Four new indy magazine members welcomed by Magazines Canada

Four new indy magazine members have joined Magazines Canada:

• Archive is an Alberta-based lifestyle magazine featuring unique stories from across Canada. From entertaining to road tripping, cooking to creating, Archive aims to inspire readers to try something new, taste something different and take a journey off the beaten path.
• The Canadian Rockies Annual is an archival-quality mountain culture publication that combines captivating storytelling with striking visuals and beautiful design. Each issue takes the reader on a journey through the Canadian Rockies' cultural landscape and delves into the dynamic forces that impact our lives in the mountains.
• Golden Ratio is a balance between arts and sciences, exploring a wide diversity of subjects. It is a unique publication, home-made, independent and filled with stimulating pieces from all walks of life.
• Mountain Bike For Her is a quarterly magazine for women who ride. Whether you love riding epic gravel grinders, participating in endurance events, or getting rowdy in the woods, we have you in mind!

Hamilton is home to thriving and competitive scene for online literary magazines

Competition is a good thing; the more the merrier. So the announcement this week that a group of authors is soon launching an online literary journal called the Hamilton Review of Books is a capital G good thing. 

It is to be published by an editorial group is comprised of writers, editors, reviewers, and academics from the Hamilton area. These include: editor-in-chief, Dana Hansen, a writer, critic and professor in the English department at Humber College, where she was editor-in-chief of the Humber Literary Review; senior editors Rhonda Dynes, a writer, reviewer and professor at Mohawk College, Sally Cooper, novelist (Tell Everything) and frequent contributor to literary magazines, Krista Foss, a novelist (Smoke River) whose essay writing has been nominated for a National Magazine Award and Jessica Rose, Director of Programming for gritLIT: Hamilton’s Readers and Writers Festival, a Living Arts blogger for the Hamilton Arts Council, and she writes "Shelf Life," Hamilton Magazine's books column.

Down the street, so to speak, there is the longer-established HA&L magazine (Hamilton Arts & Letters), founded in 2008 by Paul Lisson, Fiona Kinsella, Peter Stevens and Vikram Bondai. The biannual magazine is devoted to presenting new literary works, graphic novel excerpts, exploratory writing, poetry, literary non-fiction, and the work of visual, audio, and film artists. It is operated by a collective who are dedicated to producing a high-quality arts and letters publication, and are committed to supporting an innovative and burgeoning arts community. It is the co-founder of the Short Works Prize for Hamilton-area authors. It is sustained by a paid membership of about 100 individuals. (HA&L had the distinction of being the first digital literary magazine funded by the Ontario Arts Council. )

Briarpatch magazine supporters step up; it is going to double contributor rates

A couple of weeks ago we reported that Briarpatch magazine of Regina was on its uppers; it was suffering a financial crisis (the kind that would be recognized by many other indy magazines.) So they asked for help  from readers and, specifically, $15,000. 

Well, a recent posting on the magazine's blog reports it did better than that, and now has received more than $18,000 in donations and is within casting distance of $25,000. Many donations were "sustaining" which will provide the magazine with almost $500 more a month. As a result, it intends to double contributor rates by its November/December issue. 

"You’ve set a clear expectation for us: you want us not only to survive, but to thrive." said Tanya Andrusieczko and Rhiannon Ward, editor and publisher. "The important work of seeking out and telling stories from the front lines of social struggles will shine brighter with fairer contributor pay and robust strategy to reach more readers hungry for brave journalism. Thank you for your confidence in us and for your commitment to grassroots media."

Celebrating the Cripple Punk movement

Broken Pencil, the magazine of zine culture, is next week publishing an issue that features the Cripple Punk movement. The cover story is by Sidney Drmay, the coordinator of RyeACCESS at Ryerson University in Toronto. The cover shows (click to enlarge) rad disabled punk Kate Mokus. The movement speaks out for and represents the disabled in terms that we rarely see in mainstream magazines. 

