Hearst flips Rodale book division to Penguin
HEARST said Tuesday it will flip its recently acquired Rodale book division to Penguin Random House.
The deal puts under one publisher Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth,” first published in 2006, and Penguin’s Tom Clancy, Anne Rice and Dean Koontz franchises.
Also included is the current Rodale best-seller, “Thug Kitchen: The Official Cookbook: Eat Like You Give a F*ck,” and about 100 other new titles as well as 2,000 older titles, including Jessica Alba’s “The Honest Life” and “The South Beach Diet.”
But sources say they don’t expect any of the remaining 20 or so book people to be making the move, which means Editorial Director Jennifer Levesque and Publisher Gail Gon- zales may be job hunting. Neither could be reached for comment.
On the magazine front, Hearst’s acquisition of Rodale gives it a larger footprint in the health-and-fitness category with Rodale’s Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Runner’s World, Prevention and Bicycling.
The Hearst purchase of Rodale closed on Jan. 2. The price tag came in well under the original $225 million estimate, sources said, partly a result of Rodale’s shrinking profits.
Separately, Hearst said Tuesday that Liz Plosser is the new editor-inchief of Women’s Health. Plosser was senior vice president of content at Well+Good and earlier was at Condé Nast’s Self and Cosmopolitan.
Plosser will report to Michele Promaulayko, editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan and editorial director of Hearst’s Young Women’s Group. Plosser replaces Amy Keller Laird, who had been in the job since 2014.
In other news, David Zinczenko, who has been running his own company, Galvanized Media, since he was banished from Rodale by Chief Executive Maria Rodale in late 2012, will return to Men’s Health as an interim editorial director as the company mounts a search for a permanent editor-in-chief of the title.
He replaces Matt Bean, who is out as of the closing of the deal.
Several former Rodale execs will be joining Hearst.
Bill Strickland, formerly the editorial director at Rodale, will take on the same title as head of Hearst’s Enthusiast Group, comprised of Bicycling and Runner’s World.
Ronan Gardiner, who was Rodale’s chief advertising officer, will become vice president and publishing director of Men’s Health, Bicycling and Runner’s World.
The Rodale name, which has been around since 1930 when it wa founded by Maria’s grandfather, J.I. Rodale, will disappear going forward.
Cookin’ at Meredith
Meredith, still hammering away at finalizing its purchase of Time Inc., nevertheless has time to sizzle up a new cookbook magazine launch.
The Hungry Girl magazine, in a joint venture with best-selling author and Food Network host Lisa Lillien is launching with a spring issue on sale Jan. 16 with distribution of 225,000 and a cover price of $9.99. A second test issue will hit in May.
Meredith Group Publisher Scott Mortimer said, “Lisa’s brand, Hungry Girl, was digital along with books and was missing that magazine print component.”
Lillien, who began writing for Teen magazine, started her own blog 10 years ago and has since published 12 books — the most recent a No. 1 bestseller: “Hungry Girl: Clean & Hungry OBSESSED!”
Chucky’s gone
Gov. Cuomo turned out for the farewell party of retired Daily News Editor-in-Chief and Publisher Arthur “Chucky” Browne on Monday night at the Roosevelt House.
“It’s been great,” said Browne, “I don’t remember any of the bad times.”
A legendary feud withh Cuomo’s father, three-time governor Mario Cuomo, was recalled. Mario Cuomo, in a snit about something, had refused to talk to Browne for five years at one point.
Browne said the only time it bothered him was when his then 12year-old son, Chris — who would eventually become an attorney — had accompanied him to the World Trade Center and wanted to stop by the governor’s Downtown Manhattan office and say hello.
Browne told his son it was impossible. An intermediary eventually took sympathy and arranged for the son to meet the then-governor.
But Mario continued their feud. “He told me before I dropped him off, ‘I’m talking with your son, not with you,” Browne said.
A host of ex-Daily News editors were on hand, including, Jim Rich, Jim Willse and Debby Krenek.
Another ex-editor, Pete Hamill, sent regrets — but younger brother, Denis Hamill, an ex-columnist at the News, did attend.
Media Ink presented Browne with a talking Chucky doll from the 1988 horror movie, “Child’ s Play,” in memory of Browne’s infamous Media Ink nickname. The name was suggested by a nervous staffer who heard that Browne, after several years away from the Daily News with a failed dotcom and a stop at Bloomberg, was returning to the News. “He’s like Chucky,” the staffer said, “you just can’t kill him.”
Most attendees wondered aloud whom new owner Tronc will choose as the next editor-in- chief. “I have no idea,” said Browne, when asked.