Mag World 2009

magworld 09

Freelancing

the cost of writing Smitten with smut Through the lens of photojournalism From old to new at the printing press

www.jhr.ca

ONE STORY CAN

CHANGE THE WORLD

Media creators must ensure that words travel.

We all believe in the power of stories to mobilize widespread

The people listened and were inspired. The number of rape

global change. History is filled with examples. Martin Luther

cases reported to the police jumped through the roof. Justice

King Jr. and his followers sent messages through the media,

is now being served.

rousing hundreds of thousands of people to march the streets.

Global media pressure against Apartheid in South Africa helped end it.

Similarly, jhr (Journalists for Human Rights) is amplifying the power of the media to change the world for the better. A

We live in the global communication age. At no time in our history has the media been more powerful. It is our mission to ensure the stage is set so stories like these continue to be told and to continue to inspire.

jhr-trained local journalist in Ghana told the story of unreported rape in poor and uneducated communities.

Learn about what you can do: www.jhr.ca

You can help make words travel.

For every dollar you give, you will help 15 people realize their rights in places like the Congo, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Take advantage of the media's broad reach and stretch your hard earned money further.

Your donation to jhr will make possible: • Daily on-the-job training: Experienced jhr journalists work side-by-side local African media practitioners to increase human rights coverage.

• Awards: Creating incentives that rewards best practices in human rights reporting • Create national dialogue: jhr brings together local media, journalism schools, communities and policymakers sparking national dialogue on human rights issues.

Please visit www.jhr.ca/donate for more information on how you can help make words travel.

magworld2009 Message from the editor:

Editor in chief Joana Draghici Executive editor Septembre Anderson Print managing editor David Perri Production managing editor Debby Walker Art Director Elizabeth Zahur Art direction Lee Flohr Angela Mahoney Online art director Mark Rothen Online assistant art director Lea Maiorino

When the MagWorld team began the writing process in January, it was official: the media industry was in trouble. There is no doubt that 2009 has been and will continue to be a hard year for magazines. We’ve seen layoffs, frequency reductions and closures during the four months we’ve worked on MagWorld - I’m sure we’ll see more, it’s the unavoidable path of a recession. But it’s not all negative; magazines are finding innovative ways of doing business and trying even harder to capture their audience.

A recession is also a time of change, a time of transition, and that’s exactly what the MagWorld team saw while developing our stories and speaking to people in the industry.

In this issue of MagWorld, we focus on how the world of magazines is restructuring and finding ways to survive through this time.

The online world seems to be both a challenge and an opportunity, Holly West shows us how online magazines can make a profit while Septembre Anderson shows us the new technological developments in the magazine world.

David Perri writes a persuasive piece about the need for an agency that represents freelance writers, and negotiating pay rates above the $1.00 per word cap we’ve seen for the past 30 years.

Alison Brownlee writes an informative piece on how the recession has affected magazine ad sales, while Laura DiMascio explores the notion that the compromises of a recession may put quality in question.

Jackie Paduano explores the changes in photojournalism and Erin DeCoste takes us inside the underserved female pornography market.

Joana Draghici

Photo editor Amy Snow Section editors Kristen Smith Jackie Paduano Jackie Martinz Holly West David White Copy chief Erin DeCoste Laura DiMascio Copy editors Alicea Knott Alison Brownlee Assignment editors Alison Brownlee Alicea Knott Fact Checkers Scott Rennie Alison Brownlee Alicea Knott Editorial adviser Terri Arnott Artistic Adviser Anne Zbitnew Production Adviser Tim Fryer Humber Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning School of media studies & information technology 205 Humber College Boulevard Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M9W 5L7 Phone: 416 675 6622 ext 4111 Fax: 416 675 9730 Email: magworld@humber.ca

MAG WORLD SPRING 2009

There’s something almost ironic about a “magazine about magazines” not having its words printed in ink, but by trying to simulate the flip of a page perhaps we can pretend. We hope that along with our video and audio components, we can create a fully interactive and informative experience.

Online managing editor Jessica Brooks Assistant online managing editor Tyler Mason

3

6 - Raising the Rates The Canadian Writers Group may be what freelance writers have been waiting for: an agency to negotiate pay rates above the $1.00 cap

8 - Quality Control Do the job cuts of the recession compromise the quality of journalism?

magworld2009

Contents

10 - Ads Wanted A look at how the decrease in advertising dollars has affected the magazine industry

12 - Straw Pulp Fiction Paper does not have to be made from trees: an exploration of another option

14 - Keeping Up with the Weeklies The changing face of two competing Toronto weeklies Eye Weekly and Now Magazine

15 - M.V.P. Most Valuable Publication A profile on Canada’s leading source for what’s going on in the world of hockey - The Hockey News

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15 - Scrum to the Top Scrum: a new rugby magazine launched by a Humber graduate

16 - Hitting the Right Cords Corduroy: a new Canadian magazine from New

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

York City

4

15

18 - Happily Descending After 10 years, a Canadian yoga magazine is closing its doors

Worn and Piece - 20 An alternative to mainstream fashion magazines for the fashion literate

The Changing Face of Photojournalism - 22 The exeperience of two young freelance photojournalists

Net Profit - 24 How to make money with an online magazine

The Beat Goes Online - 25 After ceasing print publication CHART now exists solely online

Small Dog, Big Fight - 26 The launch of digital newstands will give Canadian magazines a competitive edge

Magazines 2.0 - 28 New technology is changing how we read magazines

OMG! It’s Just a Phase - 30

16

How three Canadian teen magazines are tackling a tough market

Wide Open Market - 32

22

An inside look at sex magazines for women

Over 40, Under Served - 34 The magazine industry is finally catering to an older demographic

Nothing to be Ashamed of - 36

Travel Diaries - 38 Three women that travel and write about it

38

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

Shameless magazine creates an anthology

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RAISING THE RATES

BY DAVID PERRI

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

W 6

hether hunting down an interview or racing to meet a deadline, few things are predictable for Canadian freelance writers – except their rate of pay. Freelancers have been labouring beneath the buck-a-word ceiling of the Canadian magazine industry for the last three decades.

“For top tier freelancers, the rate hasn’t really changed. It was a dollar-a-word back in 1980 and it’s pretty much the same in 2009,” said Derek Finkle, who has been a freelancer, editor and is now the head of a new agency, the Canadian Writers Group.

The CWG was created to negotiate better pay for the freelancers it represents. It’s launching on May 11, representing about 60 writers, a number that should double by summer’s end, Finkle said.

“We have to try to attach a tangible value to people’s time,” he said. “The same way that a senior editor can expect a certain type of salary for a certain amount of time, the same thing needs to start applying to writers.”

The inert pay rate for freelancers is striking considering magazines manage

to cover other increasing costs like printing and rent, he said.

“How is it that this one line item in their budget, written content, has managed to remain relatively stagnant?”

Shelley Ambrose, co-publisher of The Walrus, has an answer. She said it comes down to a “hard costs” versus “soft costs” dynamic. In any business “you have to pay the people who can close you down first.”

Rising “hard costs” like printing and postage must be paid, or the magazine itself will close as a vehicle to publish content.

“I have to pay Revenue Canada first, then I have to pay paper, printing, and shipping, or my product doesn’t go out and I don’t fulfill my contracts with subscribers and advertisers,” she said. “Then I have to pay for rent, internet, phone, and staff. Left over are often the most powerless people, the ones who can’t close us down.”

“It’s brutal for writers, artists, and freelancers,” said Ambrose, sympathizing with Canada’s contributors who, in her view, haven’t seen a raise since around 1970.

Finkle recognizes that writers are considered soft costs in the Canadian magazine industry, but he wants that to change.

“One of the goals of this agency, in the long term, is to take writers from being a soft cost and turn us into a hard cost. Move us a few levels up the rungs, so that we’re

somewhere around the gas bill,” he said, in response to Ambrose’s explanation.

While Canadian magazines have many expenses, they should not be neglecting writers because they produce the “lifeblood” of every publication, he said.

All magazines, especially award-winning publications like The Walrus, thrive because of the content written on their pages. “Who won all those awards? The writers. It wasn’t the printer, it wasn’t the landlord, and it wasn’t Canada Post,” he said.

David Johnston, executive director of the Professional Writers Association of Canada, said that the prolonged plateau of freelance pay is also related to corporate conglomeration.

In large media corporations that own several publications, “decisions about where money is spent are further removed from the editor-writer relationship,”

Photo by David Perri

The Canadian Writers Group wants to get freelancers a bigger piece of the pie

J o h n - ston said. “You’ve got a situation now where some of these companies are publicly traded, so they’re answerable to shareholders in a way that a privately owned magazine wouldn’t be.”

Not only have the rates stagnated, but today publishers are demanding more rights from the author, he said. “If you sell it to Canwest or Rogers they will pay you some sort of piddling sum and spread it out over many publications, and they will also publish and archive it electronically,” he said. “So in real terms writers are worse off [today].”

Johnston said that it may be time to move away from the per-word pay structure to properly value writers’ work. “Writing a 750-word article takes almost as much effort in terms of research as writing a 7,500word article. The word-count formula really doesn’t reflect the work that is done,” he said.

The Walrus has moved away from perword pay for this reason. “A piece on a baby stroller at 500 words is not the same as a 500 word piece on genocide in Rwanda,” Ambrose said. The Walrus uses a more detailed pay structure which distinguishes between different types of contributions, like essays and investigative pieces.

But for the most part Canadian freelancers have to string together a comfortable living by taking on additional work, Johnston said. “Smart ones will write books and screenplays and make a real living. Or they will go on staff if they can manage that,” he said. “If you cross-pollinate it with other genres, it’s viable.”

There are exceptions. Amy Rosen has been freelancing exclusively for over ten years. “I remember when I was first starting out my editors would say, ‘What else are you doing on the side?’” Rosen said. “This is all I do,” she’d say, to their astonishment.

“I’ve been really lucky. Mine for sure is not the typical case,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of editors who have been really nice to me over the years. I’ve had mentors. I’ve had a lot of things that other people haven’t had, that all worked in my favour.”

Over the years she has used her reputation and experience as a writer to get the most for her work. Once, she learned that an American writer was being paid more than her for contributing to a magazine she regularly wrote for. “I did think at that point, for loyalty if anything, I was worth a little more than the person writing for them for the first time.” Rosen spoke up about it and got herself a raise. “You can’t get anything if you don’t ask for it,” she said.

But asking for a raise is taboo for many writers, Finkle said, because the continued undervaluing of their work has led to diminished expectations. “I call it the freelancer’s inferiority complex,” he said. “It’s so ingrained that [magazines] can’t afford anything, and it gets beaten into you, that

hands and pull the deal off the table just because you’re trying to get the best deal possible.”

Finkle said he has support from the “critical mass” of writers needed to make the agency effective. “I think it makes sense to start with a smaller number,” he said, “it will probably expand in waves.”

Trial negotiations have been successful at securing better compensation for the writers, and were well received by the publications, Finkle said.

“It’s not meant to be completely adversarial,” he said, pointing out that underpaying discourages freelancers and lowers the

“It was a dollar-a-word back in 1980 and it’s pretty much the same in 2009.”

-Derek Finkle the value of your time is so miniscule, that you shouldn’t expect any more, you should just accept what is offered.”

The CWG will negotiate issues such as pay rates, pay deadlines and the exchange of rights on behalf of its writers. These are “the kinds of things, as an agency, you can demand without hurting people’s feelings.

Whereas with a writer dealing directly with an editor, it’s a little more touchy,” Finkle said.

He anticipates the magazine industry will accept the use of an agent for negotiations since it has been long established in similar fields like book writing and screenwriting.

Johnston also expects the agency to be successful. “I was an agent for 15-20 years and publishers understand the game.

You’re always going to be pushing for more,” he said. “They’re not going to throw up their

quality of content in magazines.

“I think that ultimately the magazines themselves are going to suffer if the talent pool dwindles anymore,” he said. “In the end paying people more realistic rates is going to keep more people in the game, help people spend the time in the industry that they need to improve the quality of their writing and their reporting. Ultimately that’s going to serve the publications that they write for.”

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

Photo courtesy Christopher Wahl

IN THE KNOW

7

QUALITY CONTROL

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I

BY LAURA DIMASCIO

nscribed on the gateway to New York’s Columbia Journalism School is: “A cynical, mercenary, demagogic, corrupt press will produce in time a people as base as itself.”

This statement by Joseph Pulitzer illustrates the real impact the journalism industry has in shaping a nation; a testament to the idea that journalism is the first draft of history. However, with a failing economy that is forcing numerous lay-offs, the Canadian Association of Journalists fears the

quality of journalism is in jeopardy. In this collapsed economy, the journalism industry faces a colossal challenge to stay alive and strong. Difficult, and perhaps drastic, decisions must be made.

American magazine industry leaders Meredith and Conde Naste saw drastic decreases in advertising pages from 2007 to 2008. Meredith fell 18 per cent and Conde Nast 13 per cent. The magazine industry’s monster companies in Canada also plummeted a great deal. Rogers fell nine per cent and Transcontinental 10 per cent. St. Joseph Media dropped five per cent.

Joseph Media, a company that owns

magazines including Toronto Life, Fashion, Wedding Bells and Canadian Family, laid off about 20 people when Wish and Gardening Life shut down in November. At Transcontinental, 1,500 people were laid off in February across North America, mostly in the printing sector. About 600 of these 1,500 jobs cut were in Canada. CLB Media Inc, a publishing company that owns more than 23 business-to-business publications such as Canadian Lawyer and Workplace News, has so far closed six magazines. Chart Magazine and MastheadOnline have both closed their print publications and are now strictly online. Canadian Home and Coun-

Illustration coutesy Roger Wilson-Singer

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

An ethical impasse?

Is journalistic integrity compromised with job cuts?

IN THE KNOW try, Gardening Life and Wish have all closed both print and online.

“This is the worst downturn anyone has ever seen, dozens and dozens of magazines all over the world have been folding,” said Doug Knight, president of St. Joseph Media.

Mary Agnes Welch, Winnipeg Free Press public police reporter and Canadian Association of Journalists president, said she is worried all these job cuts will threaten the quality of journalism. “We’re no different from any other industry and I’m not saying that the jobs that journalists have are

“This is the worst downturn anyone has ever seen, dozens and dozens of magazines all over the world have been folding” - Doug Knight somehow more important than auto-workers’ jobs or construction workers’ jobs. Our concern is that when the economy is good, journalism jobs don’t come back, whereas in other industries, when times are good everybody gets re-hired,” said Welch.