Quote, unquote: It takes a village; pushing Shameless out the door

It seems only fitting that our first issue of our tenth year of publishing would exemplify both the challenges and the love and community that comes from doing something in such a grassroots way. That’s kind of the nature of an indie magazine — one run entirely on volunteer power — it’s a real team effort (a team that includes a huge community of supporters!). While chaotic at times, I can’t help but feel humbled by and grateful for everybody who makes this possible.

-- Shameless magazine's Sheila Sampath writing about the joys of indie publishing and, in particular, the magazine's Fashion issue. 

Double Dot magazine celebrates Winnipeg and Minneapolis

Double Dot, a Toronto-based magazine that celebrates sister cities, is launching its 4th issue featuring Winnipeg and Minneapolis with a party Dec. 12, 8 p.m. at Toronto's Mama Loves You Vintage, 541 Queen St. W. 

The magazine is the inspiration of and was founded by three ex-Walrus interns: Shannon Jager, Barry Chong and Julie Baldassi. Jager is the art director at Quill & Quire magazine, and previously worked as a designer for Elle magazine. Chong is a former staff writer at Toro Magazine, and the creator of a new podcast series with Torontonians called Hogtown Talks. Baldassi is a staff writer at Quill & Quire who has contributed as a writer and director to several short films.  

The goal of Double Dot is to create relationships between cities across the world and explore the cultural and creative relationships between them. Past issues have featured Chicago and Toronto, and Montreal and Amsterdam. Jager  says in a release:

“With past issues on Chicago and Toronto, and Montreal and Amsterdam, Issue 4 focuses on the often-overlooked sister cities of Minneapolis and Winnipeg—places that seem to go unnoticed when pitted against the cultural giants like New York and Paris. As sister cities, Minneapolis and Winnipeg share geographic, economic, and historical ties. And as Double Dot’s fine contributors have discovered, they also share a similar creative spirit.”

Issue 4 (which is for sale at the party for $10) features filmmaker Guy Maddin, Minneapolis hipster rapper Lizzo, and The Royal Art Lodge collective, as well as new photography by Fantavious Fritz, Ben Freedman, and Sarah Blais, and new writing by Jake Tobin Garrett and Kyle Carsten Wyatt. 

Indy mags and books featured at Indie Literary Market

Several small independent magazines are joining similarly small independent literary publishers ventures in the Indie Literary Market this Saturday 16th in Toronto. It's at the Tranzac Club, 292 Brunswick, from noon to 4:30 p.m. Showcased are the smallest of micropresses to the biggest small presses and the bpNichol Chapbook Award ($2,000 to the author, $500 to the publisher) will be announced. 

Among the small indy magazines taking part are Carousel Magazine, Exile, Rampike, subTerrain and Taddle Creek.

The event is organized by Meet the Presses, an all volunteer collective created to meet the spirit of the same-named original begun in the mid-'80s by Nicholas Power and Stuart Ross. The current collective was founded by five local writers and small pressers who were former coordinators of the Toronto Small Press Book Fair: Gary Barwin, Paul Dutton, Beth Follett, Hazel Millar, Leigh Nash, Nicholas Power and Stuart Ross

Halifax's Atlantic News marks 40 years as the go-to place to get magazines and papers

Michele Gerard

We're sorry we missed the party October 19 when one of Canada's best independent magazine stores, Atlantic News in Halifax, turned 40. It's quite a landmark for the store -- which carries 5,000 titles (!). Many of these are Canadian indy titles which are given loving care and attention by the current owners, Michele and Stephen Gerard. 

They took the business over in 1997. Michele told the Halifax magazine blog the secret to the longevity of the store is service and selection and getting to know their customers. She was asked how the business has evolved over the years:

“I don’t know that it’s changed dramatically since we've been here but there’s been a change in the newspapers that we get in and how they get here. I’d say one of the biggest changes is that we can print same day on-demand newspapers right here on the spot. I also think we are seeing more niche magazines being put out that are beautiful books, almost works of art, such as Kinfolk, Chickpea and The Gentlewoman magazines. They may be put out less frequently, but they are so beautiful and meant to be kept, almost like coffee table books or collectors’ items....

