Dominique Ritter to become EIC of Reader's Digest, succeeding Robert Goyette

Dominique Ritter

Dominique Ritter will be succeeding Robert Goyette as editor-in-chief of Reader's Digest Canada effective May 1. Ritter is currently the executive editor, having joined the magazine in 2011 from working as an editor at Spafax (now Bookmark), The Canadian Encyclopedia andAdbusters. Goyette is retiring after 30 years with Reader's Digest, the last seven as EIC.

“I’m excited to continue my work with Reader’s Digest as editor-in-chief,” says Ritter. “It’s difficult to imagine Reader’s Digest without Robert Goyette—he has been an exemplary custodian of this magazine and a thoughtful and reliable mentor. With the support of our exceptional editorial team, I will continue sharing inspiring stories with our readers, who are at the heart of what we do.”

Reader’s Digest Magazines Ltd. publishes five magazines, including Reader’s Digest, Canada’s most-read magazine, and Sélection, its French-language counterpart. They have a total print and digital average issue readership of over 5.9 million Canadians. Other magazine brands include Best Health, a healthy lifestyle magazine for Canadian women and More of Our Canada, a companion magazine to Our Canada magazine. Reader’s Digest operates a network of branded websites in Canada, including Rd.ca, besthealthmag.ca  and selection.ca.

TC Media to handle all circulation marketing for Reader's Digest Canada

Reader's Digest Canada has struck an exclusive deal to have all of its circulation marketing services in this country handled by TC Media.

It means that effective today, TC Media will service the circulation marketing strategy and subscription marketing -- including acquisition, retention, reporting, audit and creative --  for all channels, including print, digital and the growing e-editions side. This includes five magazines, including Reader's Digest and its French-language equivalentSélection, Best Health, Our Canada and More of Our Canada as well as all associated branded websites such as readersdigest.ca, besthealthmag.ca, and plaisirssante.ca.

“Finding cost-effective and innovative solutions for our clients is a top priority at TC Media,” said Chris Purcell, vice president consumer marketing at TC Media, in a release. “We have extensive circulation  marketing expertise, and this deal enables us to extend these specific services to a leading publisher like Reader’s Digest.”

RDC retains full editorial control over all of its publications. A dedicated group at TC Media will work with Reader's Digest Canada's consumer marketing team. 

“Our expanded relationship with TC Transcontinental is the next important step in our strategy to grow our business in Canada,” said Philippe Cloutier, general manager of Reader’s Digest Canada. “Even more, this move will allow us to further focus our resources on publishing products and managing magazine brands people love to read.” 

Reader's Digest agrees to a new, improved freelancers' pay grid

[This post has been updated] Credit where it is due: the Canadian Writers Group (CWG) has negotiated a new pay grid with Reader's Digest Magazines Canada Ltd. that pays freelancers on a sliding scale based on their experience and how labour intensive a story is. The agreement, reported in Storyboard, a joint website of the CWG and the Canadian Media Guild, also provides an extra fee for reprints in foreign editions of RD.

CWG has about a dozen of its clients doing work for RD and Best Health. [Update: The agreement was negotiated on behalf of those clients, RD is apparently using it for other writers as well. The grid agreement only applies to CWG clients, though negotiated changes  in spring 2010 got its clients exemption from some clauses to the wider RD draft freelance contract, such as limiting the amount of damages a writer could be made responsible for if someone sued over a story and won to four times the original story fee.That contract is reported to be being sent to some other freelancers, as well as CWG clients.]

Reader's Digest is Canada's largest circulation magazine and, as such, its leadership in this matter may point the way out of obduracy that has characterized other leading publishers in their dealings with their freelance contributors.
[See comment below; the new managing editor of RD says that the grid negotiated by CWG applies to all its freelance arrangements.]

Reader's Digest believes it has the recipe for a bigger position in food editorial

Reader's Digest, in collaboration with its food and recipe website Allrecipes.ca has launched a regular new editorial section of RD called Open Kitchen. 

While Reader's Digest has always had a share of the lucrative packaged goods and food-related advertising, this editorial cross-pollination makes it a somewhat bigger player in the market.

At the same time as launching Open Kitchen in its December issue, edited by the new food editor Valerie Howes, the company is launching a French version of the Allrecipes Dinner Spinner, an application for iPhone and iPad matching time-stretched readers with everyday ideas about how to feed themselves and their families. The "slot machine" format is activated by shaking the iPhone or iPad and it comes up with various food combinations (I can remember the cartoon character Cathy who lamented 'Where do you get a pound of cooked chicken?') .

And newsstand buyers of the December RD edition get a bonus 48-page Allrecipes booklet, sole-sponsored by Kraft Canada, which is one of the biggest accounts in the food advertising business.

