We hear that Brendan Vaughan, senior editor at chaotic Conde Nast biz mag Portfolio, has quit, and will wisely return to Esquire. Maybe deputy editor Amy Stevens better cancel what we hear is her soon-coming maternity leave—because the departures aren't over yet.
Conde Nast's House & Garden will publish its last issue in December, so sayeth Fishbowlny. Word is the fold came as a big surprise to staffers at the interior design mag, and there's no word yet on whether employees are getting the ax or being transferred elsewhere within the Condé Nast empire. But it looks like the "Grand Opening" of "The House & Garden Store" is more auction than enterprise. Conde bigwig Chuck Townsend reportedly gave a speech to the staff which was summarized by an attendee as such: "Sometimes the financial burden becomes too great for a small company to bear." We see!
Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson has had it up to here with unsolicited emails from PR agencies. But he's the beneficiary when colleagues use the tactic. Del.icio.us founder Joshua Schachter notes that his inbox is filled with unsolicited emails from Wired flacks. Sent to an email address, Schachter points out, which is on his blog, not one he uses to sign up for mailing lists. Call it the Long Tail of PR. Whether or not Anderson approves, he certainly gains from the PR mail-all list: The most recent Wired message touts Wednesday's edition of the PBS show Wired Science, and the subject line highlights a special appearance by Anderson himself.
New York mag editor Adam Moss is the Lord God King Of All Magazines, says the American Magazine Conference. Or at least he is the "Ad Age editor of the year." (And at a time when the editing is getting significantly less skillful at his magazine—though the packaging is increasingly stupendously good!) Also Conde Nast was named the "publishing company of the year." Those crazy young upstarts! [NYP]
It's apparently been the best-kept secret in town that Chris Jones, the managing editor of Portfolio.com, gave notice a full month ago—the staff were supposedly only told yesterday. And now, says WWD: "high-level discussion is said to be under way about divesting [Portfolio editor Joanne] Lipman of oversight of the Web site, with a possible new reporting structure to Portfolio.com's general manager, Ari Brandt, on the business side. (Like Jones, Brandt came from Yahoo!, where such reporting structures are in place.)" Well sure—we hear that meetings with Lipman can be so trying that people stomp out of the building for a breath of fresh air afterward. Plus! Bonus blind item for ya! What Portfolio editorial employee was spotted hanging around outside an old boss's office last week, eagerly waiting for a chance to talk privately?
Tastebook, Conde Nast's latest attempt at harnessing loser-generated content involves ink and paper. No, it's not handing over the editing of its magazines to its readers, like startup 80/20 Publishing. But it has invested in Tastebook, a startup which binds 100 recipes (culled from its cooking site Epicurious.com or your personal collection) into a personalized hardcover cookbook. It'd be far more exciting if it were scratch-and-sniff, though. [Silicon Alley Insider]
THE GALLERY LOUNGE, SOMA — Joel Sacks of AdBrite wants to have a word with me. No, nothing to do with his company's adventures in serving up porn ads; he's still pissed off about the time we caught him on video soaking himself with a pint of beer. This time, he's dry. But he's just lucky — this San Francisco bar is packed wall to wall, thanks to social-news site Reddit's open invitation for anyone to come and spill a free beer on their neighbor. The largesse comes from Reddit's owner, Conde Nast, the publisher of Wired, which bought the site a year ago. I got to meet Reddit's founders, most of whom are still, contrary to rumor, at the company. But one was, notably, missing in action: Aaron Swartz, the obstreperous Reddit cofounder who quit shortly after Conde Nast bought the site. More on the founders' status after the jump.
Magazine guy Michael Caruso (he was once editor in chief of Details) has ankled Conde Nast biz mag Portfolio; we hear that he was not unhappy that he signed up for a short contract to help with the launch. Recent reports from inside are scarce, although basic recon suggests that Portfolio editor Joanne Lipman is still annoying the copy to death. The fourth issue is trickling downtownwards this week—it should have sneaked through to poor-neighborhood newsstands by Friday. [WWD]
Shriek! When worlds collide! "'Sex and the City' is filming at Conde Nast today—9th floor." We're still having coffee—what's on the 9th floor again???