“I really think that people still enjoy relaxing with a hard copy of a magazine or newspaper. But nowadays, people spend a lot of their leisure time on-line on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc…. It’s all very addictive and it doesn’t leave as much leisure time to sit down and relax with a good magazine. Having news available on-line does affect our sales but we still have a local clientele that prefer to read the real thing.”

Little magazines we like: Inroads bridges the political and language gaps

It's always interesting to see the bubbling up of good journalism despite its many impediments and I'd like to bring to your attention a little magazine that's produced out of New Hamburg, Ontario. Inroads offers informed commentary on Canadian and international affairs and has been doing so since 1992 to a smaller-than-deserved audience. Its focus is to publish the best ideas in political life, left and right, and even more rare, to bring a selection of the best writing from Quebec to English-speaking readers. 

It's presented in print form and in a tidy website (teasing, but paywalled) and its coverage is both deep and broad, in areas of the economy, arts and books, environment and -- above all -- politics. Consider the current issue, which gives enough space to five, informed observers to look at the significance of Quebec's Charbonneau Commission into corrupt practices in Quebec municipalities, principally in Montreal. Then it dives into examining if government financed health care can be sustained. And goes halfway round the world to ask if Bangladesh is really experiencing a "Bengal Spring". 

Many of the contributors are, while not household names, familiar to serious readers. Such as Bob Chodos, the managing editor and former stalwart of the long-late and lamented Last Post magazine (see an earlier post); Reg Whitaker; Eric Hamovitch; Garth Stevenson; Linda Cardinal; Henry Milner and John Richards (the publishers).

The magazine is on most good, particularly independent, newsstands but subscribers are as important to it as any other magazine. Samples of every article are available on the website, as are those from past issues, but the full text of the meaty editorial only comes to subscribers. 

There is a special deal being offered for a limited time,making the whole magazine available on a 30-day free online trial (click on the relevant button). So you can rummage around in the current and archived issues as much as you want and then decide that this is something worth supporting with a subscription: $48 for two years print and online; $36 for two years (online only).

Cult MTL experiments with print version

The July 4 issue

The doughty band of laid-off staff and contributors to the Montreal alt-weekly Mirror have now reached the one year mark since they started to build, from the ground up (and without investors) a new publication called Cult MTL. It started as a website after Quebecor Media closed the Mirror, but has evolved to where the website has as its companion a twice-monthly print version. It's an experiment through this month, August and September, according to a story in the Montreal Gazette.

“Conventional wisdom is that young people aren’t into print, but we found that wasn’t the case,” says editor-in-chief Lorraine Carpenter. “That was surprising.” 

Carpenter [who's also the music editor] hauls half the 10,000-copy load to drop-off points around the city every month. It takes days to distribute, and still the paper is hard to find sometimes, but handling distribution in-house makes it more responsive to complaints and suggestions, Carpenter said.

“Ever since we launched our first print issue, I think the response was so encouraging that it’s hard not to be increasingly optimistic, says managing editor Lucas Wisenthal.”

The publication is celebrating its first anniversary with a BBQ on Saturday 20th at 2 p.m. at Le Labo Culinaire Foodlab at Société des arts technologiques [SAT], 1201, Boul. Saint-Laurent, Montreal.

A newsstand pops up in Brooklyn

A pop-up newsstand that sells indy magazines,zines, books, greeting cards has taken over the Metropolitan Avenue subway station in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It opened up June 15 and will close down July 20. It's located at a busy intersection of the G and L trains and is a partnership between the zine fair operators 8-Ball and ALLDAYEVERYDAY, a creative company. The store features selections of independent printed matter, some of them little zines sold out of a repurposed vending machine. [See earlier posts about such vending here and here.]

Getting to The Nub delivers daily content from leading indie mags

There are things worth making room for in your smartphone inbox and one of them is The Nub, the indie arts hub that brings arts and culture content from five of Canada's best small magazines. 

It's a 5-day-a-week mini-digest delivered to your phone, with a new column, poem, short story, interview, profile, book/zine review, comic or rant. The project is funded by the Ontario Arts Council and Canadian Heritage. 

