Eco-friendly lifestyle expert Daniel Seo, who has been a bestselling author, a commentator on NBC’s “Today” show and a syndicated newspaper columnist, is finally getting around to launching a magazine.
But don’t look for his face on the cover.
Unlike most of the other eponymous magazines, Seo’s Naturally Danny Seo — set to hit newsstands in mid-July, from Harris Publications — won’t be making Seo a cover boy.
“I contractually said I will not be on the cover,” he told Media Ink.
Seo expects to do split covers on the first issue. One will likely feature a still-life shot of a dairy-free “vegan ice cream,” the other will likely feature actress Ali Larter, the former “Heroes” star who is cast in a new TNT drama, “Legends.”
Of course, Martha Stewart, Dr. Mehmet Oz , Oprah Winfrey and Rachael Ray have all graced the cover of their mags — and often.
While the magazine has its roots in how to live an environmentally sound lifestyle, he is not trying to make it preachy.
“I believe it is easy to live a sustainable and healthy life effortlessly and with great style,” he said. The magazine will range from food to travel to health and beauty and crafts, more Martha Stewart than E, the Environmental Magazine.
“Style and sustainability can live together,” he said.
Today he serves as a pitchman for Ford’s C-Max hybrid cars and has a fragrance line with Tru Fragrance and Danny Seo-branded products from cookware to bath products in retailers including TJ Maxx and Marshall’s.
Seo is working on launching an organic wine.
The Washington Post once dubbed him the Green Martha Stewart.
“I consider it a compliment,” he said. “I adore Martha Stewart.”
He also considers her something of a competitor and sees his new magazine fitting more into a general lifestyle title than a narrow environmental title.
The 36-year-old businessman got his feet wet in the publishing world at the now-defunct Organic Style at Rodale. “I’ve worked in the decor space, in the fashion space and the beauty space, and what I always felt was missing was the natural healthy lifestyle — where style and beauty are paramount and not the exception,” he said.
Unlike the massive launch that Hearst is putting behind Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Good Life — another large competitor — Seo is starting small, with two issues this year, 300,000 distribution on newsstands, and plans to go quarterly next year and six times in 2016.
Professor Samir Husni, at the Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi, said that going smaller and niche seems to be the way to go and may have helped an unusually large number of startups from 2012 survive until 2013.
“We saw something unusual with the crop of 2012 — 85 percent of the 200 or so magazines launched in 2012 are still being published. This is a new high for a one-year survival,” he said.
Husni said the overall survival rate until age 5 is still only about 18 percent — and it remains to be seen if 2012 can sustain its high success rate.
“Back in the 1990s when the environmental topic was hot, we had a host of magazines, from Garbage to E to Waste Age,” said Husni.
Today E survives, but most others did not, in part because the cause became mainstream.
“If mainstream magazines pick up on the subject matter, then the need for a specialty magazine can became null,” Husni noted.
Seo raided one rival, Natural Health, for his publisher, Helene Fantozzi, and picked up his art director, Alexis Cook, from another Harris title.
“He might be the Green Martha Stewart, but he’s doing it backwards — he didn’t start with a magazine,” said Fantozzi.
“I have no interest in being famous,” said Seo. “I am interested in creating a brand.”