TIME Inc. Editor-in-Chief John Huey‘s name used to sit proudly atop the masthead of Real Simple. Not anymore.
Huey’s name appeared above the title through the February issue, but was not in March or April.
Some insiders say that’s public evidence of a feud between Huey and Time Inc. Executive Vice President Sylvia Auton over the separation of church (editorial) and state (business).
They think Huey wanted his name pulled, and point to a lucrative Wal-Mart ad in the current issue of Real Simple as a flashpoint.
The company insists that Huey’s name was removed from the masthead of Real Simple and several other magazines in its Lifestyle group because of a restructuring last year that divided the company into three groups: News (Time, Fortune, Money, Sports Illustrated); Entertainment (People, Entertainment Weekly and others) and Lifestyle (Real Simple, All You, Southern Progress titles and others).
Even so, that means a smaller dominion for Huey. His name was never on mastheads in the Southern Progress unit — it had a separate editor-in-chief — but Huey and his predecessors were always on top of Real Simple. Now there is no EIC on any of the titles in the group.
There are also grumblings that the Wal-Mart ad in Real Simple may violate American Society of Magazine Editors standards.
The insert seems to play off the headline of a story that precedes it, implying that the ad agency was given a specific description of the magazine’s editorial content in advance. The article is entitled, “Decorating with Yellow.” The Wal-Mart ad reads, “Decorating with Wal-Mart.”
Some insiders feel it is a sell-out orchestrated by Auton to gain favor with Wal-Mart, its powerful ad buying agency, MediaVest, and MediaVest Senior Vice President Robin Steinberg.
The relationship is already complicated because Time Inc. publishes a low-budget women’s magazine, All You, that is sold exclusively at Wal-Mart. The cozy relationship is important for selling other magazines and gaining Wal-Mart ads.
Auton, an executive from the Time Inc. British subsidiary IPC, has been rankling people since Time Inc. CEO Ann Moore put her in charge of the Southern Progress unit, and more recently Real Simple.
“She is a micro-manager and often abusive,” fumed an insider. “This is particularly a problem because in her current role she is functioning as both an editorial lead and a business lead.”
A Real Simple spokeswoman insisted that the ad did not break any ASME guidelines.
“The ASME Guidelines are designed to prevent people from confusing edit with ads,” she said. “Real Simple rigorously tested this advertisement execution prior to publication. [When] its research confirmed that it did not confuse the reader, we decided to run it.”
As to the alleged animosity between Huey and Auton, she said, “I can’t speak to that. As far as I know they get along quite well.”
Neither Huey nor Auton returned calls for comment.
Book bucks
John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, authors of the surprise best seller “Game Change,” about the 2008 presidential campaign, have snagged a $5.3 million advance from Penguin for the sequel, publishing sources say.
The book will be about the 2012 campaign.
Ann Godoff, the head of the Penguin Press imprint, beat out the Crown imprint of Random House as well as Harper Collins, the publisher of “Game Change.” Harper Collins is owned by News Corp., which also owns The Post.
Crown’s Maya Mavjee was believed to be the next highest bidder, offering under $3.5 million. The deal was brokered by Scott Moyers at the Wylie Agency.
Hot List
It is the 30th anniversary of the Adweek Hot List, conceived originally by the late Clay Felker. The full list is out Monday, but we hear Esquire Editor-in-Chief David Granger, whose innovations include an augmented reality cover in December and the moving 75th anniversary cover back in 2008, has snagged editor of the year.
Executive of the year almost has to come from Meredith Corp., publisher of Better Homes & Gardens and Ladies Home Journal. Apparently it is Jeannine Shao Collins, a senior vice president/publishing director with Meredith 360 who is behind their multi-platform deals.
The top award — No. 1 on the Adweek Hot List — will go to People. Aside from its leadership in the print side, where it dipped only 1.6 percent in ad pages in 2009 as the rest of the industry tumbled 25.6 percent, the Time Inc.-owned weekly is credited with blowing out the competition with brand extensions from People StyleWatch to Taxi TV.
Nice ‘Touch’
In Touch’s bombshell cover story on Michelle “Bombshell” McGee and her fling with Jesse James, the now-estranged husband of Sandra Bullock, may have clinched the editor-in-chief job for Michelle Lee.
Lee has been acting EIC since Richard Spencer‘s sudden departure earlier this year.
She paid less than $30,000 for the pictures of the tattooed McGee, and the magazine sold an estimated 1.33 million copies on newsstands.
“That was money well spent,” said one Bauer insider, “It should do a lot to help [Lee’s] cause.”
The issue doesn’t offi cially come off the racks until today, so the final tally may be even higher. It is believed to be the second-best-selling In Touch issue of all time, after an Angelina Jolie cover that moved 1.6 million.
A Bauer insider said the publication received the tip about the affair on March 13, and scrambled to back it up by the time the current issue went to press two days later. keith.kelly@nypost.com