Volunteering for the sake of the industry, Martin Seto has some things to say

Earlier this week we reported the surprising news that Martin Seto had taken over as editor of Mastheadonline. Most of that post was based on a brief note on the Mastheadonline site. In order to get a better understanding of the situation, I called up Martin Seto and asked him to elaborate . Here are some of the things he told me:

• He considers himself to be a "publishing industry advocate".
• He's working purely as an unpaid volunteer. "I stepped forward. I think it's my duty. I'm doing what's needed for the magazine to go forward, to survive." (He declined to discuss the circumstances leading up to him "volunteering", but said the magazine almost closed before because of lack of revenue.) "If I didn't do this, Masthead could be gone."
• His call for volunteer bloggers has resulted in more than 25 responses. "We need to bring the industry together. We have to try and create positive messages about this industry. We have to bring all stakeholders together."
• There's lots that's right in the industry, but there is lot about it that is inefficient and overbuilt.
• He said he found ad agencies were sympathetic, that they want to help sell magazines, but the industry is not providing them with the necessary tools. He reiterated what he said in a post on Mastheadonline: 
• "Talking with the agency folks at the event (Magazine Day] the reason for this is not the agencies, who are big supporters of magazines, but advertiser attitudes towards magazine. The Ad tech community is going client direct and telling them that print is dead and they believe it, plus the cost of digital ads on some ad networks are as low as $2 CPM as they are dumping ad inventory on the market due to oversupply. These two issues need to be addressed by the industry."
• Magazines and magazine organizations have not done a good job of marketing. "Traditional media have got put in the shadows because of digital hype."
• "For Masthead to survive, we have to take a national perspective, and not just magazines."
• "The industry is stuck in a corporate welfare syndrome. We don't know how to compete because we've relied on government funding for so long. It is propping up inefficient companies and that's not a good long-term strategy because you lose your competitive edge."
• Masthead under his watch will continue to provide the same services and events, such as its job board and the Canadian Online Publishing Awards (COPAs), which he produces.        

Mastheadonline to become "volunteer based community website"

Martin Seto

Martin Seto, a tech blogger with Masthead has now been appointed editor of the online magazine. He succeeds Leslie Emmons in piloting the publication, which has been in print and online for more than 20 years. 

Seto will continue his blog and continue as producer of the Canadian Online Publishing Awards (COPAs). The magazine, he said 

"will evolve into a volunteer based community based website and one of the initiatives  planned is to create an open blog opportunity for anybody that wants to write about how Magazine/Newspaper/Publishing can be relevant again in the digital world."

The magazine, which has been published by North Island Publishing of Mississauga publishers of Graphic Monthly Canada for the commercial printing industry and Design Edge Canada for the graphic design industry (sold to the CJ Group in 2013), began as a print publication for the magazine industry, both subscription and permission-based. In 1994 Masthead was an early entrant in online, at first as a dial-up bulletin board (some of you kids won't remember these). Later, it discontinued print publication and carried on as an online magazine.

Masthead magazine revenue ranking released

Masthead magazine has once again published its very valuable tally of the top 50 magazines in Canada by revenue.

The top 10 titles by total revenue for 2011 (boldfaced have increased since 2010) are:

• Chatelaine ($48,378,727) down 1.54% from 2010
• Canadian Living ($47,859,143) -0.51%
• Maclean's ($40,096,008) -1.54%
• Reader's Digest ($30,815,003) -16.32%
• Canadian House & Home ($24,773,564) -9.24%
• Hello! Canada ($22,233,646) -4.97%
• Flare ($20,916,059) +19.57%
• Elle Canada ($19,254,651) +13.22%
• Coup de Pouce ($18,742,139) -2.22%
• Fashion ($17,033,640) 6.92%

The top 6 hold the same positions they had in last year's tally but notably, they all slid in revenue.

The figures are calculated based largely on page data provided by Nielsen Leading National Advertisers and circulation data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations or the CCAB division of BPA Worldwide. The revenue figures are weighted to try to account for discounts. While revenue from inserts is included, revenue from special interest publications, government grants and ancillary marketing are not included. 

The complete Top 50 list can be downloaded in pdf form. 

Sparksheet and Torontoist win big in online publishing awards

The Walrus and University Affairs magazines and the Globe and Mail won gold awards in for best websites by publications with print companion brands at last night's announcements of the 3rd annual Canadian Online Publishing Awards. The Walrus won in the red division (consumer) and UA in the blue division (business-to-business). The Globe won in the green division, for newspapers and broadcasters.

Multiple winners on the night were Sparksheet, which took home 7 gold medals in the business-to-business category and Torontoist, which took home 3 gold in the consumer category.

