Covers Sell

Fly Fusion (which was originally launched in 2006) has just unveiled a completely re-designed magazine, inside and out.

The Winter 2020 issue, which goes on sale November 26th, will have the following upgrades:

• Changed width from 8 3/8” to 9” wide – adding a full inch to a double-page spread
• Half-page ads were upgraded to a full bleed (from 7.25″ x 4.575″ to 9.125” x 5.479”)
• Cover was upgraded to 80 lb cover weight – Matte stock with Grit UV coating
• Interior pages changed from gloss to matte stock
• Full redesign from cover to cover
• Cover Price Increased from $7.95 to $8.99

The Publisher, Jennifer Bird, adds…

Our approach to this process was to dismantle the way we approached everything.  Strip the magazine down to the roots.  We examined what Fly Fusion meant to our team and what we wanted it to represent to the reader.  Then we built it back up based on those core values.  Virtually every aspect of the magazine has undergone some degree of change.  

First we changed our tag line from the dated “North America’s Fly Fishing Authority” to the more culturally relevant “The Soul of Fly Fishing”.  In doing so, we have given ourselves a bar by which to measure everything that appears within its pages.

Next, we looked at how we could change the materials used to impact the readers experience.  A matte stock gives images more depth and removes the text glare provided by the more traditional glossy coating.  The grit coating on the cover was thoughtfully selected in that it adds a tactile experience for the reader. The added width ensures extra impact with larger images and a cleaner design, featuring more white space.   And of course, our advertisers aren’t complaining as they now enjoy a significantly larger piece of real estate to feature their products. 

Finally, we wanted our most loyal readers, our subscribers, to receive an additional benefit for their commitment to Fly Fusion.  So, we have created a separate cover, clean from the traditional sell lines, that they can proudly feature on their coffee table…or toilet. We’re not picky!

The newsstand cover, and the subscriber cover, can be seen below:

Previous design looks:

The Horse Canada 2020 Annual is set to hit newsstands on December 2nd, 2019.

Art Director Sieu Truong has created another elegant, sophisticated, warm and approachable cover for this year’s biggest issue.

The cover price was raised to $9.95.

Last year’s 2019 Horse Annual  was the 2nd best-seller of all time, with sales up 11%.

The 2016 Horse Annual is still the all-time best-seller.

I just received a very cool video from Roma Slaney at the NewsGroup.

Check it out…it makes you feel good about magazines!

The Winter 2019 Legion SIP is set to hit newsstands on November 4th, 2019.

Art Director Jason Duprau has created another masterful cover.

Priced at $14.95, this breath-taking issue makes the perfect Christmas gift.

The Legion magazine is proud to announce that it has been nominated as a finalist in the Canadian Online Publishing Awards for its Battle of the Atlantic video.  The Press Release says:

Canvet Publications Ltd. has been named a finalist in the 2019 Canadian Online Publishing Awards for Best Video Content for the Military Moments video Battle of the Atlantic narrated by Alan Doyle.

The video—narrated by Canadian musician and artist Alan Doyle of Great Big Sea—takes us back to Sept. 3, 1939, when a German U-boat torpedoed the ocean liner SS Athenia just hours after Britain had declared war on Germany. The Battle of the Atlantic was Canada’s longest campaign of the Second World War.

Other finalists in this category include Huffington Post Canada, Huffington Post Quebec, Canada’s History Magazine and Hakai Magazine. The 2019 Canadian Online Publishing Awards take place in Toronto in November.

The Oct/Nov issue of Canada’s History will be hard to miss on Canada’s newsstands.

Art Director James Gillespie has created a radiantly golden warm cover, that went on sale Sep 23rd.

Here’s what James had to say about the cover:

“We wanted to go with a bold cover color to contrast the Black and white photo. We added a bit of antique texture to complement the age of the photo which had a fair amount of visual noise due to the age and quality of the photo. It was important to have Riel’s portrait be large enough to be placed over the masthead but still be able to maintain the masthead’s legibility. We chose to use a bold stacked type that gave prominence to Riel’s name. The process ended up yielding a strong cover.”

Canadian Woodworking celebrates a classic tool (the Block Plane) in their Oct/Nov 2019 issue.

It goes on sale September 16th, 2019.

Art Director Jonathan Cresswell-Jones has created a moody, evocative tribute cover sure to stir the souls of woodworking enthusiasts.

Other notable techniques include:

• Strong Sky Bar treatment
• Free Poster call out
• Top 10 Button

Canadian Woodworking has posted gains in newsstand sales for 17 of the past 22 covers…a truly incredible 4-year performance!

The Legion‘s 3rd SIP of 2019 hit newsstands last week.

Art Director Jason Duprau and his team have created another “hard-to-miss” cover for this spectacular SIP.

The breath-taking image, combined with a bold type treatment, and a clean and uncluttered feel really delivers a powerful punch.

It’s priced at $14.95.

The August 19th, 2019 TIME cover (Enough) is getting lots of free promotion on CNN and other left-leaning media outlets in the USA.  The cover is in response to the tragic mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio this past week.  The cover lists the 253 cities that have been impacted by a mass shooting this year.

The striking cover, is a great example of 3 of my cover Rules:

Rule #6:  Be Controversial

Rule #31:  Radical Clarity

Rule #32:  Timing Matters

Here’s what the Editor-in-Chief and CEO of TIME.had to say about the cover:

Last year, we put five survivors of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on the cover of TIME, with the word ENOUGH emblazoned across the image. Determining the cover is always a team discussion, and in the course of it, some in our newsroom urged that we not use that word. How to determine what exactly is enough? Wasn’t it enough at Columbine? At Virginia Tech? At Fort Hood? Won’t it be enough when, sure as night follows day, the next massacre occurs?

We all have our measures of how obscenely normalized domestic terror has become. At TIME, one is how frequently we have felt compelled to devote our cover to the subject. In my own less than two years in this job, we’ve run seven of them, from the 2017 massacre at a Las Vegas music festival that killed 58 people to this spring’s murder of 50 worshippers at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

In recent days, as the heartbreaking news from Gilroy to El Paso to Dayton swept across America, I thought about these covers as well as the hundreds of images from mass shootings we’ve published over the years. Terrified children who survived Sandy Hook walking single file to safety. Giant photographs of the dead at the prayer vigil for the victims at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. The side-by-side graves of two brothers killed, among 11 altogether, at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. Searing images and yet somehow forgotten by leaders with the power to effect change.

The Jul/Aug 2019 issue of Maximum Yield Cannabis is now on newsstands.

Art Director Dionne Hurd has created another breath-taking cover that really hits hard.

This is our 5th issue since launching on newsstands in Canada, and the USA.

Sales have been excellent so far, matching or beating the venerable Best of High Times SIP’s in Canada.  Plus, expansion is coming with our next issue in the USA!