“I think [the industry has] just become used to doing more with less,” Welch said, “and I think at a certain point, if we continue to do that, we’re going to be obsolete. People are just going to quit reading because it’s going to be just crappy journalism.”

Knight said maintaining good-quality products must take precedence over anything else if the industry is to survive.

“That’s always job one, you never ever want to jeopardize the quality of the magazines,” he said. “The reason why magazines have a very, very robust audience across the board is because there are targeted magazines for every phase of your life. For every interest you might have, there’s a magazine serving that, so it’s absolutely vital for magazines to make sure that connection between an editor and a reader is maintained.”

MastheadOnline Editor Marco Ursi said he thinks companies prefer not to cut editorial staff. “Without them, you don’t have the content, which is the whole basis.”

According to Welch, there are two things at work that are jeopardizing good-quality journalism: First, she said, when you have fewer people doing the same amount of work, you’re going to get slightly shallower stories. “You get less digging basically, and it’s often the digging that makes for the best journalism,” she said.

Secondly, Welch said as newsrooms get more adept at dealing with the Internet and multimedia, writers and editors are being asked to do a variety of different jobs and use a lot of different skills. “Each story that you do has a lot more components to it and so that cuts into the time that you might spend making two extra phone calls on that story,” she said. “I’ve definitely seen an increase in workload when it comes to doing blogs and online stuff.”

Ursi was told he was going to be laid-off from MastheadOnline. “I was going to be, but then there was the decision made to keep the website,” he said. Now he is also responsible for doing news stories for magazines PrintCAN and Design Edge Canada, other titles owned by Masthead publisher North Island Publishing.

Ursi said if companies are cutting back, they may not be hiring the best illustrators, the best writers, and they might not be able to send writers travelling.

“There are certain things that magazines might have to do without for the next little while.” But, he said that doesn’t necessarily make for a worse magazine. The quality of the magazines will be determined on an individual basis, and will depend largely on what cuts are made and the quality of those still working for the magazine, he said.

Frequency cuts might be another way to save money, Ursi said. However, even that doesn’t always work. Last year, Canadian Home and Country reduced its frequency to six issues a year from nine. Canadian Gardening went to eight from nine.

For Knight, this is the fourth downturn in his career and he said he’s never seen anything as ugly as this.

“I’m not optimistic in the short-term about the course of the current economy. I think we’ve never seen anything like this,” he said. But, with a smile on his face, he said he is always optimistic about the industry.

“What goes down will come up.”

AdForHumber:Layout 1 29/04/09 3:28 PM Page 1

Masthead is a proud sponsor of the School of Media Studies at Humber College

BY JACKIE MARTINZ This September, the Toronto Word On The Street Festival will celebrate 20 years of success. Cindy Goldrick, the Toronto festival’s executive director and Liz Stewart, the Toronto Program Development associate are swamped, planning and organizing the milestone.

“We have special plans for our 20th festival, many special initiatives” said Stewart excitedly. Included will be a Canadian Magazines Tent, Stewart said. “In this tent, there will be one or two segments about how to get into magazines as a freelance writer, and how to improve your writing skills.”

Both Stewart and Goldrick think the festival has become a place where new writers learn how to get started in the business since it provides programming by those experienced in the industry.

“They’ll tell people how to get started, give advice, share useful information about copyright, font, things like that,” Goldrick said.

She is optimistic about the future of magazines. “I think many of the challenges the industry is dealing with now, are the same ones that existed in the early 90s. I think that magazines are resilient and can re-invent themselves,” she said.

“Magazines are the best places to experiment with new voices, and they give Canadians information from a Canadian point of view. If the magazines know their market and cater to their market, they will be fine,” she said.

It’s a perspective shared by the festival’s national executive director, Alexandra Moorshead. She believes the industry will survive and that magazine subscriptions are unlikely to be cancelled because of the recession. Moorshead does recognize that the troubled economy will affect magazines to an extent. “The impact will be in ad sales. During times like this, organizations look at how their marketing money is spent. Companies will look at their marketing budgets differently,” she said.

For those looking to boost sales immediately, the festival itself is a valuable tool, said Moorshead.

“Many of the exhibitors return year after year,” Moorshead said. “They always say they discover new publishers and magazines.”

This is precisely what Geist Magazine discovered at the 2008 Toronto festival.

Kristin Cheung, a Geist staff member, said their participation in festivals increases sales. “We would definitely consider going to Word On The Street Again,” she said.

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

For jobs, headline news, and industry events check out:

The word on the street

9

Tough times are leaving empty spaces

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

BY ALISON BROWNLEE

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T

wenty-nine Canadian magazines closed their doors in 2008, and two months into 2009 another 19 followed.

Publisher Lynn Chambers put it best: “No one in the world saw this coming.”

Whether they are small regional or large national publications, the economic climate is easily read by many industry professionals as debilitating. As advertising revenues sink, both emerging and established magazines are disappearing through closures or suspensions. What remains to be seen is who can steer their publication to safety before it falls off the map.

Consumer magazines have been hit hard in terms of advertising revenue, with ad

dollars dropping by over 15 per cent overall in the first quarter of 2009. Prior to 2009, however, the pain was not equally shared.

National publications like Canadian Living were feeling a crunch, while regional ones like Toronto Life were increasing their ad pages.

By the end of the 2009 first quarter, though, Canadian Living’s ad revenue had dropped by $1 million compared to the same time last year, and St. Joseph Media, which publishes Toronto Life, began cutting wages and employee hours. Both tactics at St. Joseph Media are expected to be shortterm, but they are necessitated through deteriorating ad sales. Regional magazines, it seems, are no longer immune.

But many of these magazines are getting through this critical situation with creativity and good, old-fashioned optimism.

“In a recession, advertising is always the

first thing to get cut,” said Barbara Elliott, program co-ordinator of advertising media sales at Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning. “Companies don’t want to cut staff or production, so they cut advertising. They can’t afford not to.”

Major magazine advertisers, like Proctor & Gamble, Kraft Foods, Colgate-Palmolive, and Unilever, advertise mainly through television and the Internet, said Elliott. “Magazines are used as support for other media – they’re not the primary advertising outlet.

So, generally, magazine advertising is the first to go.”

In Statistics Canada’s 2005 Periodical Publishing Survey, advertising accounted for 56.2 per cent of consumer magazine revenue, while subscription sales came in second at 23.8 per cent. Considering in the same year expenses devoured 90.8 per

IN THE KNOW other magazines because of the diversity of Toronto Life’s national and retail advertising base.”

To combat the effects of the market, McAuley also said Toronto Life will have to be frugal and innovative at the same time.

“We’re focusing on cutting whatever expenses we can without affecting the quality of our magazine,” she said. “We’re launching new print and online initiatives that will bring in revenue from untapped ad categories or allow us to increase revenue from existing ad clients.”

Concerning the delayed impact the recession had on regional publications, Gary Garland, Magazines Canada’s executive director of advertising services, said the narrow audience focus regional magazines have makes all the difference. “When you

“Now it’s all about confidence.”

- Gary Garland are one of the few games in town, like regional magazines or niche magazines, you are best protected because it’s a very inexpensive way to reach a very well-targeted community,” he said.

But in the current economic climate, all magazines, regardless of targeted audience, will have to rely on their reputations.

“It really comes down to the strength of the brand. If you have a strong brand, whether you’re regionally focused or niche focused or even nationally focused, I think that’s where advertisers find confidence and solace,” said Garland.

And having a strong brand is pro-

viding security to national titles like Canadian Living. According to Chambers, it still has a loyal readership that won’t be going anywhere any time soon.

“Canadian Living’s raison d’être is ‘Smart Solutions for Everyday Living,’ and we provide tips and tricks on how to get through this. All our indicators show that subscribers are still interested in us, and Canadian Living is going to be really valuable for years to come.”

Looking at recessions historically, there is no reason to think both national and regional publications like Canadian Living, Chatelaine, Flare and Toronto Life will not survive the current economic climate. “In the last recession for which we have data, magazines came through it better than other media,” said an optimistic Garland.

Magazines were launched during every phase of the last economic slump. In terms of earnings, Garland said magazines came out stronger because people use them as a form of escapism from the drudgery of a recession.

And from Garland’s perspective the current crisis may be coming to an end. “Some articles are saying, because it was a steep slide into the recession, there should be a fairly sudden exit from it.”

“I don’t know if it’s stabilized in 2009,” said Garland. “But we’re certainly seeing some signals that maybe the worst is over.

Now it’s all about confidence.” Using the U.S. market as an indicator, he said advertiser confidence is beginning to increase, which will undoubtedly ripple into Canada.

“We all live in hope that we will be coming out of this in 2009, or 2010 at the latest,” he said.

* The graph is an overview of ad revenue in Canada, and does not represent exact statistics (data provided by LNA)

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

cent of total revenue, advertising was an essential component to the financial success of these publications. The thin 8.2 per cent profit margin in 2005 couldn’t afford to lose ad revenue.

But by 2008, it did.

In January 2009, MastheadOnline reported that ad dollars were down to $695.9 million in 2008 from $733.7 million the previous year. MastheadOnline also reported a dip in run-of-press ad pages for each of Canada’s top ten magazines, including Chatelaine, Flare, and Canadian Living.

Lynn Chambers, Transcontinental Publications Inc.’s group publisher for Canadian Living, said the high-profile women’s interest magazine did not see a decrease in ad pages until December 2008 – three months after the magazine had budgeted for its 2009 first quarter.

“We were very strong last year,” she said.

“We were out-pacing the market curve for our business, and ad revenue was up last year by 10 per cent.”

“When we were budgeting in September, we were thinking that 2009 was going to be a good year for us, so our budget showed growth. It really wasn’t until February that we saw any significant softening.”

Despite that, Leading National Advertisers, which collects and classifies magazine advertising expenditure information, reported a 17.6 per cent drop in Canadian Living’s run-of-press ad pages for 2008. The numbers were slightly inflated by including house ads and inserts in the equation.

“I think all magazines across the board have been affected,” said Chambers.

“No one was saved, no one was protected.”

But Chambers said Canadian Living is not going to let its print publication slide on account of an industry advertising collapse.

“It’s a push to see how we can be more creative,” she said. “All of our advertisers are pushing for creativity. Nobody is happy with just an ad any more.” Chambers also stressed that the pressure is on publishers to show how important the magazine industry is to both advertisers and readers.

But almost every magazine has been affected. According to LNA, regional publication Toronto Life showed a six per cent increase in run-of-press pages through 2008, and it was one of only 12 LNA-monitored publications to show ad page growth that year. Sharon McAuley, vice president group publisher for St. Joseph Media, said Toronto Life also showed an increase in inserts. But how did it manage to buck the trend?

A captive, regional audience allowed Toronto Life’s ad revenue to grow. “It’s always the national market that begins to soften first,” said McAuley during a hurried phone interview between meetings. “But we have a retail base, and aren’t reliant on national ad sales.”

McAuley said Toronto Life is experiencing a decrease in ad pages compared to last year’s first quarter, but “the decrease hasn’t been as steep as we’re seeing in

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P ULP F ICTION

Helping papermakers and publishers see the green in fields of gold.

With the help of the Alberta Research Council, Dollco Printing and NewPage Corporation, a high-quality paper stock was created that was virtually indistinguishable from a similar stock made comn a time when people’s environmental conscience plays a pletely from wood fibre. part in consumer decision making, magazines like CanaAs part of the marketing campaign, copies of the wheat sheet dian Geographic are looking for environmentally friendly magazine were mailed out along with copies of a paper magazine, and economical ways to keep their magazines on the and people were asked if they could tell the difference. newsstand. Their June 2008 issue made North Ameri“People had a very difficult time distinguishing the two,” Rycroft can history because it said. “In fact, people made not only contained 60 per cent the wrong choice, but in wheat less virgin wood pulp than most sheet’s favour.” of its newsstand neighbours, The wheat sheet attracted a but also contained 20 per cent lot of attention according to Rywheat straw – a waste product croft, including major American of grain production in Canada magazine and newspaper puband quite possibly the future for lishers, one of North America’s magazines who wish to stay in largest envelope makers, and print.

Canadian Geographic, along “The goal from the beginning with more than 600 other inwas to publish our environmenterested buyers. Her consertal issue on this stock and see if vative contract value estimate, it would generate interest in the based on her customers alone, industry,” said former Canadian was assessed to be more than Geographic editor-in-chief Rick $550 million Canadian.

In Boychuk. “The idea was to alert addition, it garnered environthe industry that a high qualmental awards, including two ity paper stock could be made PrintAction awards in February from agriculture residue.”

2009, one for Rycroft and one Boychuk also said he wanted for Dollco Printing. to draw attention to the ecoKrista Nicholds, owner of logical benefits of using wheat Dollco Printing, said the wheat straw pulp, as a short fibre sheet ran on their system withsource in magazine paper proout any issues, and did not reduction. quire much more ink than any “We wanted to demonstrate of their other available stocks. our environmental ethics,” “We had a hard time telling Boychuk said. “By engaging the difference,” Nicholds said. in ideas like this we show our “In fact, we had to loop it very readers we’re engaged. We’re close in order to tell.” very happy with the results.”

What wheat sheet failed to He said the magazine indusdo, however, was attract the attry needs to demand green tention of an investor or mill. Deproducts especially in a time spite having an excess of waste when consumers’ are exerciswheat straw in North America, Image Courtesy of Markets Initiative ing their environmental conthe pulp used for the wheat science.

Markets Initiative asked customers if they could tell the difference sheet had to be purchased from “Our choices are limited,” between the wheat sheet and a traditional wood pulp magazine from China. North America’s largest Boychuk said. “This could be Canadian Geographic. papermaker, NewPage Corpoa cheaper alternative, but only ration, made the paper for the if we as an industry demand it.” The 21 million tonnes of waste June 2008 issue of Canadian Geographic, but is not marketing the wheat straw annually could print up to 20 million magazines, ac- wheat sheet, nor is it making the pulp commercially available to cording to the editor’s notebook in the June 2008 issue.

North American consumers.

Bringing the wheat sheet - as it’s been named - to Canadian “The economics don’t work,” said Mark Suwyn, executive chairGeographic was instigated by Nicole Rycroft, executive director of man of NewPage. “Unlike trees where we can harvest most of the Markets Initiative, who approached Canadian Geographic about year round, and bring in reasonably fresh wood, you harvest wheat the wheat sheet idea while doing an internal audit of Canadian once.”

Geographic’s paper consumption.

