If you've ever wondered what it takes to produce and distribute a print publication in Canada in 2024, here's the list of who we work with and how it gets done.
GREAT PEOPLE.
A passionate team of collaborators supported by incredible supporters and contributors has been our number one super power since 2001. Info about our gorgeous team of volunteer Curatorial Advisory Board Members that we work with from across Canada, can be found - HERE.
COFFEE.
We are fuelled by SPARKPLUG COFFEE. It's delicious AND we love supporting a local women-owned and led business. It gets delivered to our team members across Canada, custom roasted and ground to suit our individual coffee makers, so we never have to think twice about the quality fuel we need to do our best work.
Computers + the internet + software... Of course.
Once we have a story written by our talented writers and images selected for publication we move the info along to our expert copy editor and art director. Both these women have over 20 years of professional editorial experience - each. They know what they are doing, and take the time we need to craft beautiful, accurate representations of our artists very special works.
Plus, all contributors we work with approve the images and text we propose well before we hit the press. It's crucial to us that everyone is pleased with how they are being presented. With around 50+ contributors per issue, this takes us time to get right which is why we work six months to a year in advance on our print editions.
Contributors selected for publication in our print editions come from a range of sources, referrals, research, pitches, and artists selected from our Calls for Submissions. We're always looking for unique work from diverse contributors that challenge us to see photography in a brand new light!
We LOVE Affinity Photo + Affinity Publisher. Yes, we run an ad about them in our print edition, but it's because we love what they do and what they stand for for the international creative community. Non-subscription + great software + a creative community forward mindset.
Once we have a file that is ready to roll to the printer, we hit 'send,' and wait for our proof sheets. We work with a large commercial press (Mi5) in Ontario.
Once proofs are approved and the printing process is in progress, we focus on fine tuning our DIGITAL EXTRA companion edition. These free to access editions feature an additional 50 artists works that we could just not accommodate in print (as much as we REALLY want to). Again, we work with artists individually to ensure they are pleased with how their work is presented on our platform, in their own words.
We also share our print edition replicas on a few digital platforms so folks around the world can read our incredible content on PRESS READER + FLIPSTER. We get a small kick-backs from Press Reader whenever our magazine is selected by a reader, and library folks can find our mag on Flipster to share with their readers.
Also, while we're waiting for printing stuff to happen we're in admin mode to the max. Mailing lists, labels, accounting stuff, contributors payments, and gearing up to share announcements on what we have coming out. Funding from our PATREON PARONS, subscription sales, ad sales, and some small grants helps us cover the cost of printing and postage, a few hours of admin assistance, as well as fees from QuickBooks, MailChimp, Later, Zealous, issuu.com, Google, Apple iCloud, WIX, Virgin Mobile, Meta, RBC, Square, Stripe, courier costs, and probably more that we're forgetting right now. It's a long list...
Most people in Canada don't realise that the majority of Art + Literature publications here are actually registered charities. This status provides them with access to a lot of public grant programs, as well as corporate donations from people like big banks. photoED magazine does not hold this status, but is eligible and applies for Ontario Arts Council, and some federal Department of Culture and Heritage Periodical Funding.
We love that we are promotional partners with some incredible brands that we LOVE working with. Check them out HERE. We have no issue and fully recommend these products and services.
Postage + circulation.
Where does the magazine go? To mailboxes and to better retailers across the country! You can pick up copies at cool places like the ones on THIS LIST. We work with retailers directly, as well as the folks at Magazines Canada to get our mag on shelves nationally. For their service, Magazines Canada charges us a membership fee + takes 55% of cover sales. (That's the cost of doin' business.)
Once off the press, our single copies that go out to individual subscribers are packaged in a poly-bag, made with 100% pre-consumer recycled content. THIS IS THE PRODUCT we use. It's not printed on the bags, but yes, we actually spend a little more $$$ for eco friendly polybags to come from the US to make sure Canada Post gets you a decently undamaged copy of our fine, fine publication. We use K2 international as our mail sorting service.
For our larger bulk deliveries to cool customers like Gladstone House, we ship with Freightcom a broker for courier companies, which we're not affiliates of officially, but if you ship a bunch like we do, they can help and we're happy to recommend them via this link.
From Holland College in P.E.I to Langara College in Vancouver, and everyone in between we love that our legacy in print is being shared by students, educators, community leaders, independent artists, and general fine art photography lovers far and wide.
Special Stuff
As our PATRONS can attest, we love making our magazine experience a little extra. When we can partner with like minded companies to fit something special into our mail outs we do that for our VIPs. Here are a few examples...
We have worked with lovely people at MOAB paper to get our readers art paper samples, The Camera Store provided some cute lens cleaning cloths, the divine GORGEOUS SPICE Co. shared some delicious spice blends delivered with the FOOD issue, and one of our faves was a collab we did with United Contemporary + Ryan Van Der Hout + Akasha Art Projects to share a limited edition print with the delivery of our Beautiful Botanical edition that was curated by Peppa Martin.
Other special stuff
Friends of our mag also know we LOVE photo books and giveaways! These are always announced to the folks on our EMAIL newsletter list. Here are a few more past examples...
When possible, we love an IRL event. If you've joined us in the past or are new to finding us, we've got our event content posted to our collection of videos - HERE.
And that's how we find our original editorial content on personal screens, coffee tables, and on the bookshelves of fine art photography lovers wherever they are, who share our vision of championing lens-based art in a qualitative, accessible, legacy format!
Ta da!
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