RD to Sell Back Cover, Slashes Circ By 20%

RD to Sell Back Cover, Slashes Circ By 20%: "Reader's Digest today revealed that in addition to whacking its rate base by 2 million to 8 million starting in January, it would sell ads on its back cover for the first time. The back cover has carried various forms of art over the years; for the past four years, the art of Norman Rockwell-style Cincinnati illustrator C.F. Paine has appeared on the rear cover of every issue.

'We have done extensive research in-house,' said Eva Dillon, president and group publisher, Reader's Digest, one of a number of outside executives that new RDA CEO and longtime pal Mary Berner brought in following a private equity-led buyout earlier this year. 'Readers don't seem to care one way or another. We thought readers would have a strong negative reaction. Once we saw that they didn't, we said, 'Hey, what are we waiting for?''

The sale of the back cover will coincide with a planned redesign under editor Jackie Leo, and Payne's work will continue to run in the magazine, Dillon said. 'He's an incredibly important artist, and his art will be part of the redesign,' she said."