The best online-only websites were Torontoist (red), IT Business (blue) and CBCNews.ca. Best web design went to Toronto Standard (red), Sparksheet (blue) and Nationalpost.com (green). Best digital edition (or digital replica edition) in all divisions went to CIO Canada. Sparksheet was a gold winner from all divisions for best mobile-optimized site. 

COPA is presented by Masthead magazine and the awards capped off a day-long conference at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto.

A full list of gold and silver winners and finalists.

Masthead tally of magazine launches and closures shows net loss of 20 titles

Masthead Online has published its 2009 tally of magazine launches and closures, with a net loss of 20 titles last year. As expected, the data reflects the impact of the recent recession. 

Launches were down considerably (17, compared with 74 in 2008). Closures were up somewhat, with 37, compared with 2008's 29. However 7 of those continued online (for instance, Chart and unlimited).

The details of the tally can be found online. We should be grateful that Masthead, which itself exited the ranks of printed magazines, but carried on online, has maintained its annual tracking.

Net gain of 42 titles in 2008, Masthead reports

There was a net gain of 42 magazine titles in 2008, with 71 total launches and 29 closures, according to Masthead's annual tally.

• 90% of the net growth in titles were consumer magazines
  
• Trade and farm magazines saw 11 launches and 9 closures
• 10% of launches were French language
• Half of launches were quarterlies
• 18% of launches were primarily paid circulation
  

Masthead offers a $10 discount for its 20th anniversary

Masthead magazine, the industry's trade publication, is offering its print subscription free for a limited time to mark its 20th anniversary. If you buy a Mastheadonline subscription for the regular price of $49.95, the offer says, you receive the 6-times-a-year magazine free. Normal pricing is $59.95 for the combination of print and online, so the offer effectively means a $10 discount. For more information, go to the Masthead website. [Fair disclosure: I am a paid columnist for Masthead.]

Marco Ursi is new editor of Masthead magazine

Masthead magazine, Canada's only trade magazine about magazines, has selected Marco Ursi to be its new editor. He replaces Bill Shields, who resigned a few months ago.

Ursi takes up his post today, having last week completed a summer intership at Maclean's magazine. Ursi is a graduate of Ryerson, and was editor of the spring, 2006 issue of the Ryerson Review of Journalism. He is also a blogger (extended drum solo) and his profile says "The key moment in my life came when I realized that a hockey stick can be used to play air bass."

He wrote a number of articles and interviews for Maclean's (listed on his blog) and wrote a profile of Star media critic Antonia Zerbisias for the Ryerson Review of Journalism. He also wrote for the Victoria Times Colonist and has been on the staff of the website PopJournalism.ca

Message from participants in magazine conferences: kiss and make up

[NOTE: This post has been updated.] We promised to report on the results of the online questionnaire, asking readers to give their views about the two magazine conferences that took place this past month -- Magazines University and MagNet: Canada's Magazine Conference.

According to the latest information available, the attendance at the two conferences was:

• Magazines University (according to the Mastheadonline website):
• 1,348 unique registrants
• 2,611 registrations for seminars and events
  

• MagNet (according to a bulletin from Magazines Canada, which said the details had been approved by its board of directors):
• 692 unique registrants
• 2,518 registrations for seminars and events

To reiterate: this questionnaire was put up by the Canadian Magazines blog without the support, or even approval, of Magazines Canada, Masthead magazine, the Canadian Business Press, Circulation Marketing Association of Canada or any of the other partners and associates of the two conferences.

This is more of a straw poll; a self-selecting sample and shouldn't be considered representative in any way of the wider industry or even those in attendance at the conferences.

Still, the responses and comments are interesting and may be useful in any post mortems by both organizing teams and in assessing what happens next.

Copies of the survey's summary results were sent to both Magazines Canada and to Masthead (through whom it was shared with the Canadian Business Press) and these representatives of both conferences declined to comment directly about the questionnaire.

[UPDATE] Mark Jamison, the President of Magazines Canada said: ""We appreciate any feedback and will review it in the context of all the member and sponsor consultations we are beginning now as we prepare for MagNet 2008 June 4-6". And on behalf of Masthead and the Canadian Business Press Masthead Publisher Doug Bennet said: "We are not ready to comment on the survey at this time. We have a post-mortem meeting scheduled for July 11 with all the Mags U partners (including the audit boards) at which we will confirm the final numbers and formally evaluate this year's show."[END UPDATE]

[Fair disclosure: I write a column for Masthead and have given seminars in the past for Magazines University. I also do consulting work for Magazines Canada, sit on their professional development committee and was a moderator at three panels presented this year at MagNet.]

Survey summary

• There were 59 surveys completed.
  