Participating magazines are Broken Pencil: The Magazine of Zine Culture and the Independent Arts; Geist Magazine; Subterrain Magazine; Matrix Magazine; and Taddle Creek Magazine.

The Nub can also be followed on Twitter (#thenubapp) and you can like The NUB on Facebook.

Better branding through blogging

Mags BC is offering an interesting series of professional development courses this spring and the first one is called Blogging Your Brand: Building your presence online. It's on Tuesday, April 24 at Project Space, 222 East Georgia St. in Vancouver from 6 to 8 p.m. and features 

• Lisa Manfield, online editor of BC Living
• Tara Schmidt, business development manager and assistant online editor of Vancouver and Western Living
• Remy Scalza, blogger at Inside Vancouver
• Rebecca Bollwitt, editor in chief of miss604.com and author of Blogging to Drive Business

Mags BC members get in for $15; all others $25. 

Adbusters-spawned protest results in occupation of Wall Street park

A campaign spawned by Vancouver's Adbusters magazine resulted in a sit-in where protesters set up camp on Wall Street in New York on the weekend. According to a story in the Vancouver Observer, "Occupy Wall Street" was prompted by the magazine and the idea spread through social media. Michah White, the senior editor of Adbusters was quoted saying:

"We're trying to follow the model set up by the Egyptian activists to have an encampment and hold a peoples' assembly," he said. "This is how it's done – you pick a symbolic place, set up camp, and hold a people's assembly and decide what your demands are."

(The encampment, which was set up in Zucotti Park on Liberty Street, a block from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. An estimated 5,000 people took part in a daytime protest march and about 300 people stayed the first night and were apparently digging in for a long-term stay. There was some indications, however, that authorities were beginning to push back, with an increased police presence and suggestions that health inspections would be used to shut it down. Protesters are forbidden from erecting any structures to protect themselves from rain.)

 The event was widely covered by some media, but ignored by others -- such as television -- said the VO article. 

"This is an opportunity for independent journalism to strut its stuff," White said of the protests. "Mainstream media has been belittling it or ignoring it...It's not that there is a total media blackout but there is a kind of belittling and insulting tone taken. The corporate media is showing its true colours."

[Photo by David Shankbone]

Briarpatch moves away from themed issues

Briarpatch, the feisty Regina-based magazine, is shifting away from its longtime habit (shared with many indy magazines) of having themed issues.

We expect that releasing ourselves from the constraints of adhering to specific themes will enable us to respond more meaningfully to current events and pressing issues as they arise, and to more actively seek out the highest-quality and most relevant content for every issue [the editors said in an e-letter].

The 38-year-old magazine has three unthemed issues planned for 2012.  

They sing and play among us: Mennonite roots run deep in Manitoba music

Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers: Mennonite roots

Mennonite influences are shot through the literary and music scene in Winnipeg, according to an article in Canadian Mennonite magazine. Aaron Epp notes that writers with Mennonite roots such as David Bergen, Miriam Toews and Di Brandt are self-evident. Perhaps less well-known is the fact that one of the most sought-after recording engineers and producers in Winnipeg, John Paul Peters, was brought up Mennonite. As was Michael Petkau Falk, artistic director of the West End Cultural Centre.

But why are Mennonites dominating Winnipeg’s music scene right now? 

For Bucky Driedger, singer-guitarist for The Liptonians and experimental pop-rockers Royal Canoe, part of the answer comes down to numbers while part can be traced back to Mennonite tradition. “There are a lot of Mennonites in Manitoba,” the 25-year-old says simply, adding, “I think [the Mennonite church] is a culture that regards music very highly, so it’s natural for Mennonite youth or young people to have an interest in making music, whether it’s rock music or choral music or whatever.”

The fashion magazine for style nerds: WORN gets the feature treatment

Upstart indie fashion magazine publisher Serah-Marie Mahon and her team at WORN Fashion Journal get a starring role this weekend in a Globe and Mail feature by Robert Everett-Green. Not bad for a twice-yearly, quirky and idiosyncratic title with a small, but impressive circulation.

