Julian Linley has been appointed the editor of Heat magazine.
He is the current deputy and had been acting up to the role following the departure of Mark Frith last month.
It means Linley will now be editor-in-chief of both the celebrity print magazine and its website heatworld.com, which he oversaw the launch of last year. He was previously deputy editor of the magazine for five years, joining when the title was re-launched in May 2000.
Publishers Bauer Consumer Media said Linley had ‘seen off some of the very best editorial talent in the industry to secure the role.’
Heat’s managing director David Davies said: ‘Julian’s long heritage with the brand means he brings an unrivalled insight and understanding into the heat consumer. This, combined with an instinct for agenda-setting celebrity editorial, makes him the perfect man to appoint as editor.”
Under Mark Frith’s ten-year editirship sales of the magazine grew from 65,000 to 590,000. He has left to write the inside story of celebrityville afer signing a book deal with publisher Ebury Press.
On his new role, Linley said: “There is no better job than being the Editor of Heat. Ever since I first joined the magazine for its relaunch in 2000 I have loved coming to work each day – there’s just something about Heat that’s special.”
Prior to joining Bauer Linley was features director at young women’s fortnightly More and held a variety of writing and editorial posts at Attic Futura’s Sugar and B magazines.
In the latest ABCs, sales of Heat were down 11 per cent year on year to 533,034 for the second half of 2007.
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