A short list to read as we creep into September and the season of back-breakingly heavy magazines (Vogue is packing 902 pages this year – Anna Wintour’s letter doesn’t appear until page 276).

Did you know that Canada’s magazine industry has a Best Practices Guide? D.B. Scott explains how editors, publishers and writers can benefit from following its principles. The guide was created by the Professional Writers Association of Canada, the Canadian Society of Magazine Editors and Magazines Canada.

New words added to Oxford Dictionaries Online: apols, cakepop, foodbaby, jorts, phablet, selfie, twerk, omnishambles and more. Check out the definitions here. (Thanks for the link, Corinna vanGerwen.)

A new marketing tactic for magazines? Mr. Magazine gets the lowdown on the “Cheeriodical” (I’d rather get one of these than a flower arrangement).

Network before you network: four tips that make use of social media, from Ilise Benun of The Marketing Mix.

Three weeks to go until The Word on the Street in Toronto! On Sunday, Sept. 22, check out what’s going on at the Wordshop Marquee (workshops for writers), Nothing But the Truth Tent (literary non-fiction) and Toronto Star Tent, among others. Visit the site for dates and info for Kitchener, Lethbridge, Saskatoon and Halifax.