline is so crucial: without it no one will have any interest to proceed to reading the article, says Fox. At Today’s Parent the amount of time spent figuring out what to post on Twitter everyday is not taken lightly. Today’s Parent tweets about blogs, articles, recipes, and even online articles from its archive. Recipes are usually posted mid-day, says Alex Mlynek, editor of Today’s Parent, “so our Twitter followers can plan the day.”

Alex Mlynek

Creating the headline is very important says Fox, “to make sure every article gets out we make sure the headline describes and is of interest for the reader.” Twitter allows only 140 characters per post, including the headline and short link. The online team at Toronto Life is so small it depends on an automated service that publishes their headlines and links on Twitter and Facebook. When they post an article online, the automated service takes the headline they created and uploads it to Twitter and

Twitter Traffic Takes-off!

11,874 Jan.10 25,137 Jan.09 12,338 Jan.10 11,439 Jan.09 1,051 Jan.10 4,700 Jan.09

Number of Mobile Subscribers Accessing Facebook, MySpace and Twitter via Mobile Browser. 3-month average ending Jan. 2010 vs. Jan. 2009. Total U.S. Age 13+. Source: comScore MobiLens.

Editors note: As of April 6,2011 Today’s Parent has 102,465 followers on Twitter. There are many issues, like teething and potty training that are constantly arising with the readers of Today’s Parent. “Some topics are always relevant. As a parent, the issues don’t go away so we use the archives,” says Mlynek. The team at Today’s Parent would retrieve those articles and post them on the website then post a tweet to redirect readers to their webpage. Fox says Twitter has increased traffic flow to Toronto Life’s website. Currently, 97 per cent of the articles on the website are original online articles. The Toronto Life website receives about 500,000 visitors a month and sees about 2.4 million page views in the same time. This is over twice the number of visitors in January 2009, one month before opening a Twitter account, when the site also received only 1.5 million page views. When Alex Mlynek joined Today’s Parent as editor, the publication was already on Twitter and today has more than 100,000 followers with the number growing every day. After opening the account the growth was something organic, says Mlynek.

“You have to have a Twitter account these days.”

Matthew Fox

Today’s Parent’s had 240,000 unique visitors in December 2010. With a magazine and website already so popular in Canada, a Twitter account was a logical next step. “We engage with our readers which is a good thing because it brings us close to them by using Twitter to respond to them,” says Mlynek. “Our customer service is better and instant.” She says they try to respond to each and every concern through Twitter. If there are a handful of requests they will search the archive and post a relatable article for everyone. Fox says he is very pleased with the capabilities of Twitter for Toronto Life online. He would ultimately like to do more with it and make it more personalized. “Twitter is fast, but it takes a long time for people to get used to a media brand like Toronto Life, even on-line,” says Fox. Things on the Internet don’t happen overnight, the success Torontolife.com has had with Twitter is based on the gradual build of visitors, says Fox. MW

mag.world 2011

Business/Technology

Battle for the Byline The people who write the stories aren’t always experts on the topic. Do readers prefer a professional, or a professional writer?

By Catherine Divaris

So-called “expert” writers, leave journalists staring at a blank page. / Wendy Mach

Remember your first major job interview? Sitting in the waiting room, wearing an itchy suit, rubbing your palms on your legs every five seconds in hopes that the interviewer doesn’t think you just handled a live fish. Your brain is working through all the possible questions that could be thrown your way, and all the possible scenarios for the next half hour. Now imagine doing that interview after working for 20 years at a magazine that recently downsized the number of full time journalists on staff. Sandy Crawley, executive director of Professional Writers Association of Canada, says there is a shifting trend to online publications, and shorter articles both in print and online. “Another trend we are seeing more and more of online and even in print is user generated material like feedback from readers,” says Crawley. “Both of those trends are a challenge to professional freelancers if space is being filled up by the staffers from corporate clients or amateurs.” Although readers have now found a place in magazines, there will always be a place for writers, says Crawley. “There are more writers entering the workforce, not less,” he says. “People do enjoy hearing from experts, but there will always be room for the professional writer in magazines.” Another change for Crawley is that the length of magazine articles is diminishing. “People just don’t want to read long pieces online, they don’t have time or the attention span for it. So, if publishers are paying writers per word and article size is shrinking, freelancers are not being paid as much for each article they write.” Mihira Lakshman, editor in chief of Canadian Running Magazine, says we have nothing to fear. “Obviously, in our case, it’s a great thing when our writers share the readers’ love for running,” he says. “It’s always good to be able to connect with readers on the personal level and to be able to give them exactly what they want.”

