I have my Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Victoria's School of Writing where I studied poetry and fiction.  I am a studied communicator and that gave me a lot of potential and opened up many writing possibilities for me.

I have to deal with challenges such as advertising, increasing circulation, establishing a good web-presence, and balancing ti

My career in the magazine industry started after I spent many uninspired years working in retail and finance.  The career change happened when I was about 30 years old and needed to pursue a passion; for me, that was writing.

As the BC government has not yet issued updated bulletins on the PST for our industry, Doug Smith, a provincial sales tax specialist working with the government, has sent MagsBC the old bulletins and some guides:

Thank you for taking part in the PST in BC Outreach.... I have included the bulletins:

First Book Canada is looking for volunteers to help out with their book bank distribution. They are looking to distribute over 40,000 books to kids in need across the country, and will be reading with and to children at Lord Stratchona Elementary School in East Vancouver. Volunteers are needed February 25 to March 1, 2013.

Dates and times:
Mon. Feb. 25 - 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (warehouse dist.)
Wed. Feb. 27 - 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. (warehouse dist.)
Thurs. Feb. 28 - 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. (warehouse dist.)
Fri. Mar. 1 - 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. (Reading Celebration at Lord Strathcona)

The Magazine Association of BC has space available in its Gastown office to subtlet to a quiet, long-term tenant, preferably a writer, publisher, graphic designer, programmer, or another related creative or technical profession.

You'll have a desk, filing cabinet, lamp and some shelving space to call your own, and you can use our fridge, kettle, microwave, and fax machine at no cost. Postage meter is pay-as-you-go, as is copying (b&w $0.05/p; colour $0.20/p). We also have a nice laserjet that does colour.

Compiled by Diane Wong

The Volunteer Resources office at VGH is always looking for magazines.  Always.

The Magazine Association of BC is proud to announce the publication of BC Magazines for Schools: A Teacher's Resource for BC Provincial and Locally Developed Curricula.

News and Resources

It's tough to compete against the summer sunshine for people's attention, but Mag Scene on Main still lured Vancouver print lovers out to a series of interactive and innovative events over three exciting days.

The MagsBC Remix: Mixer event on August 23 brought together publishing industry folk for a night of networking, socializing, and—if we may editorialize a bit here—general merriment.

If you are a member, you may already have received a letter (a few times!) notifying you that the producers of printed paper and packaging will be required to become an active participant (and fee-payer) in the collection, disposal and recycling of waste paper in our province

To follow up, here is the letter from the Community Waste Reduction Section, BC Ministry of Environment, with more information on deadlines and regulations regarding this stewardship program.

The Best Tweets in June and July
Collected by Diane Wong

Sporting a cool new look care of RG Farrell, the Magazine of Magazines is hot off the press.  If you haven't received a copy, or would like further ones, please send a message to exec@magsbc.com and we'll get them to you right away.

Creative Industries IN BC at Competitive Crossroad 

Film, television, digital media, music, magazine and book publishing sectors
urge government and industry to work together on a strategy to
prevent jobs - and talent – from leaving BC

The Circulation Management Association of Canada is currently accepting nominations for the following:
Ace Awards, Caren King Award and the CMC Marketer of the Year Award.
 
ACE AWARDS

As the Canada Periodical Fund has kindly funded our Internship Initiatives project for this year, we can now take applications until May 4 for wage/honorarium subsidies for interns at member magazines.  Magazines with 3 or less full-time staff can receive an 80% subsidy, those with 4 or more full-time staff, a 50% subsidy, both up to $861 per month.

I encourage you to apply.  Details are in the attached documents, along with an application form.

Best,
Sylvia Skene
Executive Director
MagsBC