What is RSS?

An interesting street poll conducted in London asking average people on the street if they know what RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is.

Are these answers surprising? Maybe its just the folk across the pond…

Do you feel that a similar poll conducted in Canada or the US would produce the same results?

Ali G writes a book

Ali G pitches book ideas to NY publishers

Share a sneeze, share a magazine

According to the PMB results released this week, Canadian Health is holding the number one position in Canada for readers per copy.  They have an AVERAGE of 30.3 readers per copy.

Does this seem a little bit ridiculous to anyone else?  I mean, the primary circulation for the magazine is in hospitals and doctor’s offices. What else are you expecting to read in these places?

Reading well-used copy

From spending a great deal of my time in hospitals and doctor’s waiting rooms, I can say with confidence that it is definitely a place where readership can be maximized. Most magazines that one finds in these places are old and out of date.  (Not to mention the unidentifiable stains on every page, but really that’s a whole other discussion.)

A prescription for improvement

I’m not sure who exactly is responsible for the reading material in these locations (the receptionist, the magazine?), but from an industry perspective, if we were to pay a little bit more attention to this market, then I think we would see an improvement in the RPC (readers per copy) of many magazines.

Do you think that magazines in health offices should be limited to health-related publications, or is this fair space for other magazines? What have been your personal experiences with reading materials in these locations?

Me? I usually just bring a book.

The Canadian Medical Association launched the magazine in 2006. Canadian Health has a circulation of approximately 50 000 and is published quarterly.

Shameless Self Promotion

The official launch party for the 2009 issues of On the Danforth magazine was last week.  The website is up and running with the spring issue of the magazine right now.

Look for the Summer 2009 issue this summer!

In the meantime check out Chantel Simmons post about the launch of the magazine.

More media coverage to come…

I’m updating Twitter as you read this…

Creating the Canadian Periodical Fund

A look at magazine funding in Canada
The Canadian Periodical Fund (CPF) is being built out of two current federal funding programs that support Canadian magazines and newspapers: the Publication Assistance Program (PAP) and the Canada Magazine Fund. The CPF is set to begin in 2010/2011 and is meant to streamline both of these programs into one. It will be run through Canadian Heritage and Canada Post. The program will not dictate what the funds have to be used for, so publishers are able to allocate the money as they see fit, for example to use with online publishing. The funding will be based on statistics about the reading choices of Canadians, and reflect a wider, more accurate demographic based on what people are actually reading across the country. It will have separate funding for online publishing in hopes to help this method of publishing flourish within Canada. The annual funding will cap at $41.5 million for any publication, allowing CPF to help out smaller to mid-sized publications. They will also strive to recognize the importance of smaller, niche publications that have very specific demographics (ie, minority publications).

What is the CPF doing?

There are three main components to the funding by CPF. $72 million annually is given to publishers to use to support content creation, distribution, online content, or business development. To be eligible, the publication must contain at least 80% Canadian content. $1.5 million annually will be used to fund publications which have limited access to money, in an attempt to promote publication diversity. $2 million annually will be used for industry wide projects that help promote overall success in the industry.
The Publication Assistance Program (PAP) helps to regulate the cost of subscriptions across Canada so that subscription costs are the same across the country, allowing publications to read a vast amount of readers. The CPF is incorporating this idea into their funding, and will streamline it through Canadian Heritage.

What is the potential impact on the magazine industry?

The implementation of the CPF is intending to help protect the smaller to mid-size publications and recognize the demographic-specific publications across Canada. The funding will be based on readership in Canada, which should be helpful as it is truly reflecting the needs of readers across the country.  The cap on funding for larger companies could possibly hurt them even though they already have a great deal of money, these companies also do a large amount of outsourcing and freelancing.  The funding being provided to the industry has less restrictions on how the money is to be spent, which will allow companies to focus on their specific needs.  The strong focus on building up online content will also help to promote this avenue across Canada and increase popularity, awareness, and readership.

What does the future hold following the implementation of the CPF?

In combining these two funding sources and creating CPF, there are going to be some changes seen in the industry, both small and large.  These changes have been sparking a great deal of controversy, for small and large publishers alike.  Where do you see the industry going after the implementation of CPF?  Do you feel that the new CPF will have a positive or negative impact on the magazine industry?  Are these changes going to be the same for both print and online publications?

Movies are Starting to Ruin Books. Seriously.

My friend Brundiggity recently wrote a post on her blog about making the Sex and the City inspired spinoff book He’s Just Not That Into You into a movie.  Although she talks mostly about her problems with the concept behind this book, it got me thinking about movie adaptions of popular (and not-so-popular) books, and how most of the time they are truly, truly terrible.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are some GREAT adaptions of books that have been extremely successful in their own right.  However, 95% of the time if you have read a book, and actually enjoyed it, then the movie is bound to be horrible.  I had a devasting experience last year with The Other Boleyn Girl, that left me wondering if the film editors were consuming vast amounts of Jack Daniels when they edited the film (It’s horrible.  I highly recommend only reading the book. That is unless you enjoy choppy vingettes that are not cohesive). Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions / (21) was also another great book that was turned into a mediocre movie last year.

