Brill’s Content founder Steve Brill took a few pot shots at Sally Preston, who quit as publisher last week to take a job at Better Homes & Gardens.
“We’re an entrepreneurial organization and we take the approach that people should be, not just chiefs, but Indians as well,” Brill said.
Preston, who was western ad director in the Los Angeles office of TV Guide prior to coming East to join Brill’s Content as publisher in January, quit late on Friday to become ad director at Better Homes & Gardens at Meredith Corp.
Asked who would take over, Brill said, “There’s nothing to take over, she wasn’t selling anything.”
“We intend to fill it with someone who is a real salesperson, not a strategist and not a manager,” he said.
Preston could not be reached but friends said that she had grown frustrated in just over three months at the “media watchdog” magazine because of lack of marketing and research resources. “It was just a terrible experience for her,” one friend told The Post. “She was a pro from a big book and there were absolutely no resources there.”
Meredith made the news of Preston’s hiring official yesterday morning with an internal announcement to their staff – only hours after The Post broke the story.
“She starts on the 26th,” said a company spokeswoman.
Brill, the chairman and editor-in-chief, says it should reach profitability in four years – about a year ahead of schedule.
“The issue that we just put to bed (June 1999) is the largest revenue producer yet,” he said.
He said he plans to jump the magazine’s rate base – the amount of circulation that it promises advertisers it will deliver – to at least 275,000 per issue in January – from its current level of 225,000.