Deals & Developments

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, July 1, 2004 by Michael Rovner

Byline: Michael Rovner

Bookmobile

A slew of niche magazine publishers is getting good results from books as brand extensions.

"This is the first time we've channeled the health, fitness and nutrition tenants the mag is known for and taken it to the bookstore," says Men's Health editor-in-chief David Zinczenko, who co-authored with Ted Spiker, The Abs Diet, a 40,000 print-run book published by Rodale Press.

The AARP, publisher of the country's largest magazine, AARP The Magazine, which reaches 22 million subscribers bimonthly, recently published the first book from its new book division. The midlife monolith has partnered with Sterling Publishing, a division of Barnes & Noble. The book, My Soul Looks Back In Wonder by Juan Williams sold 40,000 copies in its first week. Budget Living's Home Cheap Home was published in May by Perigee, a division of Penguin USA, which also publishes books for Brides and Lucky.

Job Lots

"I'd say there are 25 to 30 really desirable mid- to upper-level editorial jobs in consumer and business-to-business publishing in New York and 40 to 50 around the country," says Karen Danziger, executive vice president of The Howard-Sloan-Koller Group, an executive search firm. "We've been saying it's picking up for a long time and now it's everywhere. People are pursuing two and three offers."

Entry-level jobs are still hard to come by, and while salaries haven't fully recovered, they're climbing back up. A year ago, there were more jobs in editorial, operations and circulation, today people are hiring in ad sales and marketing too," says Danziger.

While entertainment and men's categories were driving the market last year at this time, there's a lot of activity in the gear gadget world with trade making a comeback. "All of our business-to-business that have been pretty darn quiet have come out of the woodwork," she adds.

Atlantic Weekly

David Bradley, chairman and owner of Atlantic Media is actively researching the possibility of creating a national weekly newsmagazine.

"We hope to get something into an internal prototype by the fall," says John Galloway, chief operating officer of Atlantic Media, publisher of The Atlantic Monthly.

The new title won't be closely associated to Bradley's flagship book, which is based in Boston.

The plan is to headquarter the weekly in D.C., with Atlantic Media's National Journal, a political weekly and Government Executive.

Bradley's team is using a staff of junior reporters to research the best way to position the new title in an already crowded category. "The challenge is figuring out its space. We want to create an original product and we're actively thinking through what that would be," says Galloway.

Pecker Throws Down a Gauntlet

Last month, American Media Inc.'s president and CEO David Pecker threw down the gauntlet in an open letter to Jann Wenner, chairman of Wenner Media, which owns Us Weekly, touting Star's latest circulation numbers.

"It's an ad to reach an audience of one and that one is Thomas H. Lee [AMI's primary backer], who's quite concerned that David is going to be able to go public," says Wenner's Kent Brownridge. "What better way to reach him! It's not media buyers or his readers picking up the Times. He's reaching Thomas H. Lee with his [Lee's] own money. He should have just picked up the phone and called him."

Maxim Everything

How will Maxim's busty babes translate into radio? This fall, we'll find out when the lad book launches a new radio station, Maxim Radio. It will broadcast 24 hours a day on SIRIUS, the new satellite radio broadcaster that delivers commercial-free music and sports to cars and homes across the country. Satellite radio comes in many new cars or can also be bought as an attachment through a home electronics store. "Radio shock jocks were the first to really promote Maxim when it launched in the U.S.," says Barry Pincus, the director of brand development for Dennis Publishing. "The content is full of a diverse amount of info done in quick witty bites, which translates well for radio."

The Maxim audience is also a demographic sweet spot for radio. Readers are 21 to 34 years old with an average income of $64,000 a year. Dennis and SIRIUS, which also recently signed a deal with the NFL to broadcast every game for the next seven years, are planning both morning and afternoon shows hosted by up-and-coming radio personalities. In addition to music, show topics will include a typical Maxim mix of sports, gadgets and cars. "It's been our mission to create innovative programming with non-traditional partners," says Ron Rodriques, the director of media relations for SIRIUS. "You don't really see magazine publishers programming radio stations anywhere."

Adam gathers no Moss

Everyone in New York media is studying New York magazine editor Adam Moss's every move, and the jury's still out. But it's clear that the advertising community is welcoming the former New York Times Magazine titan. To date, the title's ad pages are up 10 percent from last year. Not bad compared with their weekly competition, which on aggregate is up a mere 1.08 percent to date.