• Of the 52 respondents who gave their postal codes, 73% were from the greater Toronto area, 17% from southern Ontario, 4% from Montreal, 2% from Ottawa, 2% from Manitoba and 2% from Alberta.
  
• 41% worked in editorial, 36% in management, 20% in circulation, 9% in advertising, 2% in production
  
• 32% worked at a consumer magazine, 9% at a trade magazine, 5% were custom publishers
  
• 13% were suppliers, 11% were conference sponsors
  
• Of those, 19% attended Mags U, 43% MagNet, 30% attended both and 8% attended neither.
• 74% who attended Mags U and 65% who attended MagNet said overall experience of the conferences was Excellent or Very good

Asked for their opinion of various specific aspects, the answers were:

• Location (Excellent or Very good): Mags U, 87%; MagNet, 80%
• Price of events (Excellent or Very Good): Mags U, 88%; MagNet, 93%
• Quality of presentation (Excellent or Very Good): Mags U, 89%; MagNet, 80%
• Opportunity for networking (Excellent or Very Good): Mags U, 89%; MagNet, 69%

• Asked to select statements that most closely represented their views about the two conferences, the answers were as follows:
• I cannot afford the TIME to attend two different conferences: 72%
• This industry is too small to sustain two conferences: 53%
• I cannot afford the COST of attending two different conferences: 53%
• It seems to me to be confusing to have two conferences: 44%
• There should be only one conference and it should be MagNet: 26%
• There should be only one conference and it should be Mags U: 18%
• I appreciate having a choice of conferences: 14%
  
  Open-ended comments
• As I'm based in Toronto, it isn't a problem for me, but I can see how people from the rest of the country would appreciate having one conference as they are pretty much forced into picking only one.
• There are some things at Mags U that I would have liked to attend but couldn't possibly go to both conferences. It seems to me to be the height of absurdity to have two conferences. Surely there must be a way to solve whatever the conflict is and return to one conference.
• Perhaps if one was immediately after the other, there'd be more opportunity for folks from out of town to still attend both.
• The length of courses at MagNet is far too short (75 minutes) and only offers a glossing over [of] the course curriculum.
• It is too obvious that these conferences are competing with each other. More cooperation please.
• I would much rather one conference that ran longer, perhaps for a full week. I don't mind that there are two, but it makes sense to me that by combining efforts there would be opportunity to offer a broader variety of sessions as well as increased discounts for attendees.
• The downtown location of MagNet puts it on the top of my list.
• I have to come in from Montreal. Unless all the events -- including the NMAs-- are held in the same week, I cant really afford to attend. A Magazine Week that leads up to the NMAs is the most reasonable solution. Now, can we get folks to work together?
• Kiss and make up!
• It would be nice if they weren't so close together. I think a coordinated effort to support a Spring and a Fall conference would ensure a viable plan for all entities involved. We sent an employee to one session at MagsU because they couldn't attend MagNet and they enjoyed it.
• A larger, combined conference should have the financial resources to bring in top quality speakers who will benefit both the trade and consumer sides.
• MagNet brings together the consumer magazine press in Canada. Looking at who was at the Thursday lunch, virtually anyone who is anyone in the business was there. Hard to discount that.
• The pre-conference email newsletter became VERY annoying after awhile. Getting 2-3 emails from each conference each week was a bit excessive. It made me want to dump both events.
• Business and consumer magazines have different needs. Why not hold them in the same location, during one week, with half the time devoted to business mag concerns and half devoted to consumer.
• Only one.
• To be of true service, the parties behind MagNet and Mags U should kiss, make up and focus on putting together the best conference they can -- content, content, content.
• If there must be two, then don't schedule them to run so close together.

Bill Shields leaving Masthead magazine

Bill Shields, whose provocative questioning and hard, hard work has helped make Masthead magazine what it is today, is leaving as editor of the industry's trade magazine, effective tomorrow. He will have completed his tour by editing the May-June issue that subscribers will see later this month. (Fair disclosure: I am paid to write the Good Question column in the magazine). He's been with North Island publishing for 9 years, and six years as editor. Now, he's essentially putting magazines behind him.

Bill beat back non-Hodgkins lymphoma just over a year ago and in the process, understandably, came to adopt a "carpe diem" approach to life (seize the day). Last summer, he took time off to go and race motorcycles. Now he wants to do some more of that hair-raising sport, maybe take the cross-continent motorcycle trip he always wanted to do and get his commercial pilot's license. His idea of the perfect career shift will be if he can wind up flying cargo planes into the the Canadian north.

I think I won't be alone in wishing him well. Bill is the definition of "feisty" and fun to be around. If he rubbed some people in the industry the wrong way, well, he saw that as a natural outcome of doing his job and reporting on the issues that magazines face.