His organization’s analysis suggests building a similar scale proj“We thought it was an interesting idea,” Boychuk said. “We said ect would ultimately fail, for the same reasons Dow BioProducts in sure, with some reservations. We wanted to make sure any stock Elie, Manitoba failed. we would use would be of suitable quality to showcase our photogWade Chute, team leader of pulp and paper for the Alberta Reraphy.” search Council, has been working on straw pulping since 1999.

MAG WORLD SPRING 2009

I

12

BY LEE FLOHR

Photo by Lee Flohr

PROFILE

Wade Chute loads five kilograms of processed wheat straw to be cooked into pulp.

“We learned a lot from the Elie straw particle board plant,” Chute said. “We didn’t learn that it was uneconomical though.”

The straw particle board plant isn’t a suitable model for straw pulp investors to base their decisions on because the products are different, said Chute. Additionally, he said Dow had a different marketing scheme than straw pulp plants would. In fact, Chute said many of the issues related to the failure of the Elie plant happened during the procurement phase and were related to the sourcing and storage of waste wheat straw.

“We have to be careful about where we source our straw from,” Chute said. “It’s not easy, but it’s not a deal breaker.” He said that his team has not only assessed these

“The idea was to alert the industry that a high quality paper stock could be made from an agriculture residue.”

- Rick Boychuk

Facts so good, you could eat ‘em The first paper made in North America was made by recycling cotton fibre from old rags and clothes.

Hemp and flax straw are also viable sources for paper fibre. Unlike wheat straw, they are sources of long fibres.

Wheat straw has a greater tensile strength than its aspen alternative.

The paper is also smoother.

Straw pulps significantly faster than wood pulp and uses almost 30% less energy.

Wheat uptakes sand from the soil to give it structural support. It also acts as a natural form of rodent resisitance.

Wheat straw is also pulped for paper use in India and Turkey.

MAG WORLD SPRING 2009

market issues, but has addressed them as well.

“Wheat straw contains considerably higher amounts of silica than wood pulp,” he said. “The silica deposits on the inside of the equipment as glass. This glass must be regularly chipped off the insides of the equipment in order to avoid damage that could affect production.” Currently mills in China must close about once a month so they can remove the glass deposits, he said.

Keith Luo, researcher with the Alberta Research Council, and the person instrumen-

tal in sourcing the pulp for wheat sheet, said issues related to mould that plagued the Manitoba plant during storage is not necessarily detrimental to a wheat straw pulp mill.

“We sampled bails stored outside throughout the year and found it had no real effect on the quality over a one year period,” Luo said.

Chute said the current paradigm for wood pulping cannot be applied to wheat straw pulping because it is based on a mature industry. He said the best way to be profitable is to start by adding a smaller wheat straw processing mill onto the side of a larger wood mill. The estimated initial investment of $50 to $200 million, initially offers a base return of about five per cent based on this paradigm. But as production efficiency and demand increases for the product, so will the return on capital investment, which may exceed the eight to 10 per cent seen by current wood pulping facilities.

“In the beginning you aren’t blending,” Chute said. “You’re creating a niche product for the market to try.” He said by building on the site of an existing facility, and by being careful in sourcing and processing straw, while incorporating the best available technology, investor returns are viable.

As it becomes a norm and a commodity instead of niche, larger facilities can be built in order to meet consumer demand.

Rycroft hopes that the wheat straw pulp industry and the wood pulp industry can work together to alleviate the current stress on North American forests.

“We’re not looking to kill the wood pulp industry,” Rycroft said. “We’re looking to work with it, and give it time to recover.”

13

KEEPING UP WITH THE WEEKLIES Inside the new layouts of Now and Eye

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

BY AMY SNOW

14

Both Eye Weekly and Now Magazine are redesigning their look to appeal to a new generation of readers in the face of harsh economic times.

For seven years, Edward Keenan has steered Eye Weekly through calm waters and in the wake of the current economic crisis, he is driving his ship full force into the eye of the storm.

Keenan’s dedication to the success of Eye Weekly is obvious when he talks about the talented writing and design team that has helped make the magazine what it is today.

“The ship is still upright and we’re still going in the direction we want to go and it’s just a matter of waiting for the storm to pass.”

Edward Keenan is Eye Weekly’s senior editor. He speaks with conviction and passion about the success he has experienced in comparison with that of his colleagues and friends in the industry.

Troy Beyer, vice president and creative director of Now Magazine takes it a step further by saying that “print offers a more visual, tangible medium that designers can have a role in” and he doesn’t think that this desire will ever change.

As most members of the Toronto literary scene may know, Eye Weekly and Now Magazine are considered to be rival publications. From speaking with Edward Keenan and Troy Beyer, both key players at their respective publications, it appears that they will be taking a similar stance and moving towards a common ground in the face of today’s economic crunch. Despite their rivalry both publications are making changes to become more personable and appealing to as many Canadian readers as

possible through the realm of design.

Keenan has been the senior editor of the print edition of Eye Weekly since November of 2008 and has watched the magazine become increasingly successful by developing a loyal and broad audience.

Since launching their re-design one month ago, they have seen their reader communication increase significantly with plenty of positive feedback. Keenan said that Eye is always making an effort to modernize its design and layout and to keep up with popular styles, while also maintaining the aspects of its design that continue to appeal to loyal readers.

“There are fewer readers in a recession and we have to do everything we can to compete for their attention.”

- Troy Beyer He explained that Eye’s new look is meant to be more visually interesting, perhaps in an attempt to appeal to a young generation of readers accustomed to online multimedia.

Eye Weekly’s re-design focuses on telling the same types of stories in a more visual, personal way.

Keenan put it as simply as possible when he said, “Our team hasn’t changed.

The writers haven’t changed. Our sense of humor hasn’t changed. We’ve just changed the way we tell stories.”

He believes the magazine is already unique in its appeal to “both right and left wing readers and both consumers and anticonsumers.”

Keenan has no doubt that Eye will continue to be successful because it is staying true to its mission to entertain, inform and make

everyone laugh. “I’ve been getting lots and lots of great feedback on what we have done with the renewed emphasis on visual storytelling.”

Now Magazine hopes its redesign will appeal to a broader audience. “Our readers are affluent, well read individuals,” Beyer said. “They’re not poor students hanging around in bars.”

Beyer’s description of Now’s readership is in stark contrast to Edward Keenan’s description of Eye’s readers who come from all walks of life.

In contrast to Eye Weekly’s determination to keep up with modern trends by listening to its readers, Beyer emphasized the importance of listening to your gut instincts.

He said that although they pay heed to reader response via letters and email, Now’s design team relies on years of experience to make the right decisions. He proudly recalls Now’s successful standing during the last recession and he has no doubt that it will continue to thrive by competing with magazines like Eye Weekly for readership.

Beyer admited that the magazine will need to modernize and make some key design changes.

He made a critical point when he mentioned that a poor economy means fewer readers. That means creating an appealing and unique design to attract as many readers as possible.

“There are fewer readers in a recession and we have to do everything we can to compete for their attention.”

Although Eye Weekly and Now Magazine have remained successful to this point and have been lucky enough to keep all of their staff on the payroll, they are feeling the burden of a recession on their shoulders.

The fight is on and now it’s up to the readers to decide who will emerge the victor.

PROFILE

SCORE SHEET M.V.P. Most Valuable Publication

BY LEA MAIORINO Almost all Canadians share a common passion for hockey and in this cold, toughguy, toothless sport, there is one magazine that remains on top of the competition – The Hockey News.

The Hockey News has been around since 1947 and throughout the years has maintained its ranking as the number one selling hockey magazine in North America. The magazine, which is published 34 times a year, has an average circulation of 109,000 with readership reaching upwards of two million. Today, when most magazines are suffering, The Hockey News has managed to stay on top of its game by understanding its readers, maintaining a high standard of accuracy and using online tools to complement the magazine.

Jason Kay, editor-in-chief since 2001, said it’s all about offering something new to the readers. Kay has been with the publication for almost twenty years and during this

Scrumming to the Top

BY DAVID WHITE

“We were really surprised and I think the NHL saw the same thing. In Canada people really came back to hockey in a big way,” said Kay. Although the publication maintains its success in print it is not ignoring the current online trend. Since its re-launch two years ago TheHockeyNews.com has taken off.

Not only have the number of online viewer hits grown but they’ve exceeded their targets. Kay said the transition to the website has been a learning process.

“The website is your news, your daily updates, your instant opinion and analysis.

The magazine is now the thing they sit at home and they take it on the train with them; they complement each other.”

Dave Brooks is a former OHL junior player who believes the magazines success can be chalked up to one simple reason.

“Hockey News is a respected brand within the hockey circle. They know what they’re talking about.”

In an age when print is losing readership to online sites The Hockey News is not ready to throw in the print towel. Why would it when its loyal readers keep picking it up off the newsstands week after week.

“There is still something to be said for having something in your hand,” said Kay.

Wiltshire entered the magazine game with a few advantages working in her favour.

Canada’s largest rugby magazine, National Rugby Post, closed in 2007 after 22 years.

Not only did this leave a clear path for Wiltshire to tap into an open market, she was also able to secure Rugby Ontario’s existing subscription list. Her own experience with the sport has also been an asset. She has played rugby for most of her life, and after seven years of working with the Caledon Cavaliers, a women’s rugby club, she has a keen understanding of the sport’s administrative The first issue of Scrum side.

W i l t s h i r e was a resounding keeps expenses success. low by keeping the majority of the production a family affair.

“My mom is doing all of the administrative work and helping me out with circulation.

I’m bookkeeping, and my father is helping me out on the sales side. My sister helps me out with the website and general design ideas. All of my writers are volunteers.”

This sort of do-it-yourself publication is

not uncommon in the current magazine milieu. Manitoba native Cindy McKay recently started her own publication Hearts of the Country, a magazine focusing on the life of rural Canadian women. Independent magazine Stemma is also in the works, an environmental lifestyle publication from fellow Manitobans Jolene Olive and Nisha Tuli.

McKay, Olive, Tuli and Wiltshire represent a growing trend in the magazine business that sees people with limited resources, but plenty of passion, investing themselves in a magazine that represents who they are.

Now, after just one issue, Scrum Magazine is picking up steam. With a distribution that already surpasses seven thousand, Wiltshire seems to be on the right track.

Wiltshire said the first issue was a lot more work than she anticipated, but the second issue is running more smoothly. “I’ve got more help this time, and the response from the first issue from the rugby community was unbelievable. Advertising is starting to come around, and I have a lot more contributors now,” she said.

Doug Cross of Rugby Canada, said he is impressed by the effort Wilshire has invested into launching Scrum Magazine.

“We’re supporting her in a number of different ways, through promotion and things like that,” said Cross. “It’s a great effort, and I hope it works out. There’s room for a rugby magazine out there.”

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

Anyone with experience in the magazine business knows the complications that come along with securing advertising, coordinating contributors, and maintaining tight deadlines. Despite the complications, headaches and heartaches, there are still some brave souls willing to try their hand at starting a new publication.

Elaine Wiltshire is one of those people. A recent graduate of Humber College’s journalism program, Wiltshire is the portrait of a typical young Canadian. During the week she holds down a steady job. But behind this facade of normalcy lies another side of Wiltshire, someone who is far from typical.

When the weekend comes around, Wiltshire begins work as a budding publication baroness.

Her magazine, Scrum, is an Ontario rugby quarterly that launched in November of last year. The second issue of the publication is now in the works, but there are still a number of hurdles to cross in the coming months.

“Right now I’m trying to keep realistic,” said Wiltshire. “I’d love to be able to just get through this year. I’m just keeping everything status quo to get me through the next four issues.”

time he has seen the magazine go through many changes. It has switched from a tabloid black and white newspaper format to a square magazine style, changed its content so stories have a longer shelf life, and introduced brighter colors and attention grabbing pop outs. These changes have helped bring the magazine into a new era. Kay said everyone involved in the magazine is proud of how it has adapted to the times.

“A lot of it is about diversification. A lot of it is to try to give people something really different than they’ll get anywhere else.”

An important part of the magazine’s success is that it understands its readers and how to engage them. While newsstand sales are adequate, the publication relies heavily on subscribers to keep it running.

Kay said true fans will read the magazine every week and crave the latest in Hockey News, which keeps the subscriptions going.

“The people who read The Hockey News are very passionate about hockey,” he said.

When the league went on strike, there was concern that it would take a long time for the magazine to come back and reach its previous level of sales, however, when hockey finally came back, so did the fans.

The magazine had its highest Canadian subscription rate in 2006-2007.

15

HITTING THE RIGHT CORDS

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he lively streets of SoHo in Manhattan on Sunday afternoon were buzzing even louder with the unexpected February sunshine. Words connecting conversations from left-to-right by artist- look-alikes or even artist themselves, nonchalantly unaware of their attachment to the decaying look of unconventionality, strolled passed the graffiti covered storefronts and trendy cafes. The Western world has been through many counter-culture movements that have challenged the status quo in a fight to revolutionize politics, art, music and society.

During a time when the world of journalism is full of uncertainty, magazines are trying to find ways to stand out. On Mott Street,

in a small cafe that also functions as an office, is the rebellious duo that launched Corduroy magazine just over a year ago.

With the gloomy cloud of closures, layoffs, and restructuring hanging over magazine stands, any expert would tell you that the starter magazine would be the first to grow little cartoon legs and make a run for it. Yet Tim Chan, 26, and Peter Ash Lee, 27, who have always dreamed of having their own magazine, are not fazed at all.

“I don’t buy that because there’s a recession going on you should alter or modify your product, especially if you like it and you’re really proud of it,” Chan who does the writing for Corduroy explains. “If anything, what we should do is work twice as hard to find advertisers, or edit our content on every single page so it’s perfect.”

Lee who is in charge of art direction and takes most of the photographs for Corduroy, agrees. “I feel like the recession is al-

most helping the smaller guys out because it equals out the playing field in a way,” said Lee. “Yes, people are more selective about spending their money, they’re not going out there buying 20 magazines, but if they like our magazine they’ll buy it.”

In the current economic atmosphere this approach may seem too optimistic or even slightly idealistic, but even so, such raw passion is hard to find. Chan and Lee are a two-man show. Between the two of them they track down artists, deal with publicists, write features, style shoots, take photographs, pitch to advertisers, and put together their quarterly magazine.

“We don’t have an office, we don’t have employees, and most of the people that help us do it for free, just for credit, to get their name out there,” Lee explains.