A couple of months ago I finished reading Revolutionary Road and really enjoyed the book.  Much to my surprise I discovered that it had been adapted for the big screen and was being released in early 2009.  Naturally, this got me very excited (as I have not learned from past experiences evidently).

Needless to say, I watched the movie a couple of weeks ago.  I can sum up the experience in one word: TAFFY.  Yes, that’s right.  The movie was as slow as….well, taffy.  I felt the need to burn my eyes with hot pokers as I watched this movie.  Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet were horrible.  My viewing companions felt the same way after the movie ended as well.  I know that this is going to spark a lot of controversy as the rest of the planet seemed to LOVE this movie.  My response: read the book and you will see what I mean.

Today I was in Indigo and picked up Slumdog Millionaire to read, as it has been getting a lot of great reviews and the book sounds appealing.  I was immediately intercepted by several people who forcefully said to watch the film first.  After much bruhaha I finally put the book back on the shelf today and decided to watch the movie myself first.

(Also note, I had the exact same scenario happen 20 minutes later with The Reader.)

Which brings me to this question: Is it really better to see the movie first and then read the book so you won’t be disappointed?

Canadian Magazine Circulation Decline in Late 2008

On February 9th, 2009 Masthead online reported a decline in circulation for Canadian magazines from July to December 2008.

The cause of the decline in paid and verified consumer magazine circulation in the July – December 2008 period is most likely a direct result of the recession and financial instability in Canada during that time period.  As a financial crisis sweeps the country and panic ensues, people begin to cut back on “extra” expenditures.  This means all the fun stuff.

A Significant Loss in Magazine Sales

This is why we see such a sharp decline in newsstand sales, as it is considered more of an impulse purchase that the customer makes.  Impulse purchases would likely be reduced by consumers who are looking to save money and watch their spending.  Subscriptions have less of a decline, because the majority of subscriptions work on a 12 month cycle, and as it has already been paid for in advance, it is less likely that a consumer would cancel a subscription mid-cycle.  The result of this is major in the magazine industry as it is a significant decline (-23.6% and -5.3% respectively).  It is also the two main sources of circulation for magazines that are greatly affected.

Hullo Magazine Circulation Numbers on the Rise

Hello magazine actually had an increase which can be attributed to the fact that they only cover positive content and are a celebrity-based magazine, so more people would tend to read such material as a means to escape reality during tough economic times.  The smaller list price also means that the magazine is more affordable to the average consumer.

Hobby and Niche Magazines Suffer the Greatest Declines

The list of magazine losses according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation indicate that the majority of magazines that suffered the greatest declines are mostly related to a hobby or specific interest, which translates into the fact that people are not only cutting down on these specific activities, but it is also affecting their choice of related reading material.  This will especially have a substantial impact on niche market magazines, as they tend to have smaller and/or specific readership, which can translate into higher losses.

So what’s in the future for magazine circulation in Canada?  As a consumer, will you continue to purchase magazines on newsstands and renew your subscription for another cycle this year?

The Addiction Solution: How to Deal with Children’s Video Game Aggression

As video games have increased in popularity, they have been the subject of much debate and have often been regarded as violent.  Today we are seeing more and more children acting out aggressively as a result of playing violent video games for extended periods of time.

According to David Walsh from the National Institute on Media and the Family, research shows that there are “several reasons why children develop aggressive behaviour as a result of playing violent video games.”  In his research paper, Video Game Violence and Public Policy, Walsh states that “playing video games requires the child to be an active participant, assume a first-person point of view and identity, usually involve repetition which increases learned behaviours, and are based on a ‘rewards system’ which also increases learning.”  These factors all contribute to the way in which your child behaves in the real world–in one word, aggressively.

Parents who find themselves with children who are involved in excessive gaming looking for realistic, easy and accessible solutions on how to manage their child’s increasing aggressive behaviour as a result of gaming can use the following solutions as a guideline for help.

Web2.0 Online Magazine Analysis

A look at some online magazines and their web 2.0 content

Vice Magazine

Vice Magazine is an online and print magazine. Its website features an RSS feed in the toolbar, as well as within certain features and individual articles. They also have a viceland blog, with its own RSS feed. The site features an extensive amount of bookmarking tools. They have video feeds for stories, as well as their own tv show, vbs.tv, which is displayed on the home page alongside the blog. There is a sign up for their weekly newsletter via email on the homepage. The bottom of each page features links to each of their sister websites in different countries. Almost every piece of content on the website has a comments section for readers to fill out. The archives section has access for each print issue, with a downloadable pdf version of the magazine in its entirety.