Tuesday, April 6, 2010

GIANT Shake Up at Hearst Publishing : Whats Up?


Unbelievable news today on the shelter mag front. Blog beloved and much appreciated Editor in Chief of House Beautiful Magazine, Stephen Drucker will be leaving the magazine he has captained for the past 5 years to take the helm at another Hearst Publication; Town & Country.


Stephen Drucker


Newell Turner, current House Beautiful Creative Director will take over the reins as Editor in Cheif at HB. (HUGE sigh of Relief!!! - Why fix something that is not broken! ) Turner along with Drucker has brought a well received emphasis to the magazine on the editorial content and photography, publishing lush, large and lengthy features in the mag. Hopefully that will continue under his watchful eye.

Newell Turner out on the town with Margarette Russel of Elle Decor


Hearst Magazine Veranda's much admired founder and Editor in Chief since 1987, Lisa Newsom is to be replaced by Dara Caponigro a founding editor of the very popular but now defunct Domino Magazine! This seems to signal a huge shift in content for Veranda which currently has a much more sophisticated and high end demographic than Domino. Newsome will continue on as Editor at Large at Veranda and will work on related book and editorial projects.


Dara Caponigro

It seems things are heating up again in the Shelter Mag arena. I hope that this editor swap will mean good things most hopeful; a new emphasis on shelter content for Town & Country! The most troubling hint of things to come for me is the change underway at Veranda. After the almost incomprehensible loss of Southern Accents last year all we die hard traditionalists had left was Veranda. Over the past few months there has been a significant shift in their content to more modern and transitional projects. Looking back now this shift had some method to its madness.

It should be an interesting year ahead for all of us as we see how these new editors guide their respective publications. All I can say is get out there and SUBSCRIBE!!!!! The thought of losing any one of these remaining mags is too horrible to contemplate.

I'm heading over to Town and Country right now to sign up!!!



Read the full press release from Hearst Publications here

15 comments:

Suzanne said...

Oy! I don't know if I can take much more of this magazine drama. House Beautiful has been FABULOUS since Steven Drucker took over and I adore Veranda as is.

Hopefully these turbulent times are nearing an end--it is tragic to lose such wonderful and established publications as House and Garden and Southern Accents. I guess I'm just no good with change....

Suzanne

Tammy@InStitches said...

I will be very interested to see what direction Veranda goes.

Pamela said...

Oh my! I hope they don't change Veranda. I hate the DIY look of the other magazines. I miss Southern Accents so very much. I love House Beautiful as is!

Anonymous said...

Leave my Veranda as it is! :-)
While I loved Domino, Veranda has it's place as high end gorgeous design. I want to see that and lust after it! Domino was often too edgy or DYI for me. But that's just my take, for what it's worth.

Tracy Watier said...

Uh oh. I hope this is good news. Stephen Drucker saved House Beautiful so I can see why another mag would want to benefit too. Hopefully, they'll retain his "formula" and continue to be great. I've been disappointed by Veranda's shift - for the same reasons you give. Wonder what it would take for So Accents to rise from the dead...

Teacats said...

Another fan that dearly misses Southern Accents -- and hopes that the change is for the good for Veranda! I have noticed a huge shift in that magazine to feature very modern rooms and homes -- and that the traditional homes have been shifted to the back pages! And over at Meredith Publishing -- do note the changes in Traditional Home magazine's featured homes -- emphasis is carefully placed on the modern items (artworks, pottery, rugs, fabrics etc) Even the tag on the magazine's spine -- "classic taste. MODERN LIFE" I guess that any traditional decor is not favored at all at the publishing houses these days!

Jan at Rosemary Cottage

Anonymous said...

Please tell me it isn't so !!!! Veranda and House Beautiful are the only 2 magazines left that interest me at all. Traditional Homes used to be a favorite of mine but it has become so edgy with the last 2 or 3 issues that I just pass it by. It appears that traditionalists will not have anything left unless we start our own.

Anonymous said...

I have been so disappointed in Veranda lately...it seems to be getting colder and colder like AD. Perhaps this new change will help make it more personal. As for House Beautiful...it is the BEST out there...hope they leave it alone. Never liked Town and Country but with Mr. Drucker there I am an instant fan.

Barbara said...

I LOVE Veranda the way it is, as a standout inspiration of the villa/earthy/beyond the common. We can see all the normal attainable decor in other publications, but their choices are things we don't generally get to see, but would love to imitate in our meager ways!

La Petite Gallery said...

I donot Like Hearst the way they start sending magazines and no matter how you say stop. (HOUSE BEAUTIFUL) They keep sending it.
I have asked the Post office to return them. I donot like things shoved down my throat. TV advertising is bad enough.
VERANDA is my favorte.

Squeak said...

Oh dear, I'm in shock

I absolutely love House Beautiful under Stephen Drucker, so I hope Newell Turner doesn't change it too much. Hopefully, Town & Country will have more of an emphasis on design and decorating with Stephen Drucker at the helm. I've actually enjoyed the last few issues of Veranda, but I want the overall emphasis to remain on traditional style. I used to love Elle Decor, but it's currently featuring too many modern rooms for my taste. As far as Traditional Home is concerned, I haven't been happy with it for a couple of years.

And I cried my eyes out when Southern Accents stopped publishing.

Beadboard UpCountry said...

Holy Moly! Talk about a Domino Effect!!! Pardon the pun....I hope all do well in their respective new challenges..... I'm keeping my subscriptions......Thanks for the heads up! Maryanne xo

Karena said...

The changes should be very interesting, things are shaking up for sure.

I Will have a facsinating interview up on my site tomorrow, come visit.

Karena
Art by Karena

Jo said...

I was heartbroken when Southern Accents was no more. Now the thought that Veranda (my style bible) might go all hard-line and edgy makes me gag. For us in the tropics Coastal Living was always a great place to go for inspiration but no more. Everything is brown beige and squared off - everything the sea coast is not. Hopefully House Beautiful will prevail. And maybe Town and Country will do wonderful home features. I hope so.

The-Countrypolitan said...

Let's hope that they draw upon all the elements from past issues that have made them desirable and that any new changes will exceed their best works... and then we will all live happily ever after!