Chan and Lee, both from the Toronto area, remain true to their Canadian roots describing Corduroy as a Canadian maga-

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

MAG WORLD SPRING 2009

BY JOANA DRAGHICI

Photos by Joana Draghici

A profile of the unconventional on the unconventional

17

PROFILE zine written out of New York City. They include profiles of some Canadian artists, who, as Corduroy grows will gain worldwide exposure.

“We’re printed in Canada, we’re distributed from Canada, we have Canadian content - it just so happens that we’re Canadian’s working out of New York,” Chan said. “Most of our sales are in Canada, most of our orders are from Chapters, Indigo, Pages,” he said.

With a circulation of about 110, 000, with most money coming from advertising sales, a new consulting initiative, and a little

“I feel like the recession is almost helping the smaller guys out because it equals out the playing field in a way.”

- Peter Ash Lee from newsstands, Corduroy is distributed in North America, several countries in Europe and some in Asia.

Having invested their savings and small loans, they are both aware they cannot live off Corduroy magazine yet. Chan, a graduate from Columbia University with a masters in journalism, works as a freelance writer, while Lee a graduate from the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City, works as a freelance photographer.

“At the end of the day it’s a business, I’m a competitive person, I want to have advertisers. What I won’t do is say ‘let’s cut our magazine to 50 pages this month, let’s shrink the size, or use thinner paper’ because that will compromise our vision,” Chan clarifies avidly when asked if he would ever compromise anything about Corduroy.

Lee admits it has been getting easier to find artists they want to profile. “A lot of the time publicists will be pitching to us now, but we still have to stick to our vision no matter how famous they [artists] are, they have to fit what we’re trying to achieve,” he said.

Magazines made with passion draw in a community of people that share a common dialogue, but what makes most successful magazines work is the balance of passion

and business.

Corduroy has to find a way to stand out in order to gain momentum in this tough market; perhaps that means putting the most famous person they’ve profiled on the cover, even if that person is not a mainstream celebrity.

“When we put Milo Ventimiglia on the cover we sold the most copies. The main people buying the magazine were teenage girls that love Heroes or Gilmore Girls. We weren’t targeting that,” Chan says.

In a world where celebrity is used as a marketing tool, playing with the hormones of teenage girls swooning over pictures of Ventimiglia, (who has been featured in most teen magazines) older readers would at first be skeptical.

Though it only take the filp of a few pages to realize that Corduroy’s notion of celebrity is different from the glossy magazine.

“We’re not a trend magazine, we don’t talk about who’s dating this person and who likes to eat at this restaurant, ours is more of an anthology of stories. We weren’t viewing actors as celebrities, but as artists who are acting,” said Lee. Having a clean, European feel, printed on thick, matte paper, Corduroy is divided into chapters like a book: short profiles, art essays, long profiles and fashion stories.

“We wanted our magazine to be more like a book, not a glossy magazine that you throw away after you’re done. We wanted it to be like an art book that you keep around on the coffee table,” said Chan.

It is the little details that make Corduroy distinct, like the spines of each edition printed in different colours so they can be stacked in a bookshelf like novels, and picked out accordingly. With a fine art portraiture aesthetic, the pages featuring art can be removed and framed.

In an industry where selling-out is ubiquitous, Chan and Lee are trying to hold on to an almost nostalgic approach to building a magazine familiar only to those from the pre-digital age.

They named the magazine Corduroy because a corduroy jacket is a classic piece that never goes out of style and hopefully neither will Chan and Lee’s strive for quality.

MAG WORLD SPRING 2009

A showcase of art and written word, Corduroy magazine is dedicated to highlighting the work of actors, musicians, designers and fine artists who stand out for their unconventional works by creating something original and lasting.

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HAPPILY DESCENDING

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

BY SCOTT RENNIE

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T

he Canadian magazine industry is currently not a place for enthusiasts of steady employment. The employees of Ascent, a Montréal-based yoga magazine, are currently coming to accept this. They are facing the same problems as so many of their counterparts - rising publishing costs and plunging revenues. But rather than make drastic changes to stay afloat, Ascent is coping in different way. It’s closing the whole thing down.

And it’s not a sad story.

“Part of yoga is letting go of ideas that don’t work anymore,” said Ascent executive

publisher Vanessa Reid from her office on Montréal’s Gilford Street. “I feel that as a business that’s what we’re doing.” Publisher since 2007, Reid came to Ascent after working for a variety of non-profit and social agencies in Montréal. In January, Reid, along with her staff, the magazine’s board, its funders, and original editor came together and decided that Ascent wasn’t meant to wait the storm out. “We never felt the pressure to continue on as a magazine,” she said.

The decision to shut down was partially based on a reading of the publication’s economic viability. Like most other small Canadian magazines, Ascent depends on a calculus of advertising revenue, subscriptions, and government funding through the Canadian Magazine Fund and the Publi-

cation Assistance Program. In November, Ascent looked at it’s financial forecasts and decided that the magazine could not keep up the revenue needed to continue.

“We definitely don’t have any extra money,” Karen Messer, Ascent’s associate publisher said about the magazine’s normal operating budget. “Our top expenses are staff and the printing of the magazine – that’s basically where everything goes.” With subscription revenue decreasing the expectation that government grants would be cut back was one of the reasons those in charge at Ascent decided that the struggle wasn’t worth it. “Closing just seemed like the natural choice,” said Messer.

They might have been able to right the ship. They could have shifted to an Internetonly format to offset publishing expenses.

Courtesy illustration Adam Pendek

After covering yoga for 10 years, the staff at Ascent magazine is putting out its last issue - and that’s okay

PROFILE But for Messer, the risk of diminishing the product was still there. “Human resources are our number one cost, and we wanted to keep the spirit alive and have as many staff as we do, it just wouldn’t be Ascent anymore.” They could have adjusted the editorial focus to include more coverage and expanded advertisements or the more

“Part of yoga is letting go of ideas that don’t work anymore,” - Vanessa Reid

Reid wanted the magazine’s closing to be a “learning journey”, by which Ascent’s staff could cope together.

The story of Ascent should be a sad story -- a long-running publication with loyal following having to fold during a difficult economic climate. But it’s not. It’s a story about acceptance, and knowing when to bow out.

It was decided that the energies, passion, and creativities of the people behind the magazine might be wasted if the publication was begin to fade away. They never let their magazine struggle. Ascent is like a lot of small Canadian magazines that will struggle or close. But it’s unique in the staff who managed to choose the terms of their demise. They weren’t done in. They decided they were done.

IN

THE END

Last issue:

The theme of Ascent’s last (literal in all meanings of the word) issue was ‘union’.

In it, Vanessa Reid executive publisher, writes, “it seems right that we end our decade as a print magazine with an issue on the theme of Union—the beginning and the end.”

The issue (both the 10th anniversary issue and final) contains a profile on a Buddist nun who teaches how people can come together to end suffering, an article by a physicist about how according to science and yoga, light comes together to create the universe, and an exploration into whether or not yoga can unite conflicting faiths.

It’s the product of a group of people who chose the conditions of their farwell, and were able to go out on their terms. It’s available on the magazine’s website.

A look back

Fall 2008

Spring 2007

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

commercial aspects of yoga. But again, it wouldn’t have been the same. “That was never what Ascent as a brand was about.

There are lots of yoga magazines that have advertising and have a lot of stars in them.

This is just a different kind of magazine with a different kind of content,” Reid said. At Ascent, the decision was made that making too many changes would distort the magazine’s vision: “If we had started to compromise,” Messer said, “which we would have on all sorts of areas, it would no longer be the magazine we were excited about creating.”

It wasn’t all about dollars and cents though. The Ascent team is able to accept the closure because of a sense of accomplishment with what they have created and published. The magazine, which began in the sixties as a newsletter for a yoga community in British Columbia, had been published quarterly for a decade: “Ten years ago, there hadn’t been a yoga boom, people didn’t know what yoga was,” explained Editor Roseanne Harvey. But then the magazine arrived, she said, and started educating people about the yoga culture, teachings, and spirituality, and establishing itself as source of information on the yoga lifestyle.

There’s also the lasting legacy of Ascent’s content. All of the back issues will remain available on the website. “All of the work that we’ve done in the last 10 years just doesn’t disappear,” Reid said. She is also optimistic that the magazine, in some form, might eventually return. “It will be based on the resources and the energy of the people who will take it on,” she said. Making a deliberate decision to close the magazine allowed the staff to dedicate themselves to a farewell issue. “We could have all left in January and say ‘that’s it!’”, Messer said.

But then Ascent would have joined the list of other magazines that abruptly close down without a warning. By committing to a definitive issue, Ascent could focus on creating something that could be a tribute to the history of the magazine.

To print that last issue, Ascent called upon its readership for help, by asking for donations through the magazine’s website.

Ascent’s followers responded enthusiastically. Rather than demand refunds, many donated the balance of their subscriptions.

Others helped in different ways: a local artist donated his services to design Ascent’s last cover. The donation drive succeeded – raising $18,000 to print the last issue.

Finding the funds to provide for a last issue likely soothed some anxieties, but Reid said she recognized that it was important for all staff members to support each other in what might be difficult times. “A lot of magazines are closing, and people find out that they are closing and then boom! They’re out!”. Reid wanted the magazine’s closing to be a “learning journey”. She encouraged the staff to talk about the work they’ve accomplished, their experiences, their next projects, even to help each other in writing their new resumes. She understands that those who contributed to Ascent should be ready and able to go contribute elsewhere.

Ascent’s morning meetings had always begun with “check-ins” where staff members could be open about whatever professional or personal issues might be bothering them. This tradition is proving to be invaluable with the closure. “We didn’t change anything,” Messer said. “We just had more staff meetings and more check-ins.”

Harvey said that these meetings were just part of a professional culture where every staff member is valued was an individual.

“We’ve been operating like that for a long time,” she said. “We’re really supportive of each other and respectful of one another.”

No one at Ascent is going to show up to work one day and find the office vacant.

They are sharing the common experience of shutting down the magazine. “We’re all literally in this together – we’re all losing our jobs together,” said Harvey.

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PROFILE

&

WORN PIECE MAG WORLD SPRING 2009

BY DEBBY WALKER

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T

he Worn Fashion Journal office is located on the top floor of an old house in the heart of Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood. The office is vibrant and cluttered with crammed bookshelves, a table and two desks. Sitting behind a Mac is the founder, editor-in-chief and publisher, Serah-Marie McMahon. The space doubles as her apartment.

“Worn is an alternative to mainstream fashion magazines,” said McMahon. “Instead of talking about trends or even recipes on how to dress, like a mainstream magazine would, we talk about the historical aspects of fashion, political, personal,

environmental, and practical.”

Originally out of Montreal, Worn Fashion Journal is an independent magazine. As of summer 2008, it relocated to this Toronto office/apartment. The publication comes out twice a year, once when it’s hot and once when it’s cold. The first issue appeared at the end of 2005.

The staff are working on issue eight, slated for June, and issue nine, set to be released in October. The 44-page, bi-annual magazine has about 3,000 readers and goes for about $6. It tries to appeal to different “niche” audiences ranging from academics to fashion junkies. The no nonsense, no jargon mission becomes clearer on the Worn website under, “How to Submit, Guidelines and Good-toKnows: Article Submissions.” The following words and phrases are not allowed: discourse, dichotomy, dialog, uber, for example,

in this article, fashionista, and bling.

Worn is trying to bridge the gap between two extremes: the academics who use words and phrases like ‘discourse’, and ‘in this article’ and the commercial fashion people who use language like, ‘this bling is hot.’ The goal is to merge and appeal to both, said McMahon.

“We’re trying to blend it all together, and then also sort of mix a little of the handmade ‘zine mentality in there, too. So once we throw those three things in I think you get something really interesting. But it is always a struggle to try to maintain a balance.”

“We’re really into clothes,” McMahon said.

The target audience is people who want to go beyond the basics of clothes, “and people who are interested in reading.”

Since Worn tries to stay away from trends, it is commonly mistaken for a vintage mag-

Photo by Debby Walker

Beyond the labels. A magazine for the truly fashion literate

PROFILE

“We are no longer accountable to our advertisers because we don’t need them. We are accountable to our readers. We need them.”

- Serah-Marie McMahon grace. She also contributes to the Worn website with a personal blog.

Stegelmann explained that Worn’s approach to fashion is inclusive, both culturally and ideologically. Its objective is to make sure it isn’t being narrow or focusing on only one aspect of fashion.

“We want to have as much as we can from every angle. So it’s not just a single voice or a single agenda,” said Stegelmann.

“We just wanted to make a magazine that you would actually want to read the whole article from beginning to end, and when you got to the end you would feel like you actually know more than you did when you started. And not feel like people are talking down to you or trying to sell you something,” said Stegelman. “This is something people deal with everyday. Everybody knows about fashion. Everybody gets dressed. Everybody has needs. Everybody has opinions.”

Sara Forsyth has been working for the publication as an assistant editor since summer 2008. Forsyth moved to Toronto from Nova Scotia after graduating from King’s College with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. Before starting at Worn, she interned at Descant Magazine and Quill and Quire.

“I think it’s an intelligent fashion magazine. It’s not like we’re anti-designer,” Forsyth said. She stressed that the Worn staff are people who are interested in clothes from all angles, conceptually and practically.

“I was really attracted to Serah-Marie’s can-do attitude. Just her enthusiasm, it’s super contagious,” said Forsyth. “I just really like to see people doing what they love and being able to be part of a group where each individual shines. It seems as of everybody has equal say and is helping Worn grow in new directions. ” Because Worn deals with the concepts and ideas about fashion the issues never go out of style.

MAG WORLD SPRING 2009

azine. It encompasses the entire span of fashion, past, present and future. Since there’s clearly a lot more past than present and future, a big portion of the publication is about older clothes. However, it’s not about vintage culture, said McMahon.

What is truly unusual about Worn is the business model. The fashion journal doesn’t rely on major distributors in North America. It does work with one in Japan that buys the magazine outright and likes working with ‘zine distributors like Microcosm. But mainly they sell directly to retailers; clothing, vintage, fabric, and craft supply stores.

McMahon is strongly against working with distributors because she thinks it creates a dependence on advertisement revenue.

Although Worn does take advertising, it doesn’t rely on it.

“If all our advertising went away tomorrow and not one person paid for advertising, we could still go to press. Always. What that means is there’s a basic power shift. We are no longer accountable to our advertisers because we don’t need them. We are accountable to our readers. We need them.

Which is completely different than a mainstream fashion magazine -- well, any mainstream magazine,” said McMahon.