“We were just unhappy with the prescriptive nature of most fashion magazines. We wanted to inspire people not just to go out and spend money, but to use what’s already around them in creative ways,” said G. Steglemann, the managing editor, who describes herself and the WORN family as "fashion nerds".

 The feature chronicles how WORN began in a vintage clothing store in Toronto's Kensington Market and, after moving to Montreal,  how Mahon decided the best way to change the discussion about fashion was to start her own magazine, even though she had no experience. Later, after a fine arts degree, she moved back to Toronto.

Eleven issues later, WORN has correspondents in a half-dozen cities, an increasingly polished look (the first art director came on board last year) and distribution in Chapters Indigo. Although it sells about 60 per cent of its print run abroad, it had to pass up a European distribution deal because it couldn’t afford to print the minimum 4,000 copies the distributor demanded. WORN’s dependence on magazine sales rather than ad revenue, however, turned out to be a blessing when the economy faltered.
“The recession only did good things for us,” says McMahon. “People were still willing to pay six dollars for a magazine that a lot of them find they want to hang on to, not throw away.”

Swiss distributor to open Motto Vancouver, a new source for indy titles

A new, very specialized magazine and bookstore is opening in Vancouver on December 9 at the Or Gallery, an artist-run centre at 555 Hamilton Street. It's called Motto Vancouver and it is an offshoot of a Switzerland-based company called Motto Distribution which specializes in hard-to-find indy magazines and fanzines. 

Started in 2007 to serve the Swiss market, it has since expanded to serve more than 20 outlets --galleries, independent bookstores, chainstores, galleries, museums and concepts stores in Zurich, Bern, Lausanne, Geneva and Basel. In December of 2008 it opened its first standalone, permanent bookstore, in Berlin-Kreuzberg. Motto Berlin functions not only as a store, but an event space for discussions around publishing about art, graphic design, photography, typography and related matters. There is also Motto Brooklyn.

Now, in collaboration with the Vancouver culture magazine Fillip (3x a year, published by the Projectile Publishing Society) it is opening a Canadian outlet.

[We'd appreciate a comment from anyone who attends the opening.]

Magazines and arts colleagues to campaign on Parliament Hill November 4

The Canadian Arts Coalition -- of which Magazines Canada is a member -- is planning a pre-budget briefing to the standing committee of finance in Ottawa on November 4. This is part of a "Day on the Hill"that will be focussed around two principal recommendations to the government (which may be of particular interest to smaller literary and cultural magazines):

• To increase the base budget of the Canada Council for the Arts by an additional $30 million per year for each of the next four years; this would bring the base to $300 million by 2015 and
•  To invest $25 million in strategic international market access and development initiatives.

Meetings are expected between teams from the coalition and MPs, staff and departmental officials. That is, unless there is an election.

Used bookstore savvy and how to demonstrate it

Utne Reader's blog The Sweet Pursuit alerted us to an essay in the Toronto-based literary magazine Descant that counsels people on how to behave in used bookstores. The author of the essay should know, because it's David Mason, a bookseller with 40 years of experience. There are 44-rules of which number one is:

“When you enter a used bookstore, do not ask if it is a library. A common preliminary to that question comes from the man who stands in the entrance, looks around, nods his head sagely and astutely observes, ‘Books, eh?’ ”

and number 19 is:

When the proprietor of a used bookstore asks if he can help, he is not beginning his campaign to sell you something you don’t want or need, like a new suit or the latest fad. He actually is interested in directing you to the appropriate book. If you answer, “Just browsing,” he will assume you are afraid of him. You should answer, “Only if I don’t find something on my own.” Remember, the bookseller wants you to buy a book, indeed he depends on it. But unlike many businesses he only wants to sell you a book that you want. The bookseller knows that he may never own another copy of that book and he wants it to go where it will be appreciated.

 (The essay is not posted online so you'll have to go to your local bookstore and buy issue 149;  Mason is apparently intending to issue it separately as an 18-page chapbook for $10.)