Spy vs. Spy: Spy is back, with new owner and a new staff. But can the born-again book still bite? - tiny - Spy magazine

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Sept 15, 1994 by Harriet Barovick

Spy is back! Spy is back! When I relayed this message to former colleagues (I worked at Spy as a researcher turned senior editor from 1988 to 1993), reactions were mixed. Some had not heard. Others had, and wondered happily if Spy might be revived as the smart, funny, fearless publication that shook up New York when it first emerged in 1986. Still others were filled with a sort of dread at the notion of attempting to give it new life.

"Bury the corpses and get it over with," says Joe Queenan, a Spy contributor from 1987 until its putative demise last February. "For three years people were saying it was dead - how are they going to counteract the perception that it's already tired with a staff of presumably less talented people putting it out?"

Indeed, any new Spy proprietor would be faced with daunting challenges: overcoming the doubts of a devoted, if highly demanding, readership; putting aside the inevitable skepticism from long-time Spy staffers; shouldering the obvious financial and editorial complexities of relaunching any magazine, let alone a cult publication like Spy; and competing with the memory of what many considered to be the leading satire magazine of its time.

Can Spy be re-made from scratch? Its July/August relaunch issue, which hit newsstands July 12, didn't exactly quell the skeptics. The person who has chosen to take them on - with plenty of enthusiasm, confidence and pride, if you listen to his current associates - is 43-year-old Sussex Publishers impresario Owen Lipstein.

Lipstein may be best remembered as the self-promoting whiz-kid of the eighties, with a reputation for financial carelessness. In December 1990, he was forced to fold his New American Magazine Co. when the debt from starting and acquiring its magazines (Smart, Psychology Today and Mother Earth News) made it impossible to actually publish them. Earlier that year, when New American advertisers and subscribers were inquiring about non-existent, unsent issues, Lipstein claimed they had been lost in the mail. He was deluged with lawsuits from unpaid employees during that fiasco. (Lipstein says he has since been discharged of his debts.) When asked in 1991 what he could have been thinking, Lipstein explained to Vanity Fair's Leslie Bennetts, "I thought I'd think of something."

According to colleagues, Lipstein's boss, former financier and Sussex CEO John Colman, is all too aware of his potential liability. Two years ago, Colman made Lipstein send letters of apology to prospective subscribers, which read in part: "There's no way around it. I messed up. I got into financial trouble and the banks stepped in. My name is Owen and I'm the ex-owner of Mother Earth News . . . ." More recently, Colman told associates that if prospective advertisers express wariness about Lipstein, they should be reminded that he is not in control of the finances.

To keep finances in line, the new Spy has lowered production costs, most noticeably by reducing paper quality. Its former printer, Quad Gruphics, has been replaced by R.R. Donnelley because, says Bill Buchanan, associate publisher (of both Spy and Psychology Today), Donnelley offered a better contract. (Quad, which declined comment, is allegedly out thousands of dollars and was not eager to work with the new administration.) Spy has also changed from former long-time distributor Curtis to Warner - a change that has led to a dispute and a threat (although no actual filing) by Curtis of a breach of contract lawsuit. Curtis has also been trying to retrieve monies it says are owed by Spy's former incarnation. Buchanan offered no comment, except to say, "The situation with Curtis is ongoing."

Spy is guaranteeing a 165,000 ratebase and will continue to be audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, according to Sussex circulation director John Brink (also the publisher of Mother Earth News). And Buchanan says that former subscriptions will be honored.

Because about half of the original Spy's 185,000 circulation came from newsstand sales, Buchanan admits he was worried about losing a place after having been defunct for three months. "We've mitigated that problem, thank God. We're not jumping through hoops like we thought we would have to." The same holds true, he says, for advertiser reaction. Sixty percent of its 22 ad pages - which include former patron Absolut - are paid, he says, though many at discounted rates.

What sort of product the new Spy will be is the $64,000 question. Spy now has Lipstein as its new editorial director. (After wavering a few times when contacted, Lipstein finally told me he prefers to let the magazine speak for itself.) The title also has a new family - with unlikely siblings Psychology Today and Mother Earth News. ("Imagine the possibilities for synergy!" quips Queenan.) This curious dynamic raises the question of whether Lipstein - with no background in satire, an emaciated editorial team and a business staff largely consisting of PT double-timers - can publish a book worth reading.