THE South is burning.
A former top editor at Time Inc. fired off a scathing memo to Executive Vice President Sylvia Auton, the London-based head of the magazine giant’s lifestyle group, criticizing her handling of the deep job cuts within her group.
The letter was penned by Susan Haynes, a senior editor at Coastal Living from April 1998 to August 2007, who is now the senior acquisitions editor at Manasha Ridge Press.
“I don’t know what Time Inc.’s master plan is – or if you even have one,” Haynes writes. “But from any standpoint, business or otherwise, Time Inc. is demonstrating shockingly shortsighted and reprehensible behavior.
“I had an opportunity to leave. . . of my own volition and choice. Now, like so many in the community of Birmingham, Alabama, I watch in horror and disgust as Time Inc. conducts its endless bloodbath at my former company.”
A copy of Haynes’ missive made its way to Time Inc. CEO Ann Moore and her boss, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes.
Auton recently was made the head of Time Inc.’s newly created lifestyle group, which includes the London-based IPC division, magazine Real Simple, and the Birmingham, Ala.-based Southern Progress Corp. unit that is comprised of titles Southern Living, Cooking Light, Coastal Living and the recently shuttered Cottage Living.
SPC endured significant job cuts during this week’s bloodletting.
In a follow-up e-mail to Moore and Bewkes, Haynes’ venting went further.
“Everyone understands that cutbacks and layoffs and career changes must occur in a downward economy; but Time Warner/Time Inc. can’t seem to decide how many to lay off, when and how to do it properly, and how to leave some sense of integrity within your venerable company.
“Of course, I see [the memos], despite the fact that I am no longer a Time Inc. employee. They are being forwarded around the world with a smirk and a gasp.”
Haynes’ diatribes appear to echo the discontent felt by many of the rank-and-file workers at Time Inc., particularly toward Auton.
One source noted that Auton ran SPC from London, and thus was relatively detached from that operation.
“She treated it as if it was a colony,” this person said. “She only visited it twice in two years.”
A Time Inc. spokeswoman late yesterday said, “Ann [Moore] and the management team at Time Inc. believe that it is necessary to restructure the company now in these tough times so it may grow in the future.
“We wish there was a less painful way to go through this process, but the layoffs we are experiencing are a necessary part of the restructuring.”
Meanwhile, Time Inc.’s lay offs yesterday began to hit the company’s London offices.
Time Europe, Fortune Europe and the overseas office of People look as if they will be particularly hard hit. One source said the editorial side will lose about 19 of the 30-person staff.
A spokeswoman said that she couldn’t disclose exact numbers because of British employment laws.
An insider denied a report that the international editions of Time will be published out of New York, but there does appear to be a serious consolidation effort underway.
As part of that, Time Europe Editor William Green is expected to exit along with Berlin correspondent Andrew Purvis.
Jerusalem correspondent Tim McGirk is staying on the payroll through mid-2009 and then he’ll retire, the insider said.
Meanwhile, in Auton’s London-based IPC division, the cutbacks amount to about 30 people out of a staff of 2,200.
That means that just over 1 percent of the IPC staff will be hit.
Stranded
The winter months will be a lot chillier at Condé Nast.
The Condé Nasties are expected to get a memo from CEO Charles Townsend telling them that Town Car use is being cut way back.
On top of that, the hardworking assistants who used to be able to get the company to pay for working lunches at their desks will no longer have that luxury.
Further, the glitzy publisher that used to give virtually everyone carte blanche when it came to magazine and newspaper subscriptions is cutting that perk out, as well.
One source said the memo could arrive as soon as today.
Condé Nast spokeswoman Maurie Perl declined to comment.
Meanwhile, the company said it was folding the 110-year-old men’s fashion weekly DNR into Women’s Wear Daily. The title was the very first publication launched by Fairchild Publications.
Eight people are expected to be absorbed into WWD, and 11 are being given pink slips, sources said.
DNR Editor-in-Chief John Birmingham is expected to exit the company after helping with the transition.
Book ’em
“Shadow Country” by Peter Matthiessen snagged the National Book Award for fiction Wednesday night at book publishing’s most glamorous black-tie event.
Within minutes of the victory, Random House Inc. imprint Modern Library accelerated the paperback debut to late November – from its original summer 2009 date and upped its first printing to 75,000 copies. The critically acclaimed hardcover book first appeared in the spring.
But amid the accolades there was lots of publishing gossip making the rounds, as well.
News broke that Ted Turner‘s memoir, “Call Me Ted,” for which he snagged a $5 million advance from Grand Central Publishing, will debut at No. 8 on the New York Times bestseller list that hits Nov. 30.
The surprise No. 1 book for that week?
Artie Lang, Howard Stern‘s sidekick, snagged a low six-figure advance for his offbeat essays, “Too Fat to Fish.”
Lang’s success also snagged him a second book deal with the Spiegel & Grau imprint of Random House, estimated to be worth somewhere in the high six-figure range, with bonus clauses that could push it into the seven-figure range.
The deal was brokered by Tina Fey‘s agent Richard Abate at Endeavor.
Julie Grau, editorial director of Spiegel & Grau, declined to comment on the size of the advance beyond saying, “It’s a good deal for all of us.”
Spotted
Wenner Media boss Jann Wenner was seen dining with Rodale Chairman Maria Rodale at Michael’s Restaurant Wednesday – sparking all sorts of buzz in the media world.
In addition to Rolling Stone and Us Weekly, Wenner publishes Men’s Journal, which competes with Rodale’s Men’s Health.
Both companies in the past year were known to have held exploratory talks with outside parties. Rodale had been looking for a minority investor to help bolster its Internet operations while at the same time keeping the Rodale family in control of the company.
Meanwhile, sources say that Wenner had been looking to sell Us Weekly before the economy tanked and those sale talks were called off.
A Rodale spokesman insisted a merger of the two companies was not the topic of Wednesday’s lunch.
“They are both on the board of Bette Midler‘s NY Restoration Project. No intrigue there.”
Diva dish
The days of delicious excess for Insatiable Critic Gael Greene are done – she’s out of a job at New York magazine.
The famously opinionated dining diva was let go because the magazine can’t afford four separate restaurant critics in the “tightening economy,” spokeswoman Lauren Starke said yesterday.
Greene was the magazine’s chief restaurant critic from 1968 to 2002. After that, she wrote a weekly column called “Insatiable Critic,” and in 2007, published her memoir: “Insatiable: Tales from a Life of Delicious Excess.”
Starke says Greene’s last review will be in Monday’s issue. keith.kelly@nypost.com