This edition brings an article from Folio on how to increase editorial ROI. Still at Folio a blog post on the hotly debated Demi Moore W cover. Alberta Magazines has a piece speaking with magazine and web consultant Lisa Manfield on how to engage readers and search engines. The New York Observer discusses Time Inc.’s plans to assemble an alliance of rival publishers and create a giant digital media group.  Back at Folio details on Playboy working on its business model in the hopes of becoming profitable again.

With an autograph signing session by the cover boy Mike Holmes earlier this week at Toronto’s Union Station, Holmes magazine launched its first issue. Published by Dauphin Media Group, the magazine is distributed by TransMedia Group and printed in Canada.

Mike Holmes signing copies of Holmes magazine at Gateway Newsstands

Yesterday, at the last Canadian Society of Magazine Editors lunch of 2009, renowned photographer Peter Bregg spoke on telling stories through photography. Bregg was chosen as the final speaker of the year, said CSME president Bob Sexton, to counteract the negativity in the industry and instead provide solutions to creating better stories.

Photographer Peter Bregg

Masthead has learned of staffing changes at Transcontinental and Rogers Publishing. Most senior among the cuts is Transcontinental vice president and group publisher of English Canada consumer publications Jacqueline Howe. Hers and director of finance Marilyn Kielly’s positions were both abolished, said vice president business and consumer solutions group Pierre Marcoux. “They both did a great job, this has nothing to do with their strengths,” he said. “It has to do with restructuring.”

In a grim year for many publishers, Today’s Parent has scored a hit with both advertisers and readers in a quarterly program that teams the magazine up with Safe Kids Canada, Boys and Girls Club of Canada, Kids Help Phone and the Canadian Partnership for Children's Health and Environment.

Ildiko Marshall at the For Kids Sake Awards

It has been announced that the Canadian Business Press and Magazines Canada will cooperate in producing the 2010 Kenneth R. Wilson Awards. The goal is to reengineer the awards as a national, bilingual and comprehensive celebration of Canadian b2b publishing.

Launching nationwide at the end of the month, Motivated magazine is a quarterly magazine that aims to inspire readers not only in business but in life.

Targeted at readers aged 35-55 with some business savvy, the launch issue has 72-pages with 18 of those being advertising, said vice president sales and marketing Heidi Lyon. “We are hoping to find a balance in advertising between more business-oriented companies such as rental cars, hotels and travel and ads that focus on self-improvement,” she said.

Magazines Canada is warning of a potentially “serious” drop-off in subscriptions for Ontario-based magazines when the new harmonized sales tax (HST) in that province kicks in on July 1, 2010.

This edition brings an article from Folio on a study which said magazines along with confectionary and beverages make up the “power group” of top performers at the checkout. Still at Folio, an update on layoffs at Business Week as up to a third of its staff could lose their jobs through the sale of the magazine.

Cameron Williamson will assume the role of editor in chief at Glow magazine effective November 30. Williamson has been art director of Chatelaine since 2006. Prior to that he was creative director at Toro magazine, fashion director at The National Post and fashion editor at Saturday Night.