Martha Stewart

Random House has introduced a new online food community called TasteBook Blog. The site features content from its bestselling cookbook authors such as Martha Stewart and Bobby Flay, as well as from authors who touch on food such as Jay McInerney, along with community content. It is all curated by an editorial team.

I’ve seen reporting pretty much everywhere about the troubles facing Martha Stewart and her company these days. She’s laying off staff and folding magazines, she’s reporting a 17 percent decline in revenues and she’s taking for herself the lion’s share of her company’s earnings. But is this just about money management and changing media directions, [...]

Microsoft rolls out the Zune to go up against the iPod in 2006. And then, three years later, a new Zune HD to vie with the iPod Touch.  The Zune gets more traction with late-night talk-show comedians than with consumers. Both the player and the brand are now dead. Burger King gives away a free AOL Music download with every Original Whopper. The download code is on the burger wrapper — try not to get grease on your screen! McDonald’s begins renting DVDs. Actually, this one wasn’t a total flop: Turns out people don’t want DVDs with their fries, but Redbox, which now has

How I love author parties!

According to what I read in The New York Times this morning, it looks like there was quite a splash of a party this past Monday night to celebrate Kurt Andersen’s new book, “True Believers” (unfortunately the book was given a less-than-stellar review by Janet Maslin elsewhere in the paper).

I’ll never forget my first author party when I was a young editor just starting out at Ballantine Books. Ok, since you asked, I’ll tell you about it.

Condé Nast cooking site Epicurious is selling Random House digital cookbooks that users can import into their “digital recipe boxes.” However, they cannot access the cookbooks they buy anywhere except through the Epicurious app. Epicurious plans to partner with other publishers as well, but the program’s initial launch is with 75 Random House cookbooks from across the company’s imprint and includes titles from Bobby Flay, Giada DeLaurentiis and Martha Stewart, among others. Earlier this year, Random House signed up as an Epicurious content partner and made some individual recipes available through the site. The digital

When Klaus Fritsch moved to the United States in 1967 and then teamed with Arnie Morton to co-found Morton’s, The Steakhouse in 1978, the West German probably never envisioned penning a 240-page “bible” on steak. But almost 30 years after opening the first of what has become a chain of more than 70 restaurants worldwide, Fritsch has done just that. “Morton’s Steak Bible” is the first-ever publishing effort from the company that made its name in the kitchen—not the book store. Roger Drake, Morton’s vice president of communications and public relations, says finding the right publisher to get behind the book was the first