Currently, Worn has a staff of about 14 volunteers, but the magazine has yet to generate enough money to pay its employees. McMahon’s goal is to eventually employ 15 full-time staff, and pay them.

Editor Gwendolen Stegelmann, known to readers as Coco Buck, shed some light on the Worn Fashion Journal mentality.

With an Audrey Hepburn-like elegance, Stegelmann spoke passionately about the publication. She writes a column for each issue called “Everything I Know About Fashion (I Learned from my Mother),” where she uses personal anecdotes to describe her relationship with fashion among other things. Articles range from her experiences with perfume and makeup to the idea of

21

THE CHANGING FACE OF

n Almrei in detention Terrorist suspect Hassa oto: Simon Hayter in Toronto. Courtesy ph

PHOTOJOURNALISM How two young freelancers are tackling a tough market

BY JACKIE PADUANO

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

T

22

here are few 29-yearolds who can regale friends with tales of being shot at while cruising around the mountains of Afghanistan in a Humvee, or about the times they got to photograph Keira Knightley and Sir Anthony Hopkins.

Fewer still can claim they get paid to do such things. Simon Hayter is a lucky under-thirty-photojournalist whose talents have allowed him to travel the world on assignment for numerous magazines, ranging from Maclean’s to The Advocate.

“The thing I love most about my job is getting out in the street and getting down and dirty and feeling like I’m learning something new, meeting new people and experiencing something that’s unique,” said Hayter, a Toronto native currently on assignment documenting Vancouver’s downtown east-side drug issues.

Simon Hayter’s stories certainly make his job sound extraordinary.

But like everything that contains an element of fun and excitement, there’s a downside. The economic slowdown has taken its toll on the magazine market, resulting in a dramatic decrease in advertising sales and editorial budgets. Near the end of 2008, Domino magazine, Cottage Living and Canadian Home and Country each announced their last publications. Industry mainstays like Reader’s Digest reported nearly 300 global layoffs and have implemented cost cutting measures at their Canadian bureau, including unpaid vacations for full-time staff.

For freelance photojournalists, it takes a lot of ingenuity and resourcefulness to continue in the industry at the best of times, so the question of their survival plan is one worth contemplating.

“The days of the traditional photojournalist are on their way out,” said Hayter. “The economic downturn is happening at one of the most transitional times for visual

journalism.

Photo assignments are being replaced by multimedia and web-based journalism which has really changed the kinds of assignments that photojournalists are getting.”

Hayter said the only way for his career to endure is to embrace the changes and take advantage of opportunities.

“Everyone will have to stay on top,” he said. “Even some of the most die-hard, old-school photojournalists are realizing they can do a lot more, give a lot more voice to their subjects by adding other elements like audio and video. Lots of people are seeing it as a bonus and not a threat.”

One person who hasn’t folded up her tripod in defeat is Jenna Wakani, a perky, enterprising 25-year-old freelance photojournalist based in Toronto. She has photographed everything from fine food and wine to politicians, recently acting as the campaign photographer for NDP Leader Jack Layton in his 2008 election campaign. Self-trained in her craft, Wakani studied art history

IN FOCUS

and German literature at McGill University while interning at the school’s newspaper and learning as much as she could from working professionals. Wakani said tighter budgets at magazines have undoubtedly affected her, but credits her background and flexibility as reasons for staying afloat.

“Everybody is having a hard time at the moment,” she said. “You just have to be more resourceful and take on more private work, studio work, portraiture for people, advertising clients and things like that.”

“I’m not doing as much actual photojournalism because of the decline in the publishing industry. But, I also do a lot of photo research freelance work and little bits here and there to supplement my income from shooting.”

“Everyone talks about the doom and gloom scenarios with photojournalism, but I think that more than ever, people are interested in issues around the world,” - Simon Hayter

afa Hayter in the R o: Simon tesy phot

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

Being adaptable and keeping up with the times are keys to getting work in the evershifting media industry. Wakani said skills in software programs like Photoshop and InDesign are important for a photojournalist to possess. Anyone with a Mac and a touch of patience can learn the elements of design and digital imagery quite easily, so photojournalists need to distinguish themselves even more in a competitive market.

Adding to the photojournalist’s fight for nailing editorial space is the rising popularity of stock photo images, particularly royaltyfree pictures that can be downloaded for as little as one dollar. iStockphoto is one such online company where anyone can search and download more than four million images.

According to their marketing manager, Yvonne Beyer, iStockphoto has been growing in “leaps and bounds” since it started nine years ago and the crunch in magazine editorial budgets has only added to their success.

Magazines can save a lot of cash when they bypass an expensive photo shoot in favour of cheaper stock pictures, according to Beyer, and they’ve got the numbers to prove it.

“On average, we pay out over a million dollars a week to our contributors. We download an image somewhere in the world at least once a second,” she said.

Stock photo use is so prominent in the media world that amateur and professional photographers have been able to make a living selling their photos online.

“It’s all user-generated content, with some

contributors who do it as a hobby,” said Beyer. “We have people who have quit their day jobs and do nothing but shoot for iStock photo and are making a handsome living.”

Jenna Wakani said that she turns to stock photos when she is doing editorial contract work for magazines.

“Whenever I have done contracts as a photo researcher and editor, I turn to stock photography because often it’s the only way that a magazine can keep their budget in line,” she said.

Self-p Wak ortrait by Wakani admits that stock photos ani Jenn a aren’t her favourite choice as a photographer who appreciates skill and refinement in her craft, but accepts it as a growing force in the industry.

“It depends what end of the spectrum you’re on,” she said. “If you’re an amateur, you can use it to sell your work and improve it.

But if you’re a professional, it can take work away from you, so you have to work even harder and show everyone you’re worth the extra money.”

Photojournalists still want and need to tell stories, but the media : world is tough and getting tougher, Courtesy photo ue in Toronto.

Girls at a mosq so they will have to figure out new Jenna Wakani and ingenious ways to do it. Beyond learning to use audio and video equipment, photojournalists have to call on interpersonal skills to get the most out of their subjects.

“Everything is moving to video, so it helps to be more of an interviewer and journalist,” Wakani said. “The more able you are to engage with people to get their stories while creating content, the better off you’ll be.”

Despite all the challenges in the industry, both Hayter and Wakani said there is an intrinsic value to photographs Pakista ni law that newer mediums simply won’t be able Perve yers p zM ro gas an usharraf a testing aga to replace. Strong photographs resonate in re d wate Hayte r cann beaten bac st Presiden r t o k with and continue to create dialogue in ways ns. Co tear urtesy photo that other forms of communication do : Simo n not. A still picture can sum up a day or an entire event and draw the viewer in with its complexities that videos tend to make all too obvious.

“Everyone talks about the doom and gloom scenarios with photojournalism, but I think that more than ever, people are interested in issues around the world,” said Hayter.

“We’re more of a global culture, more aware of what’s going on around the world and there will always be a need for prayer rer Friday photojournalism. It’ll change, but it rally aft Strip. Cou ts n za a ta G ili in the jihad m won’t disappear.” e camp Islamic ge fu re h

23

NET PROFIT

BY HOLLY WEST

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

W

24

hat’s the bottom line of any business? Profit. These days an online presence is not ‘nice-to-have’: it’s a necessity. To make a magazine site work and help bring in money, rather than it acting as a rudimentary pointer to a print publication, editors and publishers need to understand the technicalities of a website.

Either that or find someone who can.

Martin White, founder of Online Magazine Marketing said many web publishers in the magazine industry have been slow to tap into the revenue-generating streams available, either because of limited knowledge or from the limitations of a small web team.

There are many web-based revenuegenerating options available. The key is choosing the ones that suit the needs of the brand, publication, and audience - you want to maintain your brand and satisfy your readers.

“Some of the more common sources of revenue from online are derived from advertising but not limited to that alone,” said Marco Ursi, editor of MastheadOnline.

“Many sites use online subscriptions – which can be a category all its own – also there is merchandising and classifieds.

Masthead posts a job board which is a form

of the classified ad and is a big part of our e-commerce strategy.” Doug Bennet, Publisher at Masthead cites current percentages for 2009 from the job board at 15-20%, while 2008 percentages were 40%.

In 2007, The Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada surveyed 88 of the largest Canadian online publishers and found that actual revenue from advertising was $1.2 billion and the projected total for 2008 was $1.5 billion. The survey also indicates that the projected growth means online magazine ads are a viable vehicle to target, reach and engage consumers.

White advises having a goal in mind in terms of your website. Assuming the goal is to create some profit from your website, knowing some vital statistics will help drive financial gain.

“When publishers are asked what pages of their print publications are best read, what is the value of their cover position and all their circulation data, they can recite it by rote. But asking similar questions of their website is usually met with blank stares or an admittance that they just don’t know,” said White. “Tracking this type of data can help you to place ads for greatest viewership, as well as know what content people are looking at the longest, so you know where to concentrate your efforts. “ Mining this information can be quite simple when using programs like Quantcast and Google AdWords. “Understanding the statistics, identifying them and know-

ing them can go a long way in how you go about developing a web site and recognizing where there is integration with your print product,” said White.

Contests are a fun promotional means of not only connecting with your viewers and strengthening ties with advertisers, but also creating a database where lists of subscribers and emails can be extracted. “Databases have value which magazines haven’t necessarily embraced or seen the genuine potential [of],” said White. Companies, such as Cornerstone (which deals with prospecting and database management solutions), which are very familiar with list rentals, are allowed to purchase these databases on a defined basis where certain limits are placed on what and where the information is distributed, usually to advertisers. White says the segmentation and demographics of the list could cost between $150-$200 per 1000 names. iI specific demographics are requested then the price can increase.

If the list is from a B2B publication the cost could be higher.

Other ways these lists can be created online are through encouraging a reader to input their name and email address at every opportunity. Cottagelife.com has several areas asking for that information -- registering for newsletters, purchasing tickets, subscriptions, posting cottage rental offers and others.

“While traditional online advertisers can make use of these databases, trade shows

Photo by Joana Draghici

Can you make money with an online magazine site?

Short and sweet: yes you can

TECH

The beat goes online

BY MARK ROTHEN Edward Skira has recently gone through a huge change in his life. CHART Magazine, which he co-founded and has worked for since graduating from York University, printed its final issue last December.

His reason for taking the magazine out of print is twofold. The magazine’ s young readers have already migrated to the Internet, and the recent economic meltdown has swept away the majority of his advertisers.

“It was a matter of riding the curve as long as you could,” said Skira. “Our demographic is 15 to 25 and they’re all on the Internet at this point.

That’s where they live, so there’s less reason for them to pick up printed material.”

“There has been some trading back and forth between online versions and print versions, where a lot of magazines that opened online decided they should go print and some that were print decide they should go online,” said Gary Garland, the executive director, advertising services at Magazines Canada. “I think it comes down to their reader and how the reader can be best served.”

On a relatively quiet street in downtown Toronto, Edward Skira runs Chartattack along with four editors. Computer technology and a recession have not only helped put CHART out of print, they’re also what gave CHART its start.

“We were just looking for something to do,” said Skira, thinking back to when he began the small publication that became CHART in the recession of the early 90s. “There were no jobs, so we were just doing it as sort of a hobby.”

Twenty years on, Skira has certainly not thrown in the towel. Rather, he’s found the opportunity to highly embrace the medium he has been courting for the past several years.

The re-launch of Chartattack last November brought the addition of many new features, creating a highly interactive experience. In addition to being able to add comments on the site’s articles, now readers can have discussions in the website’s forums, and upload their own concert photos.

It’s not just the web’s capability to host music that makes it such a great fit for the indiealternative magazine. Interacting with readers and readers interacting with each other adds a ‘whole new dimension,’ Skira said.

“We can do a lot more with the new website because we’ve modernized it to the 21st century as opposed to what we had which was using pretty old technologies,” said CHART’s News

Editor Steve Maclean.

“The workload may even have increased in some cases just because everything has to be done daily. You can’t put something off because the magazine’s not due to be printed for a couple weeks,” Maclean said.

Through the early 90s, CHART Magazine established a strong readership and became one of the best Canadian sources for news and commentary on the indie and alternative music scenes. Once Skira noticed the Internet was starting to take off, he decided to launch a website to complement the magazine.

As time went on Skira started adding more and more content to CHART’s website, including features, reviews, and the lengthy music charts that were the cornerstone of the magazine in its inception. Skira said by 2000 practically all of CHART Magazine’s content was online.

CHART co-existed online and in print since 1996, but Skira said he has expected for at least two years that the print edition would have to be discontinued sooner or later.

This past fall, as the economy spun out of control, Skira found he couldn’t ride the curve any longer. His subscriptions dropped 50 per cent from what they had once been, but the biggest problem was the difficulty to sell ad space.

“So many advertisers are simply shrinking budgets, so there’s less money to go around, not just for magazines but pretty much every medium,” said Garland.

Skira agreed that it comes down to money.

“If your advertising base disappears you’re not going to continue printing. That is the biggest priority - making sure that you can pay for it.”

Skira said being a music magazine didn’t help either, as music labels have been struggling to make ends meet themselves. “Sales are down significantly for record companies, and our print publication was dependent heavily on advertising from the music industry.”

Despite the end of the print publication, Skira said the Internet has a lot to offer. One of its many strengths is that it places CHART and its competitors on more even ground.

“There are certainly advantages to the Internet.

The fact that we can speak to the whole world,” Skira said. “Circulation was always a problem in this country, in terms of newsstands in particular. When you’re a small organization like us you couldn’t really afford to buy rack-space, whereas the big guys, particularly the American publishers, own all the best frontage at Chapters or any of these other places.”

With complete focus on Chartattack, online readership is starting to pick-up. “The numbers are definitely starting to grow, and grow nicely,” Skira said. “It’s still going to take some time and effort, but it is beginning to move.”

Skira said they are currently adding audio and video to the site.

“We’re trying to be as strong as possible in the niche that we’re in and we’re hoping that that will be sufficient to really drive traffic. Make the content fun and interesting. Try to be a destination and be a filter for people,” he said.

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

and others in the same industry can use them to access a vertical audience,” said White.

“Advertising dollars are hard to get,” said White. “The strength of any magazine is the quality of its publication, the value of its content and the relationship developed with its readership – those are elements an advertiser is interested in.”

Creating partnerships with companies can also generate revenue. Linda Gourlay, co-publisher and co-owner of Saltscapes, knows that any business venture must have a profit goal. The magazine’s online presence recently received an update: content from back issues was repurposed, a ‘subscriptions and address customer care’ area was revamped, and a partnership with Atlantic Canada’s telecom giant Bell Aliant was solidified.

