What the Hell Has Happened to Vanity Fair?

As dramas go, it is minor stuff. But in the itsy-bitsy, hothouse world of magazine glossies, the question everyone seems to be asking this summer is, “What the hell has happened to Vanity Fair?” You remember Vanity Fair, no doubt. It was big not so long ago. The chatterati obsessed over it—its striking covers, its fabulous photo features, its stories (the revelations, the scandals, the crime deconstructions!), even its stylish advertising, which filled its shiny pages. And, of course, its larger-than-life editor, Graydon Carter, who announced his retirement at the end of last year after a quarter-century at the helm. Now, half a year since Carter handed over the reins to his surprise-pick successor… silence. And not the kind of silence that issues from respect. Well, that’s not entirely accurate. I do hear things, mainly because I’ve spent my life in the media. I listen for the whispers. This is what media people are whispering: Vanity Fair is disappearing from the radar. In various forms and contexts, I hear the words “disaster,” “awful,” “irrelevant.” Unfortunately for the magazine’s owner, Condé Nast, this is occurring at a most inauspicious moment. The publisher is confronting strong economic headwinds on several fronts, to the extent that it has begun the process of selling three of its books. For the time being, it’s said that VF is safe, but how long before some sort of radical change, or rescue, is deemed necessary? (As if to kick sand in VF’s face, a newly... Continue reading at 'Folio Magazine'

[ Folio Magazine | 2018-08-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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London Book Fair 2014: Salomonsson Goes All Out for 'Made In Sweden'

Tthe Swedish super-agency came out in a big way with its top title at the London Book Fair, a crime novel called "Made In Sweden." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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London Book Fair 2014: Godoff Goes ‘French’ In Major Buy

With day one of the London Book Fair not yet closed, another book is emerging as a hot title: a memoir by "New Yorker" contributor Lauren Collins which has the working title, "French Lessons." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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London Book Fair 2014: At Digital Minds, Publishers Urged to Look Beyond the Book

"We cannot deny we are in an extraordinary transition," said author Anthony Horowitz, opening the sixth annual Publishing for Digital Minds Conference at the London Book Fair. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The 2014 London Book Fair Digital Spotlight

Read the complete 2014 London Book Fair Digital Spotlight in the Scribd reader below. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PW London Book Fair Show Daily: Day 1, April 8, 2014

Read the complete Day 1 coverage from the 2014 London Book Fair in this Scribd reader. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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London Book Fair 2014: Big Data: Should Publishers Even Care?

Like many people across the business world, publishers have a skeptical view of so-called Big Data, seeing it as “the next big hype.” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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London Book Fair 2014: New Blood

On April 1, Michael Cairns officially replaced the retiring George Lossius as CEO of Publishing Technology. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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London Book Fair 2014: Publishers and Internet Standards

Recently, experts working on ORCID and ISNI, both ISO-standard identifiers, spoke with one of the founders of schema.org to facilitate their use as embedded persona references, particularly through extensions such as BibExtend. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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London Book Fair 2014: Fast-Flowing Streams

Everyone knows that publishing is changing more than at any time since Gutenberg. But is it? I’ve always believed ebooks are much less of a disruption than was supposed. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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London Book Fair 2014: The Center of It All

For years, we’ve spoken and written about digital publishing, sometimes as if it was a separate part of the business. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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London Book Fair 2014: Making Digital Pay at Cenveo Publisher Services

For Cenveo Publisher Services, 2014 is the year digital strategies must deliver in terms of profits for its publisher clients. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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London Book Fair 2014: Helping Publishers to Sell Direct: The Qbend Story

Powering more than 50 e-bookstores for publishers specializing in such subjects as fiction, academic, professional and romance has given Qbend COO Kaushik Sampath many unique insights on e-retailing. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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London Book Fair 2014: Meeting Publishers’ Digital Needs

The proliferation of digital devices in the classroom and the reinvention of education from traditional models to new, more interactive and individualized means of learning will change education publishing faster and farther than other segments, says executive director Bill McCoy of IDPF. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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London Book Fair 2014: Open Source for an Open Publishing Ecosystem: Readium.org Turns One

Last month marked the one-year anniversary of the formation of the Readium Foundation (Readium.org), an independent nonprofit launched in March 2013 with the objective of developing commercial-grade open source publishing technology software. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Saudi book fair bans 'blasphemous' Mahmoud Darwish works after protest

Removal of books by revered Palestinian poet from Riyadh publishing event is condemned by PEN as censorshipThe removal of works by the esteemed Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish from a major book fair in Saudi Arabia for reportedly containing "blasphemous passages" has drawn widespread... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-03-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Retailers Call for Action on E-Fairness

In advance of today’s hearing before the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, RILA and NRF urge lawmakers to level the playing field. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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London Author Fair’s Debut: Change Agents

Porter Anderson reports on the inaugural London Author Fair conference in Covent Garden and looking at the role agents might play for self-publishers. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-03-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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AWP 2014: Relaxed Atmosphere at the Book Fair

Publishers and conference attendees described a relaxed atmosphere at this year's Association of Writers and Writing Programs annual conference, held in Seattle from February 26-March 1. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Explaining Australia’s Fair Use Publishing Conundrum

We look at what would the proposed introduction of fair use to Australian copyright law mean for publishers, and why is it attracting international attention. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hunting for New Customers at Toy Fair

Publishers’ expansion into new products as they strive to reach more retail channels was a major theme at New York International Toy Fair, held February 11-15 at the Javits Center. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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