Gentologie celebrates its 5th anniversary

Gentologie celebrates its 5th anniversary. Five years ago today, on 18 September 2019 (for some reason we thought it was the 17th, but it wasn’t), we unveiled Gentologie to the world, after several years under a different name. Since then, a lot has happened. We’ve produced digital-only magazines, weathered a pandemic, taken part in trips to Europe (Scotland and the Czech Republic), the United States and soon the Caribbean thanks to great partners like Genesis, Travel South USA (Read about it in Issue 13), the Czech Embassy in Ottawa, not to mention Vortic Watches in Colorado, produced podcasts in French and English (the next season is coming very soon) and, last but not least, published no less than 5 print magazines. Honestly, reading this and realizing all this is really something for a small company like ours, and we’ll tell you why. And as a thank you, there’s a huge subscription discount at the bottom.

Gentologie celebrates its 5th anniversary: a team to grow

When Gentologie started out, we were starting from scratch in terms of a magazine, our editor (Normand Boulanger) had never printed a magazine in his life and it’s at times like this that the experience comes in. We’re still learning every day.   

The team has remained virtually unchanged since the start, with Normand still writing much of the content you’ll find on our platforms and running Gentologie. By the way, if you’re a gentleman (and this is an important point) and would like to join our team, wrote us here. We’d love to pay our writers, but for the time being we’re not, as our income isn’t high enough at the moment (we want to be honest with you), but it’s something we’re aiming for in the very short term.

Let’s continue with the magazine team as Gentologie celebrates its 5th anniversary. We have to say that we’re lucky to have some incredible freelancers, like Ms. Anne-Renée Boulanger, art director with several magazines under her belt and incidentally our publisher’s cousin, who does the graphic editing of the print magazine, then let’s add the exceptional team at Oktocom who translate the magazine’s texts, and Mr. Jean-Daniel Perron who proofreads and edits the magazine so that there are no mistakes when you get it in your hands. Thanks also to the current and former editors, photographers and artists who signed our original covers. It’s really thanks to you that we stand out from the competition despite the small number of copies printed (1,000).

If you think we’re a huge team, that’s always flattering to hear, but that’s not the case as you’ve read in the previous lines. I want you to know that we work very hard to achieve results that keep our readers coming back to read us and make it possible for Gentologie to celebrate its 5th anniversary today.

Gentologie celebrates its 5th anniversary: many thanks and a little reality

Firstly, a huge thank you to our subscribers (the members of the Club par Gentologie) and to the contributors to our fundraising campaign, who have invested and continue to invest their personal money in our platform, it’s really flattering and energizing to have you. What’s more, we’ve had our first subscribers in France in the last month! If we thought we’d one day make it to the other side of the Atlantic, we’d be lying to you—we’ve only been dreaming about it.

Also, a big thank you to our advertisers, a huge thank you for trusting us, even though we’re a small platform that probably won’t live up to your expectations, but we can help you achieve certain goals. We’d love to have more, even if it’s for small amounts ;). To name them, under Gentologie, in alphabetical order, they are Clarins, Clusier, Genesis Canada, La Poissonnerie La Mer, Oyster & Caviar (Antonius Caviar), Suntory Global Spirits (Bowmore, Tequila Tres Generaciones & Basil Hayden), William Grant & Sons (Glenfiddich) and Whyte & Mackay (The Dalmore).

Thanks also to the family and friends who support us through the good times and the bad in this project, which is not always easy day-to-day. You are necessary and we are privileged to have you.

The last, but most important for the site and the magazine that allow Gentologie to celebrate its 5th anniversary, Gentologie readers, a huge thank you for making Gentologie your destination, it’s very appreciated seeing that you choose us among all the different websites that exist. For the record, we surpassed 100,000 page views in the year 2023 with over 114,000 views, which was staggering as it was our highest result since we started and we thought we were heading in the right direction (we know, some media do this in a month, a week, a day or even a few hours). Unfortunately, 2024 is shaping up to be more difficult, with 40% fewer page views (partly due to Google’s algorithm) than at the same time last year (53,000 page views as of yesterday, compared with 88,000 in 2023 for the same period), but we’re starting to get back on track. We want to be honest in sharing our figures with you, something that few platforms do, because we know that you are one of those who can help us by sharing our articles.

We certainly share some of the responsibility for these results by not having put enough effort into our newsletter (you can subscribe here if you haven’t already done so) to increase our subscriber base, but it’s not all doom and gloom, and we can certainly do a lot better.

What’s next for Gentologie?

You may have guessed that we want to continue to make Gentologie THE magazine for Gentlemen in Quebec, Canada and around the world for the long term as Gentologie celebrates its 5th anniversary. But to do that, we’ll have to do a better job.

In the short/medium term, we want to update the website to make it faster and navigation smoother, not to mention adding more options that will be reserved for members only (like less advertising, for example). We mentioned this in this article, but it hasn’t been put in place yet, it’s more complex than we thought, especially on the technical side (paying members weren’t seeing the articles reserved for them), an application, and a physical and digital membership card. This is just an overview. If you’d like to help us out, you can take out a subscription, or if you work in a related field and would like to help us take things to the next level, don’t hesitate to contact us (remember that we don’t earn much, but we can be creative with our advertising).

In the short term, we’re going to be continuing the magazine so that our issue 14 is available before the festive season, but it won’t just be dedicated to that period. To do this, we need you, our readers, to become subscribers, and we’ve got a great promotion. It’s just a few lines away. To our advertisers, we also need you to continue our mission of making gentlemen of all men.

Once again, a huge thank you for reading Gentologie, and please feel free to share our various articles.

To thank you for reading to the end, dear gentlemen (and maybe a few ladies too), all (yes, yes all) Gentologie subscriptions are 50% off the original price until September 30, 2024! Become a member today and support us in our goal!