Lakshman says that although people may think the Internet has negatively affected magazines, he believes the opposite is true because the Internet opens a direct line of communication between readers and the magazine. “The Internet gives small magazines like ours a chance to reach a much larger audience. It actually creates more jobs for journalists because we have blogs and online articles that are written specifically for our online readers.” But do readers prefer reading a column written by a non-journalist expert? Or do they even care who writes the article, as long as it answers their questions? There is a growing trend in the number of non-journalist experts writing articles, especially in business–to-business magazines says Crawley. “There are a lot of company people or staffers writing more or less about public relations and bypassing journalists altogether. They save cost by eliminating the middle-man.” Lakshman says consumer magazines do Sandy Crawley notBut follow the same formula. “Anytime you have an ‘ask the expert’ section, obviously, you need an expert on hand to answer a few letters a month,” says Lakshman. “But other times there may be a few requests for a first-hand anecdote from someone who has lived the marathon circuit, or is highly educated about a topic of interest to our readers; like hearing from a physiotherapist about common running injuries.” In any case, Crawley says, writing is still an art form. “PWAC membership continues to grow every year,” she says. “Freelancers have a huge market in writing for the government, annual reviews, and articles outside the publishing sector, not just magazines. They just have to explore what’s out there and find something they love to write about.”

“There are more writers entering the workforce, not less.”

mag.world 2011

WHAT IT TAKES For every successful magazine start-up, there are plenty that don’t make it to print.

By Kari Pritchard

mag.world 2011

KARI PRITCHARD

The sounds of the sudden whirl and thump of the press and its radiating heat, the smell of fresh ink and the sight of thousands of words and pictures whizzing by are sweet rewards after many hours of hard work and dedication. These are treasured memories for editor and co-founder of Garden Making, Beckie Fox, of the first time her magazine went to print in the Spring of 2010. The greeting at Dollco Printing in Ottawa for Fox and her husband, who is the magazine’s publisher, was a pleasant surprise. “There was a big sign an on easel saying ‘Welcome Garden Making’” recalls Fox. “They took us into where it was being printed and we were checking all of the colour proofs at the last minute. Then all of a sudden these big presses started to roll and I looked up and I could see all of the pages of the first issue whipping by. That was pretty exciting.” For Fox it was a first – first magazine, first issue. For other 2010 startups, a total of 193 in North America for 2010, it was often a new addition to a group of magazines. Nonetheless, seeing, holding and smelling those copies fresh from the press is almost always accompanied with a sudden rush of pride in achievement. Taking on the task of starting a magazine comes with a set of challenges as well as rewards. Fox decided to start Garden Making for Canadians who simply love to garden. “It focuses more on plants, growing and technique for people who are really, really enthusiastic, really obsessive about gardening, both beginner gardeners and experienced gardeners,” she explains. And, while it was a personal first, it wasn’t the first launch Fox had been a part of. In 1989 she helped launch Canadian Gardening magazine, a new publication for what was then Camar Publications, which already had a stable of other specialty publications. Fox started as a copy editor and moved on to be managing editor and then editor of Canadian Gardening, a publication still running today. After 12 years Fox left to launch her own title in the same market. One of the challenges Fox faced with launching Garden Making was using personal finances to fund the magazine and the responsibilities that came along with a lack of support from a pre-existing company. “Because it’s a start up magazine, any money we put into it is our own money and our own investment so we try to do as

