The year that was: A ramble through some of 2013's posts about Canadian magazines

There are many words to describe 2013 in the Canadian magazine industry: celebration; chagrin; optimism; even amusement. Each year at this time we select some of the stories that the Canadian Magazines blog has published. Our little New Year's gift to you is an opportunity to recall some of the things that made it worthwhile, and occasionally nerve-wracking, to be part of this business. One thing that's clear: it's never been boring. 

January

• Globe weekend editor joins Canadian Business to handle special projects
• Free daily tonight is acquired by Annex Business Media and converts to weekly
• New fashion quarterly called GRAY launching in Vancouver
• Reader's Digest publishes major takeout on BC pipeline and tanker perils
• BPA changes, consolidates rules for digital editions
• Zoomer magazine launches "super site"

February

• Amazon discontinues its recently launched Canadian online newsstand
• ELLE (Canada and Quebec) share model Jessica Paré for March covers
• New Transcon freelance contract even more demanding 
• Canada Council's Flying Squad program to no longer be offered, at least in present form
• Toronto Life launching paid event series called "Love Your City"
• Dogs in Canada to publish again,in partnership with Globe and Mail

March

• Briarpatch magazine article looks closely at farmland speculators
• Time Warner to spin off print titles to separate company, rather than do Meredith deal
• Annual Charles Oberdorf Memorial Award endowed with help from his friends and family
• Fab, the "gay scene" magazine is closing just shy of 20 years of publication
• Toronto Life offering restaurants and bars ability to write own paid advertising listings
• Reader's Digest still #1 in PMB for readers; Canada's History tops in RPC
• Quebec magazine association cancels this year's awards to focus on fighting Blue Box fees

April

• Breaking cover rules pays off for East Coast Living
• Cute kids, but should a magazine's cover be the prize in a sponsored contest?
• Blue Ant to launch TV specialty channel Cottage Life
• Walmart Live Better launched as Canada's largest circulation title
• Canopy forest campaign withdraws from Boreal Forest agreement, citing no meaningful progress
• Dear City: Spacing and Pattison to post billboard love letters
• Stephen Trumper to receive this year's NMAF Outstanding Achievement Award

May

• Western awards honour Paul and Audrey Grescoe for a lifetime of magazine achievement
• Summer Brick gives away the endings of writers' favourite books
• Darlene Storey named Magazines Canada's volunteer of the year
• Holmes Group says it can't afford to compensate subscribers
• Online magazine Covet Garden asking readers to contribute to print SIP
• Ontario Arts Council literature officer lasted less than two months in the job
• Maclean's cover story reports on "slow motion implosion" of Toronto mayor Rob Ford

June

• Calgary's Avenue magazine asking its readers to come  up with a new gelato flavour
• Cottage Life editor Penny Caldwell named CSME Editor of the Year
• Oxygen publisher RKP abruptly filed for bankruptcy, suspends business
• A rogue shows his gallery-- Mac Parry 
• Readers win when magazines make combined subscription offers
• Magazines Canada white paper reports on the future direction of B2B publishing

July

• A newsstand pops up in Brooklyn
• E-book beer history being given away by The Walrus magazine
• Halifax magazine editor builds a fitter self
• Rogers tops 1 million replica app downloads for its 22 magazine titles
• The title "publisher" is so yesterday, says British publishing firm 
• Linda Lewis, former editor-in-chief of MORE, dies
• Assoc publisher of Broken Pencil hired as executive director of IRMA

August

• Racy "lads' mag" publishers defy demand for coverups; pull titles from 4,000 British stores
• Flare unveils new look in September issue
• Downhome magazine has readers scouring the Newfoundland shore for message in a bottle
• Ad scam for non-existent magazine bedevils Calgary
• Magazines Canada consolidates DM, digital and retail promotion efforts
• Embryonic Walrus magazine, now 10, got its start at Dooney's cafe

September

• Western Living unveils redesigned, bumper Designer of the Year issue
• We'll pay our fair share of Ontario Blue Box, say publishers, but we must control costs
• Vancouver book and mag street fair splits away from WOTS and grows
• Groundbreaking magazine editor Tina Brown leaving the business after 35 years
• Rogers partners with big 5 U.S. publishers on digital newsstand service Next Issue Canada
• Magazines Canada to host FIPP World Congress in Toronto in 2015
• York University has served notice of defamation against Toronto Life magazine

October

• No renewal until 2023; Geist offers 9 years for $90
• The TORO story comes to an end as online version is being discontinued
• Spacing magazine to go retail in the spring, selling its city-style merchandise
• TC Media to handle all circulation marketing for Reader's Digest Canada
• PMB data shows 5-year average Canadian magazine readership steady at a million

November

• Steve Maich named vp and general manager of publishing at Rogers Media
• Canada Wide Media launches "multi-platform" lifestyle magazine BCLiving -- in print, too
• Canadian Home Workshop closed by Cottage Life Media after 37 years of publication
• NUVO magazine celebrates 15 years of publishing
• Rogers's Pelley intent on using magazines as feedstock for its other media
• Frank magazine is back to mock, provoke and expose
• Online magazine Hazlitt releasing a one-off print version
• Coast to Coast outsources regional sales and back office functions to Jim Pattison-owned Comag Marketing Group

December

• Cottage Life rebrands Cottage as Cottage Life West, launches Edmonton consumer show
• Anti-spam legislation going ahead in July, without addressing some industry concerns
• Miranda Purves leaving as Flare editor-in-chief
• Canadian Business absorbs Profit and goes monthly
• U of T and Western back out of paying royalties to writers and publishers for copying
• FUSE magazine announces it is ceasing after 37 years of publication