“We saw an opportunity to further our advertising relationship with Aliant by creating content that would cross-brand and strengthen our current advertising experience.” Saltscapes repurposes content for the Aliant site, which carries the brand further and helps when using search engine optimization.

Another site that favours relationships with advertisers is cottagelife.com. The site offers a products and services directory, a cottage rental tab and custom advertiser programs.

“We have a niche audience, one that appreciates the cottage lifestyle. A wine club and society approached us to create a quiz for our site to find members – the goal was to find quality, not quantity,” said Sharon Donaldson, cottagelife.com online manager.

Donaldson says the number of companies listed in its products and services directory is growing very quickly. “Currently we have 550 participants and our spring consumer show will up that number,” said Donaldson.

“Everyone from builders to dock installers register to have their company advertised within the directory and to become part of the consumer show.”

Gourlay knows all the pertinent numbers relevant to her site for advertisers, such as number of unique visitors (the time a user spends on specific popular site pages) and her bounce rate (users who land on your site but immediately navigate away). While the terminology may not be familiar, software such as Google AdWords and Quantcast can do the hard work.

These terms are important because tracking who uses a site and how they use it will help focus content and help determine who advertises on what pages.

“It’s not the size of your venture but what the activity is so you know where to invest your time and effort. What is your audience responding to and therefore how can you foster that?” said White. “More care and thoroughness could be invested in all aspects of communication – creating a brand and look – and as a result there can be significant indirect, if not direct, benefits.

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Small dog,

BIG

FIGHT

26

I

BY TYLER MASON

t’s hard being the small dog in a big dog’s world, especially when your playground is the Internet. That’s the reality for a lot of Canadian magazines today. The big dogs are of course American magazines that already have online editions and access to global markets. With this struggling economy and many publications considering increasing their online presence.

Last November, the Ontario Media De-

Photo by Tyler Mason

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

The Digital Discovery program gives small Canadian magazines a chance at a bigger bite of the market

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velopment Corporation released the names of recipients of the $3.3 million Entertainment and Creative Cluster Partnership Fund. One of the recipients was Magazine Canada’s Digital Discovery program, which aims to help member magazines compete in the bigger playground.

The OMDC grant means that 80 per cent of the titles on the digital newsstand have to be from Ontario. These online editions will allow all magazines to have an online presence while simultaneously selling subscriptions.

“We were given a $172,000 grant,” said Laurie Alpern, director of communications for Magazines Canada.

In early March, Magazines Canada signed the deal with Zinio - an international company and large supplier of digital editions - to be the digital provider for the online edition as well as the digital newsstand.

“We will create a digital newsstand for them,” said Alpern. “The digital newsstand will allow subscriptions to be made on the

“Once people see magazines available digitally they’ll expect it.” site, which is especially helpful for the smaller magazines because they need the help and the money.”

The digital newsstand will also give smaller magazines more exposure globally. “Obviously, digital is very important right now and a lot of magazines can’t do it on their own,” said Alpern.

The grant makes the program available to all of Magazine Canada’s member publications for free. One of these small dogs in the fight is CelticLife magazine, an East Coast based publication intent on taking full advantage of the program.

“Once people see magazines available digitally they’ll expect it,” said Alexa Thompson, CelticLife’s editor-in-chief. “It’s excellent, for a province like Ontario that is in such dire straits, to support magazines like this.”

Thompson said cost has been an issue for their magazine’s venture online.

“A Toronto-based company was quoting us $3,000 per issue,” said Thompson. “We were using an English company that was charging £300 per issue, so it was quite a bit less than the company in Toronto.”

CelticLife has no American retail outlets and can only be read in libraries overseas.

Thompson said the ability to have a digital edition would be extremely valuable to tap into these larger markets.

“We have such a small share of the market, walk into any supermarket and you’ll see all American magazines. Our small

DIGITAL MAGAZINE TIMELINE

1982

Magazines begin to use email and online noticeboards.

Publishers start to use computer networks.

1980s

Development of digital technologies for handling typesetting and image manipulation.

1995

CD-Rom magazines.

Websites for mainstream magazines.

2003

Online media have become mainstream.

2005

Digital paper announced.

2006

Teen spending online/ mobile-phone-based media blamed for teen magazine closures.

Downloadable magazines for phones.

Magazines launch on YouTube.

Interactive digital-only magazines launched.

2007

TV guide revamps website to help find shows on the web for downloading.

Digital-only magazine for teenagers.

Magazines move into digital TV. Online digital facsimile newsagents launched.

Publishers working with digital paper.

2008

Digital magazines becoming an established medium.

Source: magforum.com

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

Photo by Kristen Smith

- Alexa Thompson

magazines reflect our culture not theirs,” said Thompson.

Having a digital edition gives magazines an added revenue stream. Thompson said she sees the digital edition as an added incentive for advertisers to work with the magazine rather than additional revenue.

Jeff Newburgh, a Zinio representative said: “There are two different ways you can read the [digital edition] files, either online or you can download them to your desktop.”

Zinio’s digital edition files are encrypted for security reasons and to combat piracy.

Newburgh explained each user downloads a licence along with the digital edition, which is computer and account-specific to make sure only the user who paid for it can access the file. Zinio also allows the customer to email a free copy of any issue to a friend. Putting media on the Internet is nothing extremely new.

“One thing we’re looking at is iPhone usage,” said Newburgh Zinio has been developing applications that would allow people to read and subscribe to their partner magazines on iPhones and iPod touches, which should be available sometime in May, said Alpern.

With this additional technology the digital edition will allow the reader to highlight text, make notes, and zoom in.

When the digital newsstand and editions launch, Magazine Canada’s member magazines will have a better chance of survival.

There’s a saying: “Every dog has its day.”

With the Digital Discovery program, every member of Magazines Canada will have that chance, regardless of size.

27

TECH

SECTION TITLE

Magazine

2.0

BY SEPTEMBRE ANDERSON

28

“As a print publication we reached a readership in Canada. Now we reach a global readership” -William Morassutti “The majority of them have a print magazine and a website and that’s because advertisers and readers are both using the web more. The readers go there – the advertisers follow. Magazines have seized that as an opportunity and are trying to find ways to make money from the website, reach an audience there.”

MastheadOnline and other Canadian publications such as Chart Magazine and TOROMagazine have made the leap from print publications to online-only.

They cite benefits such as immediacy, lower production costs, interactivity with

readers and the global reach that an online magazine gives.

“As a print publication we reached a readership in Canada. Now we reach a global readership,” said Morassutti. “With [the online magazine] we can respond really, really quickly when something comes up. We can go shoot it or do an interview, get the photos taken and have it up within a matter of days. So it’s much more immediate.”

Another technological frontier magazine publishers and executives have begun to explore is smartphone reader softwares such as Lexcycle’s Stanza, ScrollMotion’s Iceberg and Shortcovers from Indigo Books and Music. These cell phone applications are downloadable programs that allow users to purchase, read and share ebooks and periodicals such as magazine articles directly from their mobile devices.

“We believe that people are still going to buy physical books for a long time to come but they’ll also want to read digitally,” said the chief information officer and executive vice-president of Indigo Books and Music, Michael Serbinis. “People can get the content that they love with the click of a button in an instant and it’s really about keeping that convenience. It’s like having a bookstore in your pocket that you can access anytime.”

Shortcovers - which are excerpts from magazine and newspaper articles or

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

R

iding the GO Train to Toronto’s Union Station, a businesswoman peers into her compact electronic reader and brushes up on current issues and world affairs in the latest digital edition of Maclean’s. She flips through the pages of the virtual magazine using the eReader’s touch screen. Finished with Maclean’s with four stops to go on her commute she purchases a subscription to Forbes Magazine, confident it will be wirelessly delivered to her eReader each month.

The digital age is here and it is portable. Everywhere you look there are people zipping by plugged in, tuned in or otherwise connected to some miniature device that allows them to bring the office or arcade or home entertainment system with them. This rise in nanotechnology, the wide availability of wireless networks, the modern dependency on all things computer-related and the creation of bendable, colour epaper has created a very new and exciting frontier for magazine and publishing executives.

“There definitely is a shift in where people are gravitating, where they’re getting their media,” said William Morassutti, editorin-chief of TOROMagazine.com, an online

men’s magazine.

These shifts in the digital landscape have left many magazine and publishing executives to wonder, how do you stay relevant and connected to your readership?

“A lot of people doing magazines – magazine publishers, magazine companies – have seen the need to expand their business to the web,” said Marco Ursi, editor of MastheadOnline.

Photo courtesy Jeremy Hall

Following the technology of text: New gadgets are changing the way we read

29

28

Photo courtesy Indigo Books and Music

chapters from books - is the new kid on said Wahl. “So it’s not that you have your the Smartphone reader block having been library on this device, it’s that you have a released in late February of 2009. The bookstore with you all the time so that service offers users a few new features, you’re actually able to buy those kinds of such as giving users the ability to publish titles that you’re interested in and do that their works for free, in an attempt to leap right away wherever you are.” ahead of the pack.

The Kindle 2 which quickly followed on “Sample for free, decide if you want the heels of the original Kindle to satisfy to make a purchase and, if you do, get customer improvement requests holds it instantly downloaded to your device,” more than 200 books, includes a built-in said Serbinis. “You can also share [the New Oxford American Dictionary for instant Shortcover] with your friends on Twitter and dictionary lookup and access to more than other social networks.”

24 magazines including the New Yorker “You can access information like that if and Time Magazine. you’re in the airport and you have a flight “I think it’s brilliant,” said Morassutti of that’s delayed an hour or you’re sitting in eReaders. “My sense is that it’s early in the a doctor’s office or on a subway going to game and they are making improvements work,” said Christine Persaud, managing and fine tuning and refining it with every editor of MarketNews and here’s how! new stage. I think there is going to be magazines. “It’s just a more convenient something there. I think once they bring and accessible way to do that.” that price point down and once they While smartphone reader refine the product, that software allows readers to can be a really interesting use the device they already development.” have, companies such as One of the drawbacks Sony and Amazon have of the Kindle and Reader rolled out reader dedicated is that neither have devices.

These devices, colour screens. However called electronic readers researchers at the or eReaders, allow users to University of Toronto, led download digital editions of by professor Geoffrey books, magazines and blogs Ozin, have developed onto portable devices that a technology to include are the size of a paperback brighter, flexible colour book. displays.

At the forefront of the On the horizon are digital reader revolution are Plastic Logic and publisher the Sony Reader and the Hearst who have revealed Amazon Kindle. plans to release their The Sony Reader is a own take on the digital slim compact eReader that reader. Plastic Logic plans comes complete with a to release an eReader in touch screen that recreates early 2010 with an 8.5x11 the traditional reading The new wave of maga- screen making it ideal for zine technology has pubexperience by allowing reading newspapers and readers to “turn” the page lications appearing in magazines, while Hearst unconventional places, with their finger or stylus. has announced plans to The device also holds including your iPod. launch an eReader with about 160 average-sized a large screen suited for books and gives readers access to online reading magazines sometime this year. magazines as well as blogs, news feeds “I think [colour epaper] might provide and novels. opportunities for magazines to appear on “In some ways I think digital readers will eReaders in a more complete package and be great because magazines will be able be able to provide a kind of experience that to be distributed and to be shared among the magazines offer now,” said Wahl. readers in different ways. It’s a natural “We’ve been talking about the digitization and necessary evolution that people tend of the media – books, newspapers, to consume more media on screens,” said magazines – for quite some time,” said Andrew Wahl, senior writer and columnist Serbinis. “We believe that people are still for Canadian Business Magazine, from his going to buy and read physical books for a home office. long time to come but they’ll also want to The Amazon Kindle 2 is another wireless read digitally.” device that allows users to carry a library’s Fast forward to the not-so-distant future worth of content with them. Whereas the -- a teenaged boy glides down the street Reader is a bit high maintenance requiring on his skateboard. He stops in front of a a computer and an internet connection, the bookstore and makes a beeline to the inKindle 2 offers users wireless delivery of store coffee shop. He sits down, unrolls content. his paper pad sized eReader and starts Unlike the Sony Reader “the Kindle reading an issue of Color Magazine. The allows you to be able to wirelessly and quite future is now and it is digital. seamlessly search and purchase books,”

THE POWER OF PRINT Closures, layoffs and plunging ad sales.

While many herald the death of print magazines in favour of online-only or digital formats there are those who still believe in the power of print.

Magazine executives weigh in on the enduring strength of the glossy.

“In that experience the relationship that magazines have with readers is a really big part of the value that magazines offer.”

-Andrew Wahl “I think that print allows you to have an opportunity to expand your ideas.

Practically, I find print to be a far better medium than online.”

-John Thomson, Marketnews “You open a magazine and you’ve got these big, gorgeous pictures to look at whether they’re in the articles or in the ads. Either way it’s the experience.

The page turning experience, the great colours, the way that it looks…”

– Christine Persaud “I like to think that there will always be a place for magazines.”

-Andrew Wahl “They’re totally here to stay!”

- John Thomson, “[Magazines are] not just information.

It’s about the style in which you first present information and how that style speaks directly to the reader and forms a kind of lasting, enduring bond....”

– Andrew Wahl “Look at Vanity Fair. You have 20,000 word articles. It’s in-depth reporting. It takes time to write, it takes time to research. I’m not going to sit on my computer and read such an article but I will sit on my sofa with a drink and a magazine in my hand.”

- John Thomson “We’re never going to get rid of paper entirely. I think that that’s a joke for anyone who thinks that.”

-Christine Persaud

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

TECH

29

OMG!

IT’S JUST A PHASE

Teen girls are a tough sell in the Canadian market

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

T

30

he teen girl magazine market is fickle at the best of times. Given the recent economic climate, and the built-in complexities of selling magazines in Canada, producing a Canadian teen magazine today is even more difficult.

Doug Bennet, the publisher of MastheadOnline, talked about the relative handicap Canadian publishers have compared to their American counterparts.

“The cost to create an editorial page for a Canadian magazine versus an American magazine is exactly the same, more or less.

But in the U.S. you can spread that cost over 300 million people. In Canada, you can only spread it over 20 million Englishspeaking people and 10 million Frenchspeaking people,” said Bennet. And as he summed up: “At the end of the day, it’s a unit cost business - the more you print and sell, the cheaper it is per unit.”

Bennet outlined the options Canadian

publishers have to make money - selling advertising space within the magazine and selling physical copies of the magazines (either through single copy sales at newsstands or subscriptions).

