Mags Canada launches national industry mag

Gotta start 'em young... Annabel enjoys the new CMC mag

Magazines Canada recently launched its premiere issue of Canadian Magazines Canadiens (CMC), a biannual bilingual resource for Canadian mag professionals. Produced in magazine format, it contains useful information on publishing topics such as licensing, digital editions and advertising trends (not unlike AMPA’s Template series). It also spotlights the innovative works that a few magazines such as ReNew Canada, Clin d’oeil and Saltscapes are taking on.

I enjoyed having a flip-through this polished product with its fancy schmancy spinning paper wheel on the front cover. I learned a few things like the ins and outs of the overcover and the fact that The Hockey News had its one-millionth download of its mobile app back in September 2010 (wowza!). I also saw some familiar bylines such as former Unlimited editor Craille Maguire Gilles as well as past AMC keynote speaker, Jason Brightman.

Of course, the mag has its share of expected association content highlighting Mags Canada resources and its annual show, MagNet, but it’s presented well avoiding the typical dry and boring overtones common to association “news.”

I asked Barb Zatyko, the publisher of the CMC project, how the idea developed and what the goal was. She said it “came about after conversations with sponsors who indicated that they’d be interested in providing services for an industry magazine that celebrated the vibrant Canadian industry and celebrated the medium of print. The goal of our editorial and publishing team is to showcase our industry to each other and to the international publishing community despite the naysayers who keep predicting the death of print. Our peers have been very positive about the magazine and the project was lots of fun to work on.”

It is nice to have a national industry mag as a way for the community to see what its colleagues are working on and to find out about standards and resources. Only time will tell whether the CMC mag will serve the ongoing need effectively, but the premiere issue definitely holds promise. And yay for print!

Have a look for yourself at the CMC microsite. 

--- Colleen Seto
AMPA Blogger-in-Residence