Status of arts and literary magazines in the Canada Periodical Fund

Under the new formula, support to smaller titles will be limited by a requirement that these titles must sell at least 5000 copies per year, but not per issue. This means the title must sell a total of 5000 copies over the course of the year from all sources, including newsstand and subscription. For example, a quarterly magazine (published four times a year) with 1000 paid subscribers and 250 newsstand sales per issue would be eligible (4 X 1250 = 5000 copies sold during the year).

The rationale that led to the minimum circulation requirement remains valid:

• There are significant administrative costs to manage small amounts of funding for small periodicals.
• Arts and literary magazines have acces to $3 million annually in specialized support from the Canada Council for the Arts (CCA).

The CCA and Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) thresholds, of 50% paid copies of a print run of 500 per issue and 5000 paid copies per year respectively, represent a sound structure of incentives to meet the objective of Canada’s magazine publishing policy, which is to ensure Canadian content reaches Canadian readers. Arts and literary magazines will be able to apply for funding from the Government of Canada if they sell 50% of a minimum print run of 500 per issue, funding which could increase if they reach 5000 paid copies per year.

The CPF will give priority to these publications in the management of the Business Innovation component over the next few years, in order to help them reach the 5000 paid circulation threshold or migrate toward digital distribution.

Details about the Business Innovation component will be released shortly.