A third option is to partner with an organization that has some sort of distribution network that can be used. “You do a deal with a Wal-Mart or some big retailer, or some manufacturer that has an interest in that area, and that person is going to pay you to produce the magazine on a contract basis,” explained Bennet.

“At the end of the day, it’s a unit cost business - the more you print and sell, the cheaper it is per unit.”

- Doug Bennet The teen market has an added hurdle as Canadian magazines are predominantly sold through subscriptions; however, teen-

agers typically don’t buy subscriptions. Add to that the recession which has caused a decrease in advertising dollars for all demographics.

Amid these obstacles at least three Canadian teen girl publications are staying alive in this difficult market.

GIRLS CAN DO ANYTHING Girls Can Do Anything Magazine was first launched in 2007 by Jenifer Merifield as an alternative to the gossip-filled, sex-infused teen magazines out there.

“Our mission from day one was to produce something that was high integrity, that was all-accepting, and that was true to itself,” said Merifield.

In order to stay true to their message, GCDA is very selective with advertisements.

“We had cheques waving in front of us from advertisers that wanted to get in there, but we said ‘no,’” said Merifield. “It was hard sometimes. We had some months where money was really tight. It would have been great to get a massive cheque

Illustration courtesy Roger Wilson-Singer

BY ELIZABETH ZAHUR

FOR HER like that a couple of times and we didn’t.

It would have completely changed who we were and what we’re about.”

Keeping in line with the values her magazine promotes, Merifield said she would never promote a company that was advertising with photography of sexualized 13 year olds.

Instead, GCDA has a number of partnerships for a variety of advertising, sponsorship and other links with like-minded organizations, such as Girl Guides, Habitat for Humanity, the Jane Goodall Institute and the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

“We like to say ‘partner’ rather than ‘advertiser’ because advertiser implies they’re selling something different than what we’re selling,” she explained, using GCDA’s partnership with Girl Guides to illustrate.

“We promote girls doing extra-curricular activities rather than hanging out... we share a very similar mission - empowering girls to believe in themselves, so that’s why it’s just a great fit,” she said, adding she gives empowerment talks to girls around Ontario, including Girl Guides groups. In this way, the partnership is mutually beneficial.

GCDA launched digital-only production on Valentine’s Day of this year. While such a venture is risky, Merifield is optimistic as the move was a result of reader feedback.

“We were actually going to increase our circulation to 100,000 in print and when we started seeping it out and letting people know that’s what our goal was, we had teenagers writing in saying, ‘what about your ecological footprint? Why would you cut down more trees and pollute more lakes and rivers with more magazines?’” This response led to the February/March 2009 issue becoming the first to exist solely online.

The result, so far, has been positive.

“Our circulation, if that’s what it’s called online, is increasing every day,” said Merifield.

FAZE

“...now the suppliers are willing to negotiate, so I’m using this downturn in the economy to build my business.”

- Kaaren Whitney-Vernon According to Bennet, the trend in the past few years for teenage magazines has been twofold, and this trend has been felt around the world. The Canadian-produced Fashion18, put out by St. Joseph Media, was forced to close its print outfit in 2006 and move to an online-only publication, citing advertising issues as the primary reason.

However, flipping through the latest edition of Faze reveals a number of ads for Humber College, Skechers, Rogers, Sony, and Breakaway Tours. Zander feels advertising in the teen magazine market is less susceptible to the current economic downturn than some other markets.

“You just have to be creative finding ways to appeal to some of those other advertisers. Cell phones are bigger than ever, up until last year, fashion has been bigger than ever for young women,” he explained.

With a reported circulation of 120,000 copies, Faze is the largest paid teen magazine in Canada. Its approach may indicate it is economically viable to combine a commercial American-style aesthetic with intelligent content in Canada.

VERVEGIRL Vervegirl is another magazine that sets out to be the anti-commercial alternative.

‘Real.Life.Style.’ is found on every cover under the flag. Vervegirl is also the product of the media company Youth Culture, and so intrinsically serves marketing functions as well.

The parent company, Youth Culture, describes itself as “a bridge between marketers and youth through promotion and research.” One such method of promotion is through the recently launched Vervegirl

Rep (VRep) program. The role of the rep is explained on Youth Culture’s website: “They have been hand-picked to put our corporate partners’ brand, products, services and messaging in front of university and college students. Campaigns include: sampling, special events and sponsorship at select universities and colleges across English Canada.”

Youth Culture through Vervegirl also performs product seeding. Kaaren WhitneyVernon, the president of Youth Culture, explained of how this works using their client, Clinique, as an example.

“Clinique was launching a new skin care line and they had never spoken to the teen market before and they wanted to speak to women 16 to 24. So we did a survey online looking for girls that wanted to try the product and would be willing to talk about the product,” she explained. A blog was set up where girls could post their feedback and have questions addressed by Clinique education assistants.

Despite having a number of clients that buy ad space in their magazine, Vervegirl and Youth Culture have not been immune to advertising dilemmas.

“We’re really trying to be smart. We’ve been trying hard to get our clients to understand that young people care about you giving back to the community as a marketer,” said Whitney-Vernon. “So, we were doing a lot more than just saying ‘buy that space in our magazine.’ We were really trying to educate them on what it is that motivates a young person, and I think that by being a little bit smarter, we were able to survive.”

Whitney-Vernon is also using the current economic situation in her favour.

“Just in the same way other advertisers are not spending their money, suppliers are also having problems. So, in other words, I’ve never done SMS before,” she said, referring to Short Message Service, or what most know as text messaging. “It’s usually very expensive so it’s been a barrier of entry for me, but now the suppliers are willing to negotiate, so I’m using this downturn in the economy to build my business.”

All of these magazines have so far weathered the storm and are preparing for success in the future. Though the magazines are optimistic about the future, history is not on their side.

Bennet could not recall one Canadian teen girl publication that could be considered successful, or that had lasted for very long.

“Magazine publishing has always been tough in Canada,” he said. “There have been lots of attempts but it’s tough, it’s a very tough market,” he said, adding with a laugh that suggested even he doesn’t know why so many have attempted it before: “It’s a ridiculous business.”

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

Faze magazine was started independently by Lorraine Zander and her husband, Paul Zander, with the ambition to be an intelligent, empowering, positive magazine while still providing beauty and fashion and entertainment content as well.

“The Faze Story,” found on their website, is an inspirational one. Lorraine and Paul financed the initial research and work largely from their own pocket, along with the help of family members. After four years of hard work, the first issue of the magazine went to press in December 1999 and appeared on newsstands in February 2000.

A teamwork approach seems to be important to the success of the magazine today.

“We’ve always had a lot of interns and volunteers who work with the magazine and they’ve always been very much involved,” said Paul Zander. “Once they move on we stay in touch, so we always have a good 30

to 50 people that if, for example, we have to decide who should be on the cover, what would our youth audience want to see, what would make them pick up a magazine, we send it out to our youth team and we can get feedback.”

Zander noted that the entire Faze gang -- including staff, co-ops, and volunteers -has an average age of 21 or 22, and this young perspective is important to staying current and interesting to their readers.

“What’s happening, what’s cool, what’s hip can change very rapidly and if you miss the next shift you’re a little outdated,” he said, while referencing the constantly evolving design and aesthetic of the magazine.

31

WIDE OPEN MARKET

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

BY ERIN DECOSTE

32

A

boy with magazines stuffed under his mattress, the sneaking of a glimpse between the pages of a father’s or older brother’s hidden collection, the first time a young man makes a purchase from the very back of the magazine stand. These are all tired tropes of the culture surrounding print pornography. Yet where are the women in these clichés?

Only in the pictures; the viewed, rarely the viewer.

Where do women go when they are looking for magazines a little more titillating than Cosmo, Elle, or Vogue? In today’s magazine market, women are left high and dry. With

the pullout of Playgirl in the print world, the absolute lack of a viable print magazine trade dedicated to women’s sexuality, and a flailing economy that leaves sparse room for new print magazines, women are left with very little to scratch their erotic itch.

“There are lots of erotic books that are marketed to women. But not magazines,” said Alison Lee, a freelance writer and manager of Good For Her, a downtown Toronto sex shop. “Playgirl is operating as a website and not as a print magazine now. I think it started out because women were less likely to feel comfortable buying that type of material. Nobody wanted to go to their neighbourhood magazine stand and pick out ‘Hunks for Her’ or whatever. That just wasn’t on anyone’s radar. I think that’s the biggest reason.”

Another problem, said Lee, is with the for-

mula the magazine industry sticks to when it comes to sex magazines.

“Take the erotic short story market, the way that those are marketed and handled is a lot more appealing to women,” explained Lee. “Magazines tend to focus on the ‘Playboy’ formula. You have a couple articles, you have some pictorials, and you have some letters to the editor with some advice columns. That’s sort of the standard and for the most part, a lot of times, women are less visually oriented.”

The store is a comfortable and homey place. It looks like a cozy living room until I notice the dildos on display; the assortment of lube lining a shelf, and the handcuffs hanging on the wall. Lee pointed to the pornography videos relating that women are not always so stereotypical.

“We do really brisk business with our

Photos by Erin DeCoste

For women looking for sex magazines, it’s been a long time coming

FOR HER DVDs,” she quickly added. “But the pictures of a naked man for example, most women are not going to seek that out. It tends not to work out as well. Applying that same formula to the women’s market just hasn’t ever really worked. And nobody seems to have tried a different formula.”

One magazine attempting to try a different formula is Lickety Split Magazine, a zine operating out of Montreal. It focuses on “pansexuality”, an inclusive approach to sexuality which encompasses every kind of gender, sexuality and kink, and has been chipping away at the formulaic stereotype of sex magazines.

Amber Goodwyn, editor of Lickety Split, wants to break down conventional barriers, for women and men alike.

“I think that women are as easily visually stimulated as men,” said Goodwyn from her Montreal office. “Women just have been socialized to not expect or demand erotic imagery for themselves. Women have more access to written erotic content, like dime novels. It’s very cultural.”

Lee sees the lack of smut magazines for women as cultural as well. Surrounded by sex books, toys, and condoms, she explains the relationship between gay male porn and heterosexual women’s porn.

“There’s been a lot of overlap of erotic materials aimed at gay men and straight women,” said Lee. “A lot of straight women look to gay porn in a lot of different formats in order to find what they’re looking for and gay men have frequently found erotica aimed at straight women to be more accessible to them.”

Lee pointed out the demise of Playgirl to emphasize her point. While the magazine had all women as editors, she said it was still being run by men.

“They couldn’t step out of the magazine formula,” she said of Playgirl. “And they were making more money off of their gay male clientele than they were with their

straight female clientele. So, they ‘gayed’ it up. The website is obviously focused on gay men more than it is for straight women.”

That is the problem. The industry tends to focus away from women’s erotic needs.

There is not much precedent for a smut magazine that is specifically aimed at heterosexual women.

The lack of these magazines means women have to look elsewhere. Many independent Canadian zines, like Lickety Split and Carleton University’s The Moose and Pussy, encompass all genders and sexual orientations in order to survive.

The Moose and Pussy is run by students from the Ottawa university who were looking to create something different from “all the Maxims and Cosmos out there,” said editor Jeff Blackman.

“We can be pornographic in detail, but we’re not in content.

It’s not jerk-off fodder.”

- Jeff Blackman Along with barriers from the university, the zine is not allowed to be sold at campus bookstores. Blackman said that founders are struggling to find funding, an issue that is plaguing many magazines, especially smut and porn.

Funding erotic magazines and smut is just not a priority of most art council boards.

“It’s really hard to get funding for projects that deal with sexuality, and with all the blogs and websites out there, that are so topical and saturate people’s world, that are always available, it’s extra difficult,” said Goodwyn. “Especially now, with a Conservative government, trying to legitimize this stuff is tricky for all the usual reasons.

We would get more financing if we had more standardized hegemonic standards,

more pop culture focus, but that’s just not what we’re doing.”

At Moose and Pussy, funding and distribution are the biggest challenges. Blackman wants to get the point across that the zine is not pure pornography in the traditional sense.

“We can be pornographic in detail, but we’re not in content. It’s not jerk-off fodder,” Blackman emphasized.

The last issue reached around 500 people through print copies or pdf downloads.

With a target audience of anyone with an “open mind who enjoys good literature and art” they ultimately can reach just about anyone.

Goodwyn said the reasons for the lack of funding lie in the discomfort with the content for some. “Erotica, smut and porn just are not on the radar of what’s legitimate.”

Lee would like to see a change in the marketing of smut and sex magazines for women. She is optimistic that the world, and especially Canada, will see a print magazine that can break down barriers and create a positive dialogue of women’s sexuality.

“I think that if someone could break the magazine formula and go with something educational, erotic, with short stories and some sort of visual sex, it could work,” Lee said.

“Having a magazine like that would be amazing. It would totally blow everybody’s mind. It’s really hard because I know the magazine industry is having a really hard time. It has been for years and right now it’s only getting worse. But I think that if somebody could do it, it could be really successful.”

Without much of a precedent and a shaky economy, the outlook for women’s sex magazines is grim. Lee’s insistence on a formula overhaul could potentially steer the pornography industry into a new age -they just need to be willing, creative, and wide open.

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

33

I don’t like what I see in the mirror At this rate I’ll have to work until I’m 95 before I can retire My husband is emotionally unavailable Is it just me or is it hot in here? How will I keep my job when so many young people are willing to work for less? This house is too quiet now

OVER

40

under served Giving the boomers the read they need

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

BY ALICEA KNOTT

34

A

s the boomer bubble ages, there is a growing demographic that refuses to be ignored. Women over 40 are a powerful force that has magazine publishers tuning in. The industry should be conscious of the type of influence that these women hold.

Until recently content for over-40 women was limited to a small section in a magazine devoted to their younger sisters. Now, several magazines are dedicated to this underserved segment of the population. More is one such magazine giving this demographic the content it craves.

At the helm of More is Editor-in-Chief Linda Lewis. After working at Today’s Parent for eight years, and now over-40, she said she relates to how More represents the issues faced by women in this age group.

“It’s very relevant to me,” she said. “These readers have been reading women’s magazines for 30 years, so, they’ve seen it all, they’ve been there, they’ve done that. They can spot B.S., they can spot superficiality.”

Lewis said the success of More has to do with its direct focus on the target audience that they are trying to reach.

“It is a niche, but it’s not just the novelty.

The renewal rate shows that it’s done with quality, otherwise, once they’re past the novelty of ‘oh, wow, a magazine that’s just for me,’ then you obviously have to do a re-

ally good job for them to want to continue reading it,” she said.