Business/Technology

The printed paper is entering the final stages of the process. / KARI PRITCHARD

many of the tasks as possible,” she explains. “I spend a lot of time not just editing the magazine, but doing a lot of other things I might not have done at a magazine with a larger company,” she says, like mailing magazine samples and paying invoices. Fox and her husband are on their way to resolving this problem through renting office space and looking to hire people in circulation and office management who can complete day to day duties. As to the timing, Fox has found that launching a magazine in a year of global economic turmoil was actually a good idea. “One of the benefits … is that there are a lot of people who are looking for work, including suppliers,” says Fox. “Printers are very eager to have new clients so print contracts are a little more forgiving. In a way a recession is a horrible thing but for someone starting a new business it does have a few benefits.” Put simply, says Fox, there’s more supply than demand. Fox also has some useful advice for those who may be thinking of starting a magazine in the near future. “No matter how devoted you are to your content, or how much you think readers are going to want to read what you have to write or publish,” says Fox. “If you don’t have a good business plan, if you don’t know how you’re going to distribute those magazines to potential readers, then you don’t have as much of a chance.” Understanding business is crucial in order for a magazine to survive the first year and even more important when looking to the future. “Anyone can launch one issue but it’s about maintaining it and keeping it going that seems to be the greatest challenge,” says Matthew Blackett, who has been publisher, creative director and a founder of Spacing magazine for over seven years. “You have a lot of excitement and momentum behind the start of [a magazine]. It’s when it becomes a little less fun and more of a business, instead of just an idea, it becomes a lot harder.” Paul Grossinger, co-publisher of one-year-old Friday Night magazine, a publication self-described as celebrating Jewish life in Toronto, also understands the importance of business when it comes to launching a magazine.

mag.world 2011

“I would say make sure that you do a lot of planning and preparation,” he says. “Content is king in my opinion so really focus on editorial, but the business side of it needs to be secure in place before you launch.” Grossinger is also president and owner of KAP Publishing, which in addition to Friday Night also publishes Canada Camps, Canada Camps for Parents, Security Matters, and Security Products Canada, the only bilingual security magazine in Canada, which Grossinger also launched in 2010. With the specific target audience of Friday Night, Grossinger understands the importance of finding a niche market when starting a magazine. “My [business] partner and I felt that there was a void in Toronto’s Jewish community,” says Grossinger. “We felt that there was a need for a magazine that mixed issue-based journalism with lifestyle type content and we decided to go ahead and launch.” Grossinger does admit that the launch of his most recent magazines was easier because he had been through the process before, but noted that Friday Night presented the challenge of dealing with a consumer audience. “I believe that it’s harder to create that mass market buzz with a consumer magazine and that was a challenge,” he tells. “But when designing a magazine, the basic principles are always there, whether it’s trade or consumer: strong content, good circulation, distribution plan and good selling strategy.” Grossinger also overcame the difficulty of creating interest in Friday Night through forming relationships and interacting with the Jewish community. “The key for us is really getting out there and forming our partnerships with Jewish associations, to get them to promote us and vice versa. We promote them through our magazine,” he explains, also noting that attending events and making use of the magazine’s database and website were additional ways to create exposure. “It’s just really being seen in the marketplace as being part of the community. I think that’s the best way to gain subscribers.” Throughout the first year, Grossinger has dealt with other challenges that experienced publisher Matthew Blackett can relate to. “The greatest challenge, I think, is just generally advertising,” says Blackett of the difficulties faced by start-up magazines. “Getting people to advertise and stay with you. Getting them the first time is hard and retaining them is also hard.” For Grossinger getting regular advertisers for Friday Night was the big challenge. “In this economy it’s always tough, especially with a new launch that has no history, no tradition and really needs to grow.” But with a bit of work and promotion, Grossinger knows the challenge of securing advertising can be overcome. “It’s by getting on the phone and calling people and explaining to them why you’re unique and why you think you’re a good fit for them,” he says. Like Grossinger, Sam Cohen, is one of the owners of Gripped Publishing Inc., which added a new publication to its family of magazines last year. Gripped Publishing Inc. continues to publish Gripped, Triathlon Magazine Canada and Canadian Running and introduced Canadian Cycling Magazine in March 2010. Cohen is publisher of Canadian Cycling Magazine, directed at those interested in the sport of cycling. Industry research showed Cohen there was a place for a cycling magazine that both those in the industry and consumers could enjoy. Cohen also found that having experience in launching magazines helped pave the road for Canadian Cycling Magazine. “The first [magazine] was obviously a lot harder because you didn’t know anything and so we didn’t really raise a lot of money for it,” he remembers. “It was quite a bit harder, whereas each one after that has been significantly easier because we’ve had a better sense of what we were doing and a better sense of the market we were looking at.” Cohen is another publisher who cites advertising as an initial hurdle. “There’s the challenge of convincing people to advertise, which we were moderately successful with in the first year and are much more successful with in the second year,” he admits. “When we started out, [advertisers] can look at our other titles and

