Long-time Self Editor-in-Chief Lucy Danziger has landed a new gig: She’s now an editor-at-large at Ballantine Bantam Dell, part of Penguin Random House, and will look to sign fitness and well-being authors.
Danziger was bounced from Self in April as the Vogue editrix Anna Wintour, in her expanded role as Condé Nast artistic director, shook up the title’s masthead.
Danziger was replaced by Joyce Chang — raided from the executive editor job at Cosmopolitan.
Self publisher Laura McEwen was also ousted in the April purge — she was replaced by Mary Murcko.
Danziger, who authored “The Nine Rooms of Happiness” with Dr. Catherine Birndorf, is also working on another self-help book in that vein.
In her new job, she is going to be working with Jennifer Tung, VP and editorial director of nonfiction, and Executive Editor Marnie Cochran in what is essentially a part-time scouting gig in a field where Danziger already has deep contacts.
“I hope to sign about three-to-five authors a year,” she told Media Ink.
Danziger also said she is launching her own company, 10Points Ventures, which will be involved in creating digital affinity groups in the fitness and well-being space.
“It’s a multi-faceted world right now,” she said. “I’ve always had more ideas than days in the week to do them all.”
Meanwhile, the reshaping of Self continues to gather momentum under new editor Chang, who is aiming to debut a new look with the October issue.
Not surprisingly, a lot of the people who worked for years under Danziger are gone.
About a dozen masthead spots have changed hands. The two latest additions are: Alex Postman, wooed from Rodale Books, is joining the title as deputy editor, replacing Meaghan Murphy, who jumped to executive editor at Hearst’s Good Housekeeping — where its newish editor, Jane Francisco, is remaking her staff in her image; and, as Web site editor, Maureen Dempsey, who starts Aug. 11. It is not a raid, since Dempsey was already left her last job as executive digital editor at MarthaStewartWeddings.com. Postman, before her Rodale gig had been the editor of Whole Living at Martha Stewart Omnimedia.
The September Self issue, about to hit newsstands, is one of the thinnest in years.
It was started on Danziger’s watch but completed under Chang’s direction. Advertisers seemed to be taking a wait-and-see approach.
It has 43 ad pages — down 50 percent from the 86 ad pages a year earlier, according to Media Industry newsletter. It is down 73 percent from its pre-recession 2008 ad page level of 159.