FOLIO: Personalities -- The Blog People Page

Managing one’s finances can be tough as nails in this crazy economy.

No one knows this better, now, than former baseball slugger-turned-car wash millionaire-turned-magazine publisher Lenny Dykstra [pictured]. The former New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies outfielder—nicknamed “Nails”—filed for Chapter 11 protection in California this week.

In his petition, Dykstra claimed $50,000 in assets and between $10 million and $50 million in liabilities.

Some of Dykstra’s financial woes stem from the failed launc More...

Grass courts. Tennis whites. Big ratings.

I’m writing about Wimbledon, of course.

While NBC saw the marathon men’s final between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick draw the contest’s biggest TV ratings since 2000, other media outlets capitalized on the frenzy, too.

Tennis magazine’s Web site Tennis.com, for instance, saw 104,022 unique visitors and 994,250 page views during the four hour and 16 minute match. That’s up almost 25 percent and 55 percent from the epic Federer vs. Rafael Nadal final last year, the magazine said.

Over the two weeks Wimbledon took place, More...

We don’t write about city travel guides very often. In this case, though, I couldn’t resist.

The Canadian city of Toronto recently debuted its Spring/Summer 2009 “Fun Guide” featuring a smiling, ethnically diverse family on the cover. The problem? The face of the African-Canadian father was digitally imposed onto the face of the man in the original photo.

[Click here to see the comparison.]
More...

From layoffs to extravagant photo shoots to freelancers going unpaid, the rumor mill on the financial pitfalls at Brant Publications has been on overdrive for many months. The most significant move recently was the ouster this week of editorial director Glenn O’Brien, who was promptly replaced by former co-editorial director Fabien Baron, who—get this—left the company in February.

A Brant spokesperson did not return a FOLIO: phone call this week seeking comment on the changes happening at the company.

However, details emerged by way of Fashion Week Daily� More...

Condé Nast and Hearst, two heads on the Mt. Rushmore of the consumer publishing industry, were the subjects of lengthy profiles recently.

New York magazine contributing editor Steve Fishman this week wrote an intimate, detailed profile of Condé Nast chairman Si Newhouse, the publishing empire he created, and the players—including Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Graydon Carter and darling super-group publisher David Carey—who make the company what it is today.

The nearly 7,000-word cover story painted Newhouse as a man who romances the business of publishing magazines More...

The economic recession has put the traditional publishing model to the test, to put it mildly. With advertising dollars plummeting, publishers have been scrambling to find new revenue streams. Many magazines are on financial life support right now. Others, as we are all too aware, have folded.

But more and more of these grim stories have produced silver linings. Magazine publishers that either folded or were on the brink of bankruptcy have managed to secure outside financing to stay in business.

East West founder Anita Malik said she plans to relaunch the bi-monthly ma More...

With the print magazine business model showing unprecedented weakness under the economic recession, top editors have been tasked with creating compelling, sometimes out-of-the-box content that will, in theory, not only keep their readers but keep them in print.

One magazine that has managed to do this pretty successfully is Wired. Editor-in-chief Chris Anderson has steered the Condé Nast tech title to several honors, including three National Magazine Awards (tying Backpacker, Esquire and the New Yorker for the most), for one measure of its editorial success. More...

Footed African platter: $40

French 18th-century three-legged farm stool: $90

Selling free swag collected while working at a home design magazine: Priceless

What do a pair of laid off Domino magazine staffers do after the magazine closes? Have a tag sale, of course.

Dara Caponigro, the magazine’s former style director, and Tom Delavan, who served as editor-at-large, rummaged through their New York City apartments to find that they had a combined 1,500 square feet of designer merchandise they amassed from photo shoots and other assignments.
 
From furniture to clothes to textiles, Caponigr More...

RELATED: Penton Cuts Workweek, Reduces Pay

Penton Media CEO Sharon Rowlands announced a workweek reduction from five days to four days this summer and a corresponding reduction in salary pay.

In a memo to staffers, Rowlands said a number of the company’s properties during the first quarter reported financial results that were “significantly below” the same period last year and “well below budget.”

Here’s is Rowland’s entire memo:

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to provide a brief update on More...

It’s a tough lesson others have learned before: Company-wide e-mails can be a career killer.

The news that John Koten [pictured] had stepped down as Mansueto Ventures CEO was confirmed Monday. But eyebrows were raised late last week when Web site Gawker posted a pair of bizarre memos he sent to staffers.

The first, dated last Thursday at 6:56 p.m., informed staffers that a crewmember on Planet Claire, Koten’s J/105—a one-design sport cruiser, offers private sailing lessons and can get employe More...

Supermarkets across the country are calling on shoppers to be more green. They say we should buy environmentally-friendly products. We should buy reusable bags to carry our groceries. Some are even charging fees for their paper or plastic bags.

In the Northeast, the Big Y supermarket is no different. In fact, it has gone ahead and launched Going Green, a free magazine it says will help shoppers “make lifestyle choices that will benefit the environment and themselves.” Distributed at all of Big Y’s 56 locations throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut, the More...

The U.S. government has injected billions of dollars into our banking and auto industries. So, what about magazines? Where’s our lifeline?

While American magazines can hold their breath waiting for a government bailout, our counterparts to the north don’t have to wait as long. Canada’s government, through its Canada Magazine Fund, has so far provided nearly $40,000 (Canadian) in funds to magazines across the country. In February, it announced the planned creation of the Canada Periodical Fund, a streamlined program to benefit magazines as well as community newspapers, eventually replacing the Magazine Fund and its Publications More...