“People are looking at age differently.

Women are tired of being invisible at a certain age,” she said.

This was the trigger for executives at Transcontinental to form a relationship with publishers south of the border, to determine how quickly Canadians could expand their market to meet this growing need.

More already had a long history within the United States, where it was first created in 1998. More’s Canadian edition had its consumer launch in March 2007, bringing with it huge expectations and an overwhelming response.

Francine Tremblay, senior vice-president for consumer publications at Transconti-

FOR HER

“Women are tired of being invisible at a certain age.”

- Linda Lewis nental Media and publisher for More magazine believed More would be a complement to its catalogue of magazines. Transcontinental then turned to the public, where it interacted with readers on what they desired in this niche product.

“Every time we went to a focus group, we always had a few comments about the fact that magazines are always targeted to a younger generation,” said Tremblay. So, in 2006, Transcontinental took the plunge and signed an exclusive multi-year licensing agreement with the Meredith Corporation, to bring More to Canada.

While the topics can be found in many women’s magazines across Canada, the subject matter is always written to the tastes of a mature woman, who wants to find answers for her unique lifestyle. Tremblay said this is a significant market, because women now are in a very different position than they were years ago.

“A woman being 40 today is very powerful,” she said. “I think that when you launch a magazine, you always answer a need. I think a 40-plus population is growing, not only in numbers, but it’s also growing in autonomy, in money, in positions in life, in careers.”

Other publications geared towards the

Linda Lewis, of More magazine works with a dedicated group of writers. greying market include Hello Boomers, an online magazine blog which gives advice on how to continue a healthy and productive

lifestyle, beyond 40. Hello Boomers has no official headquarters, it exists only in the virtual world. Soren Madsen, the online magazine’s editor-in-chief, has created a website to bring boomers together, where profit is not the primary goal.

“I think generally people are becoming familiar with the fact that if they need some type of information they should probably go online first, because there’s so much of it and there’s such a big chance that they’re going to find what they need,” he said.

Madsen said the content is for all individuals born in the boomer generation, regardless of their exact age.

“That was the initial concept that we did not want to throw another business at them,” he said. “We wanted them to come because they felt at home, and they like what they see.”

For executives like Lewis, More is the embodiment of where the current Canadian society is headed. Lewis is already pleased with the response that the magazine has received from both readers and the industry.

“The most common comment I hear is ‘I read it cover to cover.’” Lewis said with pride. “That’s the biggest compliment you can get.”

AdForHumber:Layout 1 29/04/09 3:28 PM Page 1

Masthead is a proud sponsor of the School of Media Studies at Humber College MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

Photo by Alicea Knott

For jobs, headline news, and industry events check out:

35

I’mnose not ais My cheerleader too big

I wish I was taller

I’d rather stay home than go out with people

I never get invited to parties Why don’t any boys like me?

I hate my braces

nothing to be ashamed of People think I’m weird

I wish I was shorter

I have bad skin I don’t like what I see in the mirror

I’m a size 12 and I hate it

I throw like a girl

A young women’s magazine that’s proud to bring insight to issues

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

BY ANGELA MAHONEY

36

“S

ugar and spice and everything nice, that’s what little girls are made of.” If only the recipe were that simple and the ingredients so few. In reality girls are more substantial than that - they come in different packages, shapes and sizes. In a world where the media defines the “average” girl as being stick-thin, and almost every magazine geared towards young women screams sex and beauty tips, Shameless Magazine is trying something

different. The editors of Shameless dug even deeper this year to produce a book aimed at capturing the hearts and minds of their teen audience.

“Women are writing non-fiction stories about their experiences as teens, and it’s definitely not an after-school special,” said Megan Griffith-Greene, who took over as editor at Shameless in 2007. She said her team of volunteers is determined to overcome any obstacle - including the current economic downturn - because she believes there is a desire and a need for Shameless.

Unlike most magazines for teenagers, which focus on makeup tips and fashion advice, Shameless provides young girls with smart,

witty discussion on everything from politics to art to racism. The cost to subscribe to the magazine, which is published three times a year, is a mere $12 annually.

The positive feedback received at Shameless convinced Griffith-Greene and her team to create an extension of their vision.

“I get letters from teens, and I meet them at events, and the love that is out there for Shameless is something I am so grateful for,” she said. So when Tightrope Books offered to publish a compilation of essays, it was an easy decision to make. GriffithGreene and the rest of the team discussed the various options for the book, and decided their mission would be to showcase

FOR HER the experiences girls go through as adolescents, and how those experiences affect their lives. With that in mind, the team began to compile 20 or more stories to create a Shameless anthology, set to come out in June of this year.

“Women are writing nonfiction stories about their experiences as teens, and it’s definitely not an after-school special.”

- Megan Griffith-Greene “We had several ideas for the book and one of them was how adolescence is discussed in the media; how teens are portrayed as apathetic and dramatic, and how everything they do is sort of silly and cute.

People say it’s just a phase, and that when they grow up they will be “real people” with important things to say. That didn’t really ring true for any of us in terms of our own experiences as teenagers,” said GriffithGreene.

She said their intention was to create something fun, but also say that these experiences are important, life-affecting and revolutionary to how women develop into adults.

Topics in the anthology will include relationships, experiences with authority, queer issues, sex, pregnancy, and abortion, to name just a few. Griffith-Greene wanted to steer clear of using the age-old motto: “Just don’t do it.” when it came to discussing these otherwise taboo topics among teen issues.

“Often when sex and other taboo topics are talked about with teens, the message

is ‘Don’t. This is dangerous. This will ruin your life and you will never amount to anything,’ and that’s not necessarily the reality or a healthy of picture of what teens experience.”

Contributors include writers Zoe Whittall, Catherine Graham, Dianah Smith, Jowita Bydlowska and Julia Serano. Suzy Malik, a Toronto-based artist, will contribute as an illustrator. When approached by Stacey May, publisher of Shameless, Malik said she couldn’t turn down the opportunity.

“I wanted to visually represent all kinds of girls as the main ‘characters’ of each point in hopes of creating visuals more girls could then see themselves in,” says Malik.

Malik grew up in Scarborough listening to ‘90s rap and R&B, and playing sports, until she decided to throw all of her energy into her art, painting, and photography.

“I think most people wish they could go back in time and give a younger version of themselves advice,” she says. “In this context it’s an opportunity for that advice to be heard by teen girls while they can still take advantage of it.”

Also contributing to the book is writer and illustrator Shannon Gerard, who said she wishes she had a resource like this when she was a young girl, and that it is nice to be part of something so eclectic in the midst of the other kind of nasty media out there for girls.

Gerard’s segment is about her experience as a flat-chested, scrawny teenager who was the brunt of many jokes among her male peers.

“Being that kid at the back of the class or on the sidelines in gym gave me a really excellent vantage point for observing life,” said Gerard. “I spent most of my adolescence feeling mystified by the behaviour and experiences of other girls, so when the call came for submissions to an anthology

about being a girl, it gave me a really great opportunity to revisit some of those feelings.”

Gerard also recalls a time when she was in eighth grade, and she witnessed a bunch of boys crowded around the locker of one of the ‘popular’ girls. The pretty girl giggled nervously as the boys laughed while trying to light a little white tube on fire. After managing to get it lit, they proceeded to pass it around and smoke it like a cigar. Gerard could tell the young girl was embarrassed, but couldn’t figure out why. It wasn’t until a few weeks later that Gerard learned what a tampon was.

“I think most people wish they could go back in time and give a younger version of themselves advice.”

- Suzy Malik “I wish it hadn’t felt so hard to always be a bit behind the other girls my age,” said Gerard. “But when I look back on myself at that age, I really love her. Now that I’m 35, I think she is the greatest and I miss some of the earnestness and bright-eyed questions I had then. I love that I didn’t recognize that tampon at 13. I love all the current 13-yearold girls who sit on those same foggy sidelines now.”

Gerard’s message to young girls is simple: whether you are an artist, a queer, an intellect, a nerd, a feminist, or a punk rocker, love yourself for who you are.

“I really love who I was at 14, though at the time I hated myself,” she says. “I wish I didn’t hate the funny little weirdo I was then.”

MAGWORLD SPRING 2009

37

TRAVEL DIARIES

y tura

a ey C

Jo esy ourt

to c Pho

Photo

by Je s

sica

Broo

ks

Journalism on the fly, literally

BY JESSICA BROOKS

MAG WORLD SPRING 2009

T

38

he stereotypical life of a magazine writer is a solitary existence. Hunched over a computer screen, fingers tapping at the keyboard, battling writer’s block and arrogant sources. The sound of the mail carrier’s courier bag evokes a brief second of hope, which quickly fades with the ripping open of the envelope flap. The cheque paid in full for your last article will barely cover the cost of your monthly grocery bill.

Next month’s vacation is on hold - and next year’s. It may seem that the only way to get a vacation is to make the vacation part of the job. Elizabeth Pagliacolo, Rachel Pulfer, and Susan Nerberg are three writers who travel and get paid to write about it. Or they write, and get to travel as part of their research. Either way, they have turned travelling the world into a career they love.

Pagliacolo is one of the lucky ones. She landed an internship at Azure, a Canadian design magazine, after graduating from Ryerson’s journalism school. She worked her way up the ranks and was promoted to senior associate editor a year ago.

She now travels to trade shows to document cutting edge design in cosmopolitan cities like Milan and New York.

“Often, if you just have a conversation, interesting things come out.”

- Rachel Pulfer “You see so much in Milan, you can generate a hundred stories,” said Pagliacolo.

Polite and soft-spoken, Pagliacolo chased designer Patricia Urquiola, stalking her all week just to get a story.

“I showed up in her studio. I had been

hounding her for an interview. I think she was a little annoyed to see me.”

The days are often a grueling 12-hours spent chasing interviews, but the good food and perks of being on a press junket make the struggle worthwhile.

Journalists get invited on a press junket usually when a company wants them to write about their product as a way of promoting it, and when travelling as part of one, everything is taken care of by the host.

Pagliacolo described a decadent dining experience she had on a press junket in Bologna that was hosted by the PR firm Novità, a representative of many Italian tile manufacturers who display their new products at the city’s tile exhibition. The waiter brought an entire wheel of Parmesan over to their table and scooped steaming risotto out of the middle. The food, she said, was incredible, and she never even saw the bill.

For Rachel Pulfer, U.S. correspondent for Canadian Business magazine, travelling for work means being at the heart of the ac-

FOR HER tion. In these exciting economic times she maintains a home base in New York, zipping to the cities like Washington, San Francisco and Los Angeles to cover stories.

Pulfer, not yet a decade deep into the magazine industry, has been covering events in the U.S. during some of the country’s most exciting political times. Last year she travelled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to cover the anti-NAFTA protests during the primaries. It was there that she scrummed Hillary Clinton and John McCain. “He’s like this tall,” she said, gesturing to a spot just below her chin. “He’s an angry short man.”

Pulfer is now playing in the big league, chasing the action across the country with most expenses paid. Even so, typically Canadian, she often chooses to stay at a friend’s house or takes the train or bus rather than an expensive flight whenever possible. For her, it is not the mode of transportation, but the success of the story she uncovers while on location.

Pulfer’s career came from humble beginnings. She put in time as a fact checker at Canadian Business, worked freelance and was an editor at Azure before becoming the

Rachel Pulfer

“You see so much of Milan, you can generate a hundred stories.”

U.S. correspondent for Canadian Business.

She knew she wanted to write and worked hard to prove she could do it.

She is now chasing stories about things she barely knew existed. “It is very exciting to be right there and to be able to talk about it,” said Pulfer.

It’s not all glamorous. The people she interviews are mainly business executives and CEOs of large companies and financial institutions. “I spend a lot of time talking to middle-aged men, sitting around a board table with a lawyer on one side, the interviewee, and another lawyer on the other side.” The companies take great measures to mediate what is said.

The flipside, she said, is some tend to relax their guard if they see someone who is younger and female. “Often, if you just have a conversation, interesting things come out,” said Pulfer.

While the primary focus of Pagliacolo’s and Pulfer’s job travel is to seek out stories on all things design and business, Susan Nerberg travels in search of the perfect vacation. Nerberg also worked at Azure magazine before relocating to Montréal last August to take a job as deputy editor for enRoute magazine. “With Azure it was

Elizabeth Pagliacolo more purpose and enRoute it’s more pleasure,” she said, summing up the transition.

Nerberg has worked for enRoute less than a year, but she has already travelled to Jamaica and, at the time of this interview, had another trip planned to Whitehorse in February. “My friends were joking that I have a tough job,” said Nerberg. “It all sounds very glam, but you are always working. You are always making sure that you are talking to the right people and getting the right information.”

In Jamaica, Nerberg took a polo horseback lesson and wrote about it.

MAG WORLD SPRING 2009

Passport photo by Jessica Brooks. Portraits courtesy Azure Magaazine.

- Elizabeth Pagliacolo

In Whitehorse, Nerberg arranged to spend three days on a dog-sledding expedition.

She had specifically requested that there be no other journalists on the trip so that she could get a genuine tourist experience.

Nerberg came up with the story idea of a dog-sledding adventure vacation, and then approached the Yukon tourism board. They agreed to pay for her flight and dog-sled trip, which cut down on costs for the magazine as well.

Above and beyond travelling to interesting places, all three writers have put their free flight privileges to good use. Pagliacolo said Azure allows them to take vacation days while they are abroad. Once, on a trip to Bologna for a design show, she took a trip to visit her aunt and uncle in the country. “It was only three days, but it was so nice to see them, and something I wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise,” said Pagliacolo.

Nerberg reminisced about Azure sending her to Finland and Sweden. Add a few vacations days and she was able to see her parents in Sweden. “It’s a perk,” said Nerberg.

How does one become a magazine writer who travels for work? Like most things, you’ve got to ask for it. “If you make it known to people that you want to travel, you can make opportunities for yourself,” said Pagliocolo.

With the recession eating at people’s vacation funds, the thought of travelling on someone else’s budget, sounds appealing.

39

THE WRITERS’ UNION OF CANADA

SHORT PROSE COMPETITION

FOR DEVELOPING WRITERS ENTRy FEE:

$25 per entry, cheque or money order made payable to The Writers’ Union of Canada.

DEADlINE:

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ElIgIblE ENTRIES: • Nonfiction

and fiction prose; up to 2,500 words, English language; • Not previously published in any format.

HOW TO SUbmIT ENTRIES: • Typed,

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