Reader's Digest actively recruiting freelancers to fill out list of contributors to magazine

In what is a relatively simple, and easy, initiative, Reader's Digest, traditionally a hard to crack and demanding market, is reaching out to Canadian freelance writers. The process is being led by Carmen Starnino, who is editor of maisonneuve magazine, but is moonlighting as the full-time commissioning editor of RD, working for former maisonneuve publisher Derek Webster, now the managing editor of RD.What's unusual, and noteworthy, is that this is a dramatic change in direction; as far as I know RD has never gone so far in searching out new editorial voices as it is doing now.

Starnino has put out a call to, among other lists, the Toronto Freelance Editors and Writers listserv, saying "I'd like to significantly expand the magazine's stable of writers." Now, I'm not sure the term stable is all that flattering, but you get the idea. Here's what he says they're looking for:

* Making it Matter: 1200-word profiles of people who are doing something good for their community, their country, or the world. Eg, “ Speaking Their Language,” about the multilingual team that run Toronto’s Mobile Health Clinic helping immigrant women get the health care they might not have known how to ask for.
* Character: 1200-word profiles of quirky, unique individuals. These pieces need memorable quotes, eye-popping scenarios, or the ordinary made extraordinary. Eg, “The Hunter’s Apprentice,” a profile of Vancouver taxidermist Frank Gilbert.
* Influential Canadians: 1500-word profiles of leaders of Canadian society, either well known or flying-under-the-radar. More than just a CV—we need to know why their contributions are important. Eg, “Ben Perrin’s War,” profile of crusading U.B.C. lawyer stopping worldwide sex trafficking by developing international human rights law.
* Heart Features/Dramas in real life:1500-2500-word stories about medical miracles, tales of courage and endurance; human stories you remember days and weeks later. Eg, “Leap of Faith,” a dramatic story of one baby’s tenacious grip on life, narrow avoidance of a heart transplant, and near-miraculous recovery in defiance of medical science.
* Service Features: Information that helps readers deal with life, health, family. Short, factual pieces—something to stick to your fridge. Eg, “Aim to Claim”: seven things to consider before filing a claim with your insurance agent.
* Issue Features: 2000-2500 word investigative pieces about social issues and medical concerns. Eg, “Beyond Blue: Fixing Teen Mental Health Care”—why doesn’t Canada have a comprehensive plan, as do England and Australia?

Starnino can be reached at carmine_starnino@readersdigest.com or cstarnino@gmail.com

Readers Digests's religious magazine venture fizzles

Purpose Driven Connection, a partnership between Readers Digest Association (RDA) and Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren -- which last year was being promoted as one of RDA's "most important and far-reaching ventures ever" -- is being discontinued as a print publication.  

Following its December issue, it will go online-only and be available free, according to a story in Folio:. Editor-in-chief Frank Lalli has already left the company, after closing the final issue. RDA is offering to refund unused print subscriptions and it is not clear what RDA's involvement will be in the online edition, if any.

“Our biggest discovery was learning that people prefer reading our content online rather than in print, because it is more convenient and accessible,” Warren said in a statement. “And, from our viewpoint, an online magazine allows us to minister to people internationally; provide more content and features than we could fit in a print magazine; create interaction and two-way dialogue; and offer it for free.”

Tony Cioffi becomes President and CEO of Reader's Digest Canada

Antonio (Tony) Cioffi has been named named President and CEO of Reader's Digest Canada. Cioffi has been with Reader's Digest since 1998, in various roles, including Controller, Vice-President Finance and Chief Financial Officer(CFO), CFO and Senior VP Operations and CFO and Senior VP Operations andInformation Technology.

A chartered accountant, Cioffi worked for the consulting and accounting firm KPMG for six years before joining the Digest.

Reader's Digest Canada president adds Latin America

The president and CEO of Reader's Digest Canada, Andrea C. Martin, has been given additional responsibility for Latin America, with managing directors from Mexico, Brasil and Argentina reporting to her. The announcement was made by Mary Berner,President and Chief Executive Officer of The Reader's Digest Association, Inc.

Reader's Digest Canada not selling back cover ads, for now

Reader's Digest in Canada is not, at the moment, considering selling ads on its back cover, according to Larry Thomas, the publisher. That's not to say it won't emulate its U.S. counterpart and do it sometime: "...The possibility is under consideration by the senior Canadian management team, and we are exploring what's best."

What RDC won't be doing, according to an item in Media in Canada, is cutting its rate base as its U.S. parent is doing, shedding 2 million customers to settle out at 8 million. Rate bases or circ thresholds are not traditionally promised in Canada. Thomas says that RDC has 948,000 circ for its English edition and 250,000 for French.