The final step of web printing is cutting the freshly printed pages into a magazine. / KARI PRITCHARD

say ‘Oh, well it looks like you make a nice magazine,’ but they don’t have proof that we’re actually going to be successful in the market,” he explains. “So after having a proven circulation, we are proving to the advertisers that we’re successful.” Cohen was faced with another difficulty after researching and selecting cycling as his target market. “Cycling is something that we know about as fans, but we’re not people that are professionals in the area,” he explains. “We needed to find an editor who knew about the industry, and knew about the sport side as well, to create something interesting for consumers.” He also had to find writers who were involved in the world of cycling and could deliver to their readers. “While we have a lot of writers with our running magazine and our triathlon magazine, they’re not necessarily going to be able to write about a subject like cycling in a way that seems convincing for the people who are going to be the consumers,” he said. “It’s difficult for every type of magazine, it’s different for each one what determines success,” says Blackett. “One year is great, three years means that you’ve probably got some solid grounding.” Cohen has already started planning for the future of Canadian Cycling. “We will make sure that we increase the distribution, so we are actively pursuing subscribers by direct mail, which we do a fair bit of.” And, he’s planning to keep up with his competitors. “We spend a lot

of money to make sure that the magazine is available everywhere on the newsstand. So basically anywhere you would see the big U.S. competitor, which is Bicycling, you would be able to see Canadian Cycling.” As for Friday Night’s future, which started making profit after two issues, Grossinger has plans for further networking. “I think it’s also important to continue to grow industry relationships depending on the industry you’re in,” he says. “Whether it’s a consumer or trade magazine it’s really about forming relationships with people. We did that in 2010 but there’s always room to develop more and that’s what we plan to do in 2011.” Garden Making, which Fox estimates will not be able to generate its own income until after its third year, is looking forward to gradual, steady growth. “I’d like to have more subscribers and we do have more subscribers with each issue. We don’t have aspirations to be the biggest garden magazine in the country. We want to focus on reaching the right readers who will be loyal and who will continue with us,” she says. “I’m very proud of what we’re doing but I also do feel a responsibility for what we’re doing. We have subscribers now who have given us money for issues over one year, two years or three years,” Fox continues. “We wouldn’t have started this if we didn’t think we were going to go in for the long haul. It’s a firm commitment.” MW

mag.world 2011

AMY WEINSTEIN FABIEN ALEXIS

Beyond the pages… for additional content visit www.magworldonline.com Keeping Connections With Home by Fabien Alexis The role of diaspora magazines in keeping culturally-based communities connected.

High Heels, Lipstick, Mini-Skirt, Plaid by Elizabeth Caven From online to print and print to online: a fashion magazine’s transition between mediums.

The Big Boom Theory by Sarah Cresswell

mag.world 2011

FABIEN ALEXIS

AMY WEINSTEIN

The influence of baby-boomers on the magazine industry.