More on the (shriek!) maybe-possible new Conde Nast headquarters! "[Developer Douglas] Durst told The Observer this afternoon that Conde Nast would consolidate its offices in the new tower and would move out of the roughly 700,000 square feet that it currently occupies at Mr. Durst's 4 Times Square. The Conde Nast lease at 4 Times Square ends in 2018, but Mr. Durst said a deal would be negotiated to let them break the lease by 2015." [NYO]
This may be what we'll be talking about for the next ten years: "Condé Nast Publications chief operating officer John Bellando said Friday that the company may construct a new office tower at Hudson Yards in Manhattan." They're in with Vornado and the Durst Organization, which owns the 1.6-million square foot 4 Times Square, the Conde mothership. Oh my God. Hyperventilating. And! Bet it's finished before the stupid "Freedom Tower" is!
"Questions are being raised around the halls of 4 Times Square about Flip.com, Condé Nast's new teen networking site. Pointing to small traffic numbers and a whispered lack of enthusiasm from higher ups about the project, despite a heavy financial investment in the site's technology, naysayers believe Flip has so far been a bit of a flop. 'Thank God it wasn't my idea,' said one insider." Shockingly, publisher Jane Grenier claims not to be worried: "Our determination of whether this site is successful is not based on a panic check of [unique visitors]." Good luck with that! [WWD]
Who is Bobby Egan? He's a Hackensack restaurateur with a bizarre connection to the North Korean government. He's also, apparently, a fascinating subject to the people of 4 Times Square, with two different Conde Nast publications putting out extremely similar features about him in the same week.
Keith Kelly: "CONDÉ Nast Chairman S.I. Newhouse Jr. sat down Wednesday with Portfolio Editor-in-Chief Joanne Lipman to take a very serious look at every page in the upcoming November issue of Portfolio, his $100 million pet project. When the meeting was over, a flurry of Newhouse-dictated changes ensued, and that had some staffers concluding that Si was not happy with the original incarnation of Portfolio issue No. 4." Shockingly, Condé spokesfolk deny it. [NYP]
Portfolio managing editor Blaise Zerega takes the deputy editor slip vacated by the firing of Jim Impoco. Zeraga will work out of San Francisco, leading a source to tell the Post's Keith Kelly, "He's being called deputy but it doesn't look like he will have any serious management responsibilities. Have you ever heard of a deputy 3,000 miles away?" Zeraga will be replaced by New Yorker managing editor Jacob Lewis. Is this some kind of signal from Conde Nast about their continued confidence in Portfolio? Last week, we were told that Lipman wasn't really going to fill Impoco's position—writers expected that she would now take this opportunity to mess with people's copy more than ever, and that this was a sign of her complete inability to delegate and her inability to recognize, you know, actual writing. [NYO]
Former celebrity chef and current frozen foods pitchman Rocco Dispirito is bringing his unique blend of meatheadedness and meatballness to the Hearst Cafeteria today. Considering he guest-chef'd the Conde Nast lunchroom back in August, we'd have to say Hearst is getting served some sloppy seconds! Oh ha! [Sent From My Dell Desktop]
Dan Golden has announced he would rather work for Joanne Lipman at Portfolio (as a senior editor) than Rupert Murdoch at the Wall Street Journal. (Well, he was in the Boston bureau, and we'd work for Bonnie Fuller or Satan to get out of Boston, so.) Two related things: First, we heard a big editor at the WSJ quit right after the Murdoch and Col Allan visit last week. Second, wow, isn't Portfolio on a major lockdown right now? Not a PEEP out of that place in weeks! [Romenesko]
Former Travel & Leisure and CondéNet employee Valerie Stivers' first novel takes place a magazine named Tasty, the flagship of a big publishing empire called Oldham, Inc. At Tasty, editors stay up all night and keep the lights off in their offices until midmorning, and they're almost never spotted eating. Also, there's no garlic allowed in the cafeteria! It takes heroine Kate McGraw a while to clue into the fact that they're all literal bloodsucking vampires, but you know what? Who can blame her. Last night, Emily and photographer Laurel Ptak found themselves in the gothy confines of Death and Co., where a group of sallow-skinned yet not undead magazine types had gathered to fete the book.
