Friday, March 20, 2009

magnet, I thought we were about magazines

Every year I look forward to conference season. But I have to say, I'm a little disappointed in MagNet's 2009 lineup. It's a little flush on offerings for writers compared to other magazine departments; 28 seminars for writers versus 10 for editors – nearly a third as many. (This is how the other departments stack up: 23 seminars for management, 12 for digital, 9 for ad sales, 9 for circulation, 6 for small magazines, 5 for design and 4 for production.)

And some of those writing seminars: selling your book, novel writing, romance and erotica novels, book publishing trends, screenwriting. I'm a little confused because I thought MagNet was a magazine publishing conference. In fact, from the website: "MagNet is Canada’s premiere public policy, professional development and networking conference for magazine professionals" [my itals]. Can someone enlighten me as to why the diversified curriculum? I'm not being snide – I really want to know.

(First the salary report, now the conference lineup. There's just no pleasing me this week.)

1 comment:

writerjaclyn said...

It's likely because, for the first time, PWAC is an event partner - and from what I can tell as a PWAC member myself, just about all the members are mag writers, and some also edit. (The "P" in "PWAC" used to stand for "periodical.") It's also likely they are fostering networking between editors and writers. But I, too, was mystified by the writing workshops that aren't magazine-related. (I'm planning to attend, and of the five sessions I want to go to, two fall under "